Mark Vaile (Lyne, National Party, Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Cowper for his question. Obviously and self-evidently, the best thing that this government has done for regional Australia is that it has kept the Australian economy strong; got rid of debt; put ourselves in a position where we can continue to invest in infrastructure across Australia, particularly in regional Australia and in regional economies; and supported regional economies. A lot of the reforms that the Prime Minister mentioned earlier in question time have delivered us into a situation where the Australian economy is one of the strongest in the world, where there is downward pressure on interest rates, where unemployment is at a 30-year low and where we are experiencing the lowest level of industrial disputes on record—imagine that under a coalition government—where we continue to run budget surpluses and where we are net savers rather than net borrowers, as we used to be under previous Labor governments.

The member for Cowper asked about policies that benefit regional Australia. Of course, the coalition government has continued to work in partnership with regional communities to find answers to some of their problems and to assist them in addressing the questions they have about strengthening their economies. There have been a number of programs that we have been able to support and fund as a result of that strong economic management in Australia. We have been able to fund programs without having to borrow the money to do it, and we have been able to fund them out of surpluses. The Sustainable Regions Program is one and the Regional Partnerships Program is another. That is a great program for regional Australia, and I know that those members of the Labor Party that have been recipients of grants under Regional Partnerships in their electorates have welcomed them as well. In that program, since 2003 we have funded more than 1,266 projects worth more than $1.2 billion. Our contribution has been $278 million worth of taxpayers’ money, which has leveraged $1.2 billion worth of projects in regional Australia. That is $972 million in cash and in-kind contributions coming from those communities. Every $50,000 that we have invested in those communities has generated three new jobs. That is taxpayers’ money invested wisely in regional communities—generating new jobs in those communities.

That investment has seen a significant fall in unemployment in regional Australia. Sixty-four per cent of regional areas across Australia now have unemployment rates of less than five per cent. When Labor was last in power only 16 per cent of regional Australia had unemployment rates of less than five per cent. It is now 64 per cent under the coalition government because we have been targeting investment in those communities. We have been keeping the economy strong, investing in infrastructure in those communities and creating an environment where the private sector has been generating employment. Those targeted policies have worked.

We are watching a slow rollout of some policies from the Labor Party this year, but how are the Labor Party putting together their policies? There is one word to describe how the Labor Party are doing it: outsourcing. They are outsourcing their policy development. They have outsourced their industrial relations policy to the ACTU and we read in the paper they are going to outsource economic policy to the Democrats. They have outsourced their preselection process to the union movement, and now they are getting a bit of a backlash from their rank and file members about the preselection process. They have outsourced the defence of their industrial relations policy to the old head-kicker, Paul Keating. We want to see more of him on the television. We want to see more of Paul Keating defending Kevin Rudd’s policies in the media because that will help us a hell of a lot. The Labor Party have outsourced their policy development to the dinosaurs of the past. We will continue to develop our own policies in the interests of all Australians, in particular regional Australians, who have seen a significant improvement in their economic fortunes.

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