Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Minister for Industry, Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In the lead-up to next election there's going to be a lot of talk: Labor candidates seeking to sell the credibility of the opposition—good luck with that! There'll be Greens that selectively pick the science that they like—climate science, yes; scientifically enhanced food, no, not so much. There'll be candidates wanting to outsource climate policy from the Australian parliament and towards unelected bureaucrats—'yeah-nah'. What we actually want is action. The people of Australia want action. And while talk is cheap, outcomes matter and we've got them in spades. We lowered income taxes to ensure that Australians keep more of their own money. We introduced laws to punish online trolls harming children and to hold big tech accountable. We exposed corruption in the superannuation sector and fixed loopholes that they exploited, including those that were used to harvest low-balance accounts for fees, and ASIC is now investigating whether to bring insider-trading charges against Industry SuperFunds executives and fund managers. We made the tough call to uphold national security, including increasing the Defence budget and commissioning nuclear submarines to meet the challenges of the 21st century.

In the last term we stopped an extradition treaty with China that would have exposed Australians to China's opaque judicial system. We delivered marriage equality to ensure Australian couples have legal equal recognition in rights. We also improved medical privacy laws so that your health records can't be compromised. Of course, we also proudly stopped Labor's retiree tax that would have stripped many self-funded retirees of up to 30 per cent of their income and pushed them down the financial stairs. We're now delivering Australia's first comprehensive economy-wide plan to achieve carbon neutrality by 2050, with emissions already down by 20 per cent and falling. Of course, we introduced the first legal framework for offshore electricity infrastructure.

That's at the national level, and there's also the local where we work directly with councils. After they applied, we delivered the largest grants to Bayside and Glen Eira in history for car park upgrade along the Sandringham and Frankston lines. We provided funding to replace the Black Rock Yacht Club and upgrades to community sporting infrastructure. We've provided funding for local netball facilities to address the issue of gender inequity and $1 million to help return Elsternwick Park to a nature reserve along with funding for foreshore restoration in Black Rock and Sandringham. Whether it's national or local, there are no empty promises. There is a clear track record of delivery, and, in short, on election 2022, I know some people are getting very excited about it. Trust me, I'm excited about it too, because what I love about elections is the chance to directly engage with the community as we've done for the past six years. In short, bring it on.