Patrick Gorman, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister and Assistant Minister for the PUBLIC SERVICE: We started this week with the Prime Minister returning from Garma where he had been listening to communities on the ground about how we forge that great reconciliation with peoples across Australia. And then we got straight back into the work of delivering on that agenda and our broader agenda here in the Parliament. Including with the first response to the Universities Accord Review, including uncapping University places in metropolitan areas, such as my electorate of Perth, so that we can get more indigenous students into our universities.
Today in the Parliament, I will introduce the Parliamentary Workplace Support Service Bill. That will ensure that we continue to lift the standard of this workplace, the Parliament of Australia, responding to the Jenkins Review, responding to the consultations that have been held by the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet around the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act making sure that we ensure that this workplace, this Parliamentary workplace, does indeed 'set the standard' of being a great workplace that does important things for the people of Australia. So we will get that into the Parliament today.
We've seen ongoing work in the Parliament around the National Reconstruction Fund, with Minister Husic announcing the board members. We've seen this week, the ongoing response to the Robodebt scandal, and ensuring that all of us in this place are accountable for the actions that we take and the decisions that we make. But while we've got a bunch of new things done this week in Parliament, some things haven't changed. We still have a Noalition, with no solutions.
We have a Noalition with no solutions when it comes to the huge pressure on household budgets. We saw yesterday in question time, not a single question from the No Solution Noalition when it comes to either household budgets or the economy, not a single question. Spectacular. And then when it comes to the Noalition with no solutions we see in the Senate today, their plan to deal with a huge pressure on household budgets. The Noaliton's plan, led by Peter Dutton, their plan is to double the price of medicines for Australians. Six million Australians - if Peter Dutton gets his way - will pay twice as much for their medications. Now, if that is the solution that the Leader of the Opposition brings into this Parliament, when it comes to the huge pressure on household budgets, in my electorate of Perth and across Australia, then it is clear, they have completely given up on supporting the people of Australia. And I think it says so much about Mr. Dutton's political approach, that he in fact has to choose to come into Parliament to vote no. They've actually put an instrument on the table in the Senate, which will stop cheaper medicines. As a result, Mr. Dutton's medicine price increase - Mr. Dutton doubling the price of medicines across Australia - it's a Noalition with no solutions. And it is just incredibly disappointing that they have sprung this at the last minute from the Australian people. A surprise attack on the household budgets from Peter Dutton and his Noaliton.
But there are always things that this building that are exciting and things that we can celebrate, even where there might be the political argy-bargy. There are two that I just want to finish in mentioning. The first is the welcome news from the Australian Electoral Commission recently, that there'll be a 16th seat provided to Western Australia. That will ensure that we have fair representation across the Commonwealth. And as always, there's interesting questions about what that seat should be called. I have written to the Electoral Commissioner recommending that this seat be named after Graham "Polly" Farmer, one of the greatest footballers ever to play in the AFL. A former captain of the Geelong Football Club, someone who played in my electorate of Perth for many years. We already have, named after Graham "Polly" Farmer, the Graham Farmer Freeway, which cuts through my electorate, but I don't think a freeway is enough. In fact, I think we're greatly under-recognising this incredible Australian, who through the Graham Farmer Foundation has helped thousands of young Aboriginal children in Western Australia fulfill their dreams. He has been an icon for decades, showing people what Aboriginal leadership can be. And he was just one of the best footballers that has ever played the game. And if that's not enough to have a federal seat, recognised in his honour, I don't know what is. Graham Farmer was a great Australian, he was recognised with a state funeral in Western Australia in 2019. It would be entirely appropriate that the new federal seat in Western Australia be named Farmer in his honour. And as we continue the work that the Electoral Commission has done for a number of years in recognising Indigenous leaders in the names of our seats, and it's time that that happens in the West as well.
And finally today, something that is very rare, but always exciting and brings the Parliament together, we will see the unveiling of the portrait of the 26th Prime Minister of Australia Kevin Rudd. Kevin Rudd now serves as Australia's Ambassador to the United States. He served as Prime Minister in this building. He is a great Australian, he will be here today to unveil his portrait. And I think one of the things that many Australians think about when they think about Kevin Rudd's time as Prime Minister is that Apology that he delivered to the Stolen Generations on behalf of Australians, on behalf of the Parliament. Kevin Rudd delivered the Apology in 2008 in a bipartisan moment. Something that really brought the country and the Parliament together, reminding us all again, what you can do when you want to do something that is beyond just politics. It's actually doing something for the nation. In my electorate office in Perth, I still have a photo on the wall of Kevin Rudd and Brendan Nelson, the Prime Minister and the Leader of the Opposition, shaking hands at the conclusion of the Apology, because it was a bipartisan moment. There were people in this building at the time, some of them still serve, who said that it wasn't going to make a difference, that it wasn't worth doing. That it was a waste of time, that it had huge legal risk. They were completely wrong then, and every year since has proven that they were wrong.
And it is just fantastic that today, we will recognise the legacy that Kevin Rudd left as Prime Minister, both in delivering the Apology, in guiding Australia through the Global Financial Crisis and in delivering a range of important policy reforms, including Paid Parental Leave. It'll be a nice moment for the Parliament to come together and remind ourselves afresh that when we come together, work together and look at the national interest in a bipartisan way, we can get big things done for the country.