Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is a joke that the opposition today is whining about so-called failed policies and budgets. If anyone knows about failure, it is the Australian Labor Party.

They had two failed Prime Ministers who were so distracted by their own catfight, they led the nation over a cliff. The debt Australians are now paying off is a debt left by the Australian Labor Party. Let us take a look at some of Labor's so-called policy achievements. Labor's failed roof insulation policy, tragically and sadly, led to the deaths of four young Australians, one in my own electorate, that of young Reuben Barnes. Labor's failed fiscal policies drove up national debt to historic levels. The result is an interest bill of $1 billion a month.

Under their stimulus package, Labor wrote stimulus cheques out to 21,000 dead people! In fact, the Australian Labor Party's fiscal policies are akin to a teenager using grandma's stolen cheque book. However, I do not want to dwell on them and their failures.

Let me tell you about some really positive things this government is working hard to achieve in regional Australia. It is regional Australia that creates the real wealth for our nation, because this country relies on the export of agriculture and mineral resources to feed our GDP. That is why it is significant that the Abbott coalition government continues to push for the development of dams and water infrastructure in regional Australia.

In the electorate of Capricornia we want the    Connors Dam, between Sarina and Moranbah; the Fitzroy Corridor's Eden Bann and Rookwood weirs near Rockhampton; and the Urannah Dam that would benefit the struggling town of Collinsville. These projects are now listed in the green paper on agricultural competitiveness. Such projects would create economic diversity and set up the region for a brighter future and provide more jobs. This is a policy that Labor never talked about. Labor had no vision for regional Australia and no long-term policy to secure its future.

Let me outline some of our successful policies for rural and regional Australia. Our coalition government has, so far, abolished the carbon tax, an impost round the neck of small business, families and industry, which drives job creation. We abolished the mining tax, saving around $50 billion over the next decade. We negotiated free trade agreements, to stimulate trade and therefore jobs, with South Korea, Japan and China. We have given environmental approval for more than $1 trillion worth of projects to boost the economy and have provided a $320 million drought support package for our nation's farmers. We are investing $2.5 billion to help local councils fix streets and roads under our Roads to Recovery program. We are spending $300 million over the next five years through our Bridges Renewal Program to help repair or replace old bridges across the nation. Our government is spending $100 million to fix mobile telephone black spots. We are developing a future for Northern Australia. We are fixing roads, under the largest infrastructure investment in Commonwealth history including: $6.7 billion to upgrade the Bruce Highway and up to $1.3 billion for the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing. Next year our $1 billion National Stronger Regions Fund will be rolled out to provide the infrastructure that regional communities need for families and businesses.

Under this program, several key projects have been submitted for funding in Capricornia, including construction of a convention centre for Rockhampton city and stage 4 of a revitalization project on Yeppoon's beachfront. Both projects aim to attract tens of thousands more visitors to both cities, visitors who will spend money and stimulate the local economies, leading to greater job creation.

Our government is getting on with the job of sensible policies to help regional Australia realise its full potential.

See this speech in context