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

I just want to concur with the comments made by my Senate colleague Senator O'Neill. I think today demonstrates that those opposite still haven't learnt anything—not even after going through another election where they were defeated. We are investing in defence spending, as they well know. But they've come in and taken a shot at the Prime Minister, when we have a Minister for Defence and when they know very well that a Prime Minister cannot be at every event that he or she may want to attend. But the reality is that we've had to undertake a massive clean-up of the messes that you guys left behind after 11 long years of being in government. Defence is just one of those.

Let's talk about something that impacts every Australian just as much as national security and our Defence Force, and that is aged care. Let's talk about aged care, shall we? In 11 years, they had five failed ministers for aged care—five! In government, they had to call a royal commission into their own failings. Now, I would be turning away, too, if I were you, Senator Cash, and ignoring the fact that what I'm saying is absolutely right. They were your own failings; you had to call a royal commission. And what was the name of that report? Can anyone tell me? 'Neglect'—neglect!

So, again, we've had to come in and take the time because there are so many messes. Aged care is just one of those. The investment that we've made into aged care has been so significant. Residential aged care in this country was in a shambles, thanks to those opposite. They didn't invest the money needed to ensure that we had a well-educated, trained workforce. No, they didn't do that. Did they ensure that home-care packages were meeting needs? No, they didn't. Are we an ageing population? Yes, we are. Unfortunately, that's increasing all the time, so the demand is always going to outstrip the capacity of any government to deliver everything that we want. But for you to come in here and lecture us and ask about home-care packages, with your failings—I mean, let's be real: five failed ministers!

If we want to go back and talk about the pandemic and what happened in aged care in this country during that time—who was in government? That's right; it was those opposite. How many people died in residential aged care because there was no registration of aged-care workers in this country? Those workers, who were earning lower wages than most Australians, had to have a second job, so they were going from one residential care home to another. So don't come into this place and try to lecture us about not doing enough. We have set the foundations in our first term around aged care.

We have had to re-establish our international reputation because of the way those opposite, when they were in government, ruined it in so many areas. And let's not even talk about what their reputation was in the Pacific with our closest neighbours.

Now they want to attack the Prime Minister, who is doing his job. The Minister for Defence is doing a great job—Minister Richard Marles. He's very good, he's highly respected, and he's working with Defence, making the strategic decisions about how and where we invest our money.

Then there were questions today about Closing the Gap targets. We have been investing in our Indigenous brothers and sisters, wanting to lift up their opportunities in this country. But, again, you haven't got a very good track record on this issue yourselves.

We want to talk about artificial intelligence. We've engaged with the union movement and want to see good, highly qualified, skilled jobs in this area where there's a lot of opportunities. We should be getting people to invest in AI in this country. But what do those opposite do? They pluck another thing out of the air. They just want to come in here and say that we're not doing enough, or we're dealing with the wrong people. Maybe some of you should pick up the phone and have a chat with some unionists— (Time expired)