Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (13:40) 

Right now our country needs progress and fairness, but the opposition are standing in the way, threatening the good work we've done together. Take education and skills. They've called fee-free TAFE wasteful spending. That's an insult to the hardworking Australians learning new skills to build better lives and grow our economy. We're investing in TAFE to support workers and industries, and they are planning to make cuts and take these opportunities away. Then there's fairness at work. Our same job, same pay reforms make sure workers are getting paid properly, closing the labour hire loopholes that let big businesses take advantage of the hardworking Australians, but those opposite want to scrap these changes and make it easier for big companies to put profits before people.

Then they have the nuclear power fantasy that will keep us living in the dark for a decade. The results are in: the experts have said that to have nuclear power in Australia will take eight to 10 years just to build the regulatory framework plus another 10-plus years to build a power plant. That takes us to 2045, with the majority of coal-fired power stations closing in 2035. Australians deserve fairness, opportunity and affordable energy, but the opposition's ideas are to undo the progress we've made for hardworking Australians. We simply can't afford for this to happen. So if you want to keep fee-free TAFE and if you want to keep same job, same pay, make sure you vote for Labor at the next election because the opposition is ready to rip this away, and that's disgusting for the people of the Hunter and disgusting for Australia.