Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I certainly have. And somebody's been reading their standing orders. Well, you hit the mark. The opposition are well known for it. I love it, quite frankly. They've been here for a while now, and they don't seem to get an understanding of it. When you either interrupt me or take a point of order, it's fruitless. Because there's no standing order on being able to talk about a bill that is already on, and I had started my speech on that. But this morning it was the 'noalition' and the Greens that stopped me from being able to speak on that very bill.

I consider housing a secure home for those people most in need. It's a fundamental right for them to have it. But the delay that the Liberals, Nationals and Greens have supported today will put off that debate until October—and we are just at the beginning of winter. I see in my home state, particularly in Launceston, because I've been delivering food and knitting scarves for homeless people, how many people are actually living in cars or in tents. I would never admit this outside of this chamber, but sometimes Launceston gets as cold as Canberra. What we really need is immediate support. We need the Greens and the 'noalition' to get with the program and vote on that legislation.

We need more money to go into education. But the government has come in after 10 long years of neglect of the education system. In just about every state, from primary school to high school, our education attainment and the level of literacy is going down, even here in Canberra. I heard it on the news. In the national capital of this great country, literacy is going down. That's right here in Canberra. So I will always get up and speak about those issues that I believe are really important. Education is so important. If you don't have an education, you don't have skills and you don't have a house or a secure place that you can call your home. It doesn't have to be grand; it has to be your castle. Wherever and however that's constructed, that is your place of refuge. Every Australian deserves to have that peace of mind.

That's why I'm so passionate about those on that side. They left an enormous mess and a huge debt that generations will be paying off. But, time and time again, we have come in and said that we are open, transparent and putting people first. To do that and to deliver on our election commitments means that those people in this chamber need to respect the Australian people who voted for a Labor federal government. Let us do our job. Don't play politics. For the Greens wanting to come in and turn this place into a utopia again, it's not going to happen. That's not the real world. You might want to have these clips for your social media, but it does not put a roof over people's heads—it does not! Coming in here trying to claim that you're the only people who have a heart and think about those who are less well off is quite frankly disingenuous to other people in this chamber. All of us in this chamber—well, most of us, anyway—come here with the best intentions. We do, absolutely. I commend this bill to you, and I urge those people on the other side not only to support this bill but to reconsider the housing future fund. (Time expired)