Friends, two weeks from now we can choose a better future.
 
A better future for Australia.
 
A better future for Tasmania.
 
The choice is clear. And the choice is urgent.
 
The cost of living is rising now.
 
Climate change is here now.

Our region is changing now. 

The jobs and skills and infrastructure that will grow our economy are needed now. 

And I thank Julie for outlining some of the things we helped build in Tasmania the last time we were in government.

There is a crisis in aged care, right now.

If we don’t act, these problems will just get bigger.

Australia can’t afford three more years of more of the same.
 
Three more years of never accepting responsibility…
 
…Three more years of a Prime Minister who looks at the problems facing us and says, “It’s not my job”.

Well, I want the job. And I want to do that job.
 
At this election there is a real choice. There is a better choice.
 

A Better Future 

That choice is Labor, and our plan to build a better future.
 
A Labor Government will use the lessons of the pandemic to make Australia the stronger, more resilient. We need to learn those lessons and build back stronger.
 
A Labor Government with a plan to address the cost of living crisis.

Cheaper child care, cheaper power bills and cheaper medicines.
 
A plan to strengthen Medicare and fix aged care.
 
To make jobs more secure.

To make housing more affordable.
 
To back new Australian industries.
 
A Labor Government with a plan for a future made in Australia.
 
I make this point. We are the only party at this election seeking to govern in our own right.

Only Labor.

We will govern in our own right.
 
When you vote for a Labor candidate like Ross Hart, you’re voting to make life better – for yourself, your children, your community, your state of Tasmania, and your nation.
 
Because when you elect a Labor member to Parliament, you’re also getting a team.
 
A team with the experience, the intellect, the compassion and the ambition to shape Australia’s future.
 
Our priority – just as it always has been – will be to use the power of government to change the lives of Australians for the better.

To big sub-themes I talk about during this campaign.
 
No one left behind.

No one held back.
 

Better Healthcare 

We are the party that built Medicare in the face of fierce opposition from the Liberals.
 
Protecting universal healthcare has been one of the fundamental divides between the two major parties.
 
Strengthening Medicare will be a key focus of an incoming Labor government.
 
We will roll out 50 GP-led Medicare Urgent Care Clinics across the country, including one right here in Launceston. 

These clinics will be open longer hours, seven days a week. 

They’ll provide a whole range of medical services for life’s unexpected surprises, whether it’s a broken bone and or an ear infection. 

They will make it easier for Australians to see a doctor when they need it. 

And with their own nursing staff, walk-in urgent care clinics will help to take the pressure off hospital emergency departments, which have been under enormous strain during the pandemic.
 
Importantly, particularly here in Tasmania, no matter where I have been, bulk billing is such a big issue.

These services will be bulk billed. And that will make a difference.
 
You will not need your wallet – just your Medicare card. 
 
Labor will also restore Telehealth psychiatric consultations for rural and regional Australians. 
 
This is absolutely crucial.

Because, the truth is, it wasn’t just our physical health that the pandemic took a toll on.
 
It made serious inroads into our emotional and mental health as well. 

That is why Labor will reverse this Government’s reprehensible cut to psychiatric Telehealth consultations.

We will make medicines cheaper for Australians.

The price of medications is one of the things that has gone up under the Morrison Government - just like the cost to see a doctor has gone up.

We will reduce the cost of medication on the PBS by $12.50, making it cheaper for general patients.

Under Labor, the maximum price for PBS medicines will be $30.
 
The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme has something in common with other great Australian institutions - all of them done by Labor.
 
Labor will also improve the lives of Australian children with hearing difficulties.
 
Kids with hearing loss deserve the best possible start in life and the best possible care and support – no matter where they live.

A Labor Government will ensure our kids are looked after, whether through digital or on-the-ground support services.
 
We will fund the development of the digital HearHub platform, run by Shepherd Centres.

Shepherd Centres provide support services including development of speech and communication skills, life skills and emotional resilience – areas where hearing impaired children and teens need intensive clinical support.
 
This service is currently available in every state, except one.
 
Once again, Tasmania has been left off the map under the Liberal Government.

We will make sure Tasmania has this service.
 
Two new Shepherd Centres will be established here – one in Launceston and one in Hobart.
 
This is precisely the kind of policy that can make a real difference – the kind I think about when I say no one held back, and no one left behind.
 
Good healthcare, with Medicare at its foundation, gives Australians the sense of security and confidence that makes it possible to plan ahead and to achieve their aspirations. 

Better on Housing 

Just as we know Australians need us to strengthen Medicare, we know Australians need real solutions on affordable housing.
 
Our Housing Australia Future Fund will do just that.
 
It will build 20,000 new social housing units and 10,000 affordable homes in the next five years – as well as new housing for homeless veterans.

We will provide $100 million for crisis and transitional housing for women and children at risk of violence.
 
And if the Australian people give me the privilege of leading our great nation, we will create a new Help to Buy program.
 
This national shared equity scheme, based upon existing schemes in other states and countries, will provide an equity contribution from the Commonwealth Government of up to 10,000 aspiring homeowners on low and middle incomes, every year.

Help to Buy will assist Australians to buy a home with a smaller deposit, a smaller mortgage, and therefore, smaller mortgage repayments.

An Australian Labor Government will help you achieve the great Australian dream of home ownership.
 
It’s a plan to put government to work, backing up and investing in everyday people.
 
Because that’s what good government should do.

Help to Buy is exactly what I mean when I talk, as I do often, about an economy that works for people, rather than people just working for an economy.

Helping real people with the real challenges they face with real solutions.

The Government actually think people have it so easy right now because they are out of touch.
 

Better on Jobs

And the best way to get the economy working for our people is to create good, secure jobs.
 
This is so important in Tasmania where you have the highest level of casual work in the country.

Casual work, for some, is great. 

But we shouldn't take away the potential for people, when they finish TAFE or university or school, to have permanent work.
 
A Labor Government will embrace the jobs-generating powerhouse that is renewable energy.
 
Renewable energy is cheap and abundant in Australia.

We can be a renewable energy superpower if we take up the opportunity which is there.
 
Labor’s Powering Australia plan will harness it.

Powering Australia will create 604,000 new jobs by 2030, five out of every six of those new jobs will be in the regions.

It will deliver cheaper power to homes and businesses alike.
 
Jobs up.
 
Profits up.
 
Cost of living down.

A good policy.
 
Hydrogen is another energy source that has enormous potential for Australia, if we have a government prepared to support its development.

When people think about whether they should give this mob another three years of more of the same, they have to think about what the last three years were.

At the last election, they said electric vehicles would end the weekend.

They said hydrogen was snake oil.

But the truth is, there is huge potential.
 
Today I announce that Labor will invest in kick-starting the George Town hydrogen project right here in Tasmania.

This will create good, secure jobs for Tasmanians.
 
LINE Hydrogen plans to deliver a commercial-scale hydrogen facility.
 
The George Town Project aims to use solar panels to produce green hydrogen to replace diesel in Tasmanian trucks and buses.
 
Over time, LINE could also build at least five hydrogen refuelling stations across Tasmania, creating jobs right across the state.
 
Labor will support the first stage of the project, which includes hydrogen production and 24 hydrogen trucks that will be leased to industrial partners.
 
In addition, today I announce that a Labor Government will invest in a feasibility study for the Whaleback Energy Park.
 
Once developed, this park would utilise the west coast’s abundant wind and water resources to produce green hydrogen for use in Tasmania, as well as export to the north island and to the world.
 
This is the sort of vision that we can seize. We can seize it right now. 

This Government had 22 energy policies and haven't landed one of them.

Scott Morrison came to Glasgow and gave an empty speech to an empty room.

What does it take to give some of these numpties a wakeup call to tell them climate change is right here, right now.

But they can't.

They have this lead weight. Barnaby Joyce.

That is what we got.

They won't do anything about this.

You won't see Scott Morrison in Kooyong, Warringah, North Sydney.

Because they simply don't have a tenable position. 

We have a plan.

Creating new jobs and new opportunities. 

This is a Government that struggles with the present and terrified of the future.

A Labor Government will shape the future.

When up and running, the Whaleback Energy Park could deliver over 4,500 jobs in construction and over 550 full-time permanent jobs.
 
Labor will also partner with existing industries who want to change or update their operations to take advantage of new, sustainable technologies.
 
A great example of this is Ingham, who are aiming to convert their Tasmanian operations into a carbon-zero certified business.
 
Today I announce that a Labor Government will invest $11 million in this project so we can protect more than 120 jobs here in Tasmania.
 
We’ll work with Ingham to pioneer sustainable manufacturing in the poultry sector, which is scalable across their national operations.
 
Labor will also partner with Costa, providing a co-investment to expand the East Devonport Berry Distribution Centre.
 
We have already announced investment earlier this week to secure the future of the historic Waverley textile mills.
 
These investments are great examples of how government and business can work together to get better outcomes for workers, business and for local jobs and the economy.
 

The Devil You Know

Friends, Scott Morrison has said Australians know him.
 
He’s not wrong about that.
 
I reckon people know all about Scott Morrison.
 
They’ve worked him out.
 
They know he never steps up, never takes responsibility.

He will always go missing when the going gets tough.
 
Scott Morrison says that it’s better the devil you know.
 
He makes it sound like a plea – but the truth is, only the Rolling Stones ever got away with asking us to have sympathy for the devil.

And he is certainly no Jagger or Richards.
 
Australians know Scott Morrison failed on bush fires and they know he failed on floods.

They know he didn’t order enough vaccines and then didn’t order enough rapid antigen tests.

They know it’s harder to see a doctor.

They know it’s harder to buy a home.

And they know cost of everything is going up but their wages aren’t.

I will tell you what they really, really know.

They know aged care is in crisis.

This Government has not only neglected it before the Royal Commission report, they continue to ignore it.

They are showing contempt for older Australians.

…that’s the devil that Australians know.
 
We can change this on the 21st of May.
 
When you choose the candidate on your ballot paper, you’re not voting just for them.
 
You need to look at the team that comes with that name.
 
Here in the electorate of Bass, the blunt truth is that a vote for Bridget Archer is a vote for more of the same and a vote for Scott Morrison to stay as Prime Minister.
 
And a vote for three more years of more of the same.
 
It’s a vote for a frontbench that has become little more than a reminder of the need for a National Anti-Corruption Commission.

There will never be one if Scott Morrison remains as Prime Minister.

The reasons why are sitting on the frontbench behind him.
 
Scott Morrison is someone who says, ”Why would I?” when asked about a referendum on an Indigenous Voice to Parliament…
 
…probably because the only voice he ever shows real interest in hearing is his own.
 
That’s who and what you get if you vote Liberal.
 

A Better Choice 

Friends, as we look to our future, it is worthwhile having a glimpse back at our past, about what our foundations are as the Labor Party.
 
Look at Labor’s extraordinary and lasting legacy.
 
Medicare.

Universal superannuation.

The NDIS.

The Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme.

We will protect them all.

And we will strengthen them all.
 
Not just because they are proud Labor creations, but because they are great Australian achievements.

We are proud of them as a nation.

What does the other mob have to be proud of?

If we are successful on May 21, we’ll add to that list.

We will change Australia for the better.
 
A move towards universal child care.
 
Action on climate change.
 
Investing in renewables.
 
More secure jobs.
 
And a constitutionally recognised Indigenous Voice to Parliament.
 
Because we in the Labor Party do not stand just on our record.
 
We are energised by it.
 
A legacy of profound and lasting change, which makes a difference to our country, makes a difference to families and to individuals. 

Scott Morrison was asked what he wanted his legacy to be.

He replied, "I'm not into leaving a legacy".

Why would you do this job if you did not want to lead Australia to be better.
 
Our legacy is to reach for our best days, which I know are ahead of us.
 
If you are thinking about a time to change Australia for the better, this is an opportunity for us to not just imagine a better future, but to seize the opportunities that are there.

Labor knows how to get Australia there.

Labor is the party that delivers.

And a Labor Government will deliver for Tasmania.
 
A Labor Government that holds no-one back – and leaves no-one behind.
 
A Labor Government that will always step up.

And a Labor Government that will always have your back.

One that knows what its job is.
 
A better government that will deliver a better future.
 
Thank you.