Marielle Smith (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I also rise to make a contribution to this debate. But, before I do, I absolutely need to thank and acknowledge the good people of South Australia for returning me to serve another six-year term, alongside all my fellow South Australian senators who were also re-elected, and I acknowledge Senator Antic, in the chamber, as one of them. I know it is absolutely the privilege of all of our lives to serve in this place. There's a deep level of trust placed in us by the people of our state, the greatest state in Australia, to do our job here, and I really want to recognise that. Oh, sorry! Senator Blyth, as well, is one of our South Australian senators representing that great state. So thank you, South Australians, for that privilege that you have bestowed upon us.

Throughout the campaign, my greatest hope was that the election would return an Albanese Labor government so that we could continue all the work we started last term. But my second greatest hope during the election campaign was to find myself with a new local member of parliament. The newly elected member for Sturt, Ms Claire Clutterham MP, is the first Labor MP in 53 years to serve in that seat and the first woman ever to be the local representative in that role. The member for Sturt worked extraordinarily hard during that campaign. She will be a fantastic addition to the federal parliament. I know she will make a great contribution. I also acknowledge Mr James Stevens for his service over six years as the previous member for Sturt.

There were many volunteers from our movement who contributed to the history-making result in Sturt and I want to thank and acknowledge all of them, including my friend Jason Byrne, who made a remarkable contribution to that effort. But there were many, many people who did, and I acknowledge all of them, too.

I also want to thank the Australian Electoral Commission and acknowledge the role that they played in the 2025 election campaign. Our democracy is the envy of the world, and our Electoral Commission deserves so much credit for that. We are extremely lucky to live in a country where we can take for granted the fact that we will have fairly conducted election campaigns, free of corruption and interference, and the AEC are the custodians of that. The people who work for the AEC do extraordinary work, over very, very long hours and often in trying circumstances. I do want to acknowledge their work and their contribution in the conduct of our recent federal election.

We took many commitments to the Australian people this federal election, but I think it is fair to say that the most significant of those commitments we took was about our healthcare system—the future of Medicare, and how we choose to invest in health care, how we choose to prioritise health care, and especially how we choose to invest in and prioritise women's health. I've been advocating for greater investment in women's health since the start of my parliamentary career, because you simply do not have to look very far to see the instances where women's voices have gone unheard, where women have felt silenced, and where women have not received the support and care they need when it comes to their health care. I am deeply proud of the position we took to this election campaign—our investment of some $800 million in women's health, including new medicines on the PBS for the first time in decades; new contraceptive pills on the PBS for the first time in decades; new hormone replacement therapy on the PBS for the first time in decades. We're also making substantial investments in men's health, too, which I'll come to later in my speech.

But health care, I think, was the defining policy question in our election campaign and it will be the defining work of all of us as we continue our term. There are few things more important—really, is there anything more important?—to Australian families than their health and the health of the people they love. And we know that we need to improve primary care in this country. We need to improve and invest more in the Medicare system in this country.

We are the pride of the world when it comes to our healthcare system, but it was systematically undermined by the previous government's previous prime ministers—I can't remember how many there were. We need to turn that around and make much greater investments in our healthcare system. Women's health is a significant part of that.