John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

The coalition has an unrivalled commitment to regional Australia. It fascinates me that the member for Hunter overlooks the fact that his very own electorate under the coalition got: $950,000 from NSRF towards the Cessnock Civic Precinct Revitalisation; $1.25 million from BBRF for Hunter Valley Wine Country tourism; $27.2 million from Roads to Recovery between 2014-15 and 2018-19; and over $4.4 million through Bridges Renewal. It surprises me that the member for Hunter ignores that.

We are focused on supporting the nearly eight million people who live outside of our capital cities. In 2016 our agricultural, forestry, fishing and mining industries made up 57 per cent of the value of Australian merchandise exports. Forty-five cents in every dollar is spent by international and local tourists in regional Australia, and that's why we're laying down the foundations that are required to capitalise on the immense opportunities that we in regional Australia have. We've been delivering jobs in record numbers—over 403,000 jobs in the last 12 months. Well over 100,000 of those are in regional Australia, the highest on record. This is the equivalent of every person in Sale, Port Lincoln, Warwick, Parkes, Grafton, Gympie, Muswellbrook and Burnie all getting a new job in just 12 months.

We're delivering lower taxes through the Enterprise Tax Plan and a structured decentralisation approach to Australian government jobs from Sydney, Canberra and Melbourne because regional Australians deserve those opportunities as well. We're moving jobs via the Regional Investment Corporation into Orange; the Murray-Darling Basin Authority into Toowoomba, Albury-Wodonga and Adelaide; Grains Research and Development Corporation into Toowoomba, Dubbo, Adelaide and Perth; and, of course, APVMA to Armidale. That process means that we will have significant new opportunities—job opportunities, family opportunities—throughout regional Australia as a result of the efforts of the coalition government.

But private enterprise should be encouraged to decentralise as well, and we are doing that through the Regional Jobs and Investment Package. An example of a transformational project that is receiving funds through this package is a company called Adaptapack, from the electorate of the member for Page, in the Northern Rivers of New South Wales. Over $1.5 million is being delivered to assist this great company to do fantastic things in advanced packaging technology, with a focus on robotics. The family involved have seen the opportunity to move to the Northern Rivers. And what happens therefore is that, thanks to the support of the coalition government, we see a company expanding their business from Sydney into the Northern Rivers, into Lismore in northern New South Wales—60 highly skilled, good-paying jobs coming into that member's electorate.

Our focus on regional jobs is driven by our $75 billion infrastructure investment program right across the country, much of which is invested in regional Australia, as it should be: $6.7 billion for the Bruce Highway, $5.6 billion for the Pacific Highway, $8.4 billion for inland rail—that iconic project that will bring opportunities right across the eastern seaboard of Australia and, via links to the west, the rest of the country as well. I'm particularly proud of the transformational $1.6 billion project that is the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing; $4 billion, including in the electorate of member for Hunter, in Roads to Recovery is I think significant indeed.

In terms of the Regional Jobs and Investment Package, we've also supported recently—amongst many other announcements that I've overseen in just six weeks or so as the minister—projects in the Northern Rivers, including the Tweed Valley Rail Trail project. I think this is particularly interesting because, whilst those opposite don't get regional development, the Tweed deputy mayor, the Labor-aligned Reece Byrnes, said that the project will be of significant benefit to his region. He said, in the Byron Shire Echo:

I welcome today's announcement by the federal government of Tweed Shire Council's success under the latest funding round for the Tweed section of the Northern Rivers Rail Trail,' Cr Byrnes said. 'The rail trail will be a great injection into our tourism and small business sector, particularly in Murwillumbah.

Perhaps there's one Labor person in this country who gets it. It is an example of successful development in the Northern Rivers.

We've invested close to $1 billion in grant funding for vitally important community infrastructure projects—$5 million towards the upgrade of Bendigo Airport; $7 million for the Rockhampton riverfront redevelopment; $5.3 million for Ronald McDonald House in South Brisbane, which supports regional families, particularly those with sick children; $2.8 million for the Kingston Park community hub in the electorate of the member for Franklin; and $4.6 million for the Moss Vale Enterprise Corridor in the electorate of the member for Whitlam. And there is $620 million for the Black Spot Program, $600 million for the Northern Australia Roads Program, $500 million for regional rail in Victoria, $360 million for Bridges Renewal, as I've said, and $272 million to invest $10 million or more in major projects, individually, to unlock the future potential of regions.

Now, $120 million for these regional projects—the 10 pilot regions that are in the regional growth fund—will mean that we'll be seeing significant development through regional areas. We're rolling out, through these projects that have been announced in the Regional Jobs and Investment Package, 500 in construction and 500 ongoing jobs on the north coast of the New South Wales. The list goes on and on. It's similarly the case in the Geelong Regional Jobs and Investment Package: 600 ongoing construction jobs—great benefits for the member for Corio as well as the member for Corangamite—with $2 billion in Sky Muster satellite services and an estimated $58.5 billion in recurrent funding in 2018-27 for regional and remote schools. As I said, the list goes on.

I want to particularly focus on the 765 upgraded and new base stations through the mobile Black Spot Program. That helps regional families, regional businesses and regional opportunities that are being addressed by our government. Of course regional Australians also now have increased access to psychological services via telehealth.

The contrast is stark. Labor can't be trusted because they simply do not have a plan for regional Australia. The Leader of the Opposition, as I've said previously, will do anything to score a headline and try and grab Green preferences in Batman and capital cities. As the opposition leader lurches to the left, regional Australia would be junked by those opposite—just like the live cattle export trade that they nearly killed some years ago. That they wanted to risk that industry showed a total ignorance of the beef industry, our most significant agricultural industry in this country. Labor just doesn't get it.

If the member for Whitlam, as shadow minister, is the closest thing that Labor has to having an MP with a rural or regional background, it is no wonder they have no idea. Let's face it: the member for Whitlam's career highlights before entering parliament included being national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union and spending time as a lawyer for the Australian Council of Trade Unions. That's it! That background, given he's the opposition spokesman, shows that he has no understanding of regional Australia. He has no understanding of the struggle in regional communities, the distress caused by a failed harvest or the long, lonely commute on country Australian roads just to access medical treatment—the sorts of challenges that our government is focused on supporting.

Regional Australia needs more than a weak opposition leader's weasel words—crab walking, if you like, from one position to another. They want jobs. They want opportunities. They, like the rest of us, want a standard of living that is appropriate for families. It's the coalition that has focused on regional and rural Australia. It's the coalition that is driving jobs growth and opportunity growth in regional Australia. Those opposite simply have no idea.

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