JIM CHALMERS MP
SHADOW TREASURER
MEMBER FOR RANKIN 

AUSTRALIA, IT’S TIME TO CHOOSE

REMARKS INTRODUCING ANNASTACIA PALASZCZUK, QUEENSLAND FEDERAL CAMPAIGN RALLY

BRISBANE

SUNDAY, 15 MAY 2022

*** CHECK AGAINST DELIVERY ***

Maddie, we are so grateful to you, well done.

Turrbul people - we acknowledge you.

Kevin, we thank you.

Madonna, we believe in you, what an outstanding member of parliament you will be. 

Queensland, Australia - it’s time to choose.

A better future with Labor and Anthony Albanese.

Or three more years of mess and Morrison. 

A fresh start, new energy and a real vision to bring the country together.  

Or three more years of complacency, and conflict and running for cover when things get difficult.

Six days from now when you vote for great Labor candidates - like Madonna Jarrett here in Brisbane, Rebecca Fanning in Longman, Elida Faith in Leichhardt, Peter Cossar in Ryan or Matty Burnett in Flynn - you’re voting for a Labor Prime Minister who will work with Queenslanders, not against us.  

Now, I’m sure Scott Morrison imagines that if he spends a few hours in Brisbane today, six days out from an election Queenslanders will forget the years he spent:

Undermining our COVID response.

Going missing when the going was toughest.

Dudding us on flood support.

Ripping us-off and talking us down.

On Friday he said ‘Oh don’t worry about all that, that was some other bloke’.

Scott Morrison started this campaign saying “people know who I am”.

Only now it’s dawned on him that’s the problem.

So now he wants you to believe that the past three years, the past nine years, was just a phase he was going through.

This is the difference:

Scott Morrison thinks Queensland is necessary for his political survival.

Anthony Albanese knows Queensland is vital to Australia’s success.

His affinity with Queenslanders is real.

I’ve seen the respect he has for us. 

The affinity he has with us. 

The belief he has in us. 

The vision he has with us front and centre.

A vision for new jobs and industries, powered by cleaner and cheaper energy and leveraging our traditional strengths. 

Backing local manufacturing and skills and TAFE – and a future made right here.

Cheaper healthcare, and childcare, better aged care. 

And a fair day’s pay for a fair day’s work.

Scott Morrison thinks the people who carried us through the pandemic, the workers who stood on the frontline – cleaning hospitals, stacking shelves, delivering food, he thinks they should get a pay cut.

He thinks their real wages should go backwards, while his full-blown cost-of-living crisis sees everything else go up.

He thinks an extra $1 an hour for the lowest paid workers in this country will break the economy.

But it’s his whole idea of our economy and country that’s broken.

Now, I know when people say 6 days to go that all our hard-working volunteers don’t think of it like that.

You measure it in hundreds of doors to knock on, thousands of calls to make.

Millions of How to Votes.

You know it’s going to be close.

You understand that every minute of every day on pre-poll could spark a conversation that decides a seat, which decides an election, and determines the future.

Thank you for what you’re doing – keep it up.

We can see a better future from here.

But we have to seize it.

We have to make sure people understand the choice:

The choice between leaders who take responsibility and share the credit.

Or a Prime Minister who takes all the credit and dodges all the blame.

Being there for us, or going missing again.

Bringing us together, or dividing us.

Listening, or lecturing.

Working with Queenslanders, or against us.

Anthony Albanese and Annastacia Palaszczuk together.

Or Scott Morrison and his Coalition of Chaos, with Pauline Hanson, Barnaby Joyce and Clive Palmer calling the shots.

Queenslanders, we’re lucky.

We know what the real deal looks like.

We’ve seen for ourselves the power of genuine, authentic, inclusive, unifying leadership.

Because for the last seven years Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk has provided it.

Giving our state the kind of leadership that’s been missing for the best part of a decade at the national level.

She knows a better future is possible, if we work together.

Please welcome our Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk.

ENDS