Wednesday, 25 May 2022

Federal election

Ms KILKENNY (Carrum) (09:59): What a weekend. A huge congratulations to Peta Murphy for retaining her seat of Dunkley and achieving a swing towards her of 4.2 per cent. Congratulations to Mark Dreyfus for retaining his seat of Isaacs, and of course congratulations to our new Prime Minister, Anthony Albanese.

Over the last couple of days I have had many local constituents ask me whether I am overjoyed with the weekend’s election result. Yes, I am very happy, but I also feel this great sense of relief, as though some enormous weight has been lifted off our collective shoulders. It is as though Australia can now re-emerge from the darkness—no more fear, no more division, no more prejudice or bias or deceit. Together we can now move forward into a new era: an era of opportunity and possibilities; an era of courage and conviction as we work on a national plan for renewable energy and serious action on climate change; an era of compassion and respect and fairness and kindness; an era of ideas; an era of progress across so many areas that impact us, like child care, kindergarten, infrastructure, health, education, and skills and training; an era of honesty and national integrity; an era of embracing difference and celebrating diversity and of supporting our LGBTIQ communities, our multicultural communities and of course women; and an era in which we give full recognition to the Uluru Statement from the Heart. I am looking forward to working in collaboration with a federal Labor government to deliver for all Victorians.