Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Defence Industry) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly and most importantly, I'd like to thank the people of Petrie for placing their confidence in me once again. I'm happy to speak on the Governor-General's address-in-reply, and I will continue to do my very best, to the best of my ability, in this 47th Parliament to represent the people of Petrie as their federal MP. After all, that is what we are here to do—represent our electorates—and, being in my fourth term now, I can't thank the people of Petrie enough for putting their trust in me. I'll continue to work hard.

I want to thank my campaign team, the federal divisional council of the Liberal National Party for the Petrie electorate, for the work that they did during the campaign and leading up to the election in May last year. To the executive, all the volunteers, office staff and everyone else: I really want to thank you. My office staff, both my electorate office staff and my ministry staff at the time, did an exceptional job. To my campaign manager, Salome Nel: thank you for stepping up. You'd never done it before and you did a really good job. To the volunteers: whether you had signs up for me in your premises, whether you handed out for me on election day or at pre-poll, or whether you did letterbox drops for me, I very much appreciate it. There were a lot of people who helped, and without volunteers you can't win elections, so I very much want to say a big thankyou to them.

The coalition were in government for three terms, and I think we did achieve a lot. There was a legacy of building stronger communities, with programs like the Green Army, which has been operating in my electorate for five, six or seven years, and we have trees that are five or six metres tall. We put in place the fish in schools program.

The Powering Communities grants program installed solar panels and LED lighting at sporting clubs and not-for-profit clubs to help keep their energy bills down. Every little bit helps in these clubs. We put in a new netball precinct at North Lakes with brand-new netball courts for the North Lakes Blues. That was great because that's one of the fastest-growing communities in my electorate and there was basically no sporting infrastructure there at all.

We provided billions of dollars in road and infrastructure funding from Aspley and Bridgeman Downs all the way up to Deception Bay and Burpengary East. There have been new school halls and scout halls, a new swimming pool, science and environment centres and the very exciting grandstand for the Dolphins. We put some $8 million into Dolphin Stadium, which probably helped the Dolphins win their NRL bid. In a couple of weeks from now, the Dolphins will be the 17th team in the NRL competition as they officially kick off. They had a trial game yesterday.

The coalition government did a lot in Petrie but also right around the country. We also did a lot while I was Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services. Some 700,000 jobs were saved through JobKeeper during COVID-19. Over 128,000 young Australians are supported by headspace each year. In March last year more than 1.9 million young Australians were employed, and Australia's rate of youth unemployment dropped down to 8.3 per cent, the first time in decades it has been under 10 per cent. That's the lowest youth unemployment rate since 2008.

One of the coalition government's priorities in employment was jobs fairs. I had the pleasure of doing those right around the country, whether in Queensland, in New South Wales or down in Tassie. I remember attending one out in Alice Springs at the end of 2021. With some of the problems we've seen happening out there, it certainly isn't a case of not enough jobs. There were 600 jobs on offer that day in Alice Springs and we managed to get 350 to 400 people through the jobs fair that day, which was fantastic.

Lower taxes are also a highlight of the coalition government. We not only lowered company tax but also brought in things like lower income taxes and a lot of support for businesses, like the instant asset tax write-off, which basically enabled small, medium and some larger businesses to buy goods and write them off instantly. This really helped drive employment as well. I heard so many stories in my own electorate of where the instant asset tax write-off was utilised and helped bring in more business for companies, which enabled them to employ more people.

Obviously, the company tax cut legislation was a huge achievement of the previous federal coalition government. We legislated to ensure that people won't pay more than 30 per cent in income tax. If they're earning under $200,000, they will pay 30 cents—that's it; it's very fair—and keep 70 cents. For anyone earning between $45,000 and $200,000, the maximum tax rate will be 30 per cent. It's legislated, it's law and it will kick in in about 18 months, which is great news.

We also created the First Home Super Saver Scheme, which was a magnificent scheme. The Labor Party voted against that—every single one of them who was in the parliament at that time. The scheme enables people who are looking to buy their first home, particularly millennials wanting to buy their first home or youths wanting to save in super, to do so. So, this will really benefit anyone who earns more than $45,000 a year. At the moment the tax rate is 32½ per cent, so for every $10,000 that you save in the bank you're going to end up with only $6,750. The coalition government set up the First Home Super Saver Scheme, which enabled people to pay only 15 per cent tax. So, for every $10,000 they save they'll end up with an $8,500 in deposit. We also extended that to enable people to save up to $50,000. So, a young couple could put $100,000 into their super and end up with an $85,000 deposit, as opposed to $67,500 if Labor had had their way and we had not implemented the First Home Super Saver Scheme.

I'd say to all members in this place that it's something we should plug, particularly the member for Cowan, who's nodding her head on the other side of the table. Youths don't know about it enough. A lot of young people don't know about this scheme, and I note that the member for Cowan is now the Minister for Youth. It's really important that young people know about this so that they can put money into their super and pull it back out to buy a house—a very important policy. That's on top of the first home deposit scheme. So, there are some great things that the coalition government did.

As far as my own electorate goes, I'll never apologise for advocating for funding for my area. That's a core responsibility of members: to make sure we get funding for our areas. In Petrie we strengthened the community immensely in the nine years of the coalition government. There was a lot of funding for roads through the Brisbane City Council and the Moreton Bay Regional Council. When you live in a fast-growing area, that's really important. There was also funding for rail. That was a promise by the previous government, but we built it. The coalition government built the Moreton Bay Rail Link and funded it after I was elected in September 2013. All the community halls, not-for-profit groups and sporting clubs were funded through the coalition government, and my electorate is much better for it.

It was disappointing, though, because in the last election I had $25 million worth of commitments for the people of Petrie on different projects, and the Labor candidate had zero—nothing, not one; couldn't match a dollar. That was very disappointing, because traditionally in Petrie there's been bipartisan support, but here the Prime Minister and his ministers couldn't promise a dollar—anything that we matched. These were grassroots community projects that needed funding—issues like the Suttons Beach pavilion in Margate, an older building. That beach was the first settlement, apart from Indigenous settlement, in Queensland. It was the first European settlement in Queensland. The Suttons Beach pavilion has been there for a long time. It needs repair; it's got concrete cancer. Our commitment, under a coalition government, was $5 million to repair or rebuild that project. The Labor candidate was aware of it, but the Albanese government did not decide to make that an election promise. Not only did they decide not to make it an election promise, but I've since written to the Prime Minister and they've written back to that group saying they will not fund it. That is important funding that the Petrie electorate will now miss out on under a Labor government federally and a Labor government in Queensland.

There are other projects as well, like the Dolphins high-performance centre in Redcliffe, which would help not just the Dolphins players but also the Queensland Cup players as well as students from Redcliffe State High School and other local athletes who would be able to train there. Some $15 million was promised by the coalition government. From Labor: zero; nothing. A new baseball clubhouse for the Padres baseball team and female change rooms for the Tigers AFL and for the Aspley Hornets, which is one of the biggest junior AFL clubs in the country, were all projects that the coalition government committed to in 2022, and the Labor Party couldn't stump up a dollar. When it comes to the 2025 election and the Prime Minister and his ministers want to come up into Queensland, I'll be reminding those groups that they couldn't stump up a dollar. It would have been built by now if the coalition had been re-elected. I'm still waiting to hear from the Prime Minister on a number of those projects, as I said, but there was nothing in last year's budget in October—zero for the people of Petrie. That is disappointing. I think the Labor Party need to do a lot better.

As a federal MP for the area, in my fourth term, I'll continue to advocate for these projects and to work with local people. As I say, and I said it in my maiden speech, life is about relationships. That's all you take with you when you're gone. Those relationships are really important—getting out, chatting to people and talking to people on the ground—and having this community infrastructure is also really important for my community, for people to meet, socialise and keep fit together. That's where governments can help.

Before every election I sit down with my wife, Louise, and my sons for an open and honest conversation about the challenge ahead, and whether I should run—every time. I never take my seat for granted. I always put it forward and take it one term at a time and work extremely hard. Election campaigns can be tough at times, with mistruths thrown around. Personally—I can only speak for myself—I always try to speak truth, to let people know, to be honest and straight up. If they ask me what my opinion is on this, I let them know. Every time it's the same conclusion, I'll run again.

This is the best country in the world, Australia. We should be proud of this country. I'd done plenty of overseas travel before I was in this place, and I always love to come back home. So it does stump me that some members, including in this place and in some political parties, seem to hate everything about our country. They want to change everything. They're ashamed to stand in front of the Australian national flag. That is dangerous; it really is. I and other members of the opposition, and indeed the government should, talk about the great country that we live in, particularly with our youth, because it's easy for them to hear negatives. But they have a strong future. We do live in a great country. There is a positive future for them ahead, even with issues like climate change, which the government ran hard on and the Greens ran hard on. I went to a school in my electorate and spoke to a young girl who was only in Year 6. She was showing me her artwork. It was a picture of a place on fire, and she said, 'This is climate change.' I was trying to explain to her that the previous government was doing a lot and had reduced emissions and so forth, but because it is a political contest, it didn't matter what we did. We could say we were doing the zero emissions, which we did do. The other side always want to up us, right? It doesn't matter what we say. Labor will go one better and the Greens will go one better than Labor, but the result of that is that some of our youth are really scared. The reality is that they do have a strong future, that Australia is acting, that we're pulling our weight and that in a global community we're doing a lot more than many other countries. It's something that the Labor Party should think about too, now that they've been elected and have got the legislation through. How are you going to respond to young people now? Are you going to tell them that things are okay and that we're doing alright? I still hear hysteria from the Greens every time they come in here, but it's not helping our youth. It's contributing to mental health issues.

I want to ensure that all Australians—our young people and our older people—have happiness and success in their lives. That's really important. That's what I'll continue to do—try and talk to people in my electorate and let them know that we have a positive future and that I'm here to help as their MP. I'm here to represent them well and speak in this place, not just in the House but with my coalition colleagues, and do the very best I can.

With any job, there are always highs and lows. But when I head out into the community, talking to the students at schools, the volunteers at sports carnivals or the workers in businesses, or having a cuppa with the residents at a retirement or aged-care home, it reminds me why I do this job. That's what I love about the job—the on-the-ground work, the communication out there. That's particularly what I do well.

The best of Australia lives in those people—their stories, their challenges, their victories, weaved together to continue to shape the Australian story. The latest census shows nearly 30 per cent of our citizens were born overseas. With some of their parents as well, almost half of all Australians are born overseas. At some point they decided Australia was the country for them. They are now proud Australians. They embrace the values and traditions of this country and work to interpret and fit into the culture, and inevitably go on to enrich it.

One of my favourite responsibilities as the member for Petrie is to attend citizenship ceremonies, which is really important. At the time I read the scripts from previous ministers like the Leader of the Opposition, the Hon. Peter Dutton MP, and the previous minister, Minister Hawke. But with the change of government there was a new script written by the current minister for immigration. A lot of it is really good, but, as the shadow minister for defence industry and shadow minister for defence personnel, I was disappointed that some of the references to veterans and acknowledgement, sacrifices made in past wars and the defence of Australia and its values have been completely wiped from the citizenship script. I read the new script on Australia Day, and it's gone. I will write to the new immigration minister and ask him to put something back in that, because I think it was really important—particularly with our veterans on both sides of the House, including the shadow assistant minister for defence here at the table.

I've got a son in the Army, at the Australian Defence Force Academy, who wants to serve. He's in his third year. He joined up because he loves the country. I taught him it's an honour to serve your country, whether you do it through politics, like people in this place, or whether you do it through the ADF. It's an honour and we should be giving back to people. In my role as shadow minister for defence personnel, I'm excited about having a son in defence personnel, and I will doing my best to get out there to encourage people to join the ADF. I think that is bipartisan, that the new Albanese government—they're not that new now; they've been there for nine months—and the opposition both want to see a strong Defence Force. We want to see more people join. We have committed to 18½ thousand more people in the ADF by 2040. I will certainly do my best to encourage people to join, and I hope that all members will as well.

Our defence personnel serve proudly under the Australian flag—particularly the Army, who have the Australian national flag as their flag. Many people have fought and died for that flag. They're buried under it; it's put on their coffins. It's part of their uniform. They present arms to it. It's a powerful symbol of unity. (Time expired)

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