Louise Miller-Frost (Boothby, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to rise today to talk about what has been a tremendously successful first six months for the Albanese Labor government. We've been busy delivering on our promises, busy delivering for the people of Australia, and I've been busy delivering for the people of Boothby. There are a number of issues that motivated me to run for the seat of Boothby. Chief among them were climate, integrity and fairness. I'm delighted to report that we've delivered real action on all three of these.

On climate we've legislated our ambitious target of cutting carbon emissions by 43 per cent by 2030, on the way to net zero by 2050. This sends a clear message of certainty to business—a certainty they have long sought when it comes to renewable energy transition. We've heard from the Minister for Climate Change and Energy that investors and business are already responding. We sent a clear message at events like last month's COP27 that Australia is back as a responsible global actor on climate.

Just this week we've delivered the National Anti-Corruption Commission, with teeth. It's been legislated, and the process of implementation has already begun. This is something the previous government failed to do, despite having committed to implement one. And I welcome the reforms to the Public Interest Disclosure Act to further protect whistleblowers introduced by the Attorney-General yesterday, with further changes foreshadowed for next year. In May Boothby voted for integrity, and the Albanese government is delivering it.

The other issue that motivated me to run has long been at the heart of my working life, and that's fairness, tackling inequality. I'm proud that this government, in just six short months, has delivered on our commitment to support a minimum wage rise for the lowest paid in our community. And frontline aged-care workers are getting a long overdue 15 per cent pay rise as an interim measure. This week, hopefully today or tomorrow, our secure jobs, better pay industrial relation reforms will become law, and we will start the vital work of getting wages moving again.

We've also implemented the recommendations of the Respect@Work report. Of course, there's much more to be done, and rest assured, I will continue fighting for the people of Boothby and for those in our community who are doing it the toughest as we move into the new year.

There are so many other achievements that I'm just going to have to list them. We've made child care cheaper for 96 per cent of families in the childcare system. We've established legislation for our National Reconstruction Fund so we can begin the process of making Australia a place that makes things again. We've legislated to make electric vehicles cheaper and more available. We've handed down a responsible budget that has provided targeted and sensible cost-of-living relief and we've begun to deal with the disaster we were left with by the previous government. We've abolished the cashless debit card and begun a royal commission into the cruel robodebt scheme. We've cut the cost of prescription medicines by $12.50 a script, and we're providing continuous glucose monitoring machines to all Australians with type 1 diabetes. We've legislated 10 days family and domestic violence leave for all workers. We've started the process of extending paid parental leave to 26 weeks and we've made it more flexible so it works for all families. We've legislated to enable those on the age pension to work more hours, if they so wish, before this affects their pension.

We held our national Jobs and Skills Summit, which brought together business, education, unions and civil society to work together to address the critical skills shortage. Starting in 2023, we'll be providing more university places and more TAFE places, as well as fee-free TAFE, to help tackle that skills shortage. Of course, Senator Penny Wong, along with the PM, has made an excellent start on fixing our relationships with our Pacific neighbours and the international community more broadly.

I'm proud of and thrilled with the cracking pace that the Albanese government has set this year. It is serving the Australian people, and I look forward to returning next year to more of the same. I'd like to wish the people of Boothby, my colleagues here in Parliament House, the staff of Parliament House and my staff back in my office a merry Christmas and a happy, safe and prosperous new year.