2022-11-25
We have momentum and we are working hard to make change happen for the almost two million people who voted for us.
By Adam Bandt
What a year it has been! Together, we recorded our best election result ever.
Voters put us in the balance of power in the Senate, with two Greens senators elected in every state. Thanks to an incredible effort in Queensland, we quadrupled our representation in the Lower House and we were a whisker short of two more seats in NSW and Victoria.
This election, the vote for the old parties collapsed. The Greens vote is almost 40 percent of the government's low vote, where less than a third of the country voted for them. In other words, roughly speaking, for every five people who voted for Labor in May, two people voted for the Greens – right across the country. As a result of this unprecedented level of public support for us, we are now the most powerful third force in this parliament.
Our election result truly was a team effort. A team of thousands. 20,000 people knocked on 260,000 doors. We made 6,000 phone calls. 12,000 people turned out on election day.
Our huge Party Room now has 16 MPs, nine of whom are women. I’m thrilled to be working with all of them, including Senator Mehreen Faruqi as Deputy Leader and the rest of our outstanding leadership team.
In the spirit of these unprecedented times we helped create, we got a swing towards us in a change of government election. Now we have momentum and we are working hard to make change happen for the almost two million people who voted for us.
We have a mandate to push for the policies we took to the election. While Labor sought to minimise its differences from the Liberals, we won because we had a popular alternative economic policy, to make the billionaires and the big corporations pay their fair share of tax, and so we could put dental and mental health into Medicare, make childcare free, wipe student debt and build a million homes.
We were also the only party with the courage to say no more coal and gas. Coal and gas’ days are numbered but the industry has too much power. We can see now how the gas companies are ripping this country off and holding us to ransom.
We made it clear we’re also supporting coal and gas workers. Our enemy is the climate crisis, not the workers in the coal and gas industry. 1.5 degrees means no new coal and gas. Labor’s net zero by 2050 should mean no more coal and gas.
But just saying the climate wars are over doesn’t make it so. The key to ending the climate war is climate action. The climate crisis is caused by more coal and gas, and you can’t tackle the climate crisis by pouring more fuel on the fire.
As I write, we’ve just seen the details of Labor’s first budget. It did not deliver the change that millions of people voted for a few months ago, instead recommitting to $254 billion in tax cuts for billionaires, politicians and the wealthy while choosing to make ‘difficult decisions’ that will fail everyone struggling to pay their bills.
Under Labor’s budget, wages go backwards and then flatline, unemployment rises, rents keep skyrocketing and bills will too. But measures like putting dental and mental health into Medicare are missing, and cost of living measures on childcare, housing, and health are being delayed to 2024. These could be brought forward to this year with the funding available in Labor’s stage three tax cuts.
The budget also continues at least $40 billion in fossil fuel subsidies, including $1.9 billion to expand the gas industry. Meanwhile, in the middle of a gas boom, the government’s failed oil and gas tax is receiving $450 million less than expected.
We will continue to fight against stage three tax cuts and climate wrecking policies inside and outside Parliament.
We’ll also continue to work with others in Parliament to bring about change. Together, in Parliament, we can pass an ICAC with the power to restore public confidence and clean up Canberra.
If Labor and Liberal stop working together and the government instead decides to work with us, we can pass real reforms to donations, to stop the millions of dark and dirty money flowing into the major parties. When corporations can’t buy policies, we can get some good stuff done that benefits people’s daily lives.
Together, the Parliament and the people can finally deliver justice for First Nations people, including real progress on truth and treaty in this Parliament.
And we will keep pushing Labor to make inroads into economic inequality.
To quote Greta Thunberg, “to change everything, we need everyone”. I thank you, our members, for your commitment to change and your work over the last year. Your MPs and I will keep fighting to represent you and our values in 2023.