Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

McBAIN (—) (): It's quite ironic. You sit here, and it's like the last decade didn't happen. Somehow we've heard from the shadow minister that every policy that they didn't implement didn't happen. There were 22 energy policies, and they didn't land one. Four gigawatts came out of the electricity market; only one gigawatt went in. Apparently, that had no impact on energy prices. It is gobsmacking. Apparently, when you rip money out of universities and TAFE, it's not going to have an impact on skills shortages across the country. Apparently, when you're in it for power and you're not in it for action, that's not going to count. You've had 10 years to do something. You've done nothing.

Standing here with a straight face saying that, in nine months, everything that's happened has been our fault is hilarious. Let's hide from the Australian people the electricity increases before the election. Let's change the regulation so we don't actually have to tell the truth to the Australian people. That's absolute hypocrisy. But I'm not going to dwell on the negativity of those opposite, because Australians don't want short-term politicking. They don't want short-term issues. They don't want scare campaigns. Australians are after positive plans—they want a government with vision—and that's exactly what we've been implementing.

We have put significant measures in place to reduce the cost of living. The cost of medicines has gone down. The cost of child care has gone down. We've been getting wages moving. There are fee-free TAFE places. We've got an energy relief plan. We've expanded paid parental leave, because we on this side of the House are looking to build a strong economic future for the regions, one where we invest in local manufacturing, in our energy grid, in training and in regional connectivity.

Yet all we've heard from those opposite is 'no'—no to the National Reconstruction Fund, no to the Housing Australia Future Fund and no to the safeguard mechanism. Not only are we working to clean up a decade of waste and a decade of stagnation in ideas and delivery; those opposite don't even want to support the future needs of Australia. The opposition want to say no to diversifying and transforming our future industries, despite the lessons we learnt from the pandemic.

We're ensuring regional manufacturing reaches its economic potential. Our $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund will create a strong and diverse economy for more sustainable, high-value jobs for all Australians. Our $1.9 billion Powering the Regions Fund will support new clean energy industries and support our net zero economy. The Powering the Regions Fund will keep Australian industry competitive in a changing global economy and ensure our regions thrive.

We're listening to regional communities about the infrastructure they need now and into the future, and we don't need to make those decisions based on a colour-coded spreadsheet. We're delivering $750 million through our Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. We're ensuring regional roads are fit for purpose, including through our $37.4 million investment in the Brindabella Road upgrades, which have been welcomed by locals, and $100 million towards the first stages of the Barton Highway upgrade to improve safety and freight efficiency. It's been welcomed by locals, including the Yass Valley Council, and, I'm sure, by many people in this chamber who drive on that road frequently.

In many communities that I visit, people talk to me about the need for housing. It's essential for attracting people to and retaining people in those areas. You can't accept a job if you don't have a roof over your head. That's why this government has taken on the challenge, one abandoned by those opposite. We'll support housing through the $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund and the regional first home buyer guarantee. The fund will be the single biggest investment by a federal government in social and affordable housing in more than a decade. Only a Labor government will prioritise a secure pipeline of funding for social and affordable housing. Since its launch, more than 2,000 people have accessed the regional first home buyer guarantee, which has been fantastic for our regions.

Close to home, I've been told by those affected by bushfires that a lack of connectivity deepens the distress of disaster. During COVID, I heard of the importance of connectivity for students and businesses in particular. We recognise how important fast and reliable connectivity is to our regional, rural and remote communities. That's why we've invested $656 million in our Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia to deliver change.

For business, education, entertainment and staying in touch with family and friends, having patchy, slow and unreliable connectivity isn't good enough anymore. That's why, after 10 years of poor technology choices by the former government, we're committed to enabling the NBN's full potential. As part of this plan, we're investing $2.4 billion to expand NBN full-fibre upgrades to an additional 1.5 million Australian premises. Importantly, this includes over 660,000 in regional communities, which will make a significant difference. In my own electorate of Eden-Monaro, we are improving mobile coverage in identified locations, like the Kings Highway, the Snowy Mountains Highway, the Monaro Highway and the Princes Highway, as part of our $40 million Improving Mobile Coverage Round.

Before our Jobs and Skills Summit, I heard from business owners who told me that the lack of training has left our regions with an insufficient number of tradies—that the defunding of TAFE has restricted growth and slowed down expansion. Training initiatives will go towards addressing these systemic problems. We're ensuring that we provide a stronger education and training system for people in regional communities. As I said, there'll be 180,000 fee-free TAFE places across the country, many of them in our regional locations, and we're giving regional Australians priority access to 20,000 extra Commonwealth-supported places at university. There'll also be $158.5 million worth of measures to address teacher shortages.

Support is now also available for apprentices working in the clean energy sector, as part of our New Energy Apprenticeships Program. Through this, we'll provide up to $10,000 in financial assistance to apprentices working in the clean energy sector. This will allow a pipeline of skilled workers to support our clean energy infrastructure now and into the future.

I'm sure many people in this place receive a large number of representations from constituents facing considerable hardship in accessing health services in our predominantly rural and remote communities, which is no surprise to me and something that should have been addressed by those opposite. Even in big centres like Yass, Queanbeyan, Cooma and Bega, the ongoing crisis in health workforce recruitment and retention creates daily challenges for people seeking timely and affordable access to routine health services. These difficulties are only exacerbated by the disappearance of bulk-billing GPs. We're committed to improving this and tackling the regional skills crisis. We're incentivising doctors and nurse practitioners to work in rural and remote areas. By wiping their HELP debt, we could save these health professionals between $20,000 and $70,000 a year, and we expect this will attract 850 doctors and nurse practitioners to rural and remote Australia every year across the country, and these communities will be better off under Labor.

We know that Australia needs to respond to the brunt of natural disasters. That's why we have a billion dollars over five years for the Disaster Ready Fund for mitigation projects like flood levies, cyclone shelters, firebreaks and evacuation centres across Australia. The former government's Emergency Response Fund didn't complete a single mitigation project or release a single cent in recovery funding but earnt the former government over $800 million in interest. Unfortunately, it left us dangerously unprepared for increasing natural disasters. But we won't repeat the mistakes of those opposite.

In my own electorate of Eden-Monaro, I've announced that eight organisations and local governments will share in over $2.6 million in federal funding from the $29 million Disaster Risk Reduction Fund. This will support preparedness and prevention strategies and risk mitigation initiatives—something that community members who have been impacted by multiple floods and multiple bushfires have welcomed. We want to be better prepared come the next natural disaster. And our government will implement the Growing Regions Program and the Precincts and Partnerships Program to deliver real transformation our regions need.

The Albanese government continues to clean up the mess left by those opposite. We have a strong vision for regional Australia. We will continue to deliver. We will stand with people when they need us most. We will deliver funding to those who need it when they need it. And only this side of the House is prepared with a positive plan for our future.

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