Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'm happy to join this debate about Labor governments. As Kevin Rudd, the former Prime Minister and now Australian Ambassador to the United States—congratulations, Kevin—once said, 'Labor governments build community, and the Liberals break things up.' It's such a simple and stark contrast that is worth repeating. Apart from John Howard's gun law reforms, I can't for the life of me recall one outstanding good thing that has ever come from a federal coalition government. What's the lasting legacy from that dreadful conga line of Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison governments? Knights and dames? A shameful, divisive and unnecessary marriage equality plebiscite that has emboldened bigots and even Nazis? Robodebt that robbed and killed 400,000 of our most vulnerable Australians?

When it comes to the nation-changing legacies of Labor governments, in contrast, I give you: Medicare, something that benefits the bush; paid parental leave; the NDIS; universal superannuation; equal pay for women; the Racial Discrimination Act; and the National Gallery—and that's just in the last couple of decades. This Albanese Labor government is delivering on the changes that the Australian people voted for at the last election. We will keep faith with the Australian people—all the people. Since May last year we've been working hard to clean up the mess the coalition left behind, including leaving taxpayers with a trillion dollars of Liberal debt. After a decade of delay, denial, rorts and waste there is a lot of work for us to do, but we're working every day to build a better future for Australia.

We know that these are tough times, so here's what we're doing to tackle the cost of living: by 1 July, we're making child care cheaper; we're reducing the maximum co-payment under the PBS from $42.50 to a maximum of $30, which is a reduction of 29 per cent—I know that many of the pharmacies in my electorate, especially those based in Acacia Ridge, have welcomed this reduction on behalf of their customers—we've made it easier for pensioners who want to to be able to earn more; we're looking after our vulnerable seniors by putting nurses back into nursing homes 24/7; we're implementing recommendations from the aged-care royal commission; we set up a fund to prepare for and respond to disasters; we passed more support for our veterans; we've added an additional six weeks of paid parental leave for families, bumping the total leave payable up to 26 weeks—a full six months—plus we've passed new laws to prevent sexual harassment at work; we made 10 days paid family and domestic violence leave law; and then—legs 11—after 11 years of denial from those opposite, today the Albanese Labor government has acted on climate and protecting the environment.

The coalition, under the leadership of the member for Dickson, hauled up the we're-irrelevant flag while the rest of the parliament enshrined in law a 43 per cent emissions reductions target by 2030 and a net zero emissions target by 2050. Our current renewables rate of 30 per cent isn't enough to reach net zero by 2030, so we're urgently upgrading our grid to 82 per cent renewables by 2030 and transforming Australia into a renewable energy superpower. What's the member for Dickson doing while we're doing all this? He's trying on the red speedos and saying, 'I look good in these.' I know that's a troubling metaphor. Perhaps I'll turn to an alternative metaphor.

In the Watership Down book by Richard Adams from the 1970s the rabbits end up at Cowslip's warren where the rabbits have a great life and are well-fed, but they're harvested by the farmer every now and then. We're seeing that with the coalition. We saw it in the Victorian election. We saw it in the New South Wales election. We saw it at the last federal election. Every now and then the traditional Liberals are being harvested. They're being taken out because they're not listening to modern Australia.

What have we done? We've updated the laws to protect the ozone layer. We've made electric vehicles cheaper and easier to use on the very undestroyed weekend. I've actually never seen so many electric cars parked around the streets of Sunnybank, where my office is located. We passed laws to help Australia generate cheap offshore wind power. We're establishing a new environment protection agency. We're delivering 480,000 fee-free TAFE places for in-demand sectors as we continue with our work of making sure that Australians can build for their future. We passed a new law for secure jobs and better pay. We established the new Jobs and Skills Australia. We passed laws to set up the High Speed Rail Authority. We said that once elected we would strengthen accountability, so we passed legislation to establish the National Anti-Corruption Commission. We abolished the hopelessly politically compromised AAT and are replacing it with a review body that will better serve the Australian community. We've got much more to do, but we will not waste a day.

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