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

Here's Labor again. They hate it when someone from regional Australia stands at this dispatch box, representing the whole country, such as the National Party and the Liberal Parties do. We have heard from Labor today, once again leading by the chin, once again misleading the public on the NBN. They claim that NBN intends to charge more for fixed wireless services compared to the fixed line services. This is not the case. It will not occur.

We've heard from the member for Whitlam. What a display! Here he is wanting to mislead Australians about the challenges, the fortunes and the opportunities in regional Australia and getting on and helping them do it for the future. He's grandstanding once again. Whereas the coalition—the Liberal Party and the National Party—are getting on with the job. We're 100 per cent focused on delivering more secure jobs and a stronger economy for all of those who call regional Australia home. We're focused on supporting nearly eight million people who live outside of our capital cities. From Busselton to Boulia, the coalition has a plan and we are focused on getting it done.

Building up regional Australia is all about what the coalition plan is focused upon—not tearing it down as those opposite would do. They're more focused on destroying jobs, pouring on more tax and destroying confidence throughout regional Australia. We're backing regional Australia with more jobs. More than one million jobs have been created since the coalition government was elected. That's up to one million more families spending more and investing more. We're building communities up, not tearing them down. We're providing tax relief to families and businesses right across Australia.

It would be interesting to consider what the contribution would be from the member for Whitlam and those opposite, because they continue to miss the facts. They continue to ignore the fact that 61,000 locals in the electorate of Whitlam, for example, are benefitting from the very tax relief, thanks to the coalition, that I refer to, or the more than 12,000 small- and medium-sized businesses in that electorate who are already spending more and investing more, thanks to that tax relief. We're building them up, not tearing them down.

A key part of our plan for regional Australia is the Building Better Regions Fund—local infrastructure, vibrant communities, more jobs. Last month, I travelled right across Australia, as I do quite regularly, and saw some of the 240-plus projects supported, thanks to the $212 million fund that we've invested in the second round of this vital program. Hundreds of local communities have benefited over the years due to this program under coalition leadership, and they do not feel let down. They feel that we are building them up. For example, there are the projects in Baradine, in the member for Parkes electorate; Mercy Aged Care in Rockhampton; or delivering support for the transformational Middleton Beach Foreshore project in Albany, in the member for O'Connor's electorate. That is the coalition developing and delivering on this plan for regional Australia. Of course, all regional electorates are not missing out. We're building them up; we're not tearing them down. We are generating jobs—more opportunities in a stronger economy. The Regional Jobs and Investment Packages have done exactly the same thing in 10 key regions across our great nation—10 key regions that are benefitting from those projects.

Let's think about those opposite just for a moment. Let's think about the six years of Labor shamble in government. Unlike Labor, we are getting it done on the NBN. About 96 per cent of all homes and businesses outside major urban areas either can order NBN based services or have new network construction under way. We're getting it done on the Mobile Black Spot Program. There have been three rounds of this program, investing over $680 million to deliver 867 mobile base stations. Nearly 600 of those have already been turned on and are changing and saving lives. When those opposite were in power for six years they did not spend one single dollar on improving mobile phone coverage—zero, zip. They had six years in government and there was not one mobile phone tower. That's tearing down regional communities, yet again.

The member opposite referred to the drought. Let's talk about the drought. Let's talk about the fact that when we came to power the drought cupboard left to us by the former government was bare. It took the member for New England to lead the charge and respond properly to drought circumstances right across the country, just as our government is stepping up to do again in the conditions now enveloping much of western New South Wales and western Queensland and into Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. As well, we're getting feedback on Blackall, Boulia, Charleville, Trangie, Dubbo, Moree, Narromine. The list goes on. From the farm household allowance and, of course, the Drought Communities Program that I administer through to local governments in order that they might support their local communities, we have invested more than $1.3 billion in support for farmers in need since 2013. Farmers are resilient. The National Party and the Liberal Party know farmers. Many of us are farmers. We know that we will be there simply to give them a hand up when they need it, unlike those opposite. The history books have shown that Australian farmers can do that, and have done it time and time again.

Let's think of Labor's debacle with the live cattle export industry, which is still being felt right across the east coast of Australia and through cattle markets right across the nation. In contrast to that, let's think of our efforts to open up new markets in China, Korea, Japan and Peru—free trade deals that those opposite have either ignored or not supported. In fact, they've argued against them in the past. They want to attack regional economies. They continue to plan to let them down.

We have a very significant decentralisation agenda on behalf of this government. Those opposite don't support it. They don't think that the opportunities for public servants in Sydney's CBD, Melbourne's CBD and here in Canberra should be shared across regional Australia. They don't understand that opportunity. Let's think of the $75 billion infrastructure program, the pipeline that this government is leading for the benefit of regional Australia, be it billions for the Bruce Highway or for the Pacific Highway—the roads of strategic importance. Let's think of stepping into individual regional economies: the $7 million Rockhampton riverfront redevelopment; $5.3 million for Ronald Macdonald House, for example, in South Brisbane—

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