ADJOURNMENT

Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (19:40): Australians don't need more noise, more negativity or more slogans; they need a government that understands the pressure that households are under and that is prepared to do the hard work of delivering real change. That's exactly what the Albanese Labor government is doing each and every day. Labor is getting on with the job by cutting taxes, lifting wages, strengthening Medicare, making medicines cheaper, investing in homes, expanding paid parental leave, delivering fee-free TAFE, improving paid prac and building a fairer tax system for the future.

From 1 July, every Australian taxpayer received another tax cut as part of Labor's plan to deliver five tax cuts and ensure working people keep more of what they earn. Labor's combined tax cuts mean an average worker receives about $2,800 a year, which makes them better off. That's not a talking point; that is money back in the pockets of workers and parents.

What we've also done is invest to ensure that we have more health professionals by extending paid prac. That's what this government is about. We're about delivering.

We have been listening to the community. We hear you and we stand with you. We're also making sure housing is not a dream in the distant future for many of our young people.

It doesn't matter whether you're a young person, middle aged or whatever. It's your first home. You should be given the opportunity to own your own home.

Labor is investing in housing, and we're investing more money than any other government. We're doing that because we believe Australians deserve those opportunities, in particular, our young people getting into their first home. We've done more to support tradies.

We want to build more homes, but the former government—they don't like to hear this—did nothing to invest in getting trade skills up in this country. We have done that. Not only have we invested in urgent care clinics and built on Medicare but we have seen the results of that investment when it comes to greater access to GPs.

We have invested in things that make a real difference to Australians, no matter where they live, as long as they've got their Medicare card. We've improved access to GPs, we've supported our GPs and we're supporting the next generation of health professionals. In my home state of Tasmania to do physiotherapy you used to have to go to either Sydney or Adelaide.

Now you can study it in Launceston. Speech pathology wasn't available in Tasmania. Now, my daughter is studying it.

Why? Because we need those services in Tasmania, as we do right around the country. We don't have slogans; we actually deliver real change for Australians when they need it, just like we did when we made sure medicines were more affordable.

When things are tough, and I know this, families have to make a decision: do they make sure they have money for food for their kids' school lunches and their school shoes—or does Mum go without her medication because they can't afford it? That's what Labor governments do. They actually deliver to make sure families get the help that they need.

We backed in paid parental leave and expanded it to 26 weeks while ensuring that superannuation is paid on that. We're supporting women, and part of the reason that we're doing all of this is that we, on this side, value women. We value their contribution in our communities and we value them in public life, in state parliaments, in local governments and in this place, where they belong.

We do have an influence over policy. We are doing all this instead of just talking about it, unlike the contribution earlier by Senator Colbeck. They talk the big talk in Tasmania.

The Tasmanian state Liberal government talks about being open for business investment and being around to support workers. We have seen 240 jobs leave Bell Bay. We have lost 42 jobs from Boag's Brewery, which is leaving the state—and that's a great shame.

That is all under the Liberal Premier of Tasmania. We've seen two new ships, the two new Spirits, being ordered and being built. They have blown out the budget, and that's why the Tasmanian economy is stuffed.

On top of that, they didn't even build new berthing facilities. The ships are too big for the current one. That's the incompetence they want to avoid.

(Time expired)