Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Yesterday, we saw politics at its absolute worst. In the middle of a pandemic, with the vaccine rollout stalled, with COVID outbreaks in two of our most populous states and cases in a third state, with quarantine not working, instead of fighting the virus, we saw a government again fighting itself. That's what we saw yesterday. If you want to see a contrast between how regional Australia is represented on one side of the House and on the other, the member for Page and the member for New England exemplified it today. If you look at some of the magnificent women who represent regional Australia on this side of the House, there is the member for Franklin. There is the member for Eden-Monaro. There is the member for Macquarie. There is the member for Richmond. There is the member for Bendigo. We've got the member for Dobell. We've got the member for Paterson, the member for Cunningham, the member for Macquarie. All of these fantastic women represent regional Australia. What have we seen for the National Party? It's back to the future, these dinosaurs who think that they know and understand the complexity of regional Australia. What an absolute joke. What a joke they have become. No wonder, when Independents run against them, whether it's in the state seats or whether it's federally—for example, in the electorate of Indi—they lose office because these guys have had it.

If you want to look at where they have had it, look at the way they are behaving when it comes to climate change. Those of us who live in regional Australia and represent regional Australia know; we get it. We know the National Farmers Federation gets it. We have to be part of this change because this change is happening. We need to participate in it, make sure we shape it, take advantage of it and make sure we get the jobs in our regions because we know it is in our economic interests to do so. Yet these dinosaurs in the National Party, who have gone back to the future with Deputy Prime Minister Joyce, do not get it at all and they are holding this country hostage when it comes to the renewable energy jobs of the future. That is what these dinosaurs in the National Party have done, and the Liberal Party are complicit in it because they know they cannot govern without them. They are absolutely and utterly tied at the hip to these dinosaurs and their policies that are taking us back into the past.

If this country is to move forward, if regional Australia is to grow the jobs—of course we want to see jobs growth in the resources sector. We want to make sure that we're able to export our commodities. We want to make sure that we are growing the best produce we possibly can, exporting it and using it in our domestic market. We want to make sure that there are Australian jobs in freight and shipping, taking it around the country and taking our products to the world. We want to make sure regional Australia is part of the future and has future jobs growth. That's what we want to see, and the magnificent women on this side of the House who represent our regions across this country are fighting for that every single day.

Yet, what we're seeing yet again is this dinosaur Deputy Prime Minister basically taking us back to the future when it comes to renewable energy. We've seen it over and over and over again. This country will not grow jobs in regional Australia. It cannot grow jobs in regional Australia while the Nationals continue to hold this country hostage when it comes to climate change. We know that the National Farmers Federation, the meat and livestock corporation, every National Farmers Federation branch in the states and territories, the Country Women's Association and the Business Council of Australia are all saying that if we do not participate in the renewable jobs of the future in our regions we will miss out. We are already decades behind where we should be to get these jobs—decades behind.

Again, what we are seeing time and time again is a National Party that is not representing regional Australia. Frankly, if you look at the faces of who they've got on their side of the fence representing regional Australia, they are not reflective of those communities. How many women have you got who represent the regions? How many women have you got in your party that actually represent the regions? Where's the diversity of people representing regional Australia in the National Party? It is simply and utterly not there.

We know on this side that our regions are ready. We are ready for a revolution. We are ready for growth in jobs, but we need help. We need help in getting regional housing. We need help in growing renewable energy jobs. We need assistance, not pork-barrelling, in the seats that the National Party holds continuously. I know that every one of the women on this side representing our regions will fight this Deputy Prime Minister every inch of the way. (Time expired)

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