Charlotte Walker (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That the following address-in-reply be agreed to:

To Her Excellency the Governor-General

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR EXCELLENCY—

We, the Senate of the Commonwealth of Australia in Parliament assembled, desire to express our loyalty to our Most Gracious Sovereign and to thank Your Excellency for the speech which you have been pleased to address to Parliament.

I begin by acknowledging the traditional owners of this sacred and ancient land, and I pay respects to elders past and present. I also want to especially recognise First Nations emerging leaders from across the more than 250 nations of this continent. I look forward to the day when more of you join me in this place. Diversity in our parliament is fundamental to building a stronger and fairer society. I am so proud and genuinely humbled to be able to bring a new, young voice to the Albanese Labor government. I am the first parliamentarian born in this millennium, and I am joining a government which, for the first time in Australian history, has a cabinet made up of more women than men.

In May this year the Australian people overwhelmingly rejected the politics of hate and division which have been on the rise in many countries across the world. Together they gave expression to the core Australian value of a fair go, the touchstone of our Australian labour movement. This fair go underpins every policy this government took to the people and Her Excellency outlined in her opening address to this parliament. Analysts and commentators have told us how influential younger Australians were in this election, and, whilst this is not my first speech, I am honoured to be able to move this motion and take this first opportunity to say to all young Australians we hear you. We hear your demands for a fair go in the face of a world of growing uncertainty, and we will work with you to build a country that is socially, environmentally and economically progressive and successful.

In moving this motion, I want to highlight just some of the critical policies that will make a real difference to my generation and will deliver that fair go in areas of housing, education and climate change. Our policies to combat the housing crisis will make Australia economically fairer. Our policies to improve access to education will make Australia socially fairer. And our policies to tackle climate change will work towards intergenerational climate justice.

Many Australians—but, disproportionately, younger Australians who are just starting out—feel the real strain of cost-of-living increases. The previous Albanese government worked hard to ease this pressure, and in this term our actions on the cost of living will make a real difference to many Australians.

I want to speak about the cost-of-living monster that everyone my age talks about—housing. It's what keeps us up at night. When will I be able to move out of my parents' home? Where can I find a rental property I can actually afford? How far away from work will I have to live? And then, crucially, if we want to climb that property ladder, how on earth will we be able to save up enough for a deposit on a home? The great Australian dream has always been synonymous with buying your own home, but, if you don't come from a rich family, that now feels well out of reach. That is unfair and we are going to change it.

We will make lower deposits accessible to all first home buyers. You will be able to buy your first home with just a five per cent deposit, and the government will stand as guarantor so you don't need to pay expensive lenders mortgage insurance. There will be no income caps on this scheme and no maximum number of guarantees. This will be a universal scheme. Saving a 20 per cent deposit to get into homeownership whilst paying rent is an unscalable mountain for most of us. The median home price in Australia today is $820,000. Five per cent of that is $41,000. The last time $41,000 covered the 20 per cent deposit for a median home was in 2002. I wasn't even born in 2002. The day this policy was announced, before the election, my partner and I looked at each other and said: 'We might have a chance now.' And for those on lower incomes we will be implementing our Help to Buy scheme, where the government will provide up to 40 per cent equity in a new home, so 40,000 Australian families can pay a lower mortgage.

We are tackling housing supply too, with a target of building 1.2 million new homes in the next five years. As part of that target, we will put $10 billion into building 100,000 homes reserved just for first home buyers. We're partnering with state and territory governments to accelerate land release and planning approvals for these homes. My home state of South Australia is already running a similar program and we know it's working. It has been only a dream for many of my generation to own their own home. Now it can become a reality once again.

If we want to create a fair and equitable future for Australia, we need to be investing in young people today. Many of my colleagues in this chamber have benefited from policies introduced by past Labor governments. During your lives, you've had the benefit of tertiary education that was free or had no upfront fees; you've been able to see a doctor for free, through the mighty Medicare; and soon some of you will be reaping the benefits of the revolutionary superannuation guarantee scheme as well. These policies weren't just financial assistance. They unlocked real opportunities for generations of Australians. They placed trust in the potential of every Australian. They declared that this country believes in a fair go. But the benefits of some of these policies have been gradually eroded by those who did not share that same vision of equity. This government is working to fix that.

Young Australians tell us that they are now struggling to take up vocational and educational opportunities because of the rising cost of living. We hear you, and we want to relieve the pressure. We can't let the story of tertiary education be one of crippling debt. So the government's first bill in this term will slash 20 per cent from HECS debts. We are declaring that the investment young people make in their education matters for the collective future of us all.

Free TAFE is part of this declaration. Around 40 per cent of the jobs created in the next decade will need a VET qualification. Now you can get many qualifications for free. Our prospective new tradies must not be scared off by the cost of their training. These workers build our hard infrastructure. They build the new houses we so badly need. Apprentices in the home-building trades now receive $10,000 of financial assistance while training, and we are increasing the living-away-from-home allowance so it's easy to take up an apprenticeship away from home. This is so important for young people from the regions, like me. To get an apprenticeship you might need to move away from home, but the wages apprentices earn often don't pay the bills. These policies will make that move so much easier.

We are also supporting students who will work in our critical social infrastructure jobs. Our nurses, midwives, teachers and social workers are the people we trust to look after our children and care for us when we need it most, but these students are required to do their unpaid placement to qualify, and many simply can't afford it. Now those nursing, midwifery, teaching and social work students who need support while doing their placements will be able to get weekly financial assistance so they can get their qualifications and pay their rent at the same time.

Truly fair access to education actually starts way earlier. It starts with great care and early learning. Our government will guarantee three full days of child care each week. This creates flexible support for families while helping children build strong foundations in learning and social development. We will fully and fairly fund public schools. No parent should feel the pressure to live in the right area just to secure a good start for their child. I know people who are paying rent they really can't afford to get into a particular school zone. We want to take that pressure off by raising the bar for all of our public schools. A strong, inclusive public education system leads to better opportunities throughout life. It gives young people more career choices. When we invest in our schools across the board, it won't matter who you are or where you live—everyone will have the chance to succeed. We are laying the groundwork so that your life chances are not determined by postcode, income or circumstance but by potential and passion.

And now for a topic that will define the future of my generation: climate change. We lost a decade of action when climate-change deniers dominated this place, and this global emergency will not wait. We are seeing the devastation caused by the increase in catastrophic weather events across the country which are taking lives and causing billions of dollars in damage. We are seeing the damage from warmer seas to our precious coral reefs. Back home in Yankalilla, where I grew up, warmer oceans have caused an algal bloom which is killing sea life in areas that up until now have been virtually pristine.

The vast majority of young Australians do not talk about climate sceptics versus climate believers. To us, climate change is not a matter of faith or belief; it is purely a matter of hard fact, and this government is determined to do everything we can to meet our goals of the Paris Agreement, including holding the increase in average temperatures to well below two degrees Celsius of warming. This government's net zero plan is delivering on the legislated target of net zero greenhouse gas emissions by 2050.

A large part of our path to net zero is renewables, and we are determined to reach 82 per cent renewable energy by 2030, so we're investing in renewables in ways that also provide real economic benefits and cost-of-living relief. Australians are enthusiastically moving to renewables. We already have more than four million rooftop solar installations across Australia. One in three Australian households now have solar panels on their property. This level of uptake has been aided by the Small-scale Renewable Energy scheme, which cuts the upfront cost of buying solar panels that significantly reduce power bills. As it stands, only one in 40 households has a battery which allows them to store that power and use it when the sun isn't shining. Our Cheaper Home Batteries Program will mean more homes have batteries to store that power, and more homes will have reduced costs for their everyday electricity. By dropping the cost of a typical battery installation by 30 per cent, we expect to have one million new batteries in Australian homes by 2030. If a household installs a new program with both solar panels and a battery, they could save up to 90 per cent off a typical family electricity bill. We are all currently paying the price for an energy system built on unreliable, ageing energy infrastructure and a decade of inaction.

As well as increasing renewables home by home, we are also working on big-scale generation projects. The Capacity Investment Scheme is right now seeking tenders so we can make sure that enough renewable electricity will be introduced to the grid in time to meet demand between now and 2030.

The global climate crisis was caused by previous generations. It will be up to my generation and the ones that come after me to keep fighting for this planet with determined optimism. We will build on the groundwork done by governments of today to build a better environment for tomorrow. We know we can meet this challenge. The state that I represent, South Australia, is a global leader in energy transition. In the last 16 years, our state lifted its net electricity production from one per cent renewables to more than 74 per cent. An optimistic determination for a better and fairer future underpins the vision of the Albanese government for the term ahead.

I want to thank Her Excellency for detailing the agenda in her address to the parliament. I will leave it to my many more-experienced colleagues to speak about the great depth and breadth of this government's policies, which I have only barely touched on. In closing, I say this to my fellow young Australians: we hear you and we will act on your demands for a better future. The legislation we will pass in this parliament won't just be laws and regulations; they will be practical, people focused solutions for our future.