Wednesday, 14 May 2025

Federal election

Tom McINTOSH (Eastern Victoria) (09:56): I rise to celebrate the federal election result and the benefits it will bring to residents right across eastern Victoria, whether it is the investments in Medicare and access to free bulk-billing, the cheaper medicines on the PBS, the more nurses and doctors we are going to see trained in our communities, the fully funded education, the investing in road infrastructure or a clear plan on energy and lowering power bills, including home batteries – and all this with clear policies to increase wages and jobs.

I want to acknowledge the incredible local Labor candidates that went out and met community where they are and talked to locals about this positive plan that was put forward, and they are Naomi Oakley in Casey, Jeff Springfield in La Trobe, Sonny Stephens in Gippsland, Tully Fletcher in Monash and Sarah Race in Flinders. I think it was really evident that when you meet community where they are, when you approach community with a clear set of values that informs policies and when you bring a positive plan that is going to improve locals’ quality of life, improve livability and improve affordability, you see the result of that. I think it was in absolute contrast to and a rejection of the divisive, negative and quite frankly lazy politics that we saw from the Liberals and the Nationals.