Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

At the outset, I commiserate with the member for Macquarie on losing her house in 2013. I know what it's like to have your house robbed. Mine was in 2012. You feel a sense of violation. I can't even imagine what it would be like to lose your premises to a fire. My thoughts go out to you. No doubt that's some time ago and you've recovered from that. That is why this government and indeed all governments of all political persuasions have made an extra effort to help people—as you would expect us to do—recover from those deadly bushfires.

Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2021-2022 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2021-2022 seek authority from the parliament to provide for additional expenditure, further funding on top of the normal budgetary process—of course, the budget handed down by Treasurer Frydenberg in May last year—and the appropriation coronavirus response bills in February 2022. Bill No. 3 proposes appropriations of about $11.9 billion and bill No. 4 proposes $4 billion. It's significant and necessary that we do so.

I want to talk a bit about mobile phone communications. I appreciate the member for Macquarie has made comments from her Labor talking points in relation to this. We are up to round 6 of the Mobile Black Spot Program. Nearly 1,000 mobile base station towers have been erected in regional Australia. There are 1,200 that have been funded, so another 200 are to come online in the coming weeks and months. This is a significant investment in mobile communications of regional Australia not only for safety aspects but also for convenience for regional Australians. I know this all too well. I appreciate that there are many black spots within my Riverina and central west electorate. They are still there, and we are working towards making sure that we address that. I'm pleased that the then leader of the New South Wales Nationals, John Barilaro, said last year that they were aiming to make New South Wales black spot free by 2023. I welcome that commitment, and I look forward to working with the coalition government in Macquarie Street to help achieve that aim. Australia has such diverse geography and topography that making the entire continent black spot free is a dream. It's a very difficult reality to actually achieve, but we're working towards it. Compare and contrast what we've done, the commitment we've made and the investments we've contributed with what Labor did in the six years that they were in power here in Canberra. Not a cent was spent on a mobile tower in country areas. This was such a shame.

I appreciate what the member for Macquarie said too about the NBN and making sure we have the rollout of telecommunications in that regard. She used the word 'mishmash'. When we took over in 2013 it was a mishmash. I can recall well in Wagga Wagga that there were many holes dug and many channels in the ground but not too much optic fibre in those holes. It was very much a mishmash when we took over. We have done what you would expect the coalition government to do—that is, fix the gaps within the system to make sure that people get a good service.

I want to talk about the investments in my local area. They have been significant. Like in all other electorates throughout the country, not just regional electorates but city electorates as well, such as Bennelong, we have made significant investment in making sure that communities can be their best selves and making sure that we have the right infrastructure. We are making sure that in city areas we bust through congestion and in country areas we are making sure that we improve and enhance connectivity. That goes to not just road and rail but other ways and means as well.

In Wagga Wagga the federal government has contributed $10 million to the PCYC building just near Robertson Oval in the heart of the city. This is a significant investment—more than $20 million. Local, state and federal governments have contributed towards that. I appreciate that the police citizens youth clubs are and always have been very much state funded organisations. They do so much work through the New South Wales officers who are attached to that fine organisation. Seeing the difference they make to youth—to keeping youth active and out of trouble—the government invested $10 million into that project in Fitzhardinge Street. It is going up. It's very impressive. It's three storeys. Already we've got the steel structure up, using local contractors, using local small businesses. That's going to be a very exciting development for our city.

Ten million dollars has gone to a company in Wagga Wagga, run by Sam Turnbull, called Flipscreen. Flipscreen is a very innovative company. This grant—and another one, of $824,791—is going to enable Flipscreen to build and market a new on-site crushing system for the mining and recycling industries. Flipscreen has engineered and invented a crusher bucket. It achieves high-volume crushing rates with a significantly larger range of crush sizes compared to competing products. It is exporting these around the world. It is going to create hundreds of jobs in Wagga Wagga. The company is based in Copland Street, in Wagga Wagga's eastern industrial estate. It's going to put the 'made in Wagga Wagga' brand around the world. That's fantastic, and I commend Mr Turnbull and chief financial officer Daniel Jones for their initiative and vision to make Wagga Wagga a manufacturing hub for these crusher buckets and for so many other associated industries that will feed into the process. That is a great thing. These machines can screen up to 3,000 tonnes of material per hour. Compared to what is currently available, that is a major step forward. Well done to Flipscreen, who are proud to call Wagga Wagga home. I'm proud to say that the federal government has invested into that business.

Another company that I'm really proud to say that the government has supported—with grants of $369,000 through Accelerating Commercialisation and a further $100,000 through the Business Research and Innovation Initiative—is Zetifi, run by Dan Winson. It is improving connectivity for those in rural and regional areas, particularly farmers. As I said before, at the present time we haven't got every black spot covered, but Zetifi provides the technology and innovation that enable many farmers who don't have the connectivity that they would desire to do their business via the phone when they're up the paddock, when they're in remote locations on their stations. Zetifi is providing those options and those opportunities for farmers, not just in the Riverina and the central west but right across our broad land.

We as a government have paid particular attention, during the coronavirus, to organisations that would sometimes be forgotten or missed, such as movie theatres, particularly those picture theatres in country areas, which have done it really tough during COVID, because of course you couldn't go to the pictures. It has been very, very difficult. We now have the SCREEN Fund, the Supporting Cinemas' Retention Endurance and Enhancement of Neighbourhoods Fund—there's a title for you! Yesterday I talked to two local cinema operators: Craig Lucas of Forum 6 Cinemas at Wagga Wagga, who have received $85,000 through the SCREEN Fund round 2, and Kate Sproston, manager of Southern Cross Theatre at Young, who have received $35,000 in that program. The Wagga Wagga cinema employs up to 30 staff, not all of them full time, many of them university students. For many of them that would be a part-time job. That picture theatre and the one at Young, which employs 40 to 50 volunteers, provide such great entertainment for locals. Making sure that those picture theatres continue to run is really significant, because they've been hard-hit through the coronavirus.

To that end, late last year, in December, I was really pleased to attend the official opening of the Tivoli theatre in the historic Masonic Hall at West Wyalong. It received funding of $150,000 from the federal government, $450,000 from the New South Wales government and $300,000 from nearby Evolution Mining. Is a very well-turned-out picture theatre. They revitalised it and brought it back to life. It is a grand venue. They have restored it to its 1920s glory. Bland shire is very proud of this particular facility. It will not only provide state-of-the-art cinema; it will also be used as a multipurpose function centre for all of those activities in and around Wyalong and West Wyalong and the wider Bland shire.

To that end, even little grants don't go unnoticed. The Cowra amateur musical and dramatic society received $5,000 from the 2021 volunteer grants program. That mightn't seem so much when you're talking about Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2021-2022 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2021-2022, which total around $15 billion. But $5,000 for those dedicated volunteers means all the difference, because they can get on with practising Shakespeare instead of selling raffle tickets at the pub on a Friday night. They're just wonderful people. Like all of those people in all of our electorates, those volunteers—those people who run these little community organisations—you can't do without them. They are so fantastic. They bring live theatre and performances to Cowra, which is a fantastic community. It's a community, like all of those in my electorate, that is so multicultural. Each year Cowra hosts a festival of international understanding, highlighting a different country each and every year.

Of course, Cowra is home to the peace bell, which is gonged at said festival. Cowra started this initiative on the back of the breakout from the internment camp during World War II, when many Japanese occupants broke out one night. There was an incident there when many people were killed, including Australians, Australian soldiers who had been fortifying that internment camp. You would have thought, from that, that there would be hostilities between Japan and Cowra, in particular, and Australia, in general, but, no; Cowra has forged great ties between itself and Tokyo. The Japanese war cemetery is maintained by, again, volunteers, who do such a power of work. I was proud to fund the reroofing of the visitor centre at the Japanese gardens. They are one of the biggest attractions for that town. The links, the bonds that have been forged between Cowra and Japan are very special. They've put aside the hostilities. They've put aside that dreadful night in World War II. From that, they've built a festival of peace and understanding. That, I think, speaks volumes of the people of Cowra and their ability to embrace peace, to embrace friendship and to put that conflict during the Second World War aside.

This government will continue to provide investment and infrastructure right across our regions, right across our country. Appreciating that the election is but a few short months away, people should know that this government has their back. These have been very difficult times. I feel for the Prime Minister, who has led the country through the bushfires, through drought, through mice plagues, through floods and through COVID-19. It has been very difficult. I was there right beside him for much of that as Deputy Prime Minister, and I'm proud of the way our government responded quickly and effectively to all those crises.

Sitting suspended from 12:59 to 16:00

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