Elizabeth Watson-Brown (Ryan, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Good evening, everyone. How are you? There's a lot going on, isn't there—lots of challenges. I thought I'd check in with you just to see how you're going. Here we are, about a third of the way through this government's second term and my second term as the member for Ryan. I thought it might be good to just catch up and have a chat about things—about where we are, where we'd like to be, where we're going and what's been happening.

When I won the seat of Ryan in 2022, I had really big hopes, as did many. Labor had made so many promises: promises to look after us—to look after Australians—and to make Australia a better and fairer place. And the complexion of parliament had changed, with far more representation of Greens and Independents on the crossbench and with more women, and the parliament had a much more representative cross-section of the Australian population than ever before. I really thought we'd be able to achieve good things together—that we'd be able to work well together to make advances towards a better, fairer life for all Australians; that we could hope for a better Australia together. I thought we could work together for every Australian to have a roof over their head, in good housing, accessible to all. I thought we could work together to address the climate crisis; to provide high-quality free education for all, at every level; and to provide high-quality, free health care to all. I thought we could work together for fairness and integrity and honesty and transparency with the Australian people.

So I just thought I'd check in with you and see how you feel things are going. How do you feel about it all?

Let's have a look at some of the things that were promised—some of the things we hoped for; some of the things we all deserve in a wealthy, democratic nation like Australia. Take 'no-one left behind'. Well, they're certainly not tackling the rising wealth inequality in this country. That's further separating the haves and the have nots. Ordinary people's living standards are going backwards, while corporate profits and billionaires' wealth are soaring. 'Action on climate change'—what a joke! What a tragedy. Labor approved an extension to the Southern Hemisphere's largest fossil-fuel project, the North West Shelf, among dozens of other approvals of fossil-fuel projects.

Why aren't these things happening? They should and they could—all of those promises could be met. But I'm afraid this government is nobbled by their relationship with their masters. And that's not you, but the big end of town—the big corporations and their billionaire owners. They don't just donate to the major parties; they party together; they exchange staff; they line up their post-politics jobs. That's the only explanation for why—in a wealthy country, with all of our amazing natural assets and our resources—you are suffering and you are paying.

Just a few weeks ago, the Prime Minister was partying with Australia's third-richest person, billionaire Anthony Pratt. Katy Perry was the headline act. Pratt, by the way, was Labor's biggest individual donor, giving them $2 million last election season. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis and a fuel crisis resulting from a war that the Labor government has supported, if you're an ordinary citizen struggling to get a meeting with the Prime Minister, it's simple: just get an international pop star to headline your party and invite him along!

It's easy—it's very easy—to feel disheartened by all this. It's very easy to feel disheartened that this is who the leaders in our government are spending their time with. It's challenging, but let's not give up hope. Let us be clear-eyed about what is actually happening. Let us all resist being gaslit—resist being told that it's just how it is and it's impossible to make change. Instead, let's work together to fix these things, to make a better Australia for everyone and a better future for all of the children and grandchildren. I call it active, practical hope.

There's real hope in knowing that there are more of us than there are of them. There are more everyday people than them—those corporations, the billionaire class and their political allies. There's hope in knowing that the majority of Australians want to address wealth inequality. They want a fairer return on our resources. They want action on climate. They want a government with integrity. They don't want us to go to war. I'll keep pushing forward with that active, practical hope.

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