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

It's always great to get up and talk about regional Australia, and I'm so glad that we're on this side of the House so that we can actually deliver for regional Australia. From day one we have been getting on with the job of delivering for regional Australia, and we have delivered more in 2½ years than those opposite managed in their 10. What we're talking about is delivering much more than a bloody grants program, because regional communities deserve services. They deserve access. They deserve people who back them and support them, not people who run around and allow regional dollars to go to the North Sydney pool. I'm not sure where the member from Gippsland or any of the Nationals were when the Liberal Party gave regional dollars to the North Sydney pool—10 million regional dollars. I don't know anyone in my electorate, the member for Gippsland's electorate or the member for Mallee's electorate who uses the North Sydney pool. FYI, it's still not built and it's over budget, so no-one's using it right now.

We're investing in regional communities, as I said, because we're taking a strategic approach: we're investing in people, in places, in services that our communities need and in industries that our local communities rely on. We've restored integrity and transparency to grant programs—I know that's a foreign concept to those opposite—and we've doubled Roads to Recovery. Over the next five years it will go to $1 billion annually. That means every local council across the country will have more money to put towards road maintenance projects. The funding will allow local governments to plan for long-term maintenance and upgrade their road networks. In the member for Gippsland's electorate, it means his councils will receive close to $70 million over the next five years, which is an increase of almost $22 million. It's something that neither he nor anyone else on the coalition benches ever managed to put in place, so well done to the Labor government for delivering to every local council across the country.

We're increasing the roads Black Spot Program from $110 million a year to $150 million a year, meaning we're improving more of the dangerous sections of roads across the country. We've launched the new Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, with $200 million available each and every year, providing a $50 million boost in that.

We are delivering more through every local council, as I said. But it's not just about delivering the hard infrastructure; it's also about working with our communities for what they need—the skills and training that they're after. We want more people to be able to train at home and continue working locally, because you shouldn't have to leave your home to build a career. We're bringing universities closer to our regions by investing in 20 more regional study hubs. We've established fee-free TAFE, and a third of people that have taken up fee-free TAFE live in our regions. They don't have to leave their communities to train or to upskill which is so incredibly important in this day and age.

We're making record investments in housing because, in order to attract and retain staff, we need somewhere for them to live. There's been $32 billion in housing initiatives, the biggest investment in a decade. We want to see more homes built. We're working with all levels of government to kickstart housing supply through our $1.5 billion Housing Support Program. We're building the enabling infrastructure to get more homes in our regions, and we're ensuring that more regional people can buy their first home. Over 13,000 people have already been supported under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee thanks to the expanded eligibility criteria that this government has put in place.

When we came to office 2½ years ago, people in regional communities couldn't get in to see a local GP. We're strengthening those services in our regions with significant investments to get Medicare back to where it should be. We have supported an additional 2.2 million bulk-billed visits in regional and rural Australia since November last year, funded through the government's Australian General Practice Training Program. General practitioner registrars have been successfully placed in regional towns that were previously struggling to attract GPs. We're also waving HECS fees for doctors and nurse practitioners that work in rural and regional Australia, and we will provide $320 per week to nursing and midwifery students during their mandatory prac placements from 1 July next year.

We've funded an additional 29 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, bringing that total to 87 across the country from Albury to Broome to Devonport to Bundaberg to Queanbeyan in my own electorate. Those clinics are ensuring people across Australia get access to the free and urgent care that they need.

We know how important the NBN is, particularly in our regions. That is why the Albanese government took to the last election a further $2.4 billion investment which will make sure that we get fibre to the premises of 1.5 million additional homes, with 660,000 of those across regional Australia. Today, as we were saying in the House, we will ensure that the NBN is owned by who it belongs to: the Australian people. Those opposite want to sell it off. They want to sell it off, which will mean more expensive internet to regional Australia. It is not on.

As a former mayor who experienced the Black Summer bushfires with communities across Eden-Monaro, I've seen firsthand the devastation that natural disasters can bring to regional communities. The Albanese government has worked hard to enhance the country's disaster risk reduction, preparedness and emergency response capability. Regional communities are better prepared for disasters under this government than they ever have been before. We set up the National Emergency Management Agency and have a regional network of NEMA staff supporting communities across the nation. We understand the importance of improving Australia's emergency management capabilities, as we're acting on the royal commission recommendations to keep us safe and reduce disaster risk. We have built the largest firefighting air fleet in the country's history. We have 160 specialised, highly-mobile aircraft that are positioned around the country to protect regional communities against bushfires this summer. As I said, that's on the back of the recommendations from the bushfire royal commission. That's something that was not acted on by those opposite.

We built the $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund to invest in disaster resilience and risk reduction. We created the National Emergency Management Stockpile and Disaster Relief Australia, and we expanded the aerial firefighting fleet. This was all rolled out under this Labor government because we are committed to working with every community. Your postcode should not limit what you have access to. We don't need to use colour coded spreadsheets to determine where funding should be allocated. If you don't believe me, ask the ANAO. The closed, secretive grants process which saw regional dollars go to North Sydney pool—

Buddy, North Sydney pool is still not open. I'm not sure where the bleating was when that happened!

Under those opposite, the infrastructure pipeline blew out from 150 projects to almost 800 projects. They thought it was responsible to add projects that had no hope of ever being completed, because there was no additional budget ever invested in the infrastructure pipeline. You cannot build a road with a press release. It is outrageous.

Those opposite froze financial assistance grants, taking over $900 million out of local councils. They also froze indexation on road maintenance payments to state and territory governments back in 2014 and left it there for a decade. No wonder our regional roads are suffering.

The Albanese government is fixing the mess and reversing those coalition cuts. Not only are we locking in future road maintenance funding at 2.5 per cent per year; we are backdating this reform to when the freeze was put in place by those opposite. This year we've increased road maintenance funding to $460 million, and each and every year from now on it will increase.

Now, apparently, those opposite are going to block fee-free TAFE. So, for the one-third of people in regions across the nation who have taken up the opportunity to train themselves or upskill: sorry, you're going to have to pay for that from now on because they don't think it's important to upskill you.

They voted against international student caps, which for regional universities means that there is now no longer going to be a proper allocation of international students across the country. Apparently it's okay to concentrate those international students in the big eight. They don't want regional universities to succeed, and that's exactly what they've just voted against. And they've also voted against keeping the NBN in public hands.

They make reckless commitments and they don't understand that they're having a substantial impact on our regional communities. What they've said is that nuclear power might be the answer. I mean, no plan, no costs—it's another half-baked idea, another way that they're trying to force regional Australia to deal with their incompetence. (Time expired)

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