Ged Kearney
Cooper · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“I rise to inform the chamber of the opening of the 1st Preston Scout and Community Centre. This was a project that I was incredibly proud to attend and speak at alongside wonderful families and volunteers in my electorate of Cooper.”
“We're taking the next step towards a fairer, more sustainable system. The reality is that the current system makes it easier to buy your 10th home than your first, and that is not fair for young Australians. It's not fair for renters. It's not sustainable for the future of our country, and those opposite do not care.”
“Let me tell you the coalition likes to talk about taxpayers. But we on this side—Labor—talk about workers and people getting up early, finishing late, juggling bills, raising children, caring for family members and just doing their best to get ahead.”
“We are doubling maximum penalties to $100 million and providing almost $68 million to strengthen enforcement. Unlike those opposite, we match our words with action. The coalition spent the last parliament opposing sensible and responsible cost-of-living relief while taking higher taxes to the last election. Workers know this.”
“Those opposite want Australians to forget that when they were in government wages were deliberately kept low. Suddenly they're pretending they're the friends of workers, when they deliberately kept wages low. Productivity stagnated and living standards went backwards under them, and working people fell further and further behind.”
“Limiting negative gearing to new builds means these concessions will continue to be available to people who legitimately want to build wealth, but only where they are helping to build the homes that Australia needs. We're reforming capital gains tax.”
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“I'll never forget standing with directors, staff and families, making it clear just how important certainty and stability are for these crucial services that support our youngest Cooper residents. Last week as part of Early Learning Matters Week, I returned to Darebin Child Care and Kindergarten—not to protest but to celebrate with their director, Tina, and her team. It was moving to see the educators' pride in their work and the gratitude of families who rely on their care, and there was more to celebrate. At last these educators who have been undervalued for far too long will see a 15 per cent pay rise back paid, recognising the extraordinary difference they make every single day. This is about respect and dignity and about saying the work of caring for and educating our youngest citizens matters.”
“In October 2023, I stood with early childhood educators, kindergarten teachers, parents and community members against Darebin City Council's plans to cut community childcare centre leases to just two years—an ordeal that not only was costly but would've created instability for educators and for parents and their bubs. After our grassroots campaign, the council were forced to act, and I acknowledge Kat Theophanous, the state member for Northcote, and Nathan Lambert, the state member for Preston and Reservoir, for their hard work on this issue. Darebin Child Care and Kindergarten and 17 other community-run childcare centres and kindergartens fought and won five-year-plus-five-year leases.”
“This bill is about ensuring that no student's future is stolen from them by sexual violence. I'm deeply proud to support it. I commend the bill to the House.”
“That's why we're making record investments in education, housing, health and social services and we're increasing wages in female-dominant industries. Ending gender based violence will take every level of government, every institution and every community. Tackling economic inequality is vital to repairing the gender inequality that exists in our society. Right now, it is not good enough for victims-survivors to carry the voices of trauma for the rest of their lives alone, constantly telling them that their body and agency were taken from them, constantly interfering with their mental health, career and relationships. Every student deserves to feel safe. Every parent deserves to know their child is protected. Every victim-survivor deserves justice, dignity and support.”
“We must keep up with the times and respond to some of the terrible misinformation and hate that is being perpetrated online. We must catch harmful sexist attitudes even before our young men go to university. I know the Attorney-General, Minister Rowland, off the back of the incredible work of the previous minister, Mark Dreyfus, is strengthening our legal system so it's safer for victims-survivors and easier to navigate, because we know right now that 92 per cent of female victims-survivors of sexual assault committed by a male did not report their most recent incident to police. Ninety-two per cent did not report. This is not good enough. And we mustn't forget the social drivers of gender inequality, because while women are economically disadvantaged they are less likely to be able to flee abuse.”
“These bills are part of a much bigger story, because the Albanese Labor government is leading a whole-of-government effort to end gender based violence. It really will take all of us. Tanya Plibersek, the Minister for Social Services, and I are building on the incredible work done by the former social services minister, Minister Rishworth, including a record $4 billion investment into family, domestic and sexual violence prevention and response services. This includes prevention services that work with our men and boys to help them navigate their own trauma and unlearn sexist attitudes. This is important when it comes to our young men because we know sexist attitudes, what it means to be a man and sexist views about women are honestly going backwards right now. The research shows us it's getting worse.”
“It's so important that we have good male leadership and representation in our fight against gender based violence. This bill builds on his work establishing the National Student Ombudsman earlier this year, ensuring students finally have somewhere independent to turn to when universities fail them. The ombudsman has also ensured a national perspective and experience of what's going on across our universities and gives students a consistent complaints process. So, whether you're in Melbourne, Perth, Wodonga, Cairns—it doesn't matter where you are; you'll get the same quality of response and care. The ombudsman is making important contributions towards the wider fight to end gender based violence, and in my own patch of social services, too.”
“University is supposed to be time of learning new skills, making new friends and setting yourself up for life, and often this is not what ends up happening. The victims-survivors described a terribly inconsistent complaint process, a lack of materials on how to even make a complaint, a lack of education on consent and the lack of feedback when a complaint was made. One student described it this way: 'I'm sick of my friends being assaulted. I'm sick of begging to feel safe. I'm sick of feeling ignored.' To everyone who shared their own stories and experiences: thank you. I know how traumatic reliving your pain can be, but none of it is in vain. I also want to acknowledge the incredible of work of the Minister for Education, Jason Clare, and his leadership.”
“For the first time, there will be real oversight, real transparency and real consequences. This isn't something that's just happened overnight either. It has come from the incredible work of survivors, advocates and student unions who have pushed for this reform for years, often at great personal cost. There would be many in positions of power who wouldn't have wanted these changes—who would have been fearful that they'd be held accountable themselves. So I want to acknowledge the powerful advocacy of all those who fought for this change, including all the victims-survivors from the STOP Campaign, from End Rape on Campus and from Fair Agenda. I know that last term, when they met with Minister Clare, they described their experiences on university campuses as deeply traumatic.”
“So we have this bill, the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025, and this bill is about trying to change this culture. It's a huge task, but this is a great moment, because this establishes a new, standalone regulatory framework to prevent and respond to gender based violence in higher education. It gives the Minister for Education the power to set a binding national code. A code will require universities to make campuses, workplaces and accommodation safe and respectful; to actively prevent gender based violence, not just respond to it; to support survivors with trauma informed care; and to hold leaders—vice-chancellors and senior executives—personally accountable for compliance.”
“When she resisted, he pinned her against the wall, put his hand up her dress, and, when she fought back, he chased her, kicking at her door and screaming abuse. What happened next? Nothing. None of the other boys responded. Not even the other girls came to her aid. No-one knew what to do. There was no action from the university, and there were no social consequences for him. Instead, she was left isolated and treated as the problem. This is the culture that we are fighting to end. This is the culture that we must end—a culture where violence is normalised and survivors are penalised. And they're penalised whether or not they choose to speak up, because, frankly, women who have been abused are treated as pariahs, and we have a culture where women who react, 'ruin the fun' or insult perpetrators are treated very negatively.”
“We now know that our Indigenous students are at a significantly higher risk of experiencing sexual assault at university too—so too are lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and non-binary students. Students with disability and our international students and students from migrant and refugee backgrounds are all at greater risk. Most of us in this building will know someone who falls into one of these statistics. For me, it's Matilda, a young woman from my electorate. After a university ball one year, she returned to student accommodation with her friends, where, in front of others, a young man repeatedly groped her. Each time she said 'stop'. Each time no-one intervened. No-one came to her help.”
“I would find myself being one of those people looking at what they were wearing—are their skirts too short; are their necklines too plunging—and telling them to stick together, to not go on the streets alone, to not leave a place alone, to call me if they couldn't get a taxi. I was teaching my girls the way to behave and to act in society, out of my fear for them. I especially feared when they were at university. I fear for every young woman, really, because the numbers are stark. Right now, one in six students experiences sexual harassment at university; one in 20 are sexually assaulted. Almost half don't know how to report it, and only one in two students felt like they were heard when they did make a complaint.”
“And of course too many women are met with, 'Well, what are you going to do? You don't want to ruin his career, do you?' or, worse, lose your own job for speaking up, because victim-survivors are left to live with lifelong consequences and a trauma that could shape their career, their relationships and their mental health forever. I know many women really struggle to connect with their own body in the aftermath, too, saying that it doesn't feel like their own anymore. Many struggle with feelings of shame and isolation that never really truly leave. Every time my three daughters would go out, I would fear for them.”
“We were always ready to get into a fight for one another and we were always ready to be a social buffer to a man making unwanted advances, because, as a woman, you couldn't just say no; that would hurt a man's ego. And you never know how a man with a hurt ego will react. Will he become aggressive? Will he become abusive? Will he simply walk away and take no as an answer? As girls, we knew we had to defend each other, because we didn't know what our institutions would do. Would they believe us? It certainly felt like they wouldn't, if your perpetrator was someone you'd previously had an intimate relationship with. And we all knew, of course, we'd be asked, 'What were you wearing?' or, 'How much did you drink?' or we'd be accused of leading a man on and getting ourselves into these situations.”
“As I got older and started going out and started going to university, for me, too, the harassment began to feel, well, just normal—'That's life. Just put up with it.' And this isn't a good thing. Women should feel shocked when facing harassment. It should feel strange, like something we've never heard of before. Instead, I remember, as a young woman, always being prepared, and moving in packs with the sisterhood. And this is how most young women live. We'd always have a friend accompany us to the bathroom. We'd have code words or looks to get a friend to intervene, or we'd hold hands over each other's drinks, or we'd have sleepovers, because no-one was allowed to go home alone.”
“The truth of the matter is that most women you know will have experienced sexual harassment, attempted assault or assault at some point, because, unfortunately, rape culture is deeply embedded in many parts of our society. I remember the first time, as a younger woman, I experienced sexual harassment. I felt deeply threatened and shocked. It makes me nervous even to stand here and talk about it now, because there's still a great deal of stigma associated with having been sexually assaulted. A man ran his hand up my skirt as I served him his meal in a restaurant that I was working in as a waitress. I was told, when I reported it, that working in hospitality, as I did, just goes hand in hand with this type of thing.”
“I rise proudly today to speak on the Universities Accord (National Higher Education Code to Prevent and Respond to Gender-based Violence) Bill 2025. This is a bill that should have been introduced long ago, because, for too many years, female students have endured violence, harassment and abuse on our campuses, while many governments and institutions looked away. For too long, survivors have been left unsupported, unheard and disbelieved. So I stand here not only in support of this bill but in recognition of the generations of students, advocates and survivors who've fought relentlessly to make this moment possible. I also stand here as a woman who has experienced sexual harassment.”
“Ours is a vision based on a fairer Australia for all. We understand the difference a few dollars can make each week. I certainly know the difference a few extra dollars made for me when I was a nurse raising my kids. This bill is for our nurses pulling late shifts and night shifts and for young baristas studying during the week, relying on weekend rates just to get by. It's for aged-care workers who go above and beyond to ensure the best possible care at all times. This bill is for every worker who has ever missed a Christmas, a birthday, eight hours of sleep and every precious moment with a loved one. When we protect penalty rates, we protect people and we ensure dignity. I commend this bill to the House.”
“They backed the business lobbyists without compromise or question. The truth is that the Liberal Party has never believed in fair compensation for working people. In recent years, they opposed paid family and domestic violence leave, multi-employer bargaining and the right to disconnect. They also attempted infamously during the election to remove the ability to work from home. They talk about aspiration but for whom—whose aspiration? It's certainly not working people. This bill is part of a broader vision for our country, a vision that the Labor government is proud to fight for every single day. This builds on work we've already done, including increasing the minimum wage, stronger laws to close the gender pay gap and increased pay for care economy workers—historic investment in secure Australian jobs.”
“If employers want to negotiate higher pay for their workers in exchange for a higher base rate, for example, they are still free to do that through the Fair Work Commission and through bargaining, alongside their workers and with the unions, and they must do that and still meet a better off overall test. There are no tricks and no loopholes now, and, most importantly, there will be less division of power. You don't have to be a lifelong unionist to know that divided we beg, united we bargain. Before those opposite try to call me a radical again, I want to emphasise that this bill still allows freedom of negotiation between employers and employees; it just balances the power when it happens. The bill is sensible and fair. And where is the coalition on this bill? They voted against restoring penalty rates in the last parliament.”
“That's a lot of money when you're on a low wage to start with—no penalty rates, no overtime and no breaks, just more profits for the top and less dignity for the people who make those profits possible. So gutting penalty rates is not a hypothetical. It is happening, and the bill is a line in the sand. More specifically, this bill enshrines protections for penalty rates and overtime entitlements in the Fair Work Act, making it harder for big business and employer groups to strip them away through award reviews. We are ensuring that penalty rates and overtime pay are considered minimum standards.”
“In fact, a longstanding trope was that weekends no longer existed, that everybody worked 24/7 now, that weekends were not a thing anymore and that workers didn't need to be compensated for it. But, as I said then and will say now, the day they play the rugby league grand final on a Tuesday morning is the day you can tell me there's no such thing as a weekend. The world still runs on a weekly rhythm, and an absolute majority of workers still work Monday to Friday. Yet the cuts keep coming. I read in the Australian a few months ago that the Australian Industry Group was pushing to gut the Clerks—Private Sector Award, and, if they got their way, workers in admin, banking and finance, many of them young women, could lose up to $16,000 a year.”
“Back in 2015, when I was president of the ACTU, and over that whole period that I was in the trade union movement, we saw employer after employer front the Fair Work Commission begging for cuts. They argued that they needed flexibility and efficiency, but really that was another word for cheaper labour. I used to joke with my members that 'flexibility' was really the F-word. I remember that the restaurant and catering association argued to abolish loadings, and their CEO famously said, 'Well, unions can't mount this argument around going to church'—implying that nobody actually went to church anymore and that weekends were meaningless, as though time with your kids, your friends and the rest of your community were irrelevant.”
“I looked at that journalist, who was a very senior journalist, and I thought to myself, 'I wonder how much you actually earn a year.' The worker who was getting nearly $100 an hour on possibly one single day of the year—I can't even remember; it might have been for working New Year's Day—would earn, at that time, around $30,000 a year. These are not highly paid people. I said to the journalist, 'I bet you get paid nearly triple that much, and nobody asks you how we justify your salary.' The Albanese Labor government believes in fairness and opportunity, and that's exactly what this bill is about. However, fighting to protect penalty rates is not a mere value statement of the Labor government; it's a very real and constant threat.”
“They're in our hospitals, aged-care centres, fast food restaurants, supermarkets, pubs, schools and emergency services. Often their employment is casual, insecure and unreliable. And we know all too well who is more likely to be in casual and insecure work—it's women and those with caring responsibilities and our young people. I don't believe that anyone who is trying to balance caring for their babies or an ageing parent with work should lose fair compensation. And I don't believe that our young people, balancing TAFE or university with work, should lose fair compensation either. When I was ACTU president, I was asked by a journalist in a public forum how I could possibly justify nearly $100 an hour for a shift worker.”
“It does terrible things to your circadian rhythms, not to mention your mental health. But I did that for about four or five years. It got us through some really terrible times. I can certainly tell you that no-one is sacrificing that much of their life for a luxury bag or watch. You see, despite what any unscrupulous employer may tell you, penalty rates are no luxury. For millions of Australians, penalty rates are compensation for missing out on those cherished moments and milestones of life, and for many Australians penalty rates are a survival fund, determining whether someone has enough to eat, enough to be housed and enough to pay their bills. That is because often our penalty rate workers are some of the lowest paid in this country. They're our cleaners, our retail and hospitality workers and our care economy workers.”
“So, with two young babies and with interest rates soaring to around 18 per cent—if anyone can remember when that happened—we were in real dire financial straits. I decided to work permanent night shift, because I knew that the penalty rates would get us over the line. I worked seven nights on and seven nights off. Anyone who has had to do this type of night-time rotation will know it is gruelling. You come home in the morning. I would get the kids ready for daycare. I'd give them their breakfast and get them dressed. My husband would well and truly have been gone by the time that happened. I'd get them to child care. I'd fall into bed and always manage about four hours or, if I was lucky, five hours of sleep before I had to get up and pick them up again. This was really hard.”
“As a nurse, as a retail worker and as a hospitality worker over my life, I know what it means to miss birthdays, barbecues, bedtime stories, bath time and precious moments with your kids and your family because your shift ends when everyone else's day begins. I know what it's like to work during those silent hours of night, when your only friends are the owls, the bats or anyone coming home from Revolver! In the aftermath of all those odd hours resides a consistent state of jetlag too. When I was a young mum with baby twins, my husband and I bought our first house. It was in 1987. He was an apprentice chef, earning, at the time, about $180 a week, which wasn't a great deal of money, even back then.”
“I rise today to commend not just a piece of legislation but a promise—a promise that has been made to the Australian people, to our workers. It's a promise to introduce the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025, a fight that many of us, including you, Madam Deputy Speaker Chesters, have been waging for years. I stood with this struggle wearing many hats—as assistant minister in the Albanese Labor government, as the President of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, as the secretary of the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation and, most importantly, as a shift worker myself.”
“She mentored many women, offering them her wisdom, her guidance and her friendship. She was someone who genuinely cared about people, their stories, their struggles and their successes. To her family, friends, colleagues and all those whose lives she touched I offer my heartfelt condolences. It's difficult to lose someone of such importance, but we can take comfort in the knowledge that her legacy will continue to shape our nation for the better. Rosemary Crowley's name will be remembered not only as a pioneer in Australian politics but also as a powerful force for change. Her legacy is embedded in the very fabric of our party, in the policies we champion and in the progress we continue to fight for every day. May she rest in peace knowing that her work was not in vain but has made great change.”
“I'm incredibly proud to be part of a Labor Party that now better reflects the diversity of our society and that actively works to promote women's leadership, but I acknowledge that we still have a long way to go for accurate representation, including of people from diverse cultural backgrounds, those from the LGBTIQA+ community and people with a disability. EMILY's List has stood as an example for newer movements within Labor, including Rainbow Labor, multicultural Labor networks and Labor disability action networks. I can't wait to see what they achieve. Rosemary has changed Labor and Australia for the better forever. But, beyond her achievements, I think it's also important to remember that Rosemary was more than just her career discography. Above all, she was a deeply compassionate and generous person.”
“Just recently the Albanese government announced a historic women's health package: an investment of over half a billion dollars to improve healthcare access and outcomes for women across the nation. From funding for endometriosis and pelvic pain treatment to more affordable reproductive and menopause medications, this package will change the lives of countless women. We believe no-one should miss out on health care because of the size of their wallet or because of their sex. This is a core value and focus not just for me but now for the whole Labor Party. Once again I say that, if you have more women in the room, your priorities change.”
“She was integral in the push for the party's commitment to having women preselected for 35 per cent of winnable seats by 2002. This was a bold, ambitious target at the time, and Rosemary was one of the most passionate advocates for seeing it realised. I believe this target is part of the reason that I am speaking with you today. Rosemary's work laid the foundation for the incredible progress we've seen within the Labor Party over the past few decades with regard to women. Very proudly, I can say that we're now the first party in Australia to achieve a majority female government, with women making up over 50 per cent of our parliamentary caucus. This is not just a symbolic achievement. It has real, tangible impacts on the way we govern and the issues we prioritise. Rosemary's legacy can be seen in so many of the decisions we make today.”
“This is an understanding that is exemplified when you have more female voices in the room. It was not only her policy achievements that made Rosemary such an extraordinary leader. Rosemary was one of the founding members of EMILY's List Australia, an organisation that has been instrumental in promoting progressive women's voices in our parliaments. Her work with EMILY's List was not just about getting women elected. It was about making sure that women's issues were front and centre in our political debates and decision-making. EMILY's List is the reason abortion is legal across Australia. It's the reason we have paid parental leave and the reason we've had our first female prime minister, Julia Gillard. With EMILY's List, Rosemary played a key role in the Australian Labor Party's historic adoption of affirmative action measures in 1994.”
“Her contributions were not just about policy and politics; they were about people—something that we all should endeavour towards. She knew that true leadership required empathy, understanding and a commitment to uplifting those who were most vulnerable. As a Senator in the Hawke-Keating governments, she helped deliver instrumental changes to family payments, maternity allowances, disability support programs, carers' pensions, student assistance and youth training allowances. These initiatives have poured whole generations out of poverty, supported the first person in the family to go to university and enabled women, people with disability and pensioners to live with dignity. I think what many women empathise with is that you cannot have self-determination or autonomy without financial freedom.”
“There was a lot of ill health, unemployment, lack of transport, and politics seemed the arena where decisions could be made to try to solve these problems.' Like Rosemary, I worked in health care and as a nurse for two decades. I saw how class and poverty were strongly interlinked with poorer health outcomes. Rosemary's passion for fighting the implications of class on health is something that's always inspired and resonated with me. I have tried to carry on this fight throughout my time in parliament and as the Assistant Minister for Health and Aged Care and the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health. In her own time in this building, Rosemary served as Minister for Family Services from 1993 to 1996. During this time, she fought relentlessly to improve the lives of Australian families, particularly women and children.”
“I very much enjoyed hearing my previous colleagues' recollections of how she gained success in that endeavour. She was one of the first two female Labor senators for South Australia. Her election to the Senate was not just a personal achievement but a powerful statement in a time when women's voices in politics were still very much the exception rather than the rule. From the outset, Rosemary carried with her a fierce determination to make sure that women's perspectives were not just heard but acted upon, particularly when it came to health care and social welfare. Rosemary's prior experience in health care and community care deeply influenced her time in parliament. In reflection on her political put career, she said: 'My medical work was very much highlighting ill health that no individual doctor could solve.”
“In 1969 Rosemary and James returned to Australia, this time to Adelaide, where she lived with their three sons, Stephen, Vincent and Diarmuid. In Adelaide Rosemary worked at children's hospitals as a parent education counsellor, as a lecturer on childbirth and as a foundation member of the South Australian Mental Health Review Tribunal. Rosemary's experience at Berkeley was matched with a period of significant political and social movement in Australia. Notably for Rosemary, it was the election, leadership and then dismissal by the Crown of Gough Whitlam, one of our most momentous and progressive leaders. It was during this period that Rosemary joined the Australian Labor Party. By 1983 Rosemary was on the Labor ballot and won a spot in the Senate for South Australia.”
“Rosemary's Roman Catholic upbringing and education at Kilmaire Brigidine Convent in Hawthorn instilled a passion for social justice and a vocation for community service within her. She was a bright young girl in a period that did not value girls' education. Despite this, she obtained a Commonwealth scholarship to complete a medical degree at the University of Melbourne. In her early years, Rosemary worked as a resident medical officer and as a pathologist. In 1964 Rosemary married James Raymond Crowley, and they moved to Berkeley, California. During this period, Berkeley was a hub of political activism, from the civil rights movement to the anti Vietnam War movement and the beginnings of the women's movement. I imagine being witness to it all left a deep impression on Rosemary.”
“I rise today to offer my deepest condolences and to honour the life of a truly remarkable woman, former senator Rosemary Crowley. Rosemary was a trailblazer, a dedicated advocate for women's rights and a tireless champion for justice and equality. Her passing marks the end of an era, but her legacy continues to inspire us all, including myself and, I'm sure, many generations to come. Rosemary was born in Melbourne on 30 July 1938, which was a tumultuous period to spend some of your most pivotal early years. Like me, Rosemary was from a large Catholic family; hers had six children. Her mother, Monica, kept a busy home humming, while her father, Everard Willis, worked as an accountant.”
“Their goodwill to continue to come to this house, to continue to work with the Australian people and to continue to work with the government to do more to repair the past wrongs is extremely generous. We want to do more, we will do more and we must do more.”
“Today we acknowledge that progress has been achieved, mostly led by First Nations Australians, and that there is continuing work that must be done. On National Sorry Day I want to add my voice to the millions of others and say, on behalf of our government and ancestors, I am deeply, deeply sorry. I acknowledge that, while no words will ever be enough to rectify the pain that has been caused, we must always endeavour to mend the pain in any way possible—not just through words but through actions too. I thank everyone who fought for the national apology, many who are from the stolen generations themselves and who are still with us here today. We heard a number of their testimonies this morning at the breakfast here in this house. It was extremely moving.”
“When First Nations women lead their own maternal care, we see better health outcomes. In fact, we've seen evidence that birthing on country leads to increased attendance at prenatal check-ups, higher rates of smoking cessation, the reduced likelihood of preterm births and greater rates of exclusive breastfeeding upon hospital discharge. The practice of forcing women to leave community security and home, often for environments that have felt unsafe, is disempowering and wrong. We also know that hospitals, like many other government run facilities, were a place where babies were stolen. It will take generations for our nation to rebuild that trust. It the responsibility of all of us to ensure First Nations women have choice and control over their health care and that culturally safe options are available.”
“From July 2024 we were proud to invest an initial $300 million to implement rolling funding agreements to provide certainty and flexibility for ACCHOs, bringing the total ACCHO investment under the Indigenous Australians' Health Program to $2.7 billion. What we know now that our forefathers did not acknowledge is that First Nations people are more likely to achieve better health outcomes when they receive health care from First Nations led organisations rather than from non-First-Nations-led organisations. Take, for instance, birthing on country. For thousands of years First Nations women have given birth on country, surrounded by culture, knowledge and community. Birthing on country is not just a health practice; it's a sacred connection to land, ancestors and identity for many.”
“So one of the areas I'm particularly proud of is providing community controlled health care in the communities where people live and they can stay with their families. We are particularly proud of strengthening the community controlled sector. When the Albanese Labor government came into office we committed to strengthening the community controlled sector. We know that we get better outcomes when we work in genuine partnership with the people on the ground who know their communities so well. One of the key pieces of feedback we received from the sector was the need for long-term, sustainable and flexible funding to ensure that ACCHOs can focus on their core business of delivering culturally appropriate high-quality care to First Nations people across the country.”
“It's why I've travelled across the country to meet with communities from Brisbane to Perth, Badu Island to Naarm and the Torres Strait to Adelaide. I had the great privilege of travelling to the Torres Strait, to Badu Island, where we announced that we would have four dialysis chairs there for that community. We had an amazing meeting. This is a tiny island, with 2,000 to 4,000 people, very close to Papua New Guinea, very remote and in dire need of dialysis chairs. Without those chairs, the people on Badu Island have to go to Thursday Island for treatment. Many have to say goodbye to their communities because they know that they will not return. It's a very sad thing when they have to leave the island simply to get health care.”
“Our annual report and implementation plan show the progress made across the government and detail our plan in the priority areas of economic empowerment, cost of living, mental health and wellbeing, and giving our children the best start in life, health, education and housing. In 2024, I had the immense honour of being appointed the Assistant Minister for Indigenous Health. It's not a role that I take lightly. I'm absolutely honoured to continue the work that Minister McCarthy undertook in this portfolio, and I'm privileged to continue to work with her in her new role as the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, an important portfolio. We also thank Linda Burney for all her incredible work in that portfolio. From the get-go, my approach to this role has been listening to First Nations people.”
“It's an agreement that not only prioritises the government's deep partnership with Indigenous Australians and their organisations through the Coalition of Peaks but is one for all Australians, all political parties, all communities, all businesses and all schools. I thank the First Nations leaders who are working with the government on closing the gap. I particularly acknowledge the amazing Pat Turner, the lead convener and co-chair of the Joint Council on Closing the Gap. We know that, when policies and programs are created and delivered in partnership, when the community controlled sector is strengthened, when mainstream institutions are transformed and when data and information are shared with community, we see real positive changes in the lives of First Nations Australians. This is the key for transformation and for closing the gap.”
“At this morning's Sorry Day breakfast, the Prime Minister reflected on how, when we first apologised for the atrocities inflicted upon our First Nations people, we collectively became a better country, a country ready to take the next step to moving forward. Just as we acknowledged that history in 2008, today we commit to being a better country for now and into the future. Earlier this week, the Minister for Indigenous Australians, Senator Malarndirri McCarthy, tabled the C losing the gap annual report and implementation plan. As the minister said, and as our Prime Minister reiterated, the National Agreement on Closing the Gap is a landmark partnership. It brings together all levels of Australian governments and the Coalition of Peaks.”