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

That was a load of outrage, carry-on and misplaced anger. I've heard just a whole bunch of bumph, because the previous National and Liberal state government are the ones who put additional parks in New South Wales. It was the previous coalition state government that put additional parks in New South Wales. Go and check the record. The member for Page has clearly been taking some random instructions. 'Go out and be outraged; we need a grab.' But he's failed to understand that there has actually been more investment in regional Australia over the last 2½ years than in the previous 10. We've been delivering with integrity and transparency, and it'll take me a lot longer than 10 minutes to go through it, but I'm going to give it a crack because I think the member for Page needs to understand that regional Australia is a bit more than a grant program and a bit more than outrage and carry-on.

We've put regional Australia at the centre of our government's plan for a prosperous and resilient future which is made in Australia, because a future made in Australia is a future made in regional Australia. We get it, which is why we're investing $22.7 billion over 10 years to attract investment into Australia, to make us a leader in renewable energy, adding value to our natural resources and strengthening our economic security. As we speak, funding is rolling out for priority community projects under our $600 million Growing Regions Program. We're delivering almost $100 million in funding under our Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. Round 2 of Growing Regions has just come out. I note that, in the member for Page's electorate, Clarence Valley Council has just got $1.6 million for the Grafton regional aquatic centre waterslide project because at the heart of every regional community is a high-quality swimming pool.

While we're at it, let's talk about how we've engaged with regional communities through local councils. We are progressively doubling Roads to Recovery funding to a billion dollars each and every year. Those of us who drive on regional roads are well aware that they are in desperate need of funding. Each and every council in this country is now delivering more local priority projects thanks to the Albanese government. Councils in the electorate of Page, for example, will receive $66.6 million in Roads to Recovery funding, which is an increase of $27.7 million, a figure that the member who just spoke never achieved even in his nine years in government.

Whilst I'm at it, those opposite actually froze indexation on financial assistance grants, ripping nearly a billion dollars out of local communities. This has had a dire impact on our communities, which is why the sector has welcomed our record funding increases. The mayor of Temora Shire Council in the member for Riverina's electorate, Mayor Firman, said:

This funding is a significant contribution to the enhancement and maintenance of our roads and will have a positive impact on our community. The commitment of your ministry to improving our road network is greatly appreciated.

We are helping more Australians get into home ownership with our Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee. Eighteen thousand regional Aussies have benefited so far because we expanded the eligibility criteria to help more people in our regions. We have delivered tax cuts for all and created a million jobs so far. We introduced the same job, same pay laws, which the Leader of the Opposition said would close down Australia and take us back to the Dark Ages, but, in reality, these laws are delivering Australians the pay rises they need and deserve. Regional Aussies are earning more and keeping more of what they earn because of our government.

In fact, here are a couple of examples of how same job, same pay works: workers at a meat processing facility in regional Queensland have had wage increases of up to 42 per cent; and 90 workers in a New South Wales coalmine operated by Boggabri Coal have had pay increases of between $15,600 and $35,000. We've also increased wages for aged-care workers and early childhood educators. We've expanded paid parental leave to 26 weeks, and we're adding super on top of it. But all this is at risk because the Leader of the Opposition wants to wind back these laws in favour of his big business mates and their long lunches.

While we're at it, we'll talk about regional health care because I know that that was a focus for the member for Page. We're actually focusing on delivering good-quality health care across the country. In fact, just before question time, the Prime Minister and health minister announced an increase of $1.7 billion for our hospitals around the country. I noticed that those opposite, who are great defenders of regional Australia, just had a whinge about regional health care but didn't say, 'Well done on delivering more money for hospitals across our regions.'

I'm glad I've got your attention now, because it is incredibly important to deliver not only good-quality health care but cheaper medicines for our communities. In my electorate of Eden-Monaro alone, residents have saved $7.6 million because of the Albanese government's cheaper medicines policy—a policy that these people voted against. We have tripled the bulk-billing incentive and, thanks to our landmark investments, have added 2.2 million bulk-billed visits in regional and rural Australia. We've also opened 61 free walk-in Medicare mental health centres across Australia, 22 endometriosis and pelvic pain specialist clinics in every state and territory and 87 Medicare urgent care clinics from Queanbeyan to Broome to Mount Gambier to free up our emergency rooms and get people seen sooner.

We heard the calls from nursing, teaching and social work students who needed help with the cost of living, so we said, 'We'll provide you with mandatory prac payments.' Those payments are available from July this year. We understand that regional development isn't just about investing in roads and infrastructure; it's about investing in people and their skills and training. Regional apprentices will benefit from $10,000 in incentive payments from 1 July this year to top up their wages during the lives of their apprenticeships if they're working in the housing and construction sector. We're raising the allowance paid to apprentices living away from home, the first time the payment has increased since 2003. We have opened more regional uni study hubs because you shouldn't have to pack your bags to build your future.

From Tumut in my electorate to Clermont, Hughenden and Moranbah in Queensland, west to Northam and Kununurra in WA, and south to Kangaroo Island, we are investing in young Australians being able to study closer to home. We're making TAFE free permanently because it is a big success. We want to make sure that we provide fairer school funding for every student in every public school across the country, and we are delivering cheaper and universal access to child care with more than $1 billion invested to improve not just affordability but accessibility for regional kids. Those opposite talk a big game and they talk about childcare deserts, but they did nothing about it in their nine years in government and are voting against it, saying it's a bad policy. Go back to your regional communities and tell them you don't want more childcare places in your communities then.

But I'll go on because the facts speak for themselves. We are delivering an additional $3 billion to complete the NBN because we take connectivity seriously. We need it to run our small businesses, access education services and work from home. Our record investment, which is cleaning up the mess that those opposite left us, is connecting more than 2.1 million premises across the nation, many in our regions. And we want the NBN to stay in public ownership because privatisation means worse service. We've seen that time and time again under those opposite.

I am nearly out of time, but I need to tell you this. On this side of the House, we invest in making sure our communities are more prepared for and more resilient to disasters, with $750 million already out the door in Disaster Ready funding and $519.1 million in Future Drought Fund programs to help Aussie farmers and regional communities be more resilient.

I'll finish by saying that, on this side of the House, we actually believe in investing not only in roads and in infrastructure but in service delivery because regional communities deserve that. And, as an inner-city elite who apparently lives in a smaller town than most of you over there, I will say—

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