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

by leave—On behalf of the government, I am very pleased to deliver our second regional budget statement.

I start by acknowledging the traditional owners of the lands on which we meet, the Ngunnawal and the Ngambri peoples.

I also acknowledge the traditional owners of the many and varied lands, regions and places right across our great country.

I pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

For time immemorial, Australia has been defined and cared for by First Nations communities.

Australia, as a nation, has existed for 120 years.

Not much more than a lifetime.

A blink in the eye in the history of this incredibly ancient land.

This year we have the opportunity to write a historic wrong.

We can recognise that history—that deep, deep connection with our land—and provide a voice to those who have been ignored for too long.

The Uluru Statement from the Heart is an incredibly generous offer, and I encourage all Australians to accept it with the same spirit in which it has been offered

Let that be the legacy for this year.

Regional

Just as this is the year for constitutional recognition, this budget focuses on embedding the hopes and aspirations of regional Australia into our decision-making.

From the Top End to Tasmania, from the Pilbara to Capricornia—this is a budget that does recognise that local communities matter.

It is a budget that responds to the diversity of our regions.

It is a budget that understand the vital role our regions and our people play in positioning Australia to take advantage of a transitioning world.

It is a budget that demonstrates that this government is serious about a transparent and evidence based approach to supporting strong, secure and sustainable regions right across the country, from wherever you are.

The budget builds on the work we began last October.

It delivers on our commitment to build a better future for all Australians, leaving nobody behind.

This budget recognises that now is the time to take advantage of the energy transition that is occurring and the unique position our regions are in to grow jobs and to grow economic security.

Delivered at a time when cost-of-living pressures are hurting Australian households, this budget also recognises the challenges that we face and delivers responsible, targeted support for those who need it most, particularly in our regions.

It recognises the times we are in right now and sets the framework for sustainable investment in our regions.

A new approach to regional investment is needed.

Our first budget began the hard work of cleaning up some of the mess we inherited.

We established solid foundations delivering on our commitment to more transparency and integrity in regional investment through programs like the $600 million Growing Regions Program.

It laid the groundwork for a new merit based approach centred on evidence and more sustainable investments in our regions.

It was a demonstration of our commitment to do things differently.

This budget builds on these early efforts by, for the first time, setting clear principles and priorities for how regional investment should be done across all government portfolios. Just because I have regional development in my title, it doesn't mean that this portfolio is the only portfolio that has the regions at its heart. The budget was a demonstration, as I said, of doing things differently and making sure that we are looking across government portfolios.

We will do this through collaboration, working closely across all levels of government in using the latest evidence and data to understand where our investment can make the biggest difference in the lives of regional Australians.

Regional Investment Framework

We are introducing a new regional investment framework—changing the way we think about supporting our regions—which I am proud to release as part of the budget.

It explains what our priorities as a government are—investing in our people in regions, investing in our places, investing in our services, investing in our industries and investing in our local economies—and how we're going to improve those in partnership with regions and our communities.

It offers broad principles and priority focus areas that will provide a consistent approach—across all portfolios and types of investment—to targeting and coordinating that investment across regional Australia.

And in recognition that all regions are different and have different starting places, the framework is flexible—adapting to the unique strengths and challenges across our regions.

From those regions forging net zero futures to those recovering from natural disasters, our investments will be responsible and responsive to a region and its circumstances.

Of course, all of that means incorporating lived experience from the local level, including through local government and the network of Regional Development Australia committees.

Because we know to get the right outcomes in the right places we need to listen to those regional communities.

The framework—and the commitment of this government to back it in with real action—is a landmark step in putting our regions on a path to long-term economic and social prosperity.

Importantly, this approach is embedded across all portfolios.

While I am honoured to be the minister chiefly responsible for regional development, every minister and portfolio shares responsibility for supporting and strengthening our regions. Be it for communications, for education, Indigenous Australians, health and aged care, Northern Australia, social services, industry or employment and workplace relations, all of my colleagues know that how we invest in our regions is crucial to achieving the outcomes we want as a nation.

Through this budget—guided by the Regional Investment Framework—we have collectively made decisions that consider and respond to the needs and opportunities of our regions. These substantial investments in regional Australia are an investment in the better future for all Australians.

Our first budget, in October, included over 220 new packages and individual measures across government targeted to strengthen regional economies and communities. This budget solidifies that effort with another 129 investments and initiatives cementing our commitment to, and ambitions for, regional Australia.

Budget measures

Our new Regional Investment Framework identifies four priority areas: investing in our services, our people, our places and in our industries local economies. It lays down a path to targeting investments in those areas and, through it, building better, more liveable and more prosperous communities.

I want to start particularly with services, and how important they are in regional Australia. Quality accessible services underpin the sustainability and the success of communities and regions across this country.

This budget delivers additional investments under the National Water Grid Fund, with $197.1 million over six years from 2023-24 allocated towards the construction of three important projects to provide safe and reliable water for regional and remote communities. A further $150 million has been allocated towards First Nations water infrastructure projects. It is an indictment on all of us that we have communities in this country, in regional and rural Australia, that do not have safe drinking water.

Our support also continues to deliver essential services for communities in Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, the Cocos Keeling Islands and the Jervis Bay community.

We are investing in digital connectivity, building on the previous budget's commitment of $2.2 billion under the Better Connectivity Plan for Regional and Rural Australia.

The government also continues to support connectivity through transport, including the continuation of regional aviation programs like the Remote Air Services Subsidy Scheme and a further round of the Remote Airstrip Upgrade Program.

When it comes to health services we are building on our work from October, including an historic $3.5 billion to triple the bulk-billing incentive in an immediate injection to support and strengthen the heart of Medicare. This will have particular benefits for communities in regional, rural and remote Australia, where bulk-billing incentives will go up the most.

The government is also providing further support for regional Australians in easing cost-of-living pressures by allowing millions of Australians with stable and chronic disease to buy two months worth of medicines for the price of a single prescription. This will particularly support those in regional and remote areas by reducing the number of copayments they face. Rural and regional pharmacies will be supported through doubling the funding for the Regional Pharmacy Maintenance Allowance Program.

We are investing $142.2 million over five years from 2023-24 to support continued delivery of the National Redress Scheme for survivors of institutional child sexual abuse, as well as providing survivors with access to emotional and practical support in applying to and interacting with the scheme, with services provided throughout regional Australia. Many of us know, from communities such as in Newcastle and to my own in Ballarat, that this awful, awful scourge affected our regions very substantially.

As part of the government's commitment of $589.3 million over five years from 2022-23 to implement measures under the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, regional Australians will benefit from $33.1 million over four years to expand the Family Law Priority Property Pool program to regional areas, and $13.4 million over two years also to extend the lawyer assisted Family Law Property Mediation program.

Next, of course, we have investing in our people. This budget invests in people to build their capabilities, to develop regional leadership and to develop and provide opportunities for skills, education and learning.

We are targeting investments to ensure that people are safe and supported, and backed in to take up opportunities and participate to their full potential.

We're committed to enshrining a voice for Indigenous Australians in the Constitution and advancing the Closing the Gap agenda.

To support our kids, we have committed $72.4 million over five years from 2022-23 to help address early childhood education and care workforce shortages, including across regional and very remote Australia, and an additional $40.4 million over two years in funding to schools in Central Australia to enable locally driven responses that support educational engagement, attendance and learning outcomes.

The budget tackles the teacher shortage in our regions with a further $9.3 million over four years and builds on the 20,000 additional university places the government is providing to students underrepresented in our universities, including those from rural and remote Australia.

For those pursuing further education outside the university system, the government is investing $4.1 billion over five years in a new national skills agreement being negotiated with the states and territories, including over $400 million to support 300,000 fee-free TAFE and VET places from the October budget.

Thirdly, we have the places we all call home.

The budget is investing to make the most of regional Australia's unique and diverse places.

From the bush to the beaches, the Top End to Tasmania, investments need to make the most of Australia's unique and diverse places across the map.

The government is continuing to support communities to respond and adapt to challenges in the places they know best. This includes building on the $48.8 million investment in community safety announced by the Prime Minister in January 2023 and $250 million under a landmark plan for A Better, Safer Future for Central Australia, announced in February 2023. The plan reflected the voices of local communities and will be delivered in partnership with them in multiple phases. And I note we have the mayor of Alice Springs in town, and I'll be meeting him in the next day or so, but I know he's around the corridors of this place.

Recognising the difficulties many Australians face in accessing secure housing, this budget builds on our $10 billion Housing Australia Future Fund by expanding eligibility for the first home buyer guarantee and regional first home guarantee and increasing the government's guarantee of liabilities to the National Housing Finance and Investment Corporation—soon to be renamed Housing Australia—by $2 billion.

I was surprised to learn myself that there are over 400 people in my own electorate who have been, because of this scheme, able to buy their very first home in regional communities across the country.

To ensure regions stay connected throughout the country, the government is maintaining its strong commitment to a 10-year $120 billion infrastructure pipeline while undertaking the necessary reforms to enable for more credible projects selected on the basis of a range of economic and social objectives, including regional connectivity, liveability and safety.

The government will keep regions connected and safe through ongoing funding for key transport programs including the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, which includes $250.0 million in phase 4 targeted to non-urban roads; the Bridges Renewal Program—

Well, that was us, actually, because that $250 million was an election commitment—and the Roads to Recovery Program.

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