SHADOW CABINET APPOINTMENT
I am delighted to be appointed Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development.
This is a key economic portfolio and I thank our new leader, Anthony Albanese, for entrusting me with the job he has held for the last six years.
I have previously served in a number of roles – both in Government and Opposition – that give me a good understanding of the issues in this portfolio.
I served as Minister for Regional Australia, Minister for Road Safety and as Parliamentary Secretary for Infrastructure and Transport when Labor was last in Government.
I have also served as Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development, and I held a senior position on the Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government lower house committee.
As a regional MP, I am particularly delighted to have overall responsibility for regional development. I have a keen understanding of the issues faced by the seven million Australians who live outside our capital cities.
I look forward to working closely with my colleagues Jason Clare, Andrew Giles and Carol Brown in this role.
I also want to congratulate Chris Bowen on his appointment to the health portfolio.
I enjoyed my time in health immensely and I know Chris will be excellent in the role.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all the health stakeholders I’ve had the great pleasure of working with over the last six years.
Labor went to last month’s election promising an extra $8 billion worth of investments in health care, including $2.8 billion for public hospitals, $2.4 billion for pensioner dental and $2.3 billion to slash to cost of cancer care.
I am extremely proud of this ambitious agenda.
Only Labor can be trusted to protect Medicare and deliver the health care Australians need – and I can think of no better person than Chris Bowen to prosecute that case.
MONDAY, 3 JUNE 2019