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

I rise with great joy to talk about our economic plan. Earlier the member for Hume, the new Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Cities and Digital Transformation, talked about free trade agreements. I will be talking about how great those have been not only for our country but also for my local economy. I will also pick up on the member for Grayndler's comments about infrastructure and highlight some absolutely wonderful local infrastructure projects and how they are building job growth in my local economy.

I was also thinking about another plan that needs to be tied into economic plans, job growth and everything else, and it reminded me of the statement back in 2009 from the then Prime Minister, who said that the greatest moral challenge of our time was the threat of climate change. We have a plan for that as well; it is part of our economic plan. We have a direct action policy that is lowering emissions and achieving our aims and our global obligations. The party that was talking about the 'greatest moral challenge of our time' has no plan. Seven years later, there is no plan on that economic policy. So we wait with great interest to find out what your plan is going to be with climate change. You have no plan for something that was the 'greatest moral challenge' seven years ago.

Let us go back to the free trade agreements and how they have been great for my local economy. Some of the great businesses in my local economy are exporters. The Northern Co-operative Meat Company—which is the biggest private employer in my region—employs 1,200 people and exports 70 per cent of its product. They are a great exporter. They are gaining access to new markets and new volumes and better prices because of the free trade agreements that this government has done. That is good for the producers of the product and it is good for the 1,200 meatworkers. They are the biggest private employer, employing 1,200 peopl It is great for those workers. These free trade agreements have reinforced that.

One of the next biggest employers is Norco, a dairy cooperative. They export. I had a constituent who was in China about three weeks ago and she saw Norco milk on the shelves in a Chinese supermarket. She took a photo of it and sent it back. What a great thing that is for the local dairy workers at the Norco Co-operative and for the producers.

These free trade agreements go far and wide with lots of different products. Ridley Bell is planting one of the biggest blueberry farms in the region out near Tabulam. He is going to access the Chinese market for a three- or four-month period where he will be able to satisfy that. I heard the minister the other day talk about macadamia nut exports and how that sector is experiencing exponential growth. I could go on with much, much more but let me go on to infrastructure.

The infrastructure spends by this government have been great for my region because of jobs and growth. Take the Pacific Highway upgrade. I remind the opposition that when they were in government, they were going to put $3½ billion on the table. They wanted to go back to a 50-50 funding split. We put $5.5 billion on the table to revert to the 80-20 split. The direct and the indirect jobs from the project as well as the saving of lives from highway upgrade is a great thing.

There is also the new infrastructure program by our government with the Bridges Renewal Program. This is delivering infrastructure spend in my local economy. One local council got six bridges in the last round. Again, this is great for jobs and for my local economy. Also, there is the Stronger Regions Fund. This government have got behind this program and in the last round there were five programs in my local region and my local economy. These are all good, job-supporting programs and infrastructure spends that are helping local jobs and growth in my local economy.

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