Rowan Holzberger
Forde · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“… … … "Right at the beginning, it was thought that there was an intrusion in the relationship between the doctor and their patient," AMA president Tony Bartone said. … … … At the time Medicare was introduced in 1984, the AMA was heavily influenced by developments in the United Kingdom, particularly the National Health Service.”
“During my preparation for my contribution tonight I came across an article written in 2019, at the death of Bob Hawke, by ABC journalist Norman Hermant, and I'd like to read out a bit from it. The article was titled, 'Before Bob Hawke's Medicare, a visit to hospital forced many Australians into bankruptcy'.”
“My dad met my mum in Mount Isa, and I was born in Brisbane and grew up in Broken Hill, so I'm not sure where that quite places me. I've always actually believed regional Australia should have its own state. The cities could have one state, and regional Australia could have another state—anyway.”
“Mrs Buckingham's quote on thinking twice about going to see the doctor is something that all of us in our electorates have faced and heard about from people who told us that they would choose to put food on the table and feed their kids rather than see the doctor.”
“I think that will go some way to addressing some of those shortages; 17,000 doctors is a shot in the arm to the health system. Finally, the member for Riverina talked about the NDIS, kicking the proverbial out of us.”
“Even though they gave up, I think some time after the 1993 election, realising that they couldn't do what John Howard said and stab it in the stomach, they went around and tried to stab it in the back.”
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“But, because it's achieved through the parliament, it is universal, and it is that universality which is sacred to the Labor project and sacred to Medicare. To that end, I commend the bill to the House.”
“So in 2022 we saw what was a trickle of bulk-billing clinics ceasing to bulk-bill become a flood, and bulk-billing just collapsed. It was a crisis in our health system and it was a crisis in our communities, particularly our working-class communities. The Albanese government—I think this certainly competes for most amazing public policy—methodically approached the issue by tripling the bulk-billing rate for pensioners and kids, immediately stabilising bulk-billing so that practices who were bulk-billing were at least able to maintain that. But then there was that night in November when we were able to actually bring it back to life. So the great Labor project continues. Bulk-billing under Medicare is something which can't just be achieved on the shop floor.”
“Even though they gave up, I think some time after the 1993 election, realising that they couldn't do what John Howard said and stab it in the stomach, they went around and tried to stab it in the back. So we saw, all through the Abbott, Morrison and Turnbull governments, a freeze of the Medicare rebate, which led to a point where, when I was campaigning for Forde the first time, in 2022, I was coming across a trickle of bulk-billing clinics—like all of us in our electorates were—that were no longer able to bulk-bill because that rebate had been frozen for so long that the costs of running a practice had completely overtaken the rebate. The Abbott government had tried to introduce a co-payment in order to kill Medicare, but they couldn't get away with that. Instead, they froze the rebate.”
“While the AMA has changed its position over the years, we're not so sure that the coalition has. I'll look back at some of the things that John Howard said when it came to Medicare. He said: The Government should have taken a knife to the expensive, failed Medicare system. He also said: Enormous savings can be achieved by radical changes in this area … Medicare is one of the great failures of the Hawke Government. I'm not sure that statement from 1987 aged particularly well. He said that it was a cruel hoax and a fraud on the Australian people. He said that he would not stab Medicare in the back but 'would stab Medicare in the stomach'. He called it a total disaster, a nightmare. While the leopard may have tried to hide its spots, we know that it hasn't changed its spots.”
“… … … "Right at the beginning, it was thought that there was an intrusion in the relationship between the doctor and their patient," AMA president Tony Bartone said. … … … At the time Medicare was introduced in 1984, the AMA was heavily influenced by developments in the United Kingdom, particularly the National Health Service. "There was a concern … potentially unintended consequences along the NHS-style system, that we know is struggling and continues to struggle, would eventuate," Dr Bartone said. Over the years, Dr Bartone said the AMA's position on Medicare had gradually shifted. "Universality of access is a fundamental right and a fundamental equity issue … from that point of view, the AMA welcomes the history and the evolution that has led to today," he said. However, it was not just the AMA that was bitterly opposed to Medicare.”
“Perhaps history will record that our Medicare policy has a bit of competition for instant success, but I think that those changes to Medicare in November really have been more successful than the government could have hoped to imagine at this point. There's something about health ministers from South Australia. Maybe they all need to come from South Australia in the future! I thought the article ended interestingly, because Medicare hasn't always been widely supported by everybody in the community. The article continued: Despite the advance Medicare brought in terms of access to subsidised medical care, the program was not universally popular. The Australian Medical Association (AMA), which represents the nations' doctors, was vigorously opposed to the change.”
“There must be something good about health ministers from South Australia. We've got another health minister now, who I think—in all the years that I've been both a participant and an observer in politics, I have never seen one policy have such an immediate and positive impact as the policy to triple the bulk-billing incentive for all Australians. I don't think we have ever seen one policy change the country overnight, like we saw when that policy was introduced last November. In just one night in November last year, the number of bulk-billing practices in Forde doubled. They doubled overnight. I think the changes to our tax policy, to level the playing field for first home buyers, might also have an instant impact.”
“Mrs Buckingham's quote on thinking twice about going to see the doctor is something that all of us in our electorates have faced and heard about from people who told us that they would choose to put food on the table and feed their kids rather than see the doctor. There's one last quote from this story, which I'll read out in this context. A former adviser, Bill Bowtell—some people in here will remember that he was an adviser to Neil Blewett, the health minister who introduced Medicare—said: People were going without treatment. They couldn't afford going to doctors. They certainly could not afford expensive procedures in hospitals. The reason I read that out is because, as I said, Neil Blewett was the health minister who introduced Medicare. There must be something lucky about health ministers from South Australia.”
“"Hospital and medical expenses were one of the largest reasons for personal and non-business-related bankruptcy before Medicare," Mr Gillespie said. "After Medicare they actually removed it from the published list of reasons because it fell so low." The article goes on to say: Maureen Buckingham was newly married and living in Sydney in the 1980s. She remembered what it was like when you got sick before Medicare—even if you had private medical insurance. "There were certainly times when you'd think twice. Do I really need to go to the doctor? Maybe I can struggle through [and] get there on my own," Ms Buckingham said. Before Medicare, there was no bulk-billing, so the fees for a visit to the doctor had to be paid in full up front. That changed once Medicare was implemented.”
“"If you earned more than a certain amount of money, you'd have to pay. So, you'd have to have insurance for hospital or you'd have to pay out of your own pocket," he said. Mr Gillespie said insurance could also run out during a hospital stay. "Like private health insurance today, if you were on a lower level of it, which most people would've been on, you'd be covered for a certain number of days of hospitalisation. And people tended to stay in hospital much longer then," he said. This meant when someone needed hospital treatment, often many families quickly faced enormous financial pressure. … The situation in Australia before Medicare was similar to America today—medical expenses could push families into poverty.”
“During my preparation for my contribution tonight I came across an article written in 2019, at the death of Bob Hawke, by ABC journalist Norman Hermant, and I'd like to read out a bit from it. The article was titled, 'Before Bob Hawke's Medicare, a visit to hospital forced many Australians into bankruptcy'. In the article, Norman Hermant wrote: It was a huge change for Australians—not only from a medical care point of view, but for financial security. With the death of former Prime Minister Bob Hawke, many are pointing to the introduction of Medicare as one of his signature policy achievements. Before Medicare, most Australian families had to pay for private insurance to cover their expenses in hospital. Author and associate professor Jim Gillespie from the University of Sydney said once you were in hospital, the clock was ticking.”
“Again, it's a skill of his that I would like to learn. At the heart of this legislation sits a bill and a philosophy that is at the heart of the labour movement—not just the Labor Party but the labour movement as a whole—and that is the realisation that, as much as workers struggle on the shop floor to improve wages and to improve conditions, there are just some things that you cannot achieve on the shop floor. There are some things for which you need the control of this parliament to be able to do. One of those things is to bring in a universal healthcare system. You need control of the government to do that. It is not something you can just achieve through the award or through an EBA. So it is that Medicare sits at the heart of the labour movement.”
“I think that will go some way to addressing some of those shortages; 17,000 doctors is a shot in the arm to the health system. Finally, the member for Riverina talked about the NDIS, kicking the proverbial out of us. I think it would be fair then to say that the problems we were left with through the NDIS and the aged-care system could easily have been dealt with, in the NDIS at least, in 2018 as the still relatively new scheme started to scale up. All the problems that existed then, when it was at a manageable size, could have been addressed much more easily but have to be addressed now, and now the problems are much larger and undoubtedly causing anxiety in the community. I think for the member for Riverina to put those problems at the feet of the government is really rewriting history.”
“My dad met my mum in Mount Isa, and I was born in Brisbane and grew up in Broken Hill, so I'm not sure where that quite places me. I've always actually believed regional Australia should have its own state. The cities could have one state, and regional Australia could have another state—anyway. I know the challenges that exist for people living in regional areas when it comes to finding medical care. I've got to say that it's not just in the backblocks. Even in the electorate of Forde, I talk to doctors all the time who struggle to find GPs. It is a challenge that I think the outer suburbs share with the regions. But I think the government is beginning to address that. If you look at one number, something like 17,000 doctors have joined the Australian health system over the last two years, the biggest number in a decade at least.”
“When I look at the claim about bulk-billing being higher under the former government, I think that does underline the fact that there was a period, as bulk-billing was beginning to collapse under the former government, that happened to coincide with something called COVID, where the entire nation went and got vaccinated multiple times, and that artificially lifted the bulk-billing rate for that period. So I don't think it's really comparing apples with apples. Again, I always try and remind people that, while I represent an outer suburban electorate today, I come from a regional town myself. I come from the bush, from Broken Hill. I worked on sheep and cattle stations around Broken Hill—literally out the back of Bourke.”
“It's probably just a case of statistical probability that I follow the member for Riverina quite often. Potentially it's because the member for Riverina does a lot of speaking, which is something I try to emulate. There are many things that the member for Riverina does that I try and emulate. One is how he manages to create this bipartisan vibe while kicking the absolute guts out of us! I don't know how he does it, but it is something that I definitely want to try and learn. There are a couple of points to make.”
“I think that this bill is to be commended in the sense that it fits within that wider strategy. One thing I've come to realise after being in this place for 12 months is that it may sometimes feel like you're speaking to an empty room—even though I know the opposition are always listening very carefully just in case one of us slip up and they can use a line to bash us over the head with! Apart from that, sometimes it feels like we're speaking to an empty room. But I've figured out that configurations change. Deputy Speaker Sharkie, you're often here to listen to our speeches, and somehow the member for Dawson has been here a fair bit lately to listen to some of my orations; I'm not sure about the member for Corangamite—this could be a first!”
“I commend Minister Gallagher for the work that she has done with this bill and recognise that this work does indeed sit within the wider strategy of the Albanese government. It's a strategy that I think is summed up very much by what the Prime Minister says drives him—it's something that drives all of us in this place but that's exemplified by this government—which is 'nobody held back and nobody left behind'. This work, even though it may not be getting the media attention that other pieces of legislation do, sits at the very heart of the government's strategy to lift living standards and, in that sense, lower the cost of living. If you can create an environment where businesses are able to provide goods or services more cheaply, you're actually helping the consumer at the same time.”
“What we have in our country is an enormous amount of land, and I think that land gives us both our productive capacity and our national spirit and that spirit of having a go. You don't want government getting in the way, and government absolutely can get in the way and hold you back, and it drives people crazy, not just on the land. We see a world these days where we fill out other people's web forms and we're doing all of their paperwork for them online. In many ways, I think there are two types of people in the world: entrepreneurs and bureaucrats. You need both, but it is definitely the job of the government to create the conditions for those bureaucrats to thrive—and here it is. This is why I rise in support of the Regulatory Reform Omnibus Bill 2026.”
“I thank the member for Riverina for providing a bit of guidance, after he's spent so long in this place, that when you're talking about legislation you don't necessarily need to talk about the specifics of the legislation—just where it fits within the wider picture. The other thing I appreciate from the member for Riverina is a chance to talk about my farming experience again because, any chance I get, I love to talk about that. While I run my own little contract mustering business—when I say that, I mean my bike, a ute and a pack of dogs—I also spent six or seven months driving tractors in Mildura, so I saw literally the greening of the desert. Mildura is only 300 kays from Broken Hill; it's really smack bang in the middle of the desert. It is amazing what water can do.”
“I particularly wanted to focus on insurance and talk a little bit generally about what I think insurance is really there for. It could be because of the German last name that I have, Holzberger, that I'll always have a bit of an interest in German history. German history and the history of insurance are very much intertwined. In fact, there are two really great insurance markets in the world. In Germany, there are the great reinsurers of Hannover Re and of Munich Re. There's also the market of Lloyd's—Lloyd's of London. Those two markets tell a fascinating story of the history of what insurance is. Ultimately, in Germany, sometime around the 1400s—or whenever it was—farmers decided to collectivise their risk.”
“I rise to support the Health Legislation Amendment (Improving Choice and Transparency for Private Health Consumers) Bill 2026. I particularly want to congratulate the Minister for Health and Ageing for the work that he has done on this bill but also for the work that he has done leading the health strategy, along with the economic team led by the Treasurer and the government led by the Prime Minister. Health is very much at the heart of the Labor story. It's very much at the heart of what I want to do in my community, as it is for so many people in this place—that is, to listen to our community, to fight for our community and to deliver for our community. I think health care is the best received work the Labor Party does. There are two elements to this bill—but I don't think I've got the full 15 minutes.”
“I think the philosophy of this government is about changing things for the better and not resting on your laurels but continuing to change, like continuing to change in health care, where we saw a complete and utter deterioration of Medicare and bulk-billing over the decade of the previous government because they froze the rebate. A slow and a methodical approach to raising the rebate for pensioners and for children worked to the point where the government was able to then scale it up by providing that tripling of that rebate to everybody who bulk-bills. Again, in just one electorate, we saw the number of bulk-billing clinics more than double over that one night in November when that rebate was tripled. We have seen a concerted attempt to change Australia and to fix the problems that we were left with.”
“These tax measures, as we are already starting to see at auctions around the country, have now opened up the market to give first home buyers that edge—to give first home buyers the opportunity to buy that home and not compete against an investor who is using taxpayer funds in their pockets to help boost their bid at an auction. The other side of the equation, that one-to-four equation, is wages. Because of the federal government continuing to support pay rises through the commission, we've seen just recently a 4.75 per cent increase in wages, which means that the minimum wage has basically increased by more than $12,000 a year. That is not only handy in a cost-of-living crisis; it is also handy when it comes to buying a home.”
“It's supporting local governments through another $2 billion, taking our total spend to somewhere around $6.3 billion, to support the infrastructure that is needed for new housing. It is in building social and affordable housing. It is in supporting build to rent. It is also tackling the other equation. We have seen the multiples of wages to house prices increase from somewhere around one to four, which is what it was in 2000 after the Howard government introduced these capital gains tax arrangements in 1999, to one to eight or sometimes one to 10.”
“It's those three things that I'd like to talk about in this adjournment speech tonight and on this really quite significant day. On housing, we have really seen an abrogation from coalition governments over the last 30 years, as they completely failed to invest in public housing. I think we saw, over the 10 years that they were in government, something like 373 public social and affordable houses built. That was over those nine years that they were in government. That stands in stark contrast to the more than 200—I think it's something like 206—houses which are being built in one term in one electorate, in the electorate of Forde alone, and those are just the houses which are coming from the Housing Australia Future Fund. What the government is doing around housing is multipronged. One of them is supply.”
“I note today that the government has secured the passage of the tax bills through the Senate. I think that this is a significant day and that this really marks a turning point in what we have seen over the last 20 years, where housing has become more of an investment than a place to live and a place for a family to call its home. I think, like Paul Keating said, when you change the government you change the country, and what you've seen from the Albanese Labor government is a commitment to change and to keep changing to fix the mess that we've seen created largely over the last 30 years of mainly coalition government, where we've seen housing really collapse, we've seen our healthcare services collapse and we've seen our infrastructure—and by that I mean our foundational industries, like manufacturing and textiles—collapse.”
“Right now in one suburb in the electorate I represent, Forde, there's 206 public housing dwellings being built as part of those 55,000 social and affordable homes. Finally, I say that the tax system, which has been for over 20 years incentivised to treat housing as an investment and not as a family home, is something that this government is prepared to tackle. We're not just going to throw our hands up in the air and say, 'I wish we could do something about it, but we're only the government.' The third thing I'd say is that we are tackling that tax system to even it out for first home buyers at the same time that we're also supporting an increase in wages to help people get into their first homes. Accordingly, I commend the motion to the House.”
“That was able to attract manufacturing industries, and one of the reasons why we've lost manufacturing in this country today is that we don't have affordable housing. We see this sort of spiral of wages and rents, and it becomes unaffordable for people to live and it becomes unaffordable for companies to do business. So providing public housing, I've long believed, is probably the most significant productivity measure that a government can take. That's why I think that is a second thing that the Albanese government needs to be commended for. As this motion says, it's delivering 55,000 social and affordable homes. In fact, in the 10 years of the previous government, they delivered something like 373 public housing dwellings over nine years.”
“It was effectively neglected, particularly over the previous 10 years, where you had something like $130 million going into development of infrastructure under the previous government, which is something like 50 times less than what this government is spending. Something else they neglected was public housing. It's disappointing that the modern day coalition has walked away from something which they did for many years. This as a bit of a surprise to people sometimes, but in many ways my economic role model is Thomas Playford, who was a Liberal premier for decades in South Australia. I think the best example that you could show for him was that he built the suburb of Elizabeth and public housing around car plants, around Holden, in order to keep the cost of living down, keep rents down and keep the pressure off wages.”
“I think, back in 2024, the Albanese government committed something like $40 million to unlock, effectively, 500 dwellings in Meadowbrook, a suburb that I represent, in Logan, and it was able to reduce the time needed for approvals from 12 months to 12 weeks. When you see that sort of multiplier impact that a small investment can have across the whole economy, it really does show, I think, the fundamental philosophy of this Albanese government, which is about rejecting 'business as usual'. I think that we have seen, as the housing minister says, that the housing crisis that we have today is something that is 40 years in the making.”
“I rise to support the motion from the member for Adelaide, and, in doing so, I reflect on something which I remember coming across many years ago, which is that, when we think about the Whitlam government, we think about this reforming government and the 'crash through or crash' style of Gough Whitlam. But one of the central election commitments that the Labor Party made in the 1972 election was to put sewerage in Western Sydney—hardly radical; hardly 'crash through or crash'. Something as practical as putting sewerage into the western suburbs of Sydney opened that community up to decades of prosperity. So it is with the Albanese government's commitment of $2 billion in this budget, building on $6-plus billion to unlock that sort of infrastructure, which is just basic and fundamental to developing our outer suburbs for housing.”
“Unfortunately, instead of pursuing that approach, we saw the coalition, as they took part in this significant transformation over the past few decades, walking away from that basic support—walking away from providing essential government support directly to keep those industries going but also from providing those sort of ancillary services, like cheaper energy and cheaper housing. So it is with some recognition of that irony that I rise to oppose this motion today.”
“It must be remembered that part of our postwar economic miracle was very much an investment in public housing and an investment in public energy, something which was done by both coalition and Labor governments, the idea being that if you can keep the cost of living down by providing affordable housing, you're able to keep wages down. The best example of that was Elizabeth in South Australia, where you had a car industry effectively built around public housing, which was provided to keep that cost of living down, which kept the pressure off wages, which ultimately provided a high standard of living and was able to support Australian industry.”
“Instead of actually providing some sort of support to industries which are effectively, when you have lower tariffs, competing against state owned industries overseas, then, really, that is not fair trade. While lower tariffs have been a spectacular thing for our local economy, they have been one of the reasons we've been able to keep inflation down for so long. It has been a great thing to be able to bring in cheaper imports. But it cannot come at the cost of manufacturing—when you let those imports come in, but you let your own domestic companies compete against effectively foreign owned state companies. We have seen, with the privatisation of essential services like communications—for instance, Telstra being privatised—it has hit the bush particularly hard. We've also seen a lack of public housing.”
“I think the member for Dawson, like many people in the bush, like many people who believe in that national spirit, has probably watched in dismay over the last 30 years as coalition partners have walked away from supporting Australian industry. That walking away has taken three elements. The first is privatisation. The second is economic rationalism. And the third is unfettered free trade. While we all acknowledge that free trade has been particularly beneficial to the agriculture industry and given us access to markets overseas that have really supercharged the agricultural industry, that completely ignores the effect that it's had on the manufacturing industry.”
“Who's been in government for most of the last 30 years? That's the coalition government. That's an easy one to answer. When they talk about 'significant transformation', what they really mean, surely, is the decimation of our manufacturing industry. To begin with that statement is either spectacular irony or it is that they've completely missed the point. It was their policies over the last three decades or so. I guess the member for Dawson would also probably be inclined to agree with a bit of what I have to say, because, deep within the heart of the National Party, I've always seen that there is a little bit of common sense—deep, deep within that part of the coalition.”
“I rise to speak against this motion. In doing so, I'm very pleased that the member for Dawson is here today, because it gives me a chance to discuss this in front of him. The last time I was speaking about manufacturing, and the pinning of blame for the Australian car industry walking out the door and overseas, he was able to somehow misinterpret those comments, blaming the Albanese government for being responsible for the end of our car industry. It is not without some irony that I read the first line of the member for Dawson's motion, which is: Noting that Australian manufacturing has undergone significant transformation over the past decades … That is an understatement of epic proportions. Let's just look at the two elements of that first line. The first is: Who was in government over the past few decades?”
“The other thing that he said that really struck home to me—he of course said it more eloquently than I'm going to be able to say it—was, 'When you come across a problem, do you just sort of throw your hands up in the air and say, "I wish I could do something about it, but I'm the only Prime Minister?"' because I think what the last couple of weeks has revealed is that we are the party that is not going to cop the status quo anymore. The people on the other side are the party who are defending the status quo. Somehow, they've got themselves into a position where they think that our settings around housing are good, our settings around health care are good, and our settings around industry support are good. Somehow, I think they've got themselves into this awful situation. No wonder they're doing so badly.”
“I'm not sure they've really thought this one ahead. That's, of course, unless they change leaders again. Then, I guess, everything is off the table, and there's got to be a high chance of that. At the moment, we have really seen what the battleground of the next election is going to be. The other thing that the last couple of weeks have really revealed is the philosophy of this government. I think the way the Prime Minister summed it up has two key things. One is that nobody is left behind, and nobody is held back.”
“It really has killed the Australian dream. I think what the last couple of weeks has really revealed in this place is the battlelines of the next election. When people realise that the investments that they have now have been grandfathered and the gains that they've made until now are going to be protected under the old rules, when they realise that, actually, the sky hasn't fallen down and that it's just a sensible recalibration of our tax policies to encourage people to buy a family home because it's a family home and not an investment people, the next election is going to be about that we are a party that believes in people buying a family home and in tax breaks for workers, and they're going to take a manifesto to the next election where they're going to give tax breaks to property investors.”
“Sometimes it's a little bit daunting following the member for Bruce, but the good thing about speaking in this chamber and the video feed is that I can cut this up to make it sound like I came up with the idea! But I thought he summed it up perfectly when he talked about whether house prices are going to go up or down and what the government's intention is, and our intention is that wages will grow faster than house prices. It's pretty simple. When you look at what has happened over the last 20 years, there was not only a deliberate policy to keep wages down but also an accidental policy, I guess, which forced house prices up. We've seen house prices go from multiples of four or five of the median wage to about 10 times the median wage. It has become totally unsustainable and totally unaffordable.”
“We have realised that free trade is a fabulous thing for our economy and a fabulous thing for our country. We cannot let industry wither on the vine like those in the opposition parties did. The member for Canning talks about not taking a last stand for economic rationalism, for neoliberalism. Well, I'm not sure that that is something which is shared universally across the party. I suspect it's shared by a couple of the National Party members sitting there, but the Liberal Party has completely lost the plot, and I think it's really paying a price for it at the moment. The member for Casey smirks, but I'll tell you who is not smirking—the Australian people, because, over the last 30 years of mainly coalition rule, we have seen industry walk out the door, we have seen housing be run into the ground, we have seen—”
“I can tell you it is a feature of the Albanese Labor government that we have realised the status quo is no longer acceptable, and that is why we have picked up the slack to invest, to take part in investment of something like $2½ billion to protect the workers in Whyalla. By the way, I come from that region. As a Broken Hill boy, I grew up with the television network which was connected with Whyalla and Port Pirie. We've also stepped in to protect the jobs in Port Pirie, and there's more work being done on that. We've stepped in to protect the jobs in Mount Isa, at the smelter there. We've stepped in to protect the jobs in Gladstone, in the member for Flynn's electorate, by investing a billion dollars to support the aluminium industry. We have picked up the slack.”
“Do you know why they're turning away from the coalition parties? Look at what happened in the South Australian car industry. You would well know, Deputy Speaker Sharkie. When they closed the Lonsdale car plant, they did a study of the workers there. They found that a third of those workers went and found good jobs; a third of those workers went and found insecure, casual jobs and lost their hours and lost their income; and a third of those workers never worked again. So you wonder why people are angry at the moment. You wonder why living standards have gone backwards in this country. You sit there and smirk, the member for Casey. There is a lot of anger out there. Your side of politics seems to be dismissing it and not caring about it and wanting to protect the status quo.”
“So it gives me a chance to explain it as he walks out the door. By unfettered free trade, I am a huge supporter in free trade and in tariffs being reduced. It has been wonderfully beneficial for the country. It has been wonderfully beneficial for the world. But what you can't do is just open the borders, lower the tariffs and leave your industry to compete against state owned industries overseas. What you can't do is just abandon the manufacturing and textile industries that were protected by those tariffs by walking away and leaving it to the free market. That's what you did. That's what your side did. Being in South Australia, I knew how important it was to protect our car industry, but the member for Casey's party was happy to walk out on the car industry and let it go to rot. Do you know why people are so angry?”
“The other thing that I want to talk about is that it was interesting hearing the member for Canning there talk about—are they now opposing the support that we're giving to the Whyalla steelworks? I remember an interview, a now famous interview, where the member for Canning was talking about not making a last stand for economic rationalism. Well, it seems that their support for Whyalla would be testing that statement. At the end of the day—I would appreciate it if the member for Casey bears with me for a sec—I think there are three things that have landed Australian people at the moment in a situation where we are just not going to cop the status quo any more. They are privatisation, economic rationalism and unfettered free trade. The last time I said unfettered free trade it got the member for Casey really worked up.”
“I am very glad that the member for Casey is here because it gives me a chance to talk about some of the things that we were talking about last time we were in this chamber. If you can just bear with me for a second, one thing I'd like to address from his contribution there is that he talks about having an experience in industry, but having run companies and small businesses myself, I know that there are two ways that you can run a small business. One is you can invest in your plant and your people, or you can strip the profits out of it and run it into the ground. And the way the Labor Party runs this country is like the way that we run a business. We invest in our plant and we invest in our people. They strip the profits out of it and they run the country into the ground.”
“As people realise that the changes to capital gains tax and the changes to negative gearing are about levelling the playing field for first home buyers and restoring a bit of equity in the Australian community, they're going to be out there supporting a tax break for property investors. I can't wait for that debate! The other thing that this debate has revealed is that we on this side are not going to cop the status quo anymore. We have tried as hard as we can to fix things, and it just hasn't worked enough. So we are going to throw everything at it to fix this problem. We go to the next election challenging the status quo. They go to the next election supporting the status quo. I know, looking at the electoral environment today, which side of that I would rather be on.”
“I appreciate the opportunity here to answer a question I was asked by the member for Bowman when I was in here earlier, during the Treasury laws amendment bill debate. He asked me, 'Will the member for Forde be out there selling the budget?' I can tell you and those opposite you bet I will, absolutely. The clearer it becomes—I can't believe that they're making the same mistake again in opposing a tax cut. They're not only opposing a tax cut this time but also promising to take to the next election a policy of bringing in tax breaks for property investors. They've managed to somehow jump the shark and go even further.”