CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS
Mr HOLZBERGER (Forde) (10:10): I rise to blow the cobwebs out a bit after the winter break, and it gives me a chance to reflect on where the Albanese Labor government sits not only in the history of Labor governments but in the history of Australia. I was reading the other day from when Paul Keating addressed the Press Club in 1995. He said: … Australian policy had been right through the eighties … different to the orthodox model of economic liberalisation the model adopted in a number of other countries and by our opponents.
It took the view— our policies took the view— that we could be competitive and still look after those on the margins. We could compete with the best in the region and the world, and yet maintain our egalitarian values and preserve our social cohesion. We are at a time in Australia where our egalitarian values are stressed and our social cohesion is stressed.
They are stressed because we have had 30 years of economic liberalisation, privatisation, economic rationalism and unfettered free trade that has left the communities that we represent, working class communities, in many ways devastated and in a lot of pain. When I look at what the contest in the next election is shaping up to be, I find a disconnect, particularly when looking at One Nation.
What I find, when I talk to One Nation voters and then I actually look at One Nation policies, is that people who might espouse support for One Nation are generally sick of the fact that we haven't been building public housing, investing in public energy and protecting our local industries. But, actually, when you look at One Nation and the people who are supporting One Nation—and it shouldn't really come as a surprise—they are about economic liberalisation on steroids.
The disconnect between the policies of One Nation and the people who are, I think, in many ways quite rightly disaffected with the economy, is really quite stark. I think it is going to be my job over the next year or so to really highlight those differences, because those differences are stark. It is only Labor governments that back in wage rises.
It is only Labor governments that protect Medicare. It is only Labor governments that are protecting our industries like our steel industry in Whyalla, our aluminium industry in Gladstone or our copper industry in Mount Isa. It is only Labor governments that actually are focused on changing the system for the people that we represent, for working class people, to give them an opportunity to get into the housing market, get into training and into a good job, and to have a good, decent retirement through superannuation and a supportive pension system.
The community is calling out for change, but it is only the Albanese Labor government, as it is always in the context of Labor government, that is providing that real change.