Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I would like to thank those members who have contributed to this debate on these additional estimates appropriation bills and for the member for Watson's grand-standing amendment. I will come to that shortly.

As is often the case with appropriation bills, the debate in the House has been wide ranging and informative. This place is, I think, at its best when members speak about the part of Australia they are privileged to represent. We heard the member for Robertson do just that. That is, after all, the purpose of this, the people's House. So it is a pleasure to have this opportunity to reflect on members' contributions to this debate on these appropriation bills.

A theme in this debate—at least in contributions from this side of the House—was this importance of pressing on with the task of repealing red tape, creating export opportunities for Australian businesses and investing in all-important infrastructure. We are repealing red tape, doing away with regulations that stifle enterprise and that do not serve a wider public purpose. We have already exceeded the target of $1 billion per year that we set ourselves, but that is no reason to rest on our laurels.

The member for Page hit it squarely on the head when he remarked during the debate that 'red tape is real money and a real cost to our businesses'. We have another repeal day coming up, and I know the member for Pearce and Parliamentary Secretary to the Prime Minister is on the case, continuing the good work initiated by his predecessor the member for Kooyong. I am always pleased to hear from the member for Page—he is a good member. It was terrific to hear about the opportunities that preferential trade deals with China, Japan and Korea are opening up for businesses in his electorate of Page, particularly for his dairying enterprises and meat processes and, I understand, even for a local manufacturer of campervans! It is the same story I hear as I travel around my electorate of Riverina. I know that citrus growers and horticulture producers throughout the Murrumbidgee and Coleambally irrigation areas are excited about the possibilities created by the significant cuts to tariffs that these agreements will deliver. We will see Australian businesses reap the rewards of preferential trade deals with China, Korea and Japan for many, many years to come. Nobody underestimates the challenges involved in reaching a similar agreement with India, but I have every confidence that the Minister for Trade, and member for Goldstein, is very much up to the task.

It is a pleasure to be able to reassure members opposite that despite all their fears and protestations to the contrary there have been no cuts to the Financial Assistance Grants. Local councils are $30 million better off this year than they were last year. It is true that as part of our budget repair strategy we have paused indexation of these grants for three years, but we are also making important investments that will benefit local councils and the communities they serve, including an extra $200 million for the road Black Spot Programme—totalling half a billion dollars; $2.1 billion for the Roads to Recovery program, including a double $350 million payment in 2015-16; a new $300 million Bridges Renewal Programme; and an expanded $200 million Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme.

The member for Mallee said that the basis for good government is good financial management—and he is dead right. The member for Dawson, who spoke earlier tonight, understands that in order to build a stronger economy government needs to focus on job-creating industries. I know how much the towns and communities in his electorate around Mackay rely on the resource sector and how passionate he is in standing up for farmers to ensure they have a viable future. In the Riverina, we have seen funding for road upgrades. There is the upgrade of the Byrnes Road with funding of $1.276 million under the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Programme. There is the Carrathool Bridge upgrade with funding of $7½ million under the Bridges Renewal Programme. The communities have waited 30 years; the coalition, in conjunction with the state government, is answering their call. I was very, very pleased to be there just last week with the member for Murrumbidgee, Adrian Piccoli, to announce that joint funding initiative. The Gobarralong Bridge project in Gundagai is receiving $1.046 million—again, under the bridges renewal strategy. There is $27½ million, in conjunction with the state government, for a new Kapooka Bridge. I know how hard The Nationals Duncan Gay, the upper house member in the roads ministry in New South Wales, has fought, in conjunction with the member for Wagga Wagga, Daryl Maguire, to provide that funding for the Kapooka Bridge. There is half a million dollars for closed-circuit television in the Wagga Wagga central business district.

We have all got Anzac grants. It is still a good initiative, with up to $120,000 for each electorate. With the Financial Assistance Grants, there is more than $52 million for the Riverina. There is more than $5½ million in funding confirmed for local trade training centres. The coalition government is funding the round 5, phase 1 trade training centre projects. This is fantastic for Riverina students. It means that the Riverina will have funding for four trade training centres, which will benefit six schools. Temora High School, Batlow Technology School and Tumbarumba High School will each have a trade training centre facility, with Ardlethan Central School, Ariah Park Central School and Barellan Central School as partner schools in a $2.845 million centre. These four trade training centres will provide students with certificates in engineering, building and construction, agrifood operations, carpentry and joinery and the metal fabrication trade. We have also provided $3.8 million for the University of Notre Dame Australia’s Australian Rural Clinical School, Wagga Wagga.

Members on this side understand the importance of investing in road infrastructure—we really do. In some parts of Australia we are dealing with years of underinvestment in roads. The member for Forde noted that much of the investment we are making in road infrastructure in his electorate is the result of a failure of infrastructure to keep up with population growth in the region. We have heard members on this side from Victoria speak passionately about the need for the East West Link. The members for Corangamite, Aston and Casey—to name just three—all called on the Andrews government to just get it done. We heard the Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development in question time today talk about the reputational damage the Andrews government is doing to Australia as an investment destination; it is not good enough.

It was great to hear the member for Capricornia explain in this debate what the investments we are making in repairing roads across Central Queensland will mean for her community. The people of Capricornia made a wise choice sending her here. Her response to the recent devastation caused by Cyclone Marcia just goes to show they have elected a true and strong local champion. The member for Calare understands the importance of infrastructure. I know he is passionate about the $250 million upgrade to the Great Western Highway, specifically the stretch between Katoomba and Lithgow. It is a project that will create local jobs—that is important; but, more importantly, it is going to save lives, as will the upgrade to the Pacific Highway. I know that this is a project of vital importance to the members for Lyne and Cowper and the communities they serve. The Pacific Highway is an important artery for keeping our nation's economic pulse beating. We have made good on our commitment to invest $5.64 billion to finally get the job done on the duplication of the Pacific Highway, and we are on track to see it finished by the end of this decade.

I note that the member for Longman spoke of his pride in having delivered a headspace centre for Caboolture, describing it as one of the best things that he could possibly do during his time in parliament. I trust that he will have many more years of delivering for the people of Longman, but I agree wholeheartedly with him about the importance of mental health support and facilities, particularly for our young people. I am also proud to have finally delivered a headspace centre for Griffith, in the western section of the Riverina. It was the result of a strong grassroots campaign, involving local advocates, council—particularly Peta Dummett—and literally thousands of people who contacted me, indicating their support for a headspace facility in Griffith. I particularly want to acknowledge the advocacy of Griffith teenager Jenna Thornton, a victim of school bullying who made it her personal cause that this centre became a reality—and, under the coalition government, it has.

Mental health and issues of addiction are two of the most serious health challenges facing our communities. It is certainly something I hear about a lot as I travel across my electorate of Riverina, which is almost as large as Tasmania. The member for Gippsland and Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Defence spoke about the impact of ice on his community and particularly its infiltration of local sports clubs, especially football clubs. He has seen firsthand—as I am sure have many members on both sides of the parliament—the invidious effects of this pernicious drug. As the member for Gippsland said, there are no easy answers but that is no reason not to try. We have made ice the focus of work to be undertaken by the Australian National Advisory Council on Alcohol and Drugs, and I know it is something that the Assistant Minister for Health is very engaged in and that is good.

The impact of ice and amphetamine use in regional Australia was also an issue raised by the member for Parkes—an outstanding local representative who also mentioned the great work the government is doing by continuing to fund the successful Great Artesian Basin Sustainability Initiative. It sounds long-winded but it is so important in the overall scheme of what the member for Parkes is getting on with and doing for his electorate. He knows the value of this program, because he has seen firsthand the difference it has made to protecting the important environmental and economic resource that is the Great Artesian Basin.

And it was great to hear members, including the member for Hinkler, speak of the good being done in their electorates through programs like Work for the Dole and the Green Army. I know we are spending $50,000 in Riverina with the Green Army, but in electorates like Hinkler, where unemployment is a real and ongoing challenge, these programs can make a real difference in helping to get job seekers, job ready. Having been an apprentice himself, the member for Hinkler knows the value of the $20,000 trade support loans that we are making available for tools and the like.

Turning now to the member for Watson's amendments—amendments that reveal that Labor has not learned; no, they have not learned—yes, the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook confirmed we are still facing a very real and serious budget deficit—a deficit that would have been worse had we not taken action to get it under control, had we not take action to get government spending in check. As the Intergenerational Report showed, without any policy change—

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