Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party effectively say that our debt is somehow or other too big and yet, when they get the opportunity to talk about all the programs and spending that we haven't done, obviously our debt is not big enough. They have an each-way bet on every particular issue that they run: yes, we should be going after these moneys that were overpaid; no, we should never have got involved in robodebt. They never mention the continual debt that they racked up when they were in government and the spending they set in stone for the years after they vacated the government side of this House.

When you're doing an appropriation speech you have to acknowledge where we came from and certainly the fact that we as a nation were spending $36 billion a year more than we were actually bringing into the coffers. This is something that always seems to be overlooked by the Labor Party. But that $36 billion worked out to be about $100 million a day that they were spending that they didn't have. Yet they still signed up for, and promised, money that they could never pay in the education sector. They signed up for and promised money that they couldn't pay in the disability sector. They signed up for a whole raft of spending programs that were just going to keep Australia heading down into a mire of debt.

Credit has to be given to the coalition governments that we have had in the last seven years that we were actually able to bring this nation back to the point where we were actually producing a modest profit prior to the COVID pandemic and to a situation where we could effectively pay for our NDIS without putting any additional funding onto our Medicare levy and where we could actually pay for the amazing education systems that we have in place. It enables us to now go and look at how we as a nation are going to pay for the aged-care provisions that are going to need to be introduced. But, again, it's only this government that's done this. There is nobody around the world and very, very few people in Australia that are not Labor Party members that would be critical of the way that this government has handled COVID-19, with JobKeeper, JobSeeker and the other programs that it has put in place.

As the local member in Nicholls, the major project that I've been very, very proud of has been the Echuca-Moama Bridge, a $324 million project initially split relatively evenly between the New South Wales government and the Victorian government. Money was put aside by Peter Ryan as the Victorian National Party leader. That money sat on the books until 2016. The New South Wales government National Party roads minister put their share on the table. Darren Chester was the federal minister for infrastructure who was able to bring all of that together and get the Echuca-Moama Bridge started. That project had been talked about for 50 years by various state governments in New South Wales and Victoria and various federal governments, but to actually get it signed off and now to see that bridge being built is quite a spectacular sight. That bridge is effectively looking to be finished towards the end of this year. Although when the actual spans meet and it's fully completed may be some time next year. But it has been an amazing investment, with over 400 jobs and 1,100 indirect jobs going into that project alone.

Another investment in tourism in the Shepparton area is the Shepparton Art Museum, an amazing project that has come in at just under $50 million. The federal government has been a substantial partner in that project. The Goulburn Valley is not known for its tourism assets, but certainly the Shepparton Art Museum, with its very strong link to our First Nations people, is going to be an amazing asset right at the entrance to Shepparton, right on the foreshore of Lake Victoria. It certainly is going to be an amazing asset for Shepparton. We are expecting that to be officially opened later this year. Certainly the $15 million that has been put into this project by the federal government is going to be incredibly well received.

This is all part of what the coalition government has put in place as a $110 billion infrastructure pipeline, making sure that these funding announcements can be delivered so that it's a continual rolling list of projects and that we allow for each one of these to be delivered on time.

One of the major aspects is $320 million for rail improvements. It's well and truly known that that North East line, the line after Shepparton, is still operating old diesels that are actually dragging the trains up to Shepparton. It's a ridiculously poor service of only four services a day. Also there's the line which continues on towards Benalla, Wangaratta and Wodonga. Again, that particular area has been the poorest when it comes to turning up on time. Punctuality has been absolutely abysmal on the North East line, and the Shepparton line has been atrocious. There is $244 million for the North East line and $320 million for the Shepparton line. It's money that should have been put up by the state government, but they have simply ignored that part of Victoria and poured all of their funding for rail upgrades into Bendigo, Ballarat and Geelong—and everybody would know that to be the case.

On top of all of that, we have the nation's biggest infrastructure project, the $14.5 billion Inland Rail project. At 1,700 kilometres in length, it will be one of the biggest inland rail projects in the world when it is completed. It's going to be an amazing boost to the Goulburn Valley. With its proximity to the port of Melbourne, the produce from the Goulburn Valley, which is normally worth about $2 billion every year, will be able to go out to the port and also to the north on trains if it is necessary for that produce to go further north.

A fact about the Goulburn Valley that's not well-known is that about 25 per cent of all the trucks in Victoria are registered in the Goulburn Valley. The junction of the Midland Highway and the Goulburn Valley Highway has been the home for so much of the produce that is produced in the area. It certainly makes it quite a hub for that type of investment. But we have also seen a whole raft of other investments go into the area from the federal government. We've had $10 million for the Murray Valley Highway upgrade between Echuca and Yarrawonga. That work is going to really improve the safety component of the highway. And there's $10 million for the Shepparton alternative route—to upgrade some big roundabouts to make them safer. We've had $5 million for the Doyles Road interchange, and that's been an important part of it. We have $2 million for bridge work and $6.7 million for local governments to do some bridge renewal and vehicle safety programs as well.

We have $208 million on the table for the Shepparton bypass. We are struggling to get the Victorian government to come to the table with its cost-benefit analysis of that project. They've been waiting for 3½ years to do a business case on this. They put $10 million on the table about three budgets ago. When this next budget is handed down, two budgets will have already passed without any support from the Victorian government for the Shepparton bypass. It's been very poor work. The city has waited for two decades to get that work done and get those big heavy vehicles out of the main streets of Shepparton.

We've also had serious investment in the Regional Jobs and Investment program—some $20 million around the area. And we have some tourist products. The Museum of Vehicle Evolution, Yarrawonga Tourism Trail and Murray River Paddlesteamers have been recipients of some of those funds. And some private firms have put their own funding in. Furphy Engineering; JN & R Engineering, in Kyabram; and Aquatec and Rubicon, from Shepparton, are doing some amazing work. Rubicon is working on water-saving projects that are seriously leading the world throughout the Americas and Asia. We have also seen investment in other processing companies such as ACM; Wine by Sam, in Seymour; and Ryan's Meats, at Nathalia. They are fantastic family businesses. The Turnbull Brothers and Ky-D-Pak are amazing businesses that have been beneficiaries of that investment as well. It really does show the credibility of this government when it is working in partnership with these communities and also with these local businesses. We only wish there was more to go around so that we could partner up with so many other businesses that would love to have a little bit of assistance as well.

I think one of the great things about this job is your ability to be able to work with community. One of the communities in my electorate is that of the town of Cobram. In Cobram in 2010 they had a fire that burnt down their local cinema. In 2012 there were 96 members from the Cobram Youth Group who launched a fundraising drive to build a new cinema. They raised over $700,000. It was great that the federal government were able to assist the township of Cobram with $526,000 through the Building Better Regions Fund. Together that money has now returned a twin cinema to Cobram. Very seldom will you see a project so good be driven by the youth of a district so I really want to congratulate them and thank them for what they have done. This is an amazing tribute to this government, the way that they are able to invest in this electorate—like they have invested in every part of Australia. Their reach has been thorough. Their ability to have their members go into the area, connect with their communities and then deliver on the projects that are necessary to take this nation forward makes us very proud to be part of this coalition.

We now find ourselves in a very, very tough situation, because of COVID and because of the assistance packages that we have put in place, but, again, I don't think there's anybody in this chamber who would suggest that we take that money back. I don't think there's anybody in this chamber who would suggest that we got it wrong. I don't think there's anybody in this chamber who would argue that JobKeeper should have been delayed or that JobKeeper should have been a lesser amount. We've got what we've got now because we acted in the best interests of our people. I think we will live and die by those decisions each and every day—when you are in the coalition. On this side of the House we believe very firmly that we have done the right thing by our people to support them in the way we have. At the same time as we are doing that, we are continuing to support our communities with this infrastructure spending as well.

See this speech in context