Just over 100 days ago, the people of the Hunter and Australia gave Labor the great privilege of forming government.
From Muswellbrook to Mooney Mooney – people put their trust in Labor.
I’ve been a Federal Member of Parliament for almost nine years now always in Opposition, so this is a golden opportunity for our region which I don’t take for granted.
Since the election, the Albanese Government has hit the ground running.
One of the Prime Minister’s first actions was writing to the Fair Work Commission backing an increase to the minimum wage which helped secure a 5.2 per cent rise for our lowest paid workers.
The Government also made a submission to the Commission unequivocally supporting a wage increase for aged care workers, delivering on a separate election promise.
Our legislation to abolish the Cashless Debit Card has passed the House of Representatives.
We are also implementing our commitment to introduce paid family and domestic violence leave which will ensure that over 11 million workers including casuals will have access to 10 days of paid leave.
We’ve made progress on a Voice to Parliament, with the Prime Minister suggesting a question for a referendum which will be held before the next election.
Something I am particularly proud of is seeing our Climate Change Bill pass through the House of Representatives which will enshrine into law an emissions reduction target of 43 per cent from 2005 levels by 2030, and net zero emissions by 2050.
I have said many times since I was first elected in 2013 that the single biggest failure of Parliament over the last 10-15 years (other than a brief period around 2011) is the failure to take meaningful action on climate change.
Not only is a Federal Government now doing this for the first time in a long time, we’re also sending a message to investors that Australia is open for business to become a renewable energy powerhouse.
Labor’s climate policy will create over 600,000 new jobs, and five out of six of these will be created in regions like the Hunter in new industries like green hydrogen and advanced battery manufacturing as well as in the expansion of existing industries.
This is a huge step forward which is not only needed in Australia, but is really important in rebuilding our reputation internationally including in the Pacific.
I was fortunate enough to join the Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Penny Wong at the recent Pacific Islands Forum, and the sense of relief that Australia was finally taking the threat of climate change seriously was palpable.
This will go a long way to restoring Australia’s relationship with our Pacific neighbours which is so important given the current strategic environment.
That’s just some of the progress that’s been made nationally, but locally there’s understandably a lot of interest in when the commitments my Hunter Labor colleagues and I took to the election will be implemented.
I want to be really clear: Labor will be delivering on all of our local commitments.
We implemented one of our key promises in July which was reclassifying the entire Hunter region as a Distribution Priority Area for GPs.
Put simply, it means local general practices can now recruit from a greater pool of doctors – specifically those from the Bonded Medical Program as well as overseas trained doctors – which will take stress off our under pressure GPs and make it easier for patients to see their doctor.
A lot of our other election commitments like restoring our vital GP Access After Hours service requires funding, so they need to go through the normal budgetary process.
So while the Albanese Government has made some great progress over the last few months, there’s still a lot of work to do.
There’s more to be done to address the challenges we inherited from the previous government including the trillion dollars of debt, declining productivity, wages going backwards, and the highest level of inflation in 20 years.
But we are up to the task.
Labor governments are always the ones that do the big reforms that create lasting prosperity and a better future.
After a decade of waste and neglect, our first 100 days show that we are on track to do that again.