Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

The Morrison government's budget is nothing more than marketing, mismanagement and missed opportunities. It's just a shameless political fix, rather than the genuine reform that's actually needed in our economy. Despite spending almost $100 billion and racking up a record trillion dollars in debt, the Morrison government's budget reveals that real wages will in fact go backwards. So, after eight long years of neglect from the Prime Minister and his government, there are still so many urgent issues they've failed to address in regions like mine, the New South Wales North Coast, including a plan for housing affordability, the rental crisis and homelessness. The Morrison government's also bungled the vaccine rollout. They won't tell us exactly when locals will be vaccinated and they have failed to deliver fit-for-purpose quarantine facilities to protect us all. These are federal government responsibilities, and they have failed when it comes to the vaccine rollout and the quarantine facilities. So, instead of securing Australia's recovery, the Morrison government is actually risking it.

Also after these eight long years, this government's presided over an aged-care crisis, an energy crisis, a housing crisis and a skills crisis. Even in the face of the damning royal commission, the aged-care packages they put forward really fall well short of the commissioner's recommendations. The fact is that this budget would have racked up less debt if there were fewer Morrison government slash funds, rorts, dodgy land deals—all of those things that they have racked up debt for. So, after eight long years of job insecurity, weak wages growth, neglect, waste and no action on climate change, this budget really is another missed opportunity to invest in Australians and their future.

The New South Wales North Coast faces a huge housing affordability crisis, a rental crisis and a homelessness crisis. Our region has seen the largest increase in house prices across the nation, and rental vacancies are at 0.3 per cent. Every day, locals tell me how hard it is to find a rental, or that their rent has skyrocketed overnight and they suddenly have to move out—they're forced to move out. We simply have no affordable housing in our region, and our community is calling out for support and solutions to fix this problem. The housing crisis is worse in my area than it is almost anywhere else in Australia, and the Morrison government have no plan to fix it. They're just not listening. The Liberals and Nationals have been in power now for eight long years, and in that time housing affordability has just gotten worse. The fact is that it's harder to buy, it's harder to rent and there are more homeless Australians than ever before. This is truly shameful.

Only last week the shadow minister for housing and homelessness, the member for Blaxland, came to my region to hear about it firsthand, to listen to locals and community groups and to discuss the housing and rental crisis that we're experiencing on the New South Wales North Coast. Many of the things that we heard were really staggering and very upsetting. For example, in the Byron Shire, there actually is no women's refuge. There is no crisis refuge and police estimate there are approximately 400 women in the region who are sleeping in their cars. This is a disgrace. It must be addressed. But the problem is that the Morrison government are just not listening. The Liberals and Nationals are just not listening to and hearing the concerns of our community. They're not listening and they're not acting.

But we're listening. Labor is listening and we're on your side in this. That's why we announced our housing affordability plan. During the visit, the shadow minister highlighted Labor's plan to build social and affordable housing now and into the future. We talked about how an Albanese Labor government will create the Housing Australia Future Fund to build social and affordable housing in places, like the New South Wales North Coast, which are experiencing this crisis. These particular funds and these plans will create jobs and will, in fact, change lives. It's so important to have that massive investment in housing projects—social housing projects, affordable housing projects. It will provide affordable homes for those heroes of the pandemic who have kept us safe, such as the frontline workers, police, nurses and cleaners. It will provide housing for veterans and crisis accommodation for women and children fleeing domestic violence. These are such important issues in my community.

Another major issue is how slow the vaccine rollout has been in our region. Locals contact me every day, concerned they're not able to get the vaccine because the Prime Minister has failed to deliver enough vaccine to our region. Many of our great GPs are ready and able to provide vaccinations to our community, but they're just not getting the supplies. Last week the shadow minister for health and ageing, the member for Hindmarsh, visited my region and met with doctors and staff at the Tweed Health for Everyone Superclinic to discuss the Morrison government's failure to deliver a speedy and effective vaccine rollout for the New South Wales North Coast. This clinic has 8,000 1b patients. To date, they've been able to vaccinate only 800 of them. Eight thousand 1b patients is a lot. They've been receiving only about 100 vaccine doses per week. Hopefully, that will soon increase to 300 a week, but it's still not enough. Our locals urgently need this vaccine. We have a very large proportion of older Australians living in my region, and the bottom line is that the Liberals' and Nationals' bungled handling of this vaccination rollout means that the lives of many of our seniors are being put at risk because they are failing to get that vaccine.

The Prime Minister initially said that we were at the front of the queue. Well, we're not. We're way behind the rest of the world. He promised that four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March. He failed that target. His next target was that six million Australians would be vaccinated by 10 May. That hasn't happened. With just over three million vaccinations completed, the Prime Minister has utterly failed, in terms of this target, when it comes to vaccinations. We urgently need them on the New South Wales North Coast. Many frontline healthcare workers and aged-care workers in my region, and disability residents as well, who were supposed to be vaccinated first are still waiting to actually receive their first jabs. This is astounding. It just isn't good enough, and I'll continue to call on the Morrison government to get more vaccine to our region.

Another big issue in my area is the Morrison government's inaction on climate change. This government has had more than 20 energy policies in eight years, and all they have to show for that is more emissions and higher electricity prices. That's it. Nothing more. What we've seen is really wilful vandalism by the Liberals and Nationals over that time, because for them it's actually about politics rather than delivering solutions to climate change or lowering electricity prices. That's not what it's about for them; it's all about politics.

For the regions, action on climate change is very important. It's good for jobs, it's good for lowering emissions and it's good for lowering power prices for both businesses and families. But do you know what happens? The Nationals constantly sell out the regions. I've said many times in this place that National Party choices hurt. Their decisions and their climate change denial are constantly hurting the regions economically and environmentally.

Renewables are by far the cheapest form of new energy, and our nation has the capacity to be a renewable energy superpower. We can create new jobs in technologies at the same time as reducing power prices and creating many jobs across the economy, but the fact is the Liberals and Nationals have no plan at all when it comes to climate change.

Another major issue in my region is young people and all of the issues that concern them. Young people in our regional communities are really being left behind by this government, because this government constantly treats young people with a policy that is often too little, too late, an afterthought, refusing to provide our youth with a fair go. That's when it comes to TAFE, access to university, their working conditions, their penalty rates, their healthcare needs or their vital mental health services. Young people are often forgotten. The Morrison government's eight-year record leaves young people behind at every turn, particularly in terms of mental health.

Now, I acknowledge that the government did make some announcements on mental health in the budget, but it's just not good enough and not good enough for the regions and our younger people. According to the ABS, one in seven young Australians suffer from a mental health condition. Sadly, this number is increasing in regional areas across the nation. In my electorate of Richmond, locals often tell me the way to access mental health services sometimes results in hospitalisations. Youth mental health must be a priority for the Australian government. We need to take an approach of early intervention with educational programs and also follow evidence based solutions. Our young people, like all of our community, deserve to be treated with compassion and respect, especially during these very troubling times. All the evidence has shown that early intervention is the best solution. Improving on this is vital for our region and for all young Australians, The government needs to start addressing the needs of all young Australians, and it's particularly felt in the regions.

Sadly, across so many areas, we see the Liberals and Nationals at state and federal levels continuing to show that they are just not on the side of regional communities. We see it time and time again. I point out one area in my region that really highlights the cruel and callous decisions of the Liberals and Nationals when it comes to the state government: their decision to close all four schools in Murwillumbah. This is a major issue for our local community. Last October the New South Wales state Liberal-National government announced suddenly, without any consultation with anyone, the decision to close all four schools in Murwillumbah and force them into one location. The actions of the New South Wales education minister, Sarah Mitchell, the Tweed Nationals MP, Geoff Provest, and in fact all of their government in doing this, are indeed disgraceful, shameful and wrong. The way they so rudely dismissed our community, didn't consult with anybody—the minister hasn't been back there. It's now been seven months, and she will not answer any community calls to actually come and talk with the community. To date she has refused any meeting to come to Murwillumbah and meet with the parents, the teachers and the children of that community. At seven months after making this really cruel decision, she still actually refuses to face the community. So I will continue to call upon her, the education minister, Sarah Mitchell, and Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest to front up and talk to the community. It's your government that have done this; you need to face this community for what you have done.

Of course the decision is wrong and should be reversed. Closing these four schools—two high schools and two primary schools—and forcing a megaschool will just mean fewer staff, job cuts and worse educational outcomes for our community as well. It's also a concern for other areas of regional New South Wales. Who's going to be next? Who overnight will be told, 'All your schools are getting shut?' People should be concerned about the way this government behaves.

We heard in only the last few days some other harsh action they're taking in relation to this. They've actually broken a promise that they made about staffing levels at Murwillumbah High School. In fact, the education minister of New South Wales lied when she said she'd maintain the staffing commitment for schools nominated for a rebuild or a major refurbishment. What's happened now? She claimed months ago there would be no cuts, and of course there are cuts. Staffing cuts have been imposed on Murwillumbah High School with the government axing almost two full-time equivalent positions. So we had the government starting off saying: 'We're going to close all your schools. We're going to build a mega school. Don't worry, there will be no staff cuts.' But already there are two. Imagine how many more there will be once they are able to proceed with this mega school and closing.

This has caused huge concern in my community. They're very concerned about their children's future educational opportunities and about the job losses as well. It really shows that in those regional and rural areas you just can't trust the Liberals and Nationals. They just can't be trusted at all. So I call upon the New South Wales government to reverse this unfair decision. They must listen to the community. First and foremost, again I call upon Sarah Mitchell to actually front up to that community. For seven months she has been in hiding, and that is a disgrace. Sarah Mitchell and Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest must front the community.

Whilst I am speaking about the state government, another issue I want to raise is the lack of police that we have in our area, the Tweed-Byron Police District. The fact is we have fewer police than we had a decade ago. That is the shameful legacy of Tweed Nationals MP Geoff Provest and his government. It has caused huge concern right across our community. Can I say that as a former police officer I have great respect for the outstanding job our local police do, and I know why they need more resources to keep our community safe. They work very hard under very difficult conditions, but their numbers have dropped dramatically. The fact is that in 2012 our police numbers were at 198, but under this government they dropped to 165 in 2017. That is 33 fewer police officers. We don't know what the numbers were beyond 2017 because—what did the government do?—they stopped releasing the figures, which is appalling. They should start releasing those figures.

The issue of allocating police as a purely political decision. They could fix this today. Recently we had a major forum at Pottsville, and I commend their community for hosting this. Because of concerns about the lack of police in the area, they have started a community petition to get more police, and I certainly encourage locals to sign that. We really have a situation where we have increasing crime in the region yet fewer police than 10 years ago. This is absurd for a growing region like ours. Again I call upon the government to listen to the community, provide more police and start reporting on that as well.

Across the board, whether it is the federal government or the state government, we see the Liberals and Nationals failing to provide the support and services that we need. When it comes to the regions, it really is the National Party choices that have really hurt our region across so many areas. Whether it's health or education, police numbers, action on climate change, providing correct aged-care services for our elderly, providing that vaccine rollout, we have seen failure after failure by both the Liberal and National parties right across the New South Wales North Coast.

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