Page 1968 - Week 06 - Thursday, 9 June 2022
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believe that only Labor can deliver the emissions reduction that our country must make, while making working people better off, looking after families and helping those in need.
ACT Labor has led the way on national climate action. Now we have a partner, in the Albanese Labor government. It was ACT Labor that stood up and supported the renewable energy sector when Tony Abbott came to power. We provided a lifeline through our innovative and pioneering renewable energy reverse auctions. This has helped power our city with 100 per cent renewable electricity and is cutting power prices. I want to thank Simon Corbell for his leadership on this. Federal Labor will deliver strong action on climate change and ensure that no-one is left behind. I am looking froward to seeing the end of the climate wars and seeing our country take real action on climate change under this majority Labor government.
Ten years ago we had a progressive minority government that made an extraordinary amount of change in this country. I hope we can all learn the lessons from that time—that when we are making policy it is important that we do not let the perfect be the enemy of good. Instead of having a decade of climate inaction, we could have had a decade of an emissions trading scheme and a country powered by renewable energy. Making perfect the enemy of good enabled a decade of Liberal government that undermined and attacked our social welfare system, Medicare, the NDIS, the NBN, women, the LGBTIQ community, kids, unions and working people.
I am also pleased to see the Albanese government support for a new urgent care centre on the south side. They are continuing a long Labor tradition of investing in accessible health services.
Canberrans have again shown their support for Labor candidates, with the re-election of David Smith, Alicia Payne and Andrew Leigh to the house, and Katy Gallagher to the Senate. In the House of Representatives elections ACT Labor recorded a 45 per cent primary vote, the highest Labor vote of all jurisdictions and the strongest vote of any party in any state or territory across Australia. I want to commend all of these members and their campaign teams for their excellent work on the campaign and congratulate them on their success. There is a lot of work to be done and I cannot wait to work with them all.
The Australian Labor Party’s policy platform for a better future will improve the lives of Canberrans and Australians and complement the ACT’s progressive legislative agenda and commitments. Congratulations again to everyone involved in the campaign and, most of all, to the Australian electorate, who have chosen unity instead of division, and compassion instead of hatred. I commend this excellent motion from Mr Pettersson to the Assembly.
MR RATTENBURY (Kurrajong) (3.31): As the motion alludes to, elections are an important time for the country. We have an opportunity to change our political direction. Many of us hope for something different and better for our nation, its people, its environment and its future. This election result has delivered that to a moderate but not insubstantial degree. Congratulations to the Labor government. We in the ACT Greens party look forward to working with a new Labor government on
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