Good government is all about pulling the right levers at the right time and making sure we balance all of the various areas of the budget. As the Treasurer said last night, we sought in all decisions to strike a considered and methodical balance. We need to exercise restraint and keep the pressure off inflation, but we also need to help those people out there who are struggling and ensure that vital services like Medicare and NDIS are delivered to those Australians who need them. Labor has delivered a budget that relieves that pressure. We've delivered a budget that is meaningful and that has significant cost-of-living relief for Australian households.

They have sat on their hands for a decade and watched the coalition foster this housing situation that we are now facing. And now, because there is a bill before the house with some serious action on housing, the most significant package we've seen in decades, they want to complain.

I'm delighted to rise and take note of some of the responses we heard in question time today and particularly to have an opportunity to talk about how the Labor government is powering Australian communities with batteries—and not just individual batteries but community batteries, whereby we can support powering so many homes: 100,000 homes will benefit from this initiative. There are 400 batteries to roll out, and they will power entire communities. They will help entire communities to lower their electricity prices, which I'm very, very proud of.

As the Chair of the Senate Environment and Communications Committee I chaired the inquiry into this bill, and I can assure you that the contributions that we heard from industry, from environment and climate groups, from business and from emitters are much, much more balanced than we are hearing in this chamber tonight.

In decades and centuries gone by, the laws of our state and the colony that preceded it have done so much to deliberately disenfranchise, disempower and disadvantage Aboriginal people. Today we use those laws to do exactly the opposite.

All people are entitled to respect and opportunity and to participate in the social, cultural and economic life of our nation, free from hatred or harassment. Labor is committed to defending the principles enshrined in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, both at home and abroad. This commitment is central to what Labor stands for, and what we have always stood for.

This is an essential step for our country, for rebuilding our industrial capability and for creating secure and well-paid jobs. The lack of vision that we saw from the Liberal government has led to policy drift and decline in our manufacturing self-sufficiency. This bill is not just another piece of legislation; it is a crucial step towards rebuilding our industrial capability, creating those jobs and securing our future prosperity.

The Minister for Climate Change and Energy has laid out the government's energy and emissions reduction plan, and has clearly articulated, very clearly articulated, that nuclear will not be a part of Australia's energy mix.

History is important because we look back on history to try not to do the things that didn't work again and to do more of the things that did work, to learn from that experience.

I was quite delighted to meet with a bunch of PhD students from the Fenner school at the ANU. They are a range of really, really impressive young people who have fixed on concepts and ideas that they believe will improve the Murray-Darling Basin.

A group I have spoken about previously in this chamber, Girls with Attitude 100%, which is run out of Para Hills School in Adelaide, was set up in 2019, and it has taken a group of young girls each year and worked with them around what they can do in the school to actually change the environment they are growing up in and learning in.

So many people have committed to net zero, not just us, not just this parliament, not just industry. It is widespread. We understand—the country understands—that this needs to be done.

We are not there; we are not making sufficient progress. There are far too many of the recommendations that are either stagnant or going backwards.

The transition to more sustainable energy sources needs to be done carefully. It needs to be done in a balanced way. It needs to be done responsibly. I think the eight months of this Labor government has shown that we are making significant progress after 10 long years of irresponsible action.

The Malinauskas Labor government this week introduced the First Nations Voice Bill 2023. I am deeply proud to be a South Australian and see that occur.

We heard a lot, through those three days, of what Australians already know: inflationary pressures from external global factors and a decade of policy inaction are making household budgets tighter and placing pressure on people in this country who are struggling to afford the basics.

We need better solutions because the First Nations people of Alice Springs and across the whole of this country deserve so much more. They deserve greater respect. They deserve better solutions. They deserve a greater say in how issues are dealt with and how solutions are found. We must do better.

I rise to address the urgency motion put forward by Senator McKim regarding the need to end native forest logging.