Today Prime Minister Albanese announced that the nation would go to the polls on 3 May. For the Liverpool electorate, the election presents a stark choice between a government that is investing in south-west Sydney and a political party that has ignored my community at every turn. The State electorate of Liverpool spans two Federal electorates, Fowler in the east and Werriwa in the west. Our community has made it clear what they want their elected representatives to deliver. Cost-of-living relief is number one on that list. The Albanese Government has made good on that front, delivering a tax cut for every taxpayer, lowering the cost of prescription medication, lowering the cost of child care and delivering energy bill relief for every single Australian. The Federal Government has done all of that in a responsible manner, balancing global economic pressures and ensuring inflation comes down.
Our current world outlook is increasingly uncertain. With the Trump administration taking a more adversarial approach, Australia faces a crossroads. Trump's success has set off a wave of right-wing populism, and we have seen that in Dutton's Liberal Party as well. Dutton's budget reply speech reinforced that he does not have the interests of south-west Sydney in mind. The 2022 election ended nine years of Liberal rule and brought Labor back to government. However, Labor lost Fowler to a Liberal turned Independent. At the time, I stressed the need for our party to do better by preselecting local candidates who reflect our community. We have learned our lesson by endorsing Tu Le, a community lawyer raising her young family in Mount Pritchard. She is a true local. As such, she will act constructively on important issues and make tough decisions rather than sit on the fence and throw stones at the Government from the luxury of a television segment.
Importantly, she will actually turn up to vote—the fundamental responsibility of every member of any Parliament—and make the electorate of Fowler her sole focus and priority. As Malcolm Turnbull once said, history is made by those who turn up. Fowler deserves a member who turns up and offers original solutions to the many challenges facing us. Fowler deserves a representative who will advocate within the Albanese Labor Government and deliver tangible, meaningful wins for our community. Let me be clear: It was Labor that delivered urgent care clinics in Liverpool and Fairfield. It was Labor that reduced students' HECS-HELP debt. It was Labor that delivered a tax cut for every taxpayer in this country.
Liverpool also deserves better than a representative who treats our end of the electorate as an afterthought. Take the intersection of Governor Macquarie Drive and the Hume Highway in Warwick Farm—a major route with severe traffic congestion. In 2019 and 2022 Liverpool City Council received funding to upgrade that intersection. After digging a ditch 18 months ago, no progress has been made. I have learned that council applied to narrow the scope of works or shift funds to different projects, and I am unaware of any efforts by the current member for Fowler to ensure completion and proper expenditure of Federal funds. Instead, residents will notice her election signs plastered on the construction fences. Liverpool deserves better.
At the western end of Liverpool, Werriwa is an electorate with immense need for critical infrastructure, like an upgrade to Fifteenth Avenue. It is why my colleague the member for Leppington is in this place. It is Labor that can be trusted with that project. For our shared community, Anne Stanley has secured funding for a new Medicare urgent care clinic in Green Valley. For communities in the 2168 experiencing a shortage of bulk-billing GPs, that is a welcome commitment that will improve health services locally after our area was uniformly ignored when the Liberals were in charge. I am very proud to have delivered several projects in the 2168, including the new Busby Fire Station, the CORE Community Services mobile food pantry, and three new public preschools to be built by 2027.
To keep delivering for the 2168, I need a governing partner who genuinely cares about our community. Anne Stanley is that person. In contrast, the only major commitments the Liberals have been able to make for Werriwa are carbon copies of commitments Anne has already secured. There is not a single original idea for Werriwa. I guess that is to be expected from a candidate who only joined the Liberal Party so that he could be preselected for political office. We need a representative who cares more for our community than his political aspirations. Liverpool has not had a Labor government at State and Federal levels for over a decade. In a short time, we have begun repairing the damage left by the Liberals and The Nationals. We cannot afford to go backwards under Peter Dutton.
