Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

This is an absolutely fantastic topic for us, because the Morrison government has a plan for Australia, and I certainly have a plan for Lindsay. The Leader of the Opposition is again showing that he has a plan to rehash old Labor plans, just like he announced in the budget. Today he has announced he has a plan to rehash Morrison government plans, when he decided he would build a stronger economy. But the Australian people know that there is only one side of the House that can be trusted with the economy—that's us—and to secure Australia's future. Our plan is to keep Australians safe and to support them through the challenges of the pandemic, and to emerge stronger on the other side, and to be—as we are—in a better position than anywhere else in the world.

While other nations with advanced economies continue to be hit hard by coronavirus, Australia's economy is growing. The national accounts show that Australia's economy is now larger than it was before going into the coronavirus pandemic. In just over a year, Australia's economy has recovered to what it lost as a result of the pandemic. But we know it's not over. Globally, there are around half a million cases a day, and other countries are back in recession. And the situation in Victoria, as we know, is stark. It's a reminder that the virus is still with us, and we must stick to our plan that has enabled us to be in the position we are in today.

We have a plan for Australia, and I have a plan for Lindsay, and my plan is to make sure that we have more jobs, and that is exactly what we're doing: rewarding hardworking families, getting more young people into work through traineeships, and backing our local small businesses. That's exactly what my community of Lindsay sees we're doing, and that is exactly what we're doing right across our country.

The budget handed down by the Treasurer outlines our plan to continue jobs creation, continue backing our local businesses to do what they do best, and to secure Australia's future. The Leader of the Opposition wanted to talk about manufacturing, but this just highlighted exactly how much Labor has abandoned Australian workers. What we're doing is backing local manufacturers to create more local jobs. That's what we're certainly doing in Western Sydney. We have an amazing number, over 600, of Australian manufacturers in my electorate of Lindsay—from Plustec, who make Aussie made windows, to Defence industry manufacturers, to SpanSet, who make safety harnesses. There is such an array of Aussie manufacturers that we are backing and supporting to create Aussie made products to support Aussie made businesses.

Something that these manufacturers are telling me is that, because we're backing them and we have a plan to back them, they are bringing on more apprentices. This is absolutely fantastic. We already have over 2,200 apprentices in Lindsay, and local manufacturers are taking up our budget response and bringing on more apprentices. This means that this will only grow, supporting more young people into jobs, supporting Western Sydney and supporting our Australian economy.

Businesses need to be able to transport their products, and not only do local people in my electorate of Lindsay tell me that we need a plan to make our local roads better; so do small businesses. That's why I fought for $127 million for a full upgrade to Dunheved Road in my community. It wasn't just me doing this; it wasn't just my plan. It was our community's plan—working together to get the job done. It's amazing what we can achieve when we work together. These are families who use this road every day, to and from work and school. It's small businesses transporting their products. It's actually small business owners who have told me they have suffered so much on this road for so long; it's been such a big safety issue with accidents and traffic. I'm so pleased that this funding has been delivered, and now it's up to Penrith City Council to deliver this important project for us.

Right across New South Wales we're investing $3.8 billion for projects that will ease congestion and provide safer roads for our community. Upgrades to Dunheved Road, upgrades to the Northern Road and upgrades to Mulgoa Road—this is part of our plan to make my community of Lindsay absolutely safe and to make it an even better place to live, work and stay. Across the board, people in Lindsay have worked so incredibly hard to get us in the position we are in now, and the Morrison government, with our plan, is backing them all the way.

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