Both as a minister and local member, Tanya has worked tirelessly to make our community, and our country, a stronger and fairer place. Some of her achievements include:
Education
Tanya and Labor:
- opened up university places - 190,000 extra Australians studying at our universities including 1,700 more students at UTS and another 3,400 students at Sydney University
- improved every school in the Sydney electorate through 88 Building the Education Revolution projects, including the new covered outdoor area at Alexandria Park Community School
- continue to be a strong advocate for ethics classes in primary schools
- have committed to vote against Tony Abbott's $100 000 degrees every time the legislation comes before Parliament
Health
Tanya and Labor delivered:
- Grow Up Smiling, a $4 billion package of better dental care for kids
- 1,300 more hospital beds and 60,00 extra doctors, nurses and allied health professionals
- world leading plain packaging of tobacco which saw smoking rates drop to 13%
- the best 5 year cancer survival rates in the world
- $95 million for the Charles Perkins Centre at Sydney University, boosting research and training around obesity, diabetes and cardiovascular disease
- free Gardasil vaccinations for boys to protect against cancers caused by HPV - a world first
Climate Change
Tanya and Labor:
- increased the number of households with solar panels form 7,500 to 1 million
- tripled Australia's wind power capacity
- tripled employment in the renewable energy industry
- introduced a carbon price which saw pollution in the National Electricity Market decrease by 7% and renewable power generation increase by 25%
Equality
Tanya and Labor:
- introduced a bill for marriage equality to the parliament in 2015
- signed Australia up to the United Nations Optional Protocol to the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women (CEDAW)
- developed the National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children
Economy
Despite the challenge of the Global Financial Crisis, under Labor:
- nearly 1 million jobs were created
- the economy grew by 13%
- Australia achieved three AAA credit ratings
- there was a huge economic investment including the NBN, research, science, and innovation
Housing
Tanya and Labor:
- established the National Rental Affordability Scheme to build 50, 000 affordable rental homes
- invested $6 billion in social housing to build 21, 600 new homes
- provided $550 million for homelessness services
- opened new housing services in the Sydney community like Common Ground in Camperdown and Annie Green Court in Redfern
- released the Homelessness White Paper that set out a comprehensive national strategy to tackle homelessness in Australia with substantial new investment. A local example of this investment is the Platform 70 project in Woolloomooloo
- continue to stand up for Millers Point residents facing cuts to social housing from the state government
