New Urgent Care Clinics

We’re opening not one, but TWO, new bulk-billed urgent care clinics in Hobart.

The clinics will help ease pressure on Tasmanian hospitals and give families more options to see a healthcare professional when and where they need it.

We will deliver four urgent care clinics across Tasmania, including one in Devonport and one in Launceston.

ABC Interview for National Redress Committee

Yesterday I caught up with Matt Doran on ABC News 24’s Afternoon Briefing for a chat about the work of the Joint Standing Committee on Implementation of the National Redress Scheme, which I chair.

As well as speaking to the Department of Social Services and National Redress Scheme services, the Committee is keen to hear about the experiences of people who have applied for the scheme.

Information about the Committee’s inquiry and how to make a submission is available here: https://www.aph.gov.au/…/National_Redress…/Redress47

Watch the interview here

National Library Funding Pledge

The Albanese Labor Government will provide the National Library of Australia with $33 million over four years and $9.2 million per year in indexed ongoing funding.

The previous Liberal government left the future of Trove hanging in the balance, only funding the program to June 2023.

Trove is Australia’s digital memory, and as long-time advocate for our national cultural institutions, including Trove, I am delighted to part of the government that is securing its future.

In six months of the Albanese Labor Government’s Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee, we have helped over 4,700 Australians – including 77 Tasmanians – into home ownership.

Congratulations to Housing and Homelessness Minister Julie Collins MP on this fantastic achievement.

This builds on other measures that the Albanese Government has already delivered to help tackle housing and homelessness challenges in Australia:

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Constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The Albanese Labor Government is taking the next steps on the path to Constitutional recognition for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced the Referendum question and Constitutional amendment. The question will be:

“A Proposed Law: to alter the Constitution to recognise the First Peoples of Australia by establishing an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Voice.

Do you approve this proposed alteration?”

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The Australian Government is in the process of developing a National Strategy to Achieve Gender Equality.

Australia has made great progress in advancing the status of women, but in a number of areas progress is slowing or stalled. The National Strategy will be an important mechanism to elevate and prioritise actions to achieve gender equality.

You can have your say on the strategy by sending a response to the discussion paper or completing the consultation survey here

Minister Murray Watt visits Tasmania

It was wonderful to join with my colleague Senator Carol Brown this morning to welcome the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and Minister for Emergency Management, Murray Watt – Senator for Queensland, as he visits primary producers across Tasmania with his Tasmanian parliamentary colleagues.

With severe weather warnings across parts of the states today, we encourage everyone to keep safe, drive to the conditions, and stay away from downed powerlines