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

by leave—On behalf of the Albanese Labor government, I'm proud to deliver our fourth regional ministerial budget statement.

I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of where we are today and pay my respects to their elders past and present.

Across our first term in government, our message to regional Australians has been loud and clear—your postcode shouldn't be a barrier.

Just because you grow up in Bega, on the NSW far South Coast or in Gladstone in Central Queensland and just because you live at Mount Gambier in regional South Australia or in the Pilbara Region in outback WA doesn't mean that the services and the opportunities available to you are second best.

I say this as a proud regional member of this place and on behalf of my fantastic regional colleagues here with me today.

I say this as someone that's always lived in our regions—from Traralgon in regional Victoria, to Merimbula on the NSW far South Coast—where I watched my parents work hard every day to build a small business and to provide our family with a better life.

It is in a regional community where I myself now run a small business with my husband and where we're raising our kids.

And I say this as someone that's had the privilege of spending a lot of time talking to regional people across Australia—both as the member for the mighty Eden-Monaro and as the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories.

From the Hunter region in NSW, Caboolture in regional Queensland, Devonport in Tasmania to communities across the 42,000 square kilometres in my electorate, regional Australia is a great place to live, to work, to study, to visit and to invest—and I wouldn't live anywhere else.

Our regions generate a third of the nation's economic output, and there are so many opportunities that our government wants to take advantage of.

You'd be living under a rock if you said life outside of our big cities doesn't come without its unique challenges; it absolutely does.

Unlike those opposite though, on this side of the House we're not shying away from that.

I'm proud to be part of a government that, across its first term, has delivered record investments to improve the reliability and the accessibility of critical services that regional people rely on to support more regional people to work and train closer to home, because you shouldn't have to pack your bags to build your career; to build more things in our own backyard, investing in the hard work and know-how of regional people; to give regional Australians more support to buy or rent a home; to support local businesses and local economies to grow, with small businesses in particular the backbone of our regions; to ensure the local roads we drive every day to drop the kids off at school and to get to work are safe and keep pace with growing communities; to improve our major highways linking our cities to our regions so more visitors support our local businesses and experience everything we have to offer; to keep our regions connected and better prepared for natural disasters, something that so many regional communities, including across Eden-Monaro, have needed to rebuild from; and, most importantly, to relieve immediate pressures on regional families and businesses, which, let's not forget, those opposite talk a big game on, despite opposing every single cost-of-living measure to date and committing to tearing apart every measure that'll support regional Australians into the future.

While we're delivering record investments to build regional Australia's future, the wreckers opposite are determined to leave regional communities, which aren't the right colour on their spreadsheets, behind.

The Albanese government is delivering better outcomes for every regional community, because we're addressing the challenges, harnessing the opportunities and taking the needs of our regions seriously.

Through our Regional Investment Framework, we're ensuring targeted investments support regional people, the places they live, the services they need, and the industries that stimulate our local economies, with investments through the 2025-26 budget building on everything we've delivered across our first term.

Investing in p eople

Our No. 1 priority has been easing pressures faced by regional families and businesses today, while supporting more work, training and economic opportunities outside of our big cites.

We've delivered tax cuts for every regional taxpayer—a huge impact for taxpayers in my own electorate of Eden-Monaro, putting an average of $1,633 back into their pockets—with two new rounds of tax cuts on the way, which those opposite just voted against.

We've delivered $300 in energy bill relief to millions of households and $325 to small businesses, along with cheaper child care and cheaper medicines.

We've cut $3 billion in student debt, with a further 20 per cent to be cut if we're re-elected.

And we've supported over 127,000 free TAFE places in our regions—from construction courses to child care.

We're getting more people into industries that are screaming out for workers, after those opposite gutted the vocational education system during their failed decade.

We've introduced legislation to make free TAFE permanent—something those opposite have said they'll repeal, because, as the Deputy Leader of the Opposition said in this very chamber, 'If you don't pay for it, you don't value it.'

But I want my kids and every regional person to know that your postcode and your bank balance shouldn't limit your potential.

Through this budget we'll provide additional cost-of-living relief, along with increased investments to remove study barriers, and $1.8 billion to provide all households, and around one million small businesses, with an additional $150 in energy bill relief.

We've also added $800 million to expand our Help to Buy scheme to support more people to get into their own home—including in our regions.

This builds on the 32,000 regional Australians we've already helped into homeownership, through the regional home guarantee.

There is $626.9 million to support $10,000 incentive payments for construction sector apprentices—with $7 million to increase the living away from home allowance for apprentices.

As an operator of a small plumbing business that hires apprentices, and having recently spent time with bricklaying apprentices at Queanbeyan, I know that every cent counts when you're starting out, especially when you're living away from home.

That's why we're boosting apprentice wages and we're easing cost-of-living pressures—because we value their hard work and we know that building this workforce is essential to delivering more homes.

My mum, my dad, my brother, my sister and my husband all went to TAFE, which is why I'm incredibly proud to be part of a government that is strengthening this sector—and ensuring more regional people can build a better future.

Through this budget, we're delivering $407.5 million to states and territories, as part of the Better and Fairer Schools Agreement.

This is record funding to give our teachers, including in our regional schools, more support—to lift education standards, and to better support students from kindergarten through to year 12.

And, if you want to go on to further study, fantastic. Existing investments like the 56 regional university study hubs we're delivering—from Port Augusta, in South Australia, to Goulburn, in my own electorate—will mean you don't have to leave the region that you live in and love.

A further $33.6 million will flow to the Clontarf Foundation to support up to 12½ thousand First Nations boys and young men access better education support.

We're delivering record investments to continue improving the affordability and accessibility of regional health care—because when you need to see the doctor, or when you need to buy a script, your street address and your wallet shouldn't stop you.

We've already delivered $3½ billion to triple the bulk-billing incentive, supporting over 2½ million additional claims across regional Australia.

Through this budget, we're investing an additional $7.9 billion to deliver more bulk-billing to all Australians, including in our regions.

Having delivered the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, we're now making medicines even cheaper.

$689 million to bring a PBS script down to $25, keeping more money in the hip pockets of regional Australians—with our pensioners and concession card holders to continue paying $7.70 for PBS medicines until 2030.

$792.9 million to deliver more choice, lower costs and better health care for women—including the first PBS listing for a new oral contraceptive pill in more than 30 years along with more bulk billing for long-term contraceptives, more endometriosis and pelvic pain clinics to treat more conditions, and more Medicare support for women experiencing menopause.

Investing in Services

Regional health and aged care were left in crisis under those opposite—a mess the Albanese government has been cleaning up from day 1.

We've delivered $17.7 billion to fund increases to the minimum award wage for aged-care workers—not only to support and retain these critical workers but also to ensure that our loved ones get the care that they need as they get older.

We've delivered an additional $1.6 billion to strengthen our public hospitals and to reduce waiting times across the country, bringing our hospital funding to a record $33.9 billion in 2025-26.

We've also increased the number of regional GP training places, along with waiving HECS for doctors and nurses that work in our regions—getting more skilled workers where we need them most.

Through this budget, we're investing $662.6 million to grow our health workforce.

There will be hundreds more GP and rural generalist training places to grow the future pipeline of GPs—with fairer salary incentives for junior doctors who choose general practice as their speciality.

100 more Commonwealth supported places for medical students a year from 2026, increasing to 150 more by 2028—with a focus on encouraging students to pursue general practice in our regions—and hundreds of scholarships for nurses and midwives to help meet our current and future demands.

A re-elected Albanese government will deliver another 50 Medicare urgent care clinics across the country, from Burnie in Tassie to Bega in my own electorate, with our $644.3 million investment.

This builds on the 87 Medicare urgent care clinics we've already delivered, which are making a huge difference in our communities.

Of these 137 clinics, 48 are in our regions, from Broome in WA to Townsville in Queensland and Tamworth in New South Wales.

The urgent care clinic just down the road in Queanbeyan has already supported over 7,000 fully bulk-billed presentations in the last nine months alone.

Rusty, a local constituent of mine, told me about the huge difference it made for him when he had an infection.

He walked right into the clinic and received the help he needed, for free—a service that's also supported his children and grandchildren.

As Rusty said, this type of clinic is critical to taking the pressure off our hospitals—as we continue to rebuild the health sector.

But regional services like this will cease to exist under those opposite, because you only have to look at the billions that were cut from Medicare by the Leader of the Opposition when he was the health minister to know their plan for Medicare is nothing but cuts.

No government has done more for regional services than the Albanese government—but health care wasn't the only service completely abandoned, during the wasted decade, by those opposite.

We're already investing $2.2 billion to strengthen regional communication, particularly in disaster-prone areas—after programs like the Mobile Black Spot Program were pork-barrelled by those opposite.

We've invested record amounts of money in the NBN, where we've seen half of some streets and half of some suburbs being stuck on unreliable copper, including just 15 minutes down the road in Jerrabomberra.

It takes more than a bit of string and a can to run a small business or to work or study from home.

In this budget, we're providing an additional $3 billion in equity funding to NBN Co to complete upgrades for all remaining fibre-to-the-node premises, including connecting an additional 334,000 regional premises to high-speed internet.

A service that we can't forget would be sold off to the highest bidder under those opposite.

We're also introducing a universal outdoor mobile obligation—requiring telcos to provide access to mobile voice and SMS almost everywhere across Australia. This will have huge benefits for regional and remote communities, particularly during emergencies and disasters.

Natural disasters are something that many regional electorates deal with, including my own of Eden-Monaro, and we've felt this deeply, which is why I'm really proud that our government established the National Emergency Management Agency. We've seen the support that it's provided to regional communities, most recently in Queensland and New South Wales during ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

Our $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund continues to support regional communities to be better prepared.

And our additional $35 million investment to boost our national aerial fleet gives regional communities more emergency support when they need it most.

But it's not just during disasters when our regions need reliable aviation.

Despite the Leader of the Nationals in the Senate telling Sky News just last week that the opposition had been fighting for a more competitive aviation sector—the reality is that they sat idle at the departure gate.

They did nothing with the Sydney airport slot review handed to them in 2021, something we've responded to with our own Aviation white paper.

And they've said that keeping Rex Airlines' regional routes operating during the voluntary administration process is sabotaging the sale process.

I'm really proud, as is every member of my constituency, that the Albanese government has kept Rex's regional flights in the air, with an $80 million loan facility to Rex administrators and additional support to reduce the debt that Rex owes, because for regional communities like mine these flights are critical to our local economy, they're critical to accessing important health services, and they're critical for just getting around.

The reality of living in our regions is we need to travel longer for some services, which is why we'll continue to stand up for a strong regional aviation sector.

Investing in places

We all know travelling by car is generally how we get around, though, which is why we've already increased local road funding for every council across the country.

Roads to Recovery funding is going up from $500 million a year to $1 billion per year, road black spot funding has increased to $150 million per year, and we've launched our $200 million per year Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program—all while continuing to invest in major transport projects—because every local community should have confidence in the roads that they're driving on.

In his budget reply last year, the Leader of the Nationals said those opposite would deliver the strong infrastructure funding pipeline that our regional communities need.

But let's not forget, when they were responsible for the infrastructure pipeline, it below out from 150 projects to 800 projects, without a single dollar extra being added to the budget, and without the delivery taking place.

Regional communities deserve much more than promises in press releases with no follow-through, which is why we continue to deliver critical projects to build regional Australia's future.

Funding through this budget includes $7.2 billion for the Bruce Highway safety upgrades in Queensland, $200 million towards duplicating the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Katherine, $40 million for the Main South Road upgrade in South Australia, and $1.1 billion towards upgrades along the Western Freeway in Victoria.

After colour coded spreadsheets from those opposite, we've delivered on our commitment to establish transparent grant programs that every postcode can apply for.

Our $600 million Growing Regions Program is already supporting 112 projects, with 29 projects supported under our $400 million Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program so far.

I had the pleasure of visiting Wagga's Lake Albert—one of this region's most popular recreational sites, which will be completely transformed thanks to $4.4 million in growing regions funding.

Projects like this that are making our regions better places to live, to work and to invest in but having more housing to attract and retain those workers is something that every community tells me they need, which is why we've already committed $32 billion in housing measures, including over 13,000 homes nationally under the first round of our Housing Australia Future Fund—many of those in our regions.

And that's more than those opposite delivered in an entire decade—when they had no plan for building, and their only idea for turning more keys was letting people raid their super for a deposit.

But, to their credit, they've now said that they will fund enabling infrastructure—labelling this a fantastic idea.

It's so fantastic, we're already doing it—through our $1.5 billion Housing Support Program.

That that has supported great projects, like the $27.2 million program to support upgrading Marulan's sewage treatment plant in the mighty Eden-Monaro, which lays the foundation for more housing.

Through this budget, we're delivering $54 million to turbocharge advanced manufacturing of prefabricated and modular homes, which gets more homes into our regions where we need them most—lifting our total housing commitments to $33 billion.

Investing i n i ndustries and l ocal e conomies

More housing is a key part of how we're building regional Australia's future, and it is supporting our regional businesses and our regional economies to grow.

Under those opposite, car manufacturers left our shore, which left our regional people behind.

But Labor has always had the back of regional manufacturing, and we've shown that again with our new investment of $2.4 billion with the South Australian government to save the Whyalla Steelworks, supporting 1,100 direct workers, and encouraging more investment into Australian made steel.

This builds on our existing $22.7 billion Future Made in Australia agenda, ensuring we build more in our own backyard. It includes over $500 million to boost Australia's battery manufacturing capabilities, and $1 billion to supercharge the production of solar panels in our regions.

Our investments are putting regional communities at the centre of industries of the future—unlocking more secure and well-paid regional jobs, and ensuring that we train and retrain our regional workforces.

This includes $38.2 million to boost the diversity of our STEM workforce, with a focus on supporting more women to secure jobs in these critical industries.

Through this budget, we're delivering further investments to build regional Australia's future—by leveraging the competitive advantages that come with our vast energy resources, our world-leading agricultural sector, and regional innovation.

$250 million to accelerate the pace of Australia's growing domestic low-carbon liquid fuels industry will help to drive economic growth and jobs in regional areas, as well as $1 billion under our green iron investment fund to boost green iron manufacturing in our regions.

This builds on our existing commitment of $2 billion to support aluminium smelters' transition to renewables—in places like Portland, Victoria; Tomago in NSW; and in Queensland's Gladstone region.

From our factories to our fields, we're backing our regions—with $11 million to tackle established pests and weeds in our agriculture and forestry sectors—keeping them productive.

And an additional $20 million for a new round of the On Farm Connectivity Program so farmers can use the latest technology to make their work more efficient.

And $20 million to encourage more Australians to buy Australian made products, which will have huge benefits for regional economies—because so much of what we love and rely on comes from our regions.

Close

In his budget reply last year, the Leader of the Nationals said the opposition will take decisive action to give regional Australians a fair go.

But all we've seen since then is those opposite continuing to vote against every single cost-of-living measure, while petrifying regional communities with their nuclear thought bubble.

An idea that was announced with zero consultation, and most importantly—one that will deliver zero savings for regional Australians and their power bills.

Since my last regional budget statement, the Albanese government has continued to relieve pressure on regional families and businesses, while improving access to the services and the supports regional people rely on—regardless of their postcode.

Through our 2025-26 budget we're delivering more energy bill relief, making cheaper medicines even cheaper, and providing extra support to get more regional Australians into their own home.

We're strengthening Medicare. We're expanding regional health services. We're delivering further investments to boost regional connectivity, and we're investing in more support to help build workforces in our in-demand sectors.

That's because only the Albanese government is serious about building regional Australia's future.

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