Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Last week, I attended the Ngarrama, a much-loved community gathering on Awabakal and Worimi country in Newcastle, now in its fifth year. I want to acknowledge just how important this event has become in Newcastle's calendar of events. Through truth-telling performances, dance and song, the evening honours the past, the present and the enduring strength of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, as well as providing a powerful opportunity to reflect on the lives and ongoing contributions of First Nations people in Mooloobinba/Newcastle. It was powerful to see so many locals coming out—families, neighbours, workmates, elders and so many young people, all sharing in storytelling, music, art and truth-telling. Events like Ngarrama matter because they create space to listen, to learn and to walk forward together. They deepen our understanding of the world's oldest continuing culture and strengthen the respect that sits at the heart of our community.

I want to thank the organisers—the Awabakal, the Wollotuka and the University of Newcastle, in particular—the artists, the performers, the volunteers and the elders who made this event such a success. Thank you as well to all the partners, and I'm especially pleased to acknowledge the support of the Australian government this year. Ngarrama reminds us that reconciliation isn't a moment; it's a shared journey. In Newcastle, we are committed to walking that path together.

Across Australia, more than 218,000 households now have a home battery installed under Labor's cheaper home batteries plan, and that includes over 1,500 in my electorate of Newcastle. That's good news for families. It's good news for our energy system, and it's great news for the environment. Home batteries help households store the solar energy they generate through the day and then use it whenever they need it, not just when the sun is shining. This is lowering bills and giving families more control over their energy use. Home batteries are also strengthening the grid by reducing pressure during all those peak times, making our energy system more reliable and resilient. And, of course, they play a critical role in cutting emissions by helping us to use more clean, renewable energy. This is a practical climate action that delivers real benefits to everyday Australians right now, with lower bills, increased reliability of the grid and a cleaner energy future.

I love going out to O-Week events at the University of Newcastle, and last week I did just that. There was real excitement and energy amongst the students on campus. One thing kept coming up again and again, and that was student debt relief. It's good to have that word 'relief' at the end of that sentence. Returning students told me just what it meant to have their student debts cut last year. Labor cut 20 per cent off all student debt, and let's not forget that this is not just for university students. Every TAFE student that accumulated one of these debts, every apprentice and everyone under the VET schemes all stood to benefit from this scheme, delivering real relief for people in my electorate. More than 25,000 Novocastrians had 20 per cent cut off their student debt, and what relief that brought!

Let's not forget those students now studying teaching, nursing, midwifery or social work. They were telling me how thrilled they were about now being able to be paid while undertaking those mandatory placements as part of their degree program. These students do essential, demanding and often full-time work for their placements in order to qualify for professions that our communities desperatelyneed, and so paying these students during placement is about fairness. It's about dignity. It's about making sure that cost isn't a barrier to becoming a teacher, a nurse, a midwife or a social worker. And I can tell you that those social workers, who we desperately need many more of in our communities, especially now, were doing 1,000 hours of unpaid work in order to get their degree. Think about that. They were giving up paid work in order to become a great social worker in our community. So this paid Commonwealth prac payment system is a real game changer for those students, mostly women, doing these professions. It was really energising to hear their stories and their optimism. And that's exactly why Labor is committed to backing students and investing in our future workforce.

House adjourned at 20 : 01

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