Anne Urquhart
Braddon · Australian Labor Party · Australia
“Today is 1 July. The Albanese Labor government is delivering real change for Australians, with cost-of-living measures starting today. Through tax cuts, expanded paid parental leave, and stronger investment in Medicare and hospitals, we're putting more money back into people's pockets and making it easier for families to access the care t…”
“From today, we are protecting Australian families by making it illegal for retailers like Coles and Woolies to price gouge customers by artificially inflating prices on groceries.”
“Last week I attended a memorial service for Constable Keith Smith, a long-serving and respected member of Tasmania Police who spent 25 years working across northern and western Tasmania. Keith received the Commissioner's Medal in 2011, the National Police Service Medal in 2016 and a 20-year clasp in 2021.”
“It was especially touching when the Central Coast mayor, Cheryl Fuller, announced a local thoroughfare between King Edward Street and Victoria Street in Ulverstone would be named Keith Smith Lane.”
“This also matters because award-reliant workers are disproportionately women, and their work has too often been undervalued and underpaid. Labor has backed wage rises in aged care, is supporting historic pay increases in early childhood education and care, and continues to support fair outcomes in sectors that have contributed to the gend…”
“But low unemployment does not mean that every Australian can easily access work. Too many people are missing out because the employment services system that replaced the CES in 1998 is no longer working for everyone who needs support to find and keep work.”
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“Making medicines cheaper is not just good for your health; it's a tangible way that we are helping with the cost of living, and this will help many thousands of people that I represent in my home state of Tasmania. The federal government's cheaper medicines policies have already delivered over $40 million in savings for Tasmanians and over $8 million to the residents of my electorate of Braddon. With the bill before us today, these savings will grow. Four out of five PBS medicines will become cheaper from 1 July 2026, which will save Australians over $200 million each year. That is a real, tangible help to the budgets of all Australians. This bill makes it clear: Labor will always stand up for the PBS and for affordable, accessible, universal Australian health care.”
“We've already delivered more free and cheaper medicines sooner, with a 25 per cent reduction in the number of scripts that a patient must fill before the PBS safety net kicks in; the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS, with the maximum cost of a script falling to $30 from $42.50; 60-day prescriptions, saving time and money for millions of Australians with an ongoing health condition—and that has been a real game changer for many people in my community; a freeze on the cost of PBS medicines, with co-payments not rising with inflation, for all Australians for the first time in 25 years, and a five-year freeze on the cost of PBS medicines for pensioners and other Commonwealth concession card holders, so that, if you have a concession card, the most you will pay is $7.70.”
“That is astounding. Tenders have now opened for three new Tasmanian Medicare urgent care clinics, including one in Burnie, which is also in my electorate, and I really look forward to that tender being awarded and that urgent care clinic becoming operational to provide that service at the other end of the coast from where that Devonport one is. Now, having already slashed the cost of medicines during our first term of government, we are going even further.”
“We've also funded additional aged-care beds, birthing services and hospice care, and, for every Tasmanian, we are strengthening Medicare and expanding bulk-billing. This is so important because bulk-billing rates in Tasmania have been lower than in the rest of Australia. But we are turning that around; we are seeing that percentage increase. We are also putting in place programs that deliver more doctors, more nurses and more endorsed midwives into our health system. Of course we have delivered, in Tasmania, five very successful Medicare urgent care clinics, and there are more to come. In Devonport, in my electorate of Braddon, the Medicare urgent care centre has delivered over 25,000 bulk-billed consultations, and over 100,000 bulk-billed Medicare urgent care clinic consultations have been delivered right across the state.”
“Tasmania has the nation's highest prevalence rates for most chronic conditions, including arthritis, back problems, cancer, osteoporosis, and heart, stroke and vascular disease. Tasmanians deserve better. They deserve better health policies and access to health services. It's crucial that the newly-elected state government take every opportunity to focus on improving health outcomes for our communities. The federal government is focused on that task and playing its part. In 2025-26, the Australian government will deliver $750 million in funding to Tasmanian state-run public hospitals. That's an additional $93 million, or a 14 per cent increase in federal funding. A further $120 million in federal funding will go towards the Northern Heart Centre at the Launceston General Hospital.”
“It's Labor that is focused on improving social and economic outcomes for workers, families and vulnerable Australians. We're the party of reform, prioritising equity, inclusion and affordability. With this legislation, the Albanese Labor government will make cheaper medicines even cheaper, with a script to cost Australians no more than $25 under the PBS. This bill implements the government's 2025 election commitments to reduce the PBS general patient co-payment from $31.60 to $25. The last time that PBS medicines cost no more than $25 was, as we have heard many times, in 2004. Labor's health policies are very important to Tasmanians. Tasmania still ranks poorly compared with other Australian states and territories on many health issues.”
“I rise to speak on the National Health Amendment (Cheaper Medicines) Bill 2025. As we know, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is a pillar of Australian health care. It's life-changing and life-saving for Australians. Each of us benefits from this universal and inclusive scheme. It was the Curtin Labor government that first produced the Pharmaceutical Benefits Act in 1944 to provide free medicines to all Australians. It was the Chifley Labor government that implemented the first PBS, in 1948, providing free medicines for pensioners and a select list of life-saving drugs for the general public. Since then, it has been Labor governments that have built the PBS as a critical part of accessible healthcare for all Australians. We know the task of implementing big nation-building reforms always falls to Labor.”
“I would urge Bendigo Bank to rethink their position, particularly for the West Coast of Tasmania—a growing region as I said, but also a region that does it a bit tough from time to time—to keep the bank open and to give those people the credibility and the representation that they should have by having a bank right in the town where they can do their business.”
“Now it's a bit rich for a bank such as Bendigo Bank, which yesterday announced a profit of $514.6 million, to even think about pulling out of a town on the West Coast, where there is no other bank. They have spoken to Bank@Post, but there are only a few transactions that you can undertake at the post office. So it is very detrimental to people. Bendigo Bank really should rethink this position, given that huge profit they've made. I understand that banks and other businesses need to provide a return to their shareholders—but $514.6 million? It's a bit rich that they can't even think about the community that they've been happy to support for a period of time, and then they'll just disappear—take away the ATM as well—and not pay any respect to the people there.”
“There is one ATM in Queenstown, which is the largest centre of the West Coast. The West Coast has a population of around 4,000 people, but it is a growing region in Tasmania. Without a bank in the town or in the region, it's going to be very difficult for businesses, for community and for others to be enticed to come into that town to live and work and play. It is also a fantastic tourist destination in the summer in particular—we have a very wet winter on the West Coast of Tasmania. It is detrimental to that whole community to have the only bank branch in that town shut down. I noticed yesterday in the Regional, which is an independent news service, that Bendigo Bank are also cutting ties with community fundraising groups.”
“While I have a little bit of time left I'd like to talk about Bendigo Bank. Bendigo Bank, as we know, is spread around the community. They have community banks right across the country. Bendigo Bank has just made a decision to close the only bank on the West Coast of Tasmania, in Queenstown. It's a fast-growing region, and hopefully, in the next couple of years, a mine will reopen. It's a powerhouse of Tasmania. Bendigo operates the only bank on the West Coast. There are no other banks. The next closest is about a five-hour round trip away up in Burnie. For people who live on the West Coast, this is a very difficult time for them. I've met with Bendigo Bank on two occasions and asked them to reconsider their position and also to reconsider whether or not they take the ATM out of the town.”
“In every discussion we have about economic reform and increased productivity, it's working people in the community more broadly that are front and centre. As the Treasurer said, the whole purpose of economic reform is to deliver for the people who send us here to work hard on their behalf. I look forward to the results of ongoing work out of the roundtable and congratulate the Treasurer on a very collaborative and successful event. I want to thank again all those who attended my productivity roundtable and provided valuable input, which has fed into the work the Albanese government is undertaking. I'm always impressed by the initiatives, the success and inputs by those companies and individuals who operate across Braddon, and this was another opportunity to show this to the rest of the country.”
“One of the participants summarised this by saying that an honest narrative on economic reform should hear all voices, not just those with choice and power. I couldn't agree more. More broadly, the feedback from the Braddon forum was very much in line with key issues emerging from the Treasurer's roundtable. There was clear support for reducing complexity and red tape; for lowering the cost of production; for ensuring market confidence and certainty for investment; for harmonisation and simplification of regulatory and planning systems—we know these will assist with delivery of more housing approvals—for faster and simpler approvals; to build a modern skilled workforce; and for harnessing the benefits of AI. A more productive economy is how we deliver better living standards.”
“The forum also said the benefits of economic reform should be shared by the whole community. Stronger economies and fairer communities go hand in hand. History tells us that the responsibility for major economic and social reform almost always falls to Labor, and we welcome it. When we put in place the building blocks of big economic reform, we also push ahead with those important social reforms. Just look at the Labor record—Medicare, a proper minimum wage, a decent age pension, a strong social safety net, child care, disability care and workers' superannuation. Labor's approach to the economic reform rewards individuals to work hard and do well. It also supports fairer communities by sharing prosperity and lifting ourselves as a nation.”
“During the federal election, the Albanese Labor government announced a $95 million increase in TFES funding by increasing rates of assistance by 25 per cent over two years from 1 July this year. That increase is in place now and was welcomed by businesses present and by lots of other businesses that I've visited in the electorate since. Last year, I was the deputy chair of a Senate inquiry into TFES. The inquiry found the rate of TFES reimbursement no longer supported the original policy intent of the scheme. In response, Labor committed to reviewing and modernising the TFES to ensure that it serves Tasmanians well. The government has commissioned a comprehensive review of TFES, and that review is underway. The review will be completed this year, and I look forward to the outcomes of that process.”
“I'd like to share some of the feedback from the forum. Everyone attending agreed that the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme is an important part of ensuring Tasmania remains competitive. Tasmania is the only state in Australia that is heavily dependent on interstate sea-transport links, needing to ship or fly goods across Bass Strait. The TFES was a Whitlam government initiative. It helps to level the playing field, or the sea-freight disadvantage, between mainland and Tasmanian businesses. It's about making sure that Tasmanians aren't disadvantaged just because their goods arrive by sea. Goods covered by the scheme are used in our critical businesses across Tasmania, such as manufacturing, mining, agriculture, forestry, fishing and many more applications as well.”
“The people who attended the forum are an important voice for rural, regional and remote Australia and bring unique perspectives as residents of an island state. Tasmania has real strength across numerous sectors, including agriculture, resources, manufacturing and energy. There is a firm foundation to build on, and we have an important contribution to make to a more productive Australia. To assist discussion at the forum, I commissioned two papers from leading community organisations. One paper was from the Cradle Coast Authority, representing nine local councils, of which eight are in the Braddon region, and one paper was from Business North West. The Tasmanian Minerals, Manufacturing and Energy Council also provided a paper, and I want to thank CCA, Ian Jones and TMEC for their input in facilitating and assisting me prior to the forum.”
“Earlier this month, I hosted a local productivity forum with around 30 business and community leaders in my electorate of Braddon. It was a great opportunity to discuss the region's contribution to national productivity and how we might also improve outcomes for the north-west and West Coast of Tasmania. Participants represented businesses, unions, local government, education providers and service providers with very broad experience right across the spectrum of those who attended, and I'd like to thank everyone who attended the forum and made it such a success. The Minister for Industry and Innovation and Minister for Science, Tim Ayres, attended, and I'm very grateful for his input into the forum.”
“My question is to the Minister for Health and Ageing. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering life-saving cancer-screening programs, and why is it important that Australians continue to receive cheaper medicines to help with their treatment?”
“The dairy employs over 60 locals and runs two dairy farms. It was great to hear the passion that Graeme has to keep the factory running but also upgrade it. I also met with a Naracoopa Progress Association, an enthusiastic group of locals who are champions for their part of the island, to discuss their plans to upgrade their foreshore. And my visit is never complete without dropping into the CWA Shop, where the smell of freshly cooked scones with jam and cream meets you as you enter, and a warm welcome from the CWA women follows closely. A visit here is not complete without replenishing my cupboard with some of their great produce made right there on the island. I am lucky to have such a beautiful part of the world right in my electorate.”
“It was a laid-back celebration of local culture, produce and creativity that was as much about connection as it was about content. Sea-ing Light was an interactive and immersive projection experience that transformed the Currie lighthouse into a beacon of storytelling and sound. My visits are never complete without a visit to the gallery at Currie Harbour, currently showcasing Weathering , a heartfelt exhibition crafted by local artists in response to the recent drought, capturing the resilience and humanity of the King Island community. I was also very pleased to meet with Graeme, the new island of King Island Dairy, the factory that makes the best cheese anywhere. Last year, the large multinational who owned the dairy decided they were going to sell, or close if a buyer couldn't be found. This was devastating news for the island.”
“They welcome locals growing fruit and vegetables, but they do so much more for the community. Ocean Dunes Golf Course is a relatively new course and is currently having a 62-bed hotel built right in the middle of the golf course by local tradies who employed seven local apprentices. It's an impressive building which, when completed will welcome golfers but also others from across the globe to complete 18 holes on what I think is one of the most picturesque courses. A restaurant is also planned for the site once the hotel is completed. The windswept island off an island doesn't do winter like the rest of Australia. On King Island the pace slows, with the Currie lighthouse turned into a canvas as part of Anchoring the Season, the King Island anchorage festival.”
“I really do mean the best views; they are stunning. I'm not sure how anyone will study out of it. The multipurpose building has been built between the Currie museum and the lighthouse and incorporates an existing residence previously used by the King Island council. The King Island study hub will offer both young and mature local students the opportunity to have a dedicated study hub with support on the island and will help raise educational aspirations. The hub will provide support to locals studying at university and provide VET academic students with the ability to stay on the island and remain near their support networks. I also packed in constituent meetings and visited Phoenix Community House, the local community house which is the heart of the community.”
“There are three small islands immediately offshore: New Year Island and Christmas Island situated to the north-west and the smaller Councillor Island to the east, opposite Sea Elephant Beach. In mid-July I visited King Island to officially open the King Island Hub, a beautifully designed building for the use of the local community and tourists. It sits right beside the new Study King Island. Both were funded by the Albanese Labor government. Study King Island is one of 10 new regional study hubs around Australia in 2025 aimed at providing students living in regional areas easier access to VET and university study options. The King Island Hub comprises a community lounge with free wi-fi, a co-working space, small meeting and training rooms, new accessible toilets, a kitchen and some of the best views in Tasmania.”
“I love bragging about my neck of the woods in Braddon. Windswept, best cheese, a safe community, welcoming, fabulous artists—these are just some of the words and phrases that I would use to describe King Island. King Island is an island in Bass Strait belonging to the Australian state of Tasmania. It is the largest of four islands known as the new year group and the second-largest island in Bass Strait, after Flinders Island. The island's population is around 1,600 people. That's growing. The island forms part of the official land divide between the Great Australian Bight and Bass Strait off the north-western tip of Tasmania, about halfway to the mainland state of Victoria.”
“I'll have a lot more to say on regional Australia at the next opportunity, because there is a whole lot more to say about how we are assisting regional Australia through many, many various ways and means. A number of the previous speakers on this side have spoken about how we are assisting with that, but I wanted to focus on the university study hubs and education as a result of cutting the student debt bill that we have passed today.”
“In response, the Australian government is investing $66.9 million to more than double the number of university study hubs across the country in outer suburbs and in our regions. The government has committed to a target recommended by the Australian Universities Accord for 80 per cent of the working-age population to have a tertiary level qualification by 2050. Initiatives like the Regional University Study Hubs can play an important role in reaching that target and assisting particularly our regional students—and a number of those are mature-age students—to access university study within their areas so that they don't have to go further away. The university study hubs open up the doors of opportunity for young people to get an education that's closer to home.”
“The program is community embedded, with communities like King Island leading the design, development and operation of each hub to ensure that they meet the needs of the local community. The most popular courses among students at regional university study hubs are in areas such as health, at 34 per cent, and education, at 17 per cent. Those are two lots of skills that we desperately need to have in regional Australia. The expansion of the Regional University Study Hubs program is helping to remove barriers and allowing for students to access high-quality tertiary education. Priority action 1 of the Australian Universities Accord interim report is to extend visible local access to tertiary education by creating additional regional university study hubs and establish a similar concept for suburban metropolitan locations.”
“Study King Island is a prime example of how our study hubs can help regional and remote students achieve academic success in tertiary education. It is operated by West Coast Heritage. It also built on the success of the existing hub, Study Hub West Coast. They are operating two sites, in Smithton and in Zeehan. Study Hub West Coast has supported over 330 students since opening, and they are all in regional Tasmania. The Regional University Study Hubs program takes an innovative approach to improving access to tertiary education for regional and remote students. The program aims to improve and support diversity and equity of access and participation and to help students achieve their academic goals without having to leave their community.”
“The hub supports students to study online courses at any territory provider throughout Australia. The hub is a game changer for students on King Island to get a degree and get ahead in their careers while staying on the island close to home with their friends, family and community. Already the hub is supporting 10 students, and it was only opened a couple of weeks ago. There is more work being done to encourage more students. Facilities available at the hub include computers, high-speed internet and breakout spaces as well as academic skills and administrative support. Currently, only 22 per cent of young people on King Island have a bachelor's degree or higher. We know that university participation goes up where university study hubs are established.”
“Earlier today we passed the Universities Accord (Cutting Student Debt by 20 Per Cent) Bill 2025. I am from regional Tasmania, and I want to speak today about how the Albanese Labor government is working with and supporting regional Australia through university study hubs, just one of the many areas we are developing to support regional Australia. On 17 July I officially opened Study King Island in Currie. It was one of 12 new regional university study hubs across Australia announced as part of cohort 4 in 2024 and is one of three hubs in Tasmania, all in regional areas, funded through the Australian government's Regional University Study Hubs program. The support that this hub provides makes it possible for students to remain in their local community while undertaking further studies.”
“Your family needs to know because the organ donation is possibly going to happen at a time when you are not in a state to be able to say, so it's really important that your family really understands what your wishes are. I know that after my auntie passed away we all sat down and talked about it, and our whole family now understands what our wishes are. It is really important to make sure that that gets to everyone.”
“I think most people here will know that DonateLife started yesterday. It's really important that people register as organ and tissue donors. It's also important to talk to your family about donation. A number of years ago, my dear Aunty Gaye passed away. She became a donor, which was very humbling for our family. A few years after she passed away and became a donor, my sister's husband became a recipient. What that means to families is really beyond words. It's hard to put into words how that makes you feel. We know that four in five Australians say that they support organ donation, but you really have to register. The message is to go out and register, because many of those people who support organ donation are not registered. It's also important that you have that discussion with your family.”
“We've assisted in funding a childcare service in Devonport. We know there are childcare shortages everywhere, and we have put that on the table to assist childcare services in Devonport. At Smithton, at the far end of my electorate on the far north-west coast, we have assisted again, with funding for a Smithton health hub. I am really proud of these, so nobody should come in here and say we have failed to deliver.”
“I am really proud of some of the announcements that we made in my electorate that back in some of these issues that we've got. As I said earlier, we announced that we will deliver a new urgent care clinic in Burnie. We provided funding towards a Burnie health hub, which is going to sit in an old university building that was unused for years. It was lived in by possums. The possums have now been taken out, and that building is going to be ready to go. Pathology is already in there; one section is operating. By 1 July next year that will be a fully functional multipurpose health hub where people from Burnie can go and get all sorts of different treatments—women's health and women's legal services—for a whole range of issues. I'm really proud of that because I think it is something that our area desperately needs.”
“We want a fair Australia, and we want to give it to everyone. And that's what we did. We also delivered energy bill relief, and we will continue to do that in the future. We will deliver that. We've delivered free TAFE and strengthened Medicare. There are the cheaper medicines that I talked about. There are opportunities for apprentices to get assistance, particularly in the building area where we will deliver $10,000 to apprentices to help them through their apprenticeship and also to encourage it, We do need to build more houses, and we will do that by supporting apprentices, by giving them $10,000 to assist them through their apprenticeship and make them want to stay. We'll make it easier for them to stay in their apprenticeship.”
“So these are things that we have achieved and things that we are going to do, and we've clearly outlined that what we've said we'll do we will do. That is something that we will do. It is absolutely delivering. We have opened Australia's first endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics—there are 22 of these—and we've also invested more than $790 million in women's health initiatives, things that haven't been done before. So I am not sure why anybody on that side can sit around and say we have failed to deliver. It is just outrageous, particularly in the area of health but also because we've delivered a tax cut for every Australian taxpayer, something that those opposite voted against. They didn't want to share that load around. They wanted the people on the higher incomes to get the tax cuts, and we said that's not fair.”
“I'm not from the city; I know the sorts of things that my constituents talk to me about. We also delivered cheaper medicines—the biggest ever reduction in the cost of PBS medications. Of those 87 bulk billed Medicare urgent care clinics that we opened—I think we said we'd open 50-something; we actually opened 87—one was in my electorate, in Devonport. That has taken enormous pressure not only off families with young children, older people and other people who couldn't get into a GP at the time they needed to, maybe over a weekend when their kids fell over or whatever—they have used that urgent care clinic—but also off the Mersey Community Hospital out at Latrobe. I have got another one promised in the last election for Burnie, which will take enormous pressure off the emergency department at the North West Regional Hospital in Burnie.”
“I am here today to talk about the matter of public importance put forward by the opposition, and I must say that when I read it I was a bit bemused about it. We've heard a lot of contributions that say we have failed to deliver, so what I want to do is go through and talk about what we actually have delivered and what we have achieved. In the last three years, we have made it easier and cheaper to see a doctor. We tripled the bulk-billing incentive for people who needed to see a GP most often. That was helping pensioners, people with concession cards and families with children. We restored bulk-billing for 11 million Australians, and that also created an additional six million bulk-billed visits. I am a regional MP as well. I know what it's like out in regions.”
“I am proud to have secured the seat with a 15.2 per cent swing and swung it to being fairly safe for Labor, the biggest swing in the country. As the 11th member for Braddon since the seat was formed in 1955, I will work hard to represent the people of Braddon with passion and energy, and I am energetic—anyone who knows me—am not afraid of hard work and love what I do. I am immensely proud to be in this chamber to help deliver the outcomes for my community.”
“I was honoured to join the last leg of the walk, from the National Emergency Services Memorial to here in Parliament House. It was an emotional and heartwarming experience. I want to pay my huge respect to Matt U'Brien and others who walked the entire 2,400 kilometres. They were joined along the way by hundreds of others, an amazing effort. Their efforts have not gone unnoticed. This is a personal legacy that I carry over to this place, to work on the delivery of those recommendations. I really don't like leaving things half done, so be prepared for me to lobby on this. Braddon has traditionally been known as a marginal seat. However, in 2022 the trend was broken by the Liberal Party, with Braddon becoming a fairly safe seat for the first time in 12 years, with a margin of eight per cent.”
“It was harrowing, to say the least, to hear some of the stories of those who we rely on in our time of need and how they were not getting the help when they needed it the most. The report outlined 14 recommendations, a lot of which recommended the federal government work with state and territory governments. Some things have improved. However, there is still a lot of work to be done, and I intend to continue that work to improve the outcomes for those who come to our aid when we are most in need. In July 2023, a number of first responders left the Lambert Centre in the heart of central Australia to walk the 2,400 kilometres to the heart of the nation right here in Canberra. Over 91 days, they walked to raise awareness of the recommendations of the Senate report.”
“In 2018, an intensive care paramedic, a friend of mine, Simone Haigh—she's up there today; she's actually one of our family, as we've adopted her—came to me to see what we could do in relation to the mental health of first responders. She said, 'How do we get a Senate inquiry happening?' I said, 'Well, you've got to go and talk to a senator.' So we had a chat, and away we went with the inquiry into mental health of first responders. That led to the report The people behind 000: mental health of our first responders . Simone's close friend, a paramedic, had taken his own life a few years before, and she had seen the effect that the profession had on her colleagues. We visited every state and territory with the inquiry and gained an incredible amount of evidence with the many witnesses who attended.”
“Looking outside the square in terms of health delivery is necessary. In regional areas like Braddon, I see an opportunity to provide services to remote regions with collaboration from all health providers in the area—things like utilisation of nurse practitioners to handle cases within their scope of practice to relieve the pressures on GPs; better facilitation between state health and NDIS providers who travel to regions to provide care; and the opportunity for pharmacists to realise their full scope of practice. There is so much more that can be done for regional areas if professionals work together instead of pulling against each other.”
“This is exactly what we can do in Braddon, by getting these renewable projects off the ground, up and running as soon as possible. In some areas of the electorate, connectivity is a barrier. It's a barrier to enabling residents and businesses to fully realise the potential of the area, and I was very pleased to have made the announcement during the election that federal Labor will team up with a carrier who can improve connectivity across the West Coast, Waratah and Circular Head regions. These areas are, again, the powerhouse of Tasmania and are being left behind by the lack of interest from the current carrier, so it's time to shake them up and get value for money to the residents and visitors of this region. I look forward to working with Minister Wells's office and the department to fully realise this commitment to those areas.”
“In some areas of the state we have an abundance of wind to power the turbines that sit on the land amongst grazing cattle and sheep, but we have so much more opportunity in this area. I am passionate about ensuring we have the opportunity to pursue more renewable energy from my neck of the woods. We have passionate people who want to get on with the job of making sure that we produce this energy to attract more industry and then to create more jobs by having the components built in Braddon. This will mean that our young people are able to build a fabulous career right in the place where they grew up. I've heard constantly from our Prime Minister and Treasurer about our government commitments around productivity and building productivity.”
“It is a true house of review. I take this opportunity to thank the Clerk of the Senate, the attendants who looked after me in the chamber, Senate Services, the Senate committee staff, the Black Rod, Hansard and Broadcasting, and all those on that side of the building—and the wonderful cleaners on that side. Thank you. Well, here I am now on this side of the building. As of February 2022, there were 55 people who had served in both the Senate and House of Representatives—so I guess I'm No. 56. As I said earlier, in Braddon we are a clean green energy hub. We have many hydroelectric dams that generate our power. A large number of these sit within the electorate of Braddon and specifically down the West Coast, where the above-average rainfall helps to keep these filled to generate power.”
“I became the state president of my union and, in 2004, became the first female state secretary across Australia of the AMWU, loving the job of a union official for over 20 years. For me it wasn't really a job; it was a way of life that I loved, and I was lucky enough to get paid for it. I have a different job now, but it's still my way of life that I love. In 2010, I was elected as a senator for Tasmania, becoming deputy whip in the Senate in 2013, Chief Opposition Whip in 2016 and Chief Government Whip in the Senate following the 2022 election. I loved this role. I loved the intensity, the madness of the day, and having to pivot when the day as laid out suddenly changed. My time in the Senate is something that I will cherish forever, and the friendships that I forged for life, and the experience is something I will remember always.”
“I was born in Latrobe, grew up in Ulverstone and Gawler, and have lived in Gawler—not in South Australia but the Gawler in Tasmania—in the same cottage, which was built in 1888, for the last 46 years. That's where we raised our twins and have many great memories formed with family, friends and grandchildren. I spent my school years in the public system at East Ulverstone Primary, Ulverstone High School and then Devonport Technical College, now known as TAFE. I've worked in retail, in aged care as a teenager and in hospitality, and I worked in my first real job, on the factory floor at Edgell-Birds Eye in Ulverstone, for 11 years. I moved on to being a union official.”
“It's those that I look to for grounding and also for information about the things that our communities care about: Andrew Bell, the bagpiper in Queenstown, who plays in the main street at 12 noon on Thursdays and from the lookout over the town on Sundays; the CWA women in Currie, who always give me a really warm welcome; and Michael, in Highclere, who rang me during the campaign and said that he'd never met a candidate before because 'they don't come out this far'. Thanks, Michael and Mary-Lou, for inviting me into your home for a good chat about the election. I loved travelling out to Highclere to see you both. These are some of the people who make up the Braddon that I love.”