Louise Miller-Frost
Boothby · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“This has been a big week in parliament and a big week for delivery by the Albanese Labor government. The Solar Saver program started—three hours of power in the middle of the day. We expanded paid parental leave to a full six months. We opened the National Environmental Protection Agency and we opened a new veteran wellbeing agency.”
“More recently, we announced that we will strengthen consumer protections for those on Support at Home by empowering the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission to be able to order refunds for overcharged services and to be able to report publicly on investigations and enforcement actions; by producing each quarter a national summary of Su…”
“The demographics are not in our favour. Next year, 90,000 additional Australians will turn 80; 15 years ago that number was 15,000. This has an impact on the service offerings we need to provide, specifically in aged care and health.”
“While we listen to those opposite try to throw blame around and cynically, desperately, try to claw back some votes, we should turn to an independent arbiter as to why the aged-care system is where it is right now.”
“The government's plan to expand and improve aged-care services in Australia will also mean an expansion of end-of-life pathway, providing dignified care to older Australians in their final months.”
“We are confronted with this reality and we are confronting the reality with a plan—a plan that will ensure that every older Australian can get affordable and timely access to the quality care they need and deserve, and a plan that will improve and expand the system to make it fit for purpose and sustainable well into the foreseeable futur…”
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“However, the bill does not alter enterprise bargaining outcomes, award flexibility provisions under section 144 or offsetting mechanisms agreed under enterprise agreements providing they pass the better off overall test and do not unjustly erode loadings. The explanatory memorandum confirms the bill is consistent with Australian's international human rights obligations, including the right to fair and just work conditions and the right to health and leisure. By reinforcing the modern award safety net, the legislation supports just remuneration and rest entitlements for people working non-standard hours. I started this speech saying that the concept of a fair day's pay for a fair day's work should be uncontroversial and that people who work irregular, unsocial and long hours should be compensated for it.”
“The bill is designed to be simple, fair and workable, providing clarity without additional complexity. It discourages improper award variations by limiting the commission's power to vary awards to reduce penalty rates or overtime rates. Proposed variations that result in lower take-home pay even if disguised via offset provisions must be refused. The changes will apply to any applications to make, vary or revoke a modern award on or after the commencement of the bill regardless of whether those applications were lodged before or after the commencement, but the bill will not apply retrospectively.”
“We're talking about award-reliant employees working in hospitality, retail, health, aged care, transport, clerical sectors and more, and we're often talking about vulnerable, low-paid workers. The people working in these sectors are often part-time and casual staff, workers under the age of 35 and often women. Their penalty rates are not luxury bonuses; they are lifelines. They need them. Losing these entitlements would amount to thousands of dollars lost annually, often off a low salary base. So this bill goes directly to protecting the rights and the pay cheques of those more vulnerable groups. By legislating protection, the bill delivers certainty for both workers and small-business owners, allowing long-term planning and avoiding destabilising award changes that undermine consumer confidence.”
“Employers in the retail, clerical and banking sectors currently have submissions active before the Fair Work Commission to trade away the penalty rates of lower paid workers in favour of increased base pay. While a pay rise might sound appealing, these proposals would leave many employees financially worse off, depending on their roster patterns. This bill closes that loophole. These entitlements are an essential part of the pay structure for workers in these sectors, where work often occurs outside the standard nine-to-five hours. These are hardworking Australians who keep the country running on weekends, on public holidays, on late nights and through shiftwork. They deserve a system that fairly compensates them for this work.”
“I chose to do shiftwork because it enabled me to earn a sufficient income to live while I completed tertiary education. Penalty rates were a significant part of my wage—not a bonus but fair compensation. I loved my job and I loved being able to afford to study, but working unsociable hours does have a significant impact on your life—your family life and your social life—and, we now know, also on your health. So this bill should be uncontroversial, and really it is surprising it should even be required, but apparently we need to legislate that right to penalty rates and overtime rates, even in the tight labour market we are experiencing in Australia. Currently, penalty rates and overtime rates in modern awards can be rolled up into a single rate of pay, leaving some employees worse off.”
“This bill, the Fair Work Amendment (Protecting Penalty and Overtime Rates) Bill 2025, continues the Albanese government's commitment to delivering fair pay and decent conditions for Australian workers, and it delivers on our election commitment to protect the entitlements of around 2.6 million award-reliant employees working in hospitality, retail, health, aged care, transport and clerical sectors, many of whom rely on weekend, holiday, overnight or overtime penalty rates to make ends meet. I was one of those people who relied on penalty rates. I spent much of my 20s working the night shift in health services. I worked four hours on Thursday night; eight hours on Friday, Saturday and Sunday nights; and four hours on Monday night. I worked every public holiday, including Christmas and Easter.”
“Australians expect to be paid a fair day's pay for a fair day's work. That's a principle that should be uncontroversial. It's how we as a community share around the benefits of economic activity. We harness our shared efforts for the betterment of the Australian community. If that day's work happens to occur at fairly unsociable hours—early morning starts, evenings, overnights, weekends, public holidays—then your compensation should take account of that additional ask and the impact it has on normal life, sleep patterns, family life, social life and health. If your fair day's work includes overtime, extra hours, then that should be compensated as well.”
“The new Warradale post office has a 24/7 parcel locker service so your parcel is safe and secure and also available for collection at your convenience. I heard from many locals, particularly older residents, who very much valued the ability to pay a hard-copy bill in cash to a person behind the counter and receive a hard-copy receipt. For people who are not confident with IT and are worried about being scammed, this is a really great service. Many thanks to the previous minister for communications and the new minister for hearing my community and providing this important new facility.”
“My community campaigned hard to get a new post office after the closure of one at the Westfield Marion shopping centre. Its location near a major transport hub and a major shopping precinct made it a very busy and important local service, so I was thrilled to open a new post office last month, across the road on Morphett Road at Warradale. Post offices provide really important services for local communities. While we may now send and receive fewer letters, there are many other vital services that post offices provide. The growth of online shopping has meant the growing importance of parcel delivery. The city of Marion recorded a seven per cent year-on-year increase in online shopping volumes in 2024, compared to South Australia at 4.9 per cent and two per cent nationally. We love to shop.”
“The Flinders Health2Go clinic, on which this model is built, has already reduced the outpatient waiting lists for the ophthalmology clinic from four years to four months. All of those people on the waiting list who've been seen quickly now know that, if there's nothing wrong, they can stop worrying. Or, if there is something wrong, they can actually get fast-tracked back in and see the specialist quickly. With the growing and ageing population of southern Adelaide, this is a fantastic step forward into the health care of the future while, at the same, working on solving our health workforce issues.”
“I'm really proud that the Albanese Labor government is partnering with Flinders University in my electorate on an exciting new project that will deliver 1,300 new nurses and allied health workers every year. It will also deliver an additional 10,000 allied health appointments that will be either free or low cost, via student led clinics, giving the students a really good-quality placement for their practicals. These allied health appointments will also work in with the nearby Flinders Medical Centre, to reduce their patient waiting lists, and work with older people who are inpatients and may have recovered from whatever it was that brought them into hospital but need reconditioning or strengthening in order to be able to return home.”
“I'll end where I began—with thanks and gratitude for the people of Boothby, the volunteers of my campaign, the staff in my office who diligently serve the people of Boothby, my colleagues in the chamber and the cabinet, and the Prime Minister, for the leadership and for not shying away from these big, sticky problems like reconciliation and Indigenous disadvantage, climate change, a fair go for all, gender, equity, health, education, the skill shortage and housing. Labor is the party to make the big changes that make everyone's lives better. Labor is the party of Medicare, affordable tertiary education, superannuation and the NDIS, and we're the party that will tackle the new generation of changes needed to deliver a better future for all Australians. Ngaityalya.”
“My friends in the community housing sector are ecstatic about the Housing Australia Future Fund, which was under threat from those opposite in the last election. The HAFF allows community housing to have certainty to build large-scale affordable housing this year while also getting approval for another developer to start next year and access the land to start a development plan for yet another development in following years. Only with this steady pipeline of social and affordable housing will we be able to turn around this housing shortage which is making finding a rental property, let alone a property to purchase, so difficult for the next generation.”
“In this country, we have a 40-year backlog of social and affordable housing. Only this government has, pardon the pun, concrete plans to address the shortage. We are rolling out $43 billion in housing initiatives, and it's been an absolute pleasure to be at sod-turning and topping-off ceremonies, to visit construction sites and see the progress and, most excitingly, to be at the opening of completed housing developments, talking to the new tenants about how life changing it is to have a secure basis for them and their families. Make no mistake: this 40-year backlog was never going to be fixed in the last three years. It takes a while to build houses on scale, or an apartment block, but we are well on the way.”
“Along with paid prac payments for nursing, midwifery, social work and teaching students and the $10,000 completion payments for apprentices in building trades, this builds on our commitment to ease cost-of-living pressures on young people and help them build the skills they need for a bright future in high-paying, secure jobs—and also build our skilled workforce in Australia. Every business I speak to tells me about the shortage of skilled workers and how it's limiting their productivity and activity. Every young person I speak to talks about the barriers to getting ahead. Enabling young Australians to get well-paid, secure jobs while also addressing the skills shortage is a win-win. Before I came to this place, I worked for many years in the housing and homelessness sectors.”
“The freight bypass is another much promised project, with the former Liberal state and federal governments promising it in 2018 and then cancelling the project in 2020. This Labor federal government has now put 50 per cent of the money in the budget and the SA government has submitted a plan to Infrastructure Australia. We are closer than we have ever been to seeing this come to fruition. As the Prime Minister promised, our first piece of legislation introduced in the 48th Parliament is to reduce student debts by 20 per cent.”
“Currently, Adelaide is the only capital city in the country that does not have a freight bypass. Heavy vehicles making their way from Victoria to WA, or the other way, or heading to Outer Harbour or to distribution centres north of the city have to make the treacherous trip down the very steep South Eastern Freeway, which we hope they do in low gear, otherwise we end up with major crashes and fatalities at the intersection at the bottom. They then have to make their way through heavy suburban traffic and multiple traffic lights, either along Cross Road in Boothby to South Road or Portrush Road in Sturt. Either way it's slow, it's often dangerous and it costs freight drivers in time and fuel.”
“We have three new tram overpasses being built on Marion, Cross and Morphett Roads at the moment. They form part of campaign promises from both sides of politics in the 2016, 2018, 2019 and 2022 elections. It took the election of an SA Labor government and a Labor federal government in 2022 to actually get these projects underway. The boom gates will go next month, and the project will be completed by January next year, including an upgrade of the existing South Road tram overpass. These boom gates are down for 20 minutes every hour, so the impact on traffic flow will be amazing. In the 2025 pre-election federal budget this government committed $525 million to the greater Adelaide bypass. This is an enormously big deal in South Australia, and it's something I've been involved in since 2012.”
“We've also had a fair bit of major infrastructure work in Boothby. The long-term North-South Corridor project continues, and we are now at the ground-breaking stage. There will be three large tunnel-boring machines and two smaller ones in operation. At the moment we're building the capsules where the tunnel-boring machines will be built, and the entire project is expected to be completed by 2031. We have the Majors Road on-off ramp for the Southern Expressway being built. This was something that the former state Liberal member campaigned heavily on, but when he was elected as part of the former SA Liberal government, he didn't do it. And then when we announced we were doing it he campaigned against it. This will take commuter traffic off Brighton Road in Boothby, so we're eagerly looking forward to its completion later this year.”
“A kids hub, which will be opened any day now, will provide mental health services to kids and families. And, on top of all this, there's a four per cent increase in bulk-billing rates and cheaper medicines, including 60-day prescriptions. In the 48th Parliament, I look forward to delivering a Medicare mental health clinic and a very exciting project in conjunction with Flinders University. This project will mean an additional 1,300 nurses and allied health workers being graduated every year, an additional 10,000 allied health appointments in student led clinics and the project will work with the adjacent Flinders Medical Centre to reduce their outpatient lists. They will help older people stuck in hospital beds to recondition so they can return home, and provide free or low-cost appointments for members of the community.”
“In 2022, I was very pleased to be able to commit $200 million of federal money, matched by the state government, for a redevelopment and expansion of Flinders Medical Centre and repatriation hospital. This development will see an additional 150 beds. It includes a geriatric evaluation management unit to provide focused attention on older people coming in through the ED. The Margaret Tobin in-patient mental health service will be expanded by an additional 12 beds, and there will be a new emergency department, new theatres and new ophthalmology facilities. We've also seen additional MRI licences, a very popular urgent care clinic providing bulk-billed urgent walk-in services and an endometriosis clinic, which is changing the lives of women who've lived for years with chronic pain.”
“I'm always honoured that people choose to share their stories and experiences with me, trust me with their personal details and trust me to advocate for them. At an electorate level, some of the issues that have been talked about for years and years are finally underway. Having worked in the health sector for many years, I do have a particular interest in ensuring that we have access to top-quality health services. Flinders Medical Centre in my electorate is a major tertiary hospital, serving southern Adelaide and the electorates of Boothby, Kingston, Mayo and Barker. It was opened in 1976, almost 50 years ago, and medical standards and hospital standards have changed quite a lot since then. The population in southern Adelaide has significantly grown.”
“Now it's at 2.4 and falling, and as a result we've had two cuts to interest rates. We achieved the miracle of keeping unemployment rates down while inflation came down as well. We know that the last three years were just a start. After a lost decade of flat wages, climate denialism, lost opportunities, poor international relationships and deficits, what the Albanese Labor government achieved in the last three years is just the start. There is still a lot of work to be done, and it's great to be back in parliament. I spent the last three years of the 47th Parliament in Canberra representing my constituents in committees, in decisions and in the House. Back home, I attended community events, met with countless individuals, doorknocked, and advocated to ministers and departments.”
“Only a Labor government will protect Medicare and the NDIS. Only a Labor government will fully fund public schooling, because we know a good quality education for all is important to our future prosperity as a country and to the future of those children. Only a Labor government will support and grow tertiary education with fee-free TAFE, cuts to HECS debts and paid pracs, because we know that we need a skilled workforce to protect the quality of life we expect as an Australian community. Only a Labor government has delivered two back-to-back surplus budgets after a decade of deficit after deficit drove up our national debt, and, at the same time it has been delivering surpluses, this government has also brought down inflation. When we came into government in 2022, inflation was at 6.1 per cent and rising.”
“So this bill, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025—and the changes to the repayment threshold and calculator—goes to levelling the playing field a bit for them. It also builds on our previous work in the tertiary education sector. We've wiped $3 billion of student debt and fixed the indexation system; we established a Commonwealth prac payment, to support teaching, nursing, midwifery and social work students; we locked fee-free TAFE into law; and we've asked the banking regulators to review the rules, to make it easier for those with a student loan to get into the housing market. Our changes provide relief for students and young people, while continuing to protect the integrity and value of the HELP system, which has massively expanded higher education access for millions of Australians.”
“This cost-of-living measure will mean they will keep more of their income in their pocket; they'll earn more and keep more of what they earn. I've paid my fair share of HECS debts and I've been lucky enough to be able to pay my student debts off, so I won't personally benefit from this. But, when I went through university, degrees were much cheaper. My HECS contribution represented around 24 per cent of the cost of the degree, compared to about 45 per cent now. So there is an intergenerational equity issue here as well. We know that young people starting their careers are often on lower incomes. They're trying to enter a housing market suffering from a 40-year backlog in housing, thinking about maybe having a family.”
“The current system is based on your entire income, and, once you earn above the minimum repayment threshold, you pay a percentage of your entire wage as repayment. Under the changes in this bill you'll only pay a percentage of your wage above the minimum repayment threshold. For example, right now, if you earn $70,000, you'll pay $1,750 each year. Under our changes, you'll only pay $450. That means you'll pay $1,300 less a year, and you can still pay more often if you want to. While cutting student debt will help young Australians to get ahead, this change to the repayment threshold and structures is an immediate cost-of-living measure. Many of the people who will benefit from this are of the younger generation. They're just starting out, building their careers and lives in some very tough international economic conditions.”
“This bill, the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025, cuts the student debt of over three million Australians by 20 per cent. In Boothby, just under 24,000 students and former students will benefit from this. The average student debt today is $27,500, and this legislation will cut that by about $5,500. All up, it will cut student debt by more than $16 billion. The cut will be backdated to 1 June 2025, before this year's indexation occurred. This policy applies to uni students, vocational education students and some apprentices. This bill also changes repayment systems. It raises the income threshold, when you have to start making repayments, from $54,435 in 2024-25 to $67,000 in 2025-26. It also replaces the current repayment system with a new marginal repayment system.”
“Of course, as a country and as an economy, it is also very much in our interest to ensure that we are developing Australians with the education and skills to do the highly skilled work that we need. Every business I speak to talks to me about their need for more skilled workers, so encouraging people to take up tertiary education and skills training is a productivity issue, a quality-of-life issue and an equity issue. During the campaign the Prime Minister promised that the first bill to be introduced under a re-elected Albanese Labor government would be this one, to cut 20 per cent off student debts and to increase the threshold that you need to start repaying your student debt. And here we are.”
“It's great to hear that those opposite have obviously given away their previous job-ready graduates program, which increased the cost of tertiary education substantially. It's good to hear that they've finally realised that there is a value to tertiary education and that there is a value to intergenerational equity. We speak often about the importance of education in this place, and we speak about how it changes lives. Many of us, like me, are the first in our families to have the benefit of tertiary education, and we have that personal experience of opportunities that tertiary education can provide. One of the really important tenets of the Labor Party is our commitment to making good quality education available to all Australians, ensuring that everyone has opportunity, irrespective of family wealth.”
“In the last term, we saw a normalisation of relations with China, and I know, in my home state of South Australia, winemakers are particularly pleased with the resumption of trade—and I imagine Chinese consumers are pleased to see our top-quality reds back on their shelves. Only a Labor government will protect Medicare and the NDIS. Only a Labor government—”
“As with everything in life, gender gaps close only when there are deliberate accountable strategies that are designed to close them. I'm pleased to be part of a Labor caucus that: is 56 per cent female; has overseen a record closing of the gender pay gap in Australian society; introduced additional paid parental leave, including a 'use it or lose it' clause so that both parents take leave and that encourages shared responsibility for parenting; applied superannuation to paid parental leave; and reintroduced the women's budget so that every budget measure has a gender lens placed on it. Only a Labor government will continue to heal our relationship with our overseas trading partners and our neighbours in the Pacific—so important for our security and prosperity.”
“We passed a number of really important pieces of legislation in the 47th Parliament: closing the loopholes that meant some got paid less for doing the same job; increasing paid parental leave; enabling multi-employer enterprise bargaining; and backing increases in the minimum wage in some of the low-paid sectors, such as child care and aged care. Only a Labor government sees gender equity as something worth fighting for. We should all be entitled to an equal playing field—equal pay for equal work, equal opportunities in work, in sport, in our life choices and in politics. But gender gaps don't close by accident. The same conditions that generated a gap aren't going to magically produce a different result because you wish it.”
“A liveable climate is the bare minimum. Only a Labor government will do the necessary work of energy transition that is vital to mitigating climate change. In the last term of government, 80 large-scale renewable projects were approved, and another 130 were in the process of approval. This is really important work. We need to decarbonise if we are going to have any possibility of maintaining a liveable environment. We are already decades behind where we should be. We cannot have further delays. And we invite those opposite and those in the other place to join us on this most critical fight and to do what is right for our environment, for our country and for our planet. Only a Labor government will protect the rights of workers and ensure that everyone gets to share in the prosperity of our country—a fair day's pay for a fair day's work.”
“For years—decades—we've been warned about the impact of climate change on our oceans, rising ocean temperatures, changed ocean currents, failing ecosystems and catastrophic die-offs of marine life, and now we are seeing it in the fish, the rays, the dolphins and sharks, the grasses, the sponges and the shellfish being washed up on our shores, dead. Climate change should no longer be a debate. Net zero by 2050 is the bare minimum, and the idea that it is still being debated and that there still might be political points to be made by casting doubt, working against it or delaying it, as we saw with environmental legislation in the last parliament, in this place and the other, is shocking. We are elected here to do what is right for our country and for Australians, not to score political points at their expense.”
“I'd like to put on record my thanks to the many volunteers who supported me in the Boothby campaign—doorknocking, phone calling, supporting me at events, letterboxing and of course prepoll. Day and night, in good weather and bad, they came out day after day after day because they knew it mattered. They knew that only a Labor government would look after our community and our economy, that only a Labor government will do the necessary work of energy transition that is vital for mitigating climate change. The catastrophic algal bloom that is currently ravaging the coastline in my electorate as well as much of metropolitan and regional South Australia coastlines is not an early sign of climate change; it's a late sign—maybe a too-late sign. The algal bloom is twice the size of the ACT and up to 20 metres deep in places.”
“Senator Walker is a great addition to the Labor caucus, building on an important aspect that the Prime Minister often comments on. We are a caucus that reflects modern Australia: diverse in gender, cultural origin, career paths and age. Every voice is important. I also welcome my friend Claire Clutterham as the new member for Sturt. The Sturt electorate voted for Claire, returning the electorate to Labor for the first time since 1972 and with a female representative for the first time ever. It still shocks me that we have to say 'the first female' so often and in so many spheres of life. The people of Adelaide have put their trust in Labor, and we will work every day to ensure they know that their trust and their vote was well placed.”
“Every single member of the Labor class of 2022 has been returned, and, with the exception of those retiring at the last election, every single one of my colleagues has been returned. The former member for Higgins, Michelle Ananda-Rajah, whose seat was eliminated in a redistribution, is back as a senator for Victoria. Moving in the other direction, former senator Anne Urquhart stepped down as a senator for Tasmania and has successfully won a seat in the House of Representatives. We welcome her as the member for Braddon. South Australia was a very exciting place on election night. We had birthday cake at the Boothby election party for Charlotte Walker, who turned 21 on election night and, shortly thereafter, discovered, as third on the Labor ticket, that she had been elected as the youngest-ever senator.”
“I reflect on practices that eliminated something as important as culture and language, and the impact that colonisation had and still has on First Nations people. But I also reflect on the importance of written records, without which we would not know the Kaurna language today. I reassure Hansard that I will be providing them with the text of the words. It's my very great honour to represent the people of Boothby in South Australia. I was first elected in 2022, the first Labor member for Boothby in 73 years, and now I am very honoured to have been returned by the people of Boothby in 2025. It's wonderful to be back here in Canberra with my colleagues. We have a larger majority in the House and two additional senators.”
“The lands of the Kaurna people are the Adelaide Plains, and they extend to the north of Adelaide, around Crystal Brook, and to the south, at Cape Jervis. When European settlers came to South Australia and founded Adelaide, the Kaurna people were pushed off the fertile plains. They were sent to missions on the lands of the Ngarrindjeri people near the Coorong and the Narungga people of the Yorke Peninsula, and their culture was suppressed. The language was lost and completely died out. It was only through the work of school principal Aunty Alitya Wallara Rigney and linguist Dr Rob Amery in the 1980s, who researched through written records and letters written home by German missionaries, that the language was rediscovered and rebuilt.”
“[Kaurna language] Ninna Marni. Ngai nari Louise Miller-Frost. Ngai kartinya ngarri. Ninna marni ngadlu Kaurna yerta. Ngadluku Ngunnawal and Ngambri yerta, ngadlu tampinthi, parnku yerta, ngadlu Ngunnawal and Ngambri yartangka tampinthi. What I just said was: 'Hello. My name is Louise Miller-Frost. I am the first-born female in my family. I come from Kaurna land, and I acknowledge that I am on the land of the Ngunnawal and Ngambri people. I respect their land and acknowledge that they are the traditional owners of the land.' This is the language of the Kaurna people, the First Nations people of the Adelaide Plains, the place where I am privileged to live and work and that I represent here in Canberra. As I speak these words into Hansard , I reflect on the history of the Kaurna language.”
“This algal bloom is unprecedented and we just don't know how long it will last and what the further impacts will be, but it underscores the urgency of climate action.”
“Scientists tell us there are three factors behind this algal bloom: Murray floodwaters pushing nutrients into the gulf; an upwelling of nutrient-rich water from deep off the continental shelf, caused by changing ocean currents; and a 2½ degree rise in seawater temperatures. Climate change is involved in all three of these factors. The Minister for the Environment and Water, Murray Watt, and I met with the Premier and the SA environment minister, and, this week, state and federal governments have jointly funded a $28 million package for clean-up and recovery, research and industry support. I also thank the Minister for Emergency Management and the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, with whom I've been working on this for some time.”
“Climate change is an existential threat to our way of life, the environment, our health and our economy. In South Australia we are seeing the impacts very directly. An algal plaque twice the size of the ACT and up to 20 metres deep is decimating the marine environment up and down the coast. Fish, dolphins, rays and sharks are washing up on the beach, dead. There is murky brown water and a thick foam on what are usually beautiful beaches. Commercial fisheries, the recreational fishing industry and tourism are all feeling the brunt, and we don't know when or how it will end. This is not an early warning of climate change; this is a late warning.”
“If we get a Dutton Liberal government it all goes away—all the progress. The man was voted the worst health minister. The man needs to make massive cuts to fund his nuclear fantasy, which, even half of his own party don't believe in and no energy company or bank will back, which is why we, the taxpayer, have to pay it. He won't tell you where the cuts will come from until after the election. Don't get conned by a short-term sweetener from a big-spending Dutton opposition. They don't have the interests of Australians at heart. They only care about their billionaire donors. We have a lot to lose.”
“Unlike those opposite, we haven't ignored Australia's need for the energy transition. We've ticked off over 80 large-scale renewable projects, enough to power 10 million homes. There are another 130 projects in the approval process, because industry and investors know they're onto a good thing with renewable energy. In Boothby, we have the much promised, never delivered tram overpasses at Marion Road, Morphett Road and Cross Road. The Majors Road on-off ramp is finally happening. In the budget earlier this week, there was funding for the Adelaide Freight Bypass, which will finally take heavy vehicles off Cross Road. There is one big risk to all of this progress—the economic management, the health, the education benefits, the progress on energy transition and the environment.”
“Of course, there's the rebuild and expansion of Flinders Medical Centre, which will mean an additional 150 beds, with 52 of those beds already open between Flinders and the Repat. Education changes lives, and this government has been working hard to bring our neglected education system up to scratch. We're investing an extra $1 billion to fully fund South Australian public schools. We've made early childhood education cheaper, and we're committed to a guaranteed three days for every child, because a child that arrives at school ready to learn has much better educational outcomes. We're cutting student debt and delivering the massively popular and oversubscribed fee-free TAFE, to encourage students to skill up in the areas this country needs and to give them a good-quality, secure well-paid job.”
“We believe health care should be affordable and accessible to all. We've opened a bulk-billed Medicare urgent care clinic in Marion, which has already seen over 17,000 patients—that's 17,000 patients who didn't end up in the emergency department. We're expanding the bulk-billing incentive, the biggest investment in Medicare's history. We've already seen a 4.2 percent increase in bulk-billing in Boothby, and our next step is to expand this to nine out of 10 appointments being bulk-billed. We've saved locals more than $7.5 million through cheaper medicines, and we've opened an endometriosis and pelvic pain clinic in Glenelg. We're now investing $573 million in women's health to provide more choices and reduce costs. Having run women's health services, I can tell you this has been so welcomed in the community and in the sector.”
“This government has that turned around. Inflation now sits at 2.4 per cent and falling, and we have had our first RBA rate cut. Unemployment is at record lows. This is an almost unbelievable achievement, to bring down inflation and keep unemployment low at the same time. Over one million Australian jobs have been created, another record for a term of government. Wages are rising after flatlining under those opposite and their deliberate strategy to disadvantage Australian workers. Every taxpayer has received a tax cut, not just the wealthy, and now they are set to receive a top-up. Every household is receiving energy supplements. Two historic surplus budgets in a row mean $170 billion paid off that Liberal debt. So much is being achieved across the country and in Boothby. Labor is the party of Medicare.”
“It was their complete lack of action on climate change and energy transition—despite 24 coal-fired power stations announcing closures, they did nothing to replace that energy in the grid—their appalling record on the treatment of women in parliament, their deliberate ignoring of the issues facing women in the community and their lack of focus on integrity. The Liberal government was riddled with constant scandals and allegations of rorting—so many, week after week, that it was hard to keep track of them all. They promised an integrity commission but didn't introduce any legislation to make it happen. This government inherited inflation at 6.2 per cent and rising, thanks to the big-spending Morrison government, which overheated the economy and left Australia with massive debt. RBA rates had begun to go up.”