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Thank you Jim, thank you all for that warm Queensland welcome.

I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which we meet and I pay my respects to their elders past, present and emerging.

Friends, true believers, my fellow Australians.

Here in Queensland and all around our country, the first 10 days of Labor’s campaign have been defined by our positive plan for building Australia’s future.

In these first 10 days, I’ve been to Medicare Urgent Care Clinics that we’ve opened.

I met with parents who told me what a difference it made to be able to take their sick child to see a doctor, close to home, just with their Medicare card.

I’ve visited hospitals we are expanding and rebuilding.

And pharmacies where Labor is taking the cost of PBS medicines down to $25, the lowest it has been since 2004.

I’ve sat down with families who we are helping with energy bills and the cost of living.

Spoken with young Australians about studying at Free TAFE - and the 20 per cent that we’re cutting off student debt.

We’ve visited schools where students will finally get the funding they deserve, so every child can have the best opportunity in life.

We’ve been to child care centres where families are paying less and early educators are getting paid more.

We’ve stood with some of the 3 million workers for whom our Government is backing another real pay rise. 

We’ve stood up for Australian jobs and industry at a time of global economic uncertainty.

And everywhere I’ve been since Jim delivered our fourth Budget – I’ve been able to tell people that a Labor Government will cut their taxes again and again.

Meaning an average tax cut of $2,500.

Tax cuts for all 14 million Australian taxpayers, not just some.

That’s how we’ve spent our first 10 days of this campaign:

Building on the strong foundations we’ve laid over the last three years.

Focusing on the policies that will make people better off over the next three years.

And while we’ve been running on our positive plan, the LNP have been running for cover.

Running away from questions about their promise to cut wages and increase taxes.

And trying to run and hide from the cuts they will make to education and health to pay for their $600 billion nuclear reactors.

My opponent started his campaign measuring-up the curtains at Kirribilli House while telling everyone else they can’t work from home.

Some Queenslander!

He’s dreaming about Sydney Harbour – we’re upgrading the Bruce Highway.

He denigrates people working from home – we’re building more homes.

That’s the choice.

There is Labor: strengthening Medicare and building Australia’s future.

Or Peter Dutton who wants to cut everything but your income taxes.

And speaking of choice, this election is also a choice between a great Queenslander Jim Chalmers as Treasurer or Angus Taylor.

I can tell you, it takes something special for me to feel sympathy for the Opposition.

But whenever I see poor old Angus get up to ask Jim a Question in Parliament, I almost feel for them - almost.

Queensland Labor get things done.

Under Murray Watt, wages are up.

Same Job, Same Pay is law.

And when work is done for the day, people have the right to disconnect.

Under Anika Wells, aged care workers have received historic pay rises.

And there is now a registered nurse in aged care 99 per cent of the time.

All our Queensland Labor Members and Senators do an extraordinary job for this state and our country.

That’s why we want more of them in our Labor Government!

That’s why I started this campaign right here in Queensland.

Backing Medicare in Brisbane – and buying Australian in Bundaberg.

Because nothing says Australian made like a Bundaberg ginger beer except perhaps a Dark and Stormy.

In the weeks ahead, we need all of you knocking on doors for Madonna Jarrett in Brisbane.

Making calls for Rebecca Hack in Ryan, Kara Cook in Bonner and Julie-Ann Campbell in Moreton.

Handing out for Shayne Neumann in Blair, Rhiannyn Douglas in Longman or Rowan Holzberger in Forde.

Doing everything we can to back Renee Coffey here in Griffith.

And then there’s that champion contesting Queensland’s most marginal seat for a third time.

Ali France, you will not only have the people of Dickson cheering you on, people all across the nation will be barracking and pitching in for you.

Friends

Over the past few years, the world has thrown a lot at Australia.

The worst global inflation since the 1980s.

The biggest international energy crisis since the 1970s.

Conflict overseas – and natural disasters here at home.

And just this week, new tariffs and trade tensions.

We cannot choose what challenges will arise.

But we can determine how we respond.

That’s why we made it clear to the United States that our Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme is not up for negotiation.

That’s why we spelled out the fact we will not compromise biosecurity standards for Queensland beef.

Our Government deals with global challenges, the Australian way, the Labor way.

Navigating the rough seas, while always keeping our eyes on the horizon.

Helping people with the cost of living – and building for the future.

Today, because of the hard work Australians have done, because of the strength and resilience our people have shown our economy is turning the corner:

Inflation is down.

Wages are up.

Interest rates have started to fall.

And – under our Labor Government – over one million new jobs have been created.

For the party of jobs, that is such a source of pride.

And it tells you everything that the policy our opponents brag about the most, the thing that really gets them excited is sacking over 40,000 people.

What is it with the LNP?

You’ve seen it before – Campbell Newman revisited is the sequel no-one asked for.

The Liberals are taking about sacking people who – not even a month ago – I saw, firsthand, working out of a caravan in Hervey Bay to deliver disaster recovery payments to locals.

Or people from the new National Emergency Management Agency, who played such a vital role in preparing Queensland communities last month.

And – right now – are helping out the flood-affected communities in Western Queensland I visited yesterday.

These Liberal cuts would mean the return of Robodebt.

A regime of systematic cruelty that hounded some of the most vulnerable people in Australia for money they never owed.

The Liberals’ cuts would drag Australia back to the days of tens of thousands of veterans waiting in vain for compensation and support they earned serving our nation ignored for so long that some passed away, before their claims were even considered.  

And this time around the Liberals want to cut deeper.

Much deeper.  

Because this time they need to find $600 billion to pay for their nuclear reactors.

That money won’t come from the private sector, they don’t want to touch it.

But the money has to come from somewhere.

This is why the Liberals have started asking: “What does the Federal Government have to do with education?”

I’ll help them out.

Here’s what our Labor Government has to do with education:  

Cheaper child care for more than 1 million families.

Fair funding for every school.

Free TAFE - 600,000 new places and counting.

Taking 20 per cent off student debt.

Opening new university hubs and early education centres in our regions and suburbs.

Opening the doors of opportunity for every Australian

Labor knows education changes lives.

It is the most powerful weapon we have against disadvantage.

And it is the best investment we can make in Australia’s future.

The Liberals only see education as a chance to cut.

And when they cut, Australians pay.

That’s the difference. That is the choice.

On education – and on health.

Because – extraordinarily – my opponent, someone who occasionally owns up to being a former Health Minister is now going around asking why we have a department of health.

Peter Dutton wants to know what the Australian Government does on health.

Well, I don’t need to tell him - I can show him.

Medicare. That’s what a Labor Government does in health.  

We honour the promise of this piece of green and gold.

That’s why we are delivering the biggest investment in bulk-billing in the history of Medicare.

To make sure that wherever you live, no matter how much you earn.

Your Medicare card means you can see a GP for free.

And you can afford the medicine to get better.

You can find a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic, close to home and open when you need.

You and the people you love can count on quality healthcare.

All of this is fundamental to what it means to be Australian.

And all of this is at stake at this election.

Saturday the 3rd of May is a make-or-break moment for Medicare.

We’ve had less than three years to repair the decade of damage the Liberals inflicted on Australia’s health system.

You might remember that the last time they were in Opposition, they promised ‘no cuts to health’.

And then the first thing Peter Dutton did was cut $50 billion out of hospitals.

Followed by years of cuts inflicted on Medicare by a freeze that put bulk-billing in free-fall.

And never forget that was his back-up plan.

His original goal was to abolish bulk-billing altogether.

To put a new charge on every single Australian every single time they went to the doctor.

Or needed medicine, or went to a hospital emergency department. 

That is his record – and that is the risk.

The only way to protect Medicare and strengthen it is to vote Labor on the 3rd of May.  

Friends from our first day in Government, helping people with the cost of living has been our number one priority.

Getting inflation down, wages up and cutting taxes.

Making medicine cheaper.

Making child care cheaper.

And standing-up for farmers and shoppers by cracking down on the big supermarkets.

Supermarket price-gouging is wrong.

Ripping Australians off is wrong.

And under Labor it will be against the law. 

We’ve also been delivering direct support, including back-to-back increases in rent assistance.

And three rounds of energy bill relief for households and small business.

With last month’s budget taking another $150 off power bills.

We know this makes a difference here and now.

But our Government wants to help people get their power bills down, for good.

That means building more of the cheapest form of new energy – renewables.

After a decade of the Liberals fighting about climate change instead of getting on with clean energy our Government has approved enough renewables to power more than 10 million homes.

And today in the sunshine state, we’re taking the next step on rooftop solar.  

Rooftop solar is a great Australian success story.

Every solar panel in the world contains Australian ideas and Australian innovation.

Australia leads the world in this – and Queensland leads Australia.

It’s a practical and proven technology that cuts power bills.

And it empowers people who want to do the right thing by the environment.

Every year solar gets more affordable and more efficient – and every year more Australians embrace it.

Today, 1 in every 3 households have solar. The largest per capita rate in the world.

Many more people have a panel on their roof than a pool in the backyard.

But only 1 out of every 40 homes has a battery.

And batteries change the equation, permanently.

With a battery, families can store the free energy generated on a sunny day when no-one’s home - and use it when they need it.

And every household that installs a battery drives down energy prices for everyone else by reducing peak demand.

The problem at the moment is the upfront cost of a battery is too high for too many people.
We’re going to fix that.

Today I announce Labor will make batteries 30 per cent cheaper for Australian homes, small businesses and community facilities.

That means saving around $4,000 on the cost of installing a typical battery.

And it means slashing your power bills, permanently. 

Our plan for Cheaper Home Batteries will start on the 1st of July. This year.

It makes the choice crystal clear. 

Wait until sometime in the 2040s for more expensive nuclear energy under the Liberals.

Or save money this year and every year afterwards with solar power under Labor.

We will help you get a cheaper battery, starting right now.

The Liberals won’t give you any power for two decades – but they will send you the bill from day one.  

This is how Labor helps with the cost of living – and the environment.

Not by organising petitions to stop new housing but by putting households in control.

Progress, not just protest. 

Friends

Yesterday I was up near Longreach, I met with Marto and Bec and their wonderful boys Cooper and Jacob, whose farm had been devastated by the recent floods.

They love their home. They are so proud of it.

They live in an iconic part of Australia.

Every year people visit Western Queensland for a glimpse of the real outback.

A sense of the rugged land of farmers and stockmen and drovers and all that it means to our history and identity.

But the most Australian thing I saw yesterday was older and deeper than any of that.

It was people helping each other, being there for each other.

It was courage. Kindness. Community.  

Over the past three years, I’ve visited so many Queensland communities preparing for floods, dealing with them, or recovering from them.

Whether it’s amidst the devastation, or on the long hard road to rebuilding, the strength of Queenslanders shines through.

Proof that in the worst of times, we see the best of the Australian character.

And that bravery belongs to a larger story.

The proud story of this big state and Queenslanders’ extraordinary capacity to do the big things and drive the big changes.

Growing Brisbane into a great global city – and what will be a magnificent Olympic City.
Building Gladstone into an industrial powerhouse.

Making Rockhampton the beef capital of the world.

And sharing the wonders of the Great Barrier Reef and the Daintree with the world – and safeguarding them for future generations.

We see it in Queensland universities: global leaders in medical research.  

We see it everywhere Queenslanders are building communities, starting businesses and creating jobs.

Drawing on all the talent and aspiration of our people.

Building big. Building for the best. And building to last.

That’s the Queensland way.

That is the Australian way.

That is the Labor way.

We don’t beg and borrow ideologies from anywhere else in the world.

We build on our values of fairness and opportunity for all.

Labor Governments stand up for Australia.

Because we stand for Australian values.

The wisdom and resilience of the world’s oldest continuous culture.

The aspiration and optimism of all those who have chosen our nation as their home.

The hard work and faith in the fair go that brings us together as Australians – and sets us apart from the world.

Because we didn’t copy the idea of a decent minimum wage from overseas, we created it here.

We didn’t steal the concept of universal superannuation from another country, we made it here.

We didn't wait for others before we strengthened our democracy by ensuring women had the right to vote in elections and stand for Parliament, we led the world.

And we didn’t settle for a knock-off version of another nation’s healthcare system, we created Medicare.

That’s the way forward for us now. Our own way.

The future we want is not an American-style wages system.

Not American levels of student debt.

And never, ever American healthcare.

In this time of uncertainty, we should not try and be more like someone else, or somewhere else.  
We only need to trust in what makes us Australian.

Our place in the world. Our values. Our people.

These are uncertain times – but I am absolutely certain of this.

This is not a time for cutting and wrecking, for thinking small, punching down, aiming low or looking back.

This is a time for building.

Building the stronger Medicare Australians deserve.

Building an Australia where no-one is held back and no-one is left behind.  

Building on the strong foundations we have laid.

Building Australia’s future, together.