Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of these appropriation bills and the amendments. Deputy Speaker Jones, you probably remember when we won government about 18 months ago that there were four basic premises that we said we would do, and I want to concentrate on one of them in this. We said we would cut the carbon tax—which we have done. We said we would stop the boats. We said we would repair the budget. The other thing we said, and one that would be one of our major focuses, is that we wanted to be an infrastructure government. I want to pick that point up at the start of what I am going to say, because the infrastructure government is exactly what we are proving to be.

I want to talk about one specific infrastructure project to begin with—that is, the dual duplication of the Pacific Highway. To complete the dual duplication—and it is obviously an important thoroughfare between Sydney and Brisbane, and there are about 140 kilometres still to go—will be very expensive. It is going to cost around $7½ billion to finish that dual duplication. Why is this a priority? It is a priority for many reasons, not least that the dual duplication of highways, as we know, saves on fatalities. There are still far too many fatalities on the highway, to the great distress of all in my community. The other reason, obviously, is that it is an economic boom while you are building it. At any particular point of time there could be up to 3,000 people working on that infrastructure project. When you add in the indirect jobs that that can create, it is an economic boom as it is being built. Thirdly, Deputy Speaker—as a man who I know understands commerce—when you build infrastructure like that it brings, once it is completed, an economic benefit. Already, where that highway has had a dual duplication it brings more tourism and it makes it easier for business to operate in those communities because of transport improvements and cost improvements, if they want to do that. There are many good reasons why you would want to do this.

But it was interesting, because at the last election, with these appropriation bills that we talk about where we are allocating this type of money, there was a vast distinction between the two major parties on this project. At the last election, the previous government wanted to revert to a 50-50 funding formula on this infrastructure funding. They were funding it at 80 per cent—for the projects that they had completed in the recent years. They then wanted to revert back to a 50-50 funding split, which, obviously, the state government did not necessarily agree with. What was going to happen if they had won government? There was going to be an argy-bargy contest and a fight over who should be funding what. And what would have been the ramifications of that? It would have been a political fight; the dual duplication would have been delayed, and we would have had to wait for all the benefits that I just spoke about.

I am very proud that our government, as an election commitment, said that we would maintain the 80-20 funding split. What that meant is that we put $2 billion more onto the table than the previous Labor government was going to. They were going to put on about $3 billion. They wanted the states to put that balance on. We said, 'No, we'll put on an extra $2 billion.' So we are going to put on over $5 billion to complete that dual duplication, and the state only has to pick up the rest. One of the first privileges I had in this job as the new member for Page was when we announced a contract, within weeks of winning government, to build a bridge over Emigrant Creek near Pimlico. We turned the sod on that within a couple of months of winning government, to complete this dual duplication.

Again, we are getting on with the job that we said we would. We wanted to be in infrastructure government, and we are. I have just been looking around at a few other things going on in the community, with this notion that we want to build and we want to be an infrastructure government. There are hospital upgrades going on that we announced—that we said we would do if we won government. There are $4.5 million for the Ballina hospital upgrade and $3 million for a new Casino emergency department. Southern Cross University, a very important institution in my electorate, has been successful in obtaining millions of dollars in grants from this government. There has been $5 million for different skill training centres across five high schools, which I announced early last year as well.

Very recently in Page we announced $5.5 million for new aged-care and in-home care places. Mr Deputy Speaker Jones, as a man who is in tune with your community, you would know that, with an ageing community, home care packages are especially important. It was with great pleasure that I went to Casino and announced a number of those, which mean that people can spend more time at home before they go to retirement villages. In Grafton we announced over 50 new residential care packages. One benefit of having more aged-care beds is that it creates a mini job boom. The construction of those facilities is creating, in one instance, 60 jobs in the construction phase. Once they are built, not only are there care places for nurses and aged-care workers; extra cooks, maintenance people, gardeners et cetera are needed on an ongoing basis.

There is much more. There will be major upgrades to the Grafton hockey clubhouse, which we funded under the Howard government. It was a two-storey building and we funded the downstairs part of it, but for six years the upstairs was just a shell. We said, 'If we win government, we will finish the upstairs for you.' That will be completed soon. We will have CCTV cameras in Casino, where there is a lot of crime. In conjunction with good lighting, CCTV cameras have been shown to improve crime statistics.

We have an $800,000 program to encourage disadvantaged high school students to attend university. This is a program that we are funding very much in the Clarence Valley, and it is already proving to be a great success. There is also a seat belts in school buses program and there are carer respite programs and a lot of cultural programs. So a lot is happening. We are an infrastructure government and we will continue to be a building government.

I also want to highlight the free trade agreements we have negotiated. There are two large private employers in my electorate. Northern Co-operative Meat Company employs over 1,100 people. Before the election they told me that they were at a competitive disadvantage with some of their competitors in exporting meat, especially into Asia. Some of those countries have free trade agreements. In one instance the US was exporting meat and their tariffs were being lowered more quickly than ours. We have signed three free trade agreements, with China, Japan and Korea. Eighteen months to two years ago, China was buying a negligible amount of chilled and frozen boxed beef from Casino. Upon completion of these free trade agreements, along with other measures, they are now the biggest customer of that product. The jobs of the workers at the meatworks in Casino have been secured by those free trade agreements. The meatworks are now as competitive, if not more, than their competitors exporting into Asia. It has been a great success.

The second biggest private employer in my region is a dairy cooperative called Norco, who employ around 600 people. They make a great ice-cream. I think it is public knowledge: the home brand product in Coles is probably made by Norco. It is a great ice-cream made with fresh milk. Because of these free trade agreements, they are now exporting fresh milk into China. The volumes are quite small at the moment. The product is obviously a clean product, and they are getting anything from $7 to $9 a litre, which is a great return for them. We have helped them with protocols so that they could get their export licences. There were a couple of issues with the first shipments, with storage and making sure the product got onto the shelves quickly enough. They have been ironing out those issues. They have good management, as does Northern Co-operative Meat Company, which I mentioned earlier. Because of the work this government has been doing, the two biggest private employers in my electorate are very happy.

There are others, like the macadamia nut industry. Do you like macadamia nuts, Mr Deputy Speaker? Most people do. My area is the home of macadamia nuts. Tariffs on macadamia nuts have been lowered as well. You might say, 'That is all fine and good, but you are just talking about agriculture—is there anything else?' Well, there is. You may have heard of Kimberley Kampers, based in Ballina, who make very high-value, high-end campervans. Because of the free trade agreement that we have signed with China and other countries, their campervans are now more competitive and they have started exporting them to many countries around the world. In fact they made their first sale the other day in the Middle East, in the United Arab Emirates. I saw the van before it went and it was very impressive—a bit more high quality than my Jayco that I take to the beach every year!

There is more. When I walk around my community, people are thankful for much of the work this government has been doing. Infrastructure projects have been creating real jobs—direct jobs and indirect jobs—in the community. The private employers in my community are happy because of the growing number of customers they are exporting to. Many people are coming up to me—I am sure you are hearing the same thing, Deputy Speaker—and saying, 'Thank God you have started to repeal the red tape, because red tape is real money and a real cost to our businesses.' Even those in the non-profit sector have been coming up to me and saying that. My local university have said they have noticed that. Some of the aged-care facilities have been saying that, as well as, obviously, small business. Somebody told me that they had a person who had been doing an administrative job but that half of their job has now been freed up. They can now do real things to make real wealth for that company, real money, rather than just filling out forms that really did not need to be filled out in such detail. So the things I have been talking about relate to infrastructure, red tape and free trade.

The other thing is we wanted to create a budget that was sustainable. We often talk about sustainability in many facets. Some people on the other side will often talk about—and with good merit—things in the environmental space, and they always mention the word 'sustainability'. We have to be sustainable—and they are right. We do have to be sustainable in agriculture, in farming and with our environment. But we also have to be sustainable economically—and what we are doing with our budget repair is making sure that is the case. You do not have to turn on the nightly news too often to see many cases of unsustainability, with the most recent being Greece—and there have been others.

It is very easy as a politician when you have money that you can hand out to projects or for infrastructure—and I have given you a few examples. It is wonderful to do that. But it has been proven that many, especially Western governments, have had a tendency to be a bit too giving—a bit too unsustainable. The easy road is to say: 'There you go. There is some money.' It might be very popular in the short term, but if you are not doing it in a balanced, sustainable way, you get unsustainability. Many countries in Europe, and elsewhere in the world, are now having austerity forced upon them by their creditors. The issue is: if you are running a debt or a deficit, you owe money to somebody. We all know, whether it is your own home or whether you run your own business—like I and many people on this side have—if you owe your bankers a lot of money, they then become your boss. As we see right now with many countries around the world who have been running unsustainable programs, their bosses are now their bankers. That is why we are focused on what we have to do so that Australia is always a sovereign nation in control of its own finances.

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