Karen Grogan (SA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In this last sitting week, I thought I would take a moment to reflect on the year that was. It has been an incredible year, particularly for us on this side of the chamber. We saw the population of this country reject the divisive, aggressive and unnecessary policies of the coalition and support a government which was proven, over its first term, to support them. I was particularly proud of the result we had in South Australia, my home state, where we welcomed the amazing Senator Charlotte Walker to our caucus. It was excellent to have her join me and Senator Marielle Smith, with the three of us elected at this most recent election. We also retained all our lower house seats in South Australia and added the excellent Claire Clutterham, the member for Sturt, to our ranks in the other place.

All of our caucus members, not just the amazing ones in South Australia but across the whole country, have hit the ground running. They are bringing a diversity, a richness and a strength to our caucus and to this place in terms of representing the people of Australia. Throughout the election campaign, I had the pleasure of continuing to engage, and, in being re-elected, I now get another six years of continuing to engage, with the good people of the seat of Grey, which is my duty electorate.

Engaging with those communities is so rewarding. Their experience is quite different to the metro areas, and we know, as a country, we have a very strong saturation of people in our metro areas. In South Australia, that's particularly pointed. When we look at the policies we roll out and the way that governments prioritise what they're going to do, it impacts most significantly on those people in the more regional areas, where the population is sparser and where the delivery of services can be so much harder. In these regional areas, seeing the rollout of an urgent care clinic or a Medicare mental health centre or seeing a GP service jumping to sign up to bulk-billing really, really matters to those people. They are a result of the historic investment that our government, the Albanese Labor government, has made into health services—not to mention the reduction in their PBS scripts and all the other great developments that we've seen. We've seen a lot of expansion in our hospitals and a lot of capacity worked on there, which is, like I say, really important in those regional areas.

Then there's also the 20 per cent reduction to student debt. That's enormous. The number of students I've met who've benefited from our approach to the university sector and who've benefited from free TAFE—there are 24,000 students who have benefited from free TAFE in South Australia alone. Students in Port Lincoln that I talk to who have spent their whole lives wanting to be nurses now have the chance. Young people I talk to who want to get into a trade or who want to go and work on submarines out at Osborne now have these opportunities across the board to undertake things that they couldn't previously afford. To see that opportunity play out is so delightful and so encouraging, and it really makes me so proud to be standing here as a member of the Albanese Labor government.

We've seen challenges as well, from the algal bloom to drought. These things have really impacted our communities. I was particularly keen to see the changes we've made in terms of the way we're working hand in hand with the Malinauskas government for a $30 million boost to the Farm Business Resilience Program and the Regional Drought Resilience Planning Program, and a really important additional $1 billion into the Regional Investment Corporation so that we can ensure that farmers can continue to access concessional lending, which is so important to them. Our regional areas really are the heart and soul of our communities. To see how they are benefiting from the Albanese Labor government's policies is excellent. (Time expired)