Meryl Swanson (Paterson, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I know, and many members around me will recall that day. That is particularly so for kids who live in regional areas, where often there is not a lot of public transport. That is often the best day for their parents too, because they're not schlepping kids around as much as they previously had to, although on the odd occasion they are up at 2 am watching the clock and hoping that that P-plater will be home soon.

This government has thought a lot about those children, and it's interesting. I was having a look at some stats. Twenty per cent of my electorate in 2021, according to the census in that year, were aged 14 years or under. Those 14-year-olds now are turning 17 and getting their P-plates, and congratulations to them. In the coming years, they'll be buying vehicles, and I want those children to have the choice to buy vehicles that don't use as much fuel. If you're 17, you're probably not watching this, but your mum and dad might be, and they want you to spend less on fuel as well. That's what this New Vehicle Efficiency Standard is about. It is making cars more fuel efficient. Let me ask you: why should any Australian, regardless of whether they live in a regional area or smack bang in a city, be buying a car that is substandard and that the rest of the world, quite frankly, don't get and don't want? Russia and Australia—there we go—are the top two, the top of the pops for fuel inefficiency in the world. We're going to change that. The Albanese government is going to deliver more fuel-efficient cars for our regions so that our young people and parents will have choice in the future. Families are currently spending around $5,000 a year on fuel. We want that to come down, and we're going to be doing something about it.

With fuel efficiency comes air quality. We want cars to be cheaper and cleaner, and so do our young people, and we are backing them in. We are literally putting the rubber on the road when it comes to delivering better-quality cars for all Australians. The other thing about living in the regions is roads. Everyone talks about—

Yes, we lay rubber on the roads in my electorate. I know young people who do that. I'm not suggesting they should, but I know that some of them do. But do you know what? The other thing is roads. It is so important, and I have never been prouder to be part of a government that is delivering real infrastructure, not just paving the way with press releases making a promise here and a promise there that, in the never-never, you might get something. We are delivering.

In my electorate alone, at the moment we have $3.5 billion, with a b, worth of projects on the books being delivered. We are extending the M1, fixing that last chokepoint between Sydney and Brisbane. We're spending $2.3 billion on that. The road is being delivered right now. It is being built. We are widening the Hexham Straight where the member for Newcastle's electorate and my electorate meet up, and what a magnificent place Hexham is. We're delivering that road. We're doing the Newcastle Inner City Bypass. We have the Singleton Bypass and the Muswellbrook Bypass coming in the future. These are roads that we're delivering today and that Australians are going to be driving on in more fuel-efficient cars. Not only are we delivering these roads; we are also making it safer and we are also making it cheaper.

The other part of this is telecommunications. We talk about connectivity and moving around. We know that fuel, cars and roads are important, but today telecommunications is pretty much the highway of the future—and everyone knows it. We're not spinning copper to go around the country, like this mob were for 10 years, spinning their wheels, doing nothing. We're delivering fibre, we are delivering better communications in our regions and we know that these are the two most important points of connectivity.

I say to those opposite: you had 10 years, you did seven-eighths of not much and now you've had to stand aside for a government that is actually delivering for Australians and that takes Australians' safety, health and hip pocket seriously. I've never been prouder to be part of a government that does that, not only for regional Australians but for all Australians. We are delivering the infrastructure, the roads, the cheaper fuel and the more efficient cars for everyone. I say, Australia, you're moving forward under an Albanese government.

See this speech in context