Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister
Western Australia’s John Curtin put it bluntly, “politics is a generic name given to the art of government.”
We know there is good art and there is bad art. For too long the art of Australian politics has been bad art. Art that you would be embarrassed to hang anywhere in your house.
That changed this year with the election of the Albanese Government. Here in Western Australia, we have been central to painting a new national picture.
And it’s a big picture.
In the last month alone the Australian Parliament has legislated a National Anti-Corruption Commission, legislated towards gender pay equity, started on the path towards delivering a referendum for constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, and taken action to limit the worst impacts of the forecast gas price increases.
If you had said at the start of 2022 that an Albanese Labor Government would achieve all this, no one would have believed you.
But together, Australians took part in our great democratic tradition to help make it happen.
Here in Western Australian, we played a big role.
WA had been taken for granted by the Liberals and Nationals for too long. After all the insults, the Clive Palmer love-in and too many WA Liberals ministers in the headlines for the wrong reasons, it was time for change.
Western Australia has been central to the big parliamentary moments of Australia’s history.
When the federal electorate of Fremantle spanned from Coogee to City Beach, and from Cottesloe to Karawara, we sent John Curtin to Canberra.
Australia relied on him to lead us to victory in World War II.
A few years later, a young Bob Hawke was being educated in West Leederville, then in Subiaco and then in Crawley.
40 years later Australia relied on him to lead us through the end of the Cold War.
And some of the most sound voices of reason in the Liberal Party’s history have come from the West. Fred Chaney. Judi Moylan. Julie Bishop.
Right now, Australia is facing some of our biggest challenges. We need our Parliament delivering more than ever.
The aftermaths of the pandemic, a trillion dollars of Liberal debt, a war in Ukraine.
Again, Australians have relied on Western Australia, and not just our economic might.
From Two Rocks to Salter Point, from Bicton to Mundaring, Western Australians elected Anthony Albanese to lead us through these challenges.
And his government is delivering for WA.
Cheaper child care to cut the cost of child care for more than 1,200,000 Australian families.
Delivering real cost of living relief including the biggest cut to PBS medicines since John Curtin created the scheme in 1943.
$52 million from the federal government towards a world-class Aboriginal Cultural Centre.
A drawcard for visitors from across Australia and the world.
$490 million from the federal government towards the METRONET Airport line.
A major infrastructure achievement for Perth.
Renewing Infrastructure Australia to ensure it has a clearer purpose.
Restoring its rightful place as an expert advisory body of national significance.
These achievements are proof of the power of politics.
It is how we take the big action we need to in order to change our country.
How we deal with the defining issues.
How we paint our national picture.
We now have a federal government that understands this.
As you reflect on the year over the summer break, you can know that Western Australians played a big role in it.
The electorates in our state might have changed a lot since John Curtin was Prime Minister, but our values have not.
Just as they always have – Australians know they can rely on us.
