On Saturday, Australians can choose between a tired Coalition government that is out of puff and out of ideas, or a Labor government with a clear plan for a better future for the nation.

Labor's plan is about more jobs, greater job security, higher wages, more opportunities, and better services for families. It's about ending the climate wars, building new industries, training young people, and restoring the Australian manufacturing industry.

Scott Morrison offers more of the same: A deliberate policy of low wage growth; a crisis in aged care and the collapse in skills training. He offers more rorts, more pork-barrelling and more broken promises.

We can do better.

This is the Prime Minister who failed to order enough COVID vaccines or rapid antigen tests. His record is poor, but it is particularly bad when it comes to the nation's biggest regional economy: the Hunter. The rise of renewable energy presents the region with the challenge of safeguarding existing industrial sectors while building a new economic base in the new economy. There are great opportunities to underpin decades of ongoing prosperity. But for years, Mr Morrison and his colleagues have pretended the irresistible shift to renewables was not happening. They have failed to position the Hunter to capitalise on change.

A Labor Government will support Hunter coal mining for as long as there is a market. We'll work with the Hunter to seize emerging opportunities in areas such as renewable energy and advanced manufacturing. The Hunter has always been a manufacturing centre. But with the right government support, cheap, clean renewable energy will drive a manufacturing renaissance that will create jobs and decades of prosperity.

Labor's Rewiring the Nation fund will make sure new renewable energy is connected into the grid. Our National Reconstruction Fund will offer businesses loan guarantees, grants, and other support to help them establish ventures and jobs. Hunter businesses, with their expertise in energy, defence, rail, and medical manufacturing and engineering, will be perfectly placed to access this fund.

Labor will ensure locals have the skills to get these new jobs by creating 465,000 feefree TAFE places and 20,000 new university places in areas of skills shortage.

We will also invest $82 million in the Hunter Super Hydrogen Hub to build a green hydrogen economy. Our Powering the Regions Fund will support innovations by existing Hunter businesses and the creation of industries. Independent modelling shows our Powering Australia energy policy will create 604,000 jobs, five out of six of which will be in regions. For existing workers, Labor will wind back the trend towards casualisation. We'll make employment more secure, starting by cracking down on dodgy labour hire companies that pay casual workers up to 40 per cent less than other workers doing the same job. Labor's policy is simple - same job, same pay.

Our Lake Macquarie Economic Development package will unlock more than $1.8 billion of economic benefits for the region, helping to create over 12,000 jobs. We will deliver $55 million to upgrade Newcastle Airport, creating an expected 4410 jobs and $12.7 billion in economic activity over the next two decades.

It's never been harder or more expensive for Hunter residents to see their doctor. Mr Morrison's reclassification of parts of the region as a metropolitan area without a GP shortage and his cuts to the bulk-billing incentive payment to local GPs have made the problem much worse. We will fix the GP shortage crisis by increasing the region's access to the Bonded Medical Program and overseas trained doctors, reverse Mr Morrison's cuts to the GP Access After Hours service and establish a Medicare Urgent Care Clinic near Cessnock Hospital so families will get the bulk-billed urgent medical care they need.

The price of everything is going up, but wages are going backwards. Labor will get wages growing again by boosting productivity and economic growth through measures like making childcare more affordable, which will lift workforce participation, particularly among women. We'll also ease the strain on family budgets by cutting power prices by $265 a household by 2025, as well as reducing the cost of medicines. By contrast, Mr Morrison is arguing against a $1-an-hour increase in the minimum wage and will not even concede that gig economy workers deserve to earn the minimum wage.

Labor's plans are practical and achievable. They will make a difference and build a better future for all Australians.

This opinion piece was first published in the Newcastle Herald on Wednesday, 18 May 2022.