Australia is the greatest nation in the world. But we can be even greater. What we need is a government with a plan to build a better future.

Victorians have been magnificent during the Covid pandemic. You have pulled together, anchored in your sense of community and your determination not to be beaten down by adversity.

After so much difficulty, you deserve a government just as ambitious as you are for a nation that is stronger, more vibrant and more self-sufficient than it was prior to the pandemic.

Labor’s plan for a better future is about stronger economic growth, more jobs and greater job security. It’s about making it easier to see a doctor and making childcare more affordable so parents can work the hours they need to get ahead.

A better future is about using the rise of cheap, clean renewable energy to drive the revival of manufacturing in this nation, particularly in critical areas like medicines, vaccines and PPE.

We’ll end the climate wars once and for all and work with industry, unions and other levels of government to create jobs and new industries that will drive decades of prosperity.

A better future is also about transparency. We’ll create the national anti-corruption commission that Scott Morrison promised during the last election campaign but failed to deliver. In coming weeks Mr Morrison will talk a lot about the strength of the Australian economy. But the lived economic experience of Victorians is the spiralling cost of living.

Everything is going up except wages, and that is a direct result of Mr Morrison’s deliberate policy of suppressing wages growth.

We deserve better. We deserve leadership that brings Australians together to build a better future for us all.

This opinion piece was first published in the Herald Sun on Monday, 11 April 2022.