Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Immigration and Citizenship) Share this | Hansard source

Facts matter in politics. As we head into the election campaign, there are going to be a lot of facts which are thrown around. I want to make sure my electorate understands loud and clear the facts around discretionary grants. What has happened since 2016 in the electorate of Wannon is that we have received $694 million in grants. Now, what has the neighbouring seat of Corangamite received in that period since 2016? Corangamite has received $454 million. So remember that as opponents go about trying to use disinformation and misinformation to get away from that fact—Wannon, $694 million; Corangamite, $494 million.

What have we been able to achieve due to the fact that we have been able to get our fair share of grants funding? If you go to Ararat, you've got the Alexandra Oval Community Centre, the Ararat Boer War Memorial Fountain, the arts precinct and the Gordon Street Recreation Reserve.

In Colac there's headspace, the Colac Central Reserve netball courts, construction of the new cycling track at Elliminyt, the western oval drainage improvements and much, much more.

In Hamilton there is headspace, the Hamilton Regional Livestock Exchange, Melville Oval, the Pedrina Park netball courts and other sports facilities, and, now, we've just got a regional university study hub. Plus there are the Lake Hamilton community and aquatic facilities—that is, the playground.

In Port Fairy there was the waterfront development. There has also been the Tarrone Lane Bridge upgrade and other community investments as well.

In Portland there's headspace, the Portland Bowling Club, Bayview College, the Alexandra Park upgrade and the Portland foreshore.

In Warrnambool there are, obviously, the funds that went into saving Deakin University, into Hycel, into the golf club, into the racing club and into providing new lights at North Warrnambool. The list goes on and on and on.

So just ask those who are trying to deceive for the facts—since 2016, what has happened with community grants in Wannon versus those in Corangamite? They want to use misinformation and disinformation in their campaigns. The best way to deal with that is to remind them of the facts.

Why is this important for the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2024-2025 and the related bills? Because it is absolutely vital that government gets its spending right so that it actually benefits communities, grows communities, makes communities stronger and benefits the whole nation.

Sadly, what we have seen under this government is the exact opposite. We've seen increased spending at levels that we haven't seen for a long, long time—over $30 billion in extra spending. But we've seen the wrong priorities, and we've seen that spending add to the cost-of-living crisis that this nation is facing right now. Rather than coming into government nearly three years ago and saying, 'Inflation is the No. 1 issue that we must deal with,' this government said, 'We will have other priorities, like spending $460 million on the Voice.' They took their eyes off the ball. What did that lead to? That has led to a cost-of-living crisis in this nation which has been felt right across the electorate of Wannon. How is that playing out? You are paying more for your electricity bills. You are paying more for your gas bills. You are paying more when you go to the supermarket. You are paying more on insurance costs. You're paying more when you go into the local cafe because of what they've done to the cost of business. All those things are a direct result of the Albanese Labor government taking their eyes of the ball.

That is why, if a coalition government are elected, we will make sure that cost of living is our No. 1 priority nationally. And what will we make sure is our No. 1 priority in the seat of Wannon? It will be reversing the cuts to road funding that have occurred under the Albanese Labor government and making sure that that the maintenance budgets of both the federal government and the Victorian state government for our roads is increased, because not only did the Albanese Labor government cut road funding to the electorate of Wannon but also they cut the percentage of the contribution they make to the Victorian state government to maintain important roads like the Princes Highway and the Western Highway. That is why we've seen those roads deteriorate. To double up as to why the priorities of both the Albanese Labor government and the Allan Labor government are so wrong, the Albanese Labor government has had $2.2 billion just sitting there in a contingency fund for the Suburban Rail Loop. We all know that the Victorian state Labor government is too scared to present the business case to the Albanese Labor government on the Suburban Rail Loop because the whole project was cooked up on the back of an envelope. They will not present the business case to the Albanese Labor government. It's wrong priorities after wrong priorities.

What is happening as a result? My electorate of Wannon is suffering. But not only is my electorate of Wannon suffering; the whole nation is suffering. Day after day, people are finding it harder and harder to pay their bills. That is why any government that is elected in a cost-of-living crisis must first as a priority make sure that they address that issue, and this government has not addressed that issue. They have had their eyes completely and utterly off the ball.

It's not just cost of living and roads which are suffering as a result of that. We are also seeing it with regard to our health services. Do you think the number of GPs has increased in regional and rural Victoria and the seat of Wannon during the time that the Albanese Labor government have been in office? No. That's because they haven't had a focus on making sure that we get GPs where we need them. As a matter of fact, they deliberately made decisions which led to GPs being incentivised to move back into outersuburban Melbourne and into the bigger regions. We have suffered as a result. What we have to do is make sure that health for regional and rural Australia and for Wannon once again becomes a priority. Sadly, in the last nearly three years, that hasn't been the case. They haven't been focused on health like they should have been. As a matter of fact, it's very hard to know what this government has been focused on apart from itself and its ideological pursuits.

Let's take Minister Bowen as an example. What has he done? Has he spent his whole time in the last three years trying to drive your power bill down by $275? No, he has not. Even though the Prime Minister said in more than 90 occasions before the last election that he would make sure that your power bill went down by $275, the exact opposite has occurred. How has Minister Bowen tried to dissemble because he hasn't been able to address that commitment that was made by the Prime Minister? He has gone on this wild pursuit of a renewables-only approach to policy. What has that meant? It has meant that communities have been rolled over in his rampant pursuit of trying to get renewables right across the nation.

The worst example of this is what he has tried to do in putting an offshore wind farm off the coast of my electorate between Warrnambool and Port Fairy. He initially proposed it for Portland, and when he thought, 'That's all too hard,' he said, 'I will change the map,' and he put it off the coast of Warrnambool and Port Fairy. Do you think, once the community said, 'Sorry, Minister Bowen, we're not going to stand for that,' he said, 'I've made a mistake and I'm not going to pursue this'? Of course not; he doubled down and he continues to try to pursue this project, which is fanciful in nature and absolutely dangerous in what it might do to the local environment and to the local economy as a result of what it might do to the local environment. Wrong, wrong, wrong! Yet, Minister Bowen will not admit it.

What are the other areas where we've seen huge issues because of this government? Crime in Victoria is now a serious issue. Do you think that there has been any attention or focus given to crime by the Albanese Labor government? Do you think that they've said to the Allan Labor government in Victoria, 'This is now a serious issue which is playing out in communities and we want to work with you to create safety in local communities'? No, they haven't. What did they do at the start of their term in office? They abolished the one program that used to deliver community safety programs. The idea was that you had a program that could provide extra CCTVs, and extra lighting in local communities so citizens felt a lot safer walking home at night, and the Albanese Labor government abolished that program. When it comes to crime, we have seen them do absolutely nothing to help local communities, especially local communities in Victoria, where crime is, sadly, becoming more of a prevalent issue.

As a matter of fact, in my portfolio space, what we saw as a result of their complete and utter bungling of a High Court decision was the release onto our streets of further criminals who were being held in detention. Sadly, we are still seeing the consequences of their bungling of that decision and of ministerial direction 99, whether it's in tying up court processes or by making sure the AFP and the state and territory police are spending time monitoring those released from detention, rather than making sure that they can deal with the lack of community safety that we're seeing more and more on our streets.

I say this, especially to those people in the CBDs at Warrnambool and in other towns—those small-business operators: we will do everything we can to keep local communities safe. We now know and understand that that is a critically important issue. Cost of living, health, roads, security: these are the issues that you know a coalition government, if elected, will make sure are an absolute priority because we want to get back to basics. We understand that you want to be able to go down the street, go to the supermarket and then buy yourself a cup of coffee without having to look at your wallet and wonder how you will be able to go home and afford to pay your electricity bill or your insurance bill. We understand that cost of living is crucial to you. We also understand that if you drive on local roads and that leads to rim damage or punctures to your tyres, that also adds to your cost of living, plus you get worried and concerned about your family's safety driving on roads.

We will go back to basics. We will make sure to focus on and seek to address all the failings that we've seen under the Albanese Labor government as quickly as we possibly can. We don't want the case where you're going down the street, you're going into the supermarket, you're looking at the shelves and you're wondering what it is this time you're going to have to tell the kids you couldn't afford to buy. We don't want Australians facing that reality more and more, and we will fix it.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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