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

The Member for Page clearly wasn't paying attention yesterday during the regional ministerial budget statement, because if he had been, he wouldn't be trying to rewrite history today. When we talk about cuts and delays and broken promises, we have only to look at those opposite us: a decade of cuts, of pork-barrelling, of colour-coded spreadsheets that left regional people behind, a mess that we've had to clean up and deal with from day one. Across our government's first term, our message to regional Australians has been loud and clear: your postcode should not be a barrier. That's why we're delivering record funding to rebuild critical services that regional people rely on—the services that have been left in crisis by those opposite.

There is record funding to help regional Australians to build a better future, important cost-of-living relief to ease pressure on regional families and businesses—which, let's not forget, every member of the opposition voted against as recently as last night. They voted against more tax cuts for every taxpayer, and we know they will cut everything except for tax, because they have committed to throwing that out the door if they are elected. That's right, they are going to the election saying, 'We are going to increase income tax.'

They've also confirmed that they will cut 41,000 jobs, but they're refusing to confirm which services and which towns are going to be impacted by that. How many of the 22,000 public servants who work in our regions will be left without a job? Will the Defence call centre in Cooma be cut, or will jobs be slashed at HQ JOC? Will it be Medicare urgent care clinics and services making a huge difference in our regions, including in the member for Page's own electorate in Lismore? Will that be cut by those opposite? You only have to look at the millions cut from Medicare when the opposition leader was the health minister to know that their only plan for Medicare is to cut. And just today, at 1.30 pm, a Canberra Times article said that 41,000 Public Service jobs are going; it's 'wasteful' spending. However, more than 22,000 public servants are employed in regional Australia. They spend money every day in our local economy. They provide services that we rely on.

How many of those jobs are going in every regional electorate that you guys represent? How many are going to go in the regional electorates that we represent? These are people who spend money in our local economies, buying coffee and restaurant dinners in businesses owned by people we know. How many of those Public Service jobs will go in our electorates? Let's be serious. When we talk about decentralisation, it refers to public servants working from home in our local regions. How many of those jobs are going to go? How many of those jobs are going to leave our regional towns? Before the 2022 election, Services Australia officers were on the chopping block from those opposite, including across my electorate. How many Services Australia offices closed in your electorate under your former government? Let's get serious here, because that's what it means—our communities lose services every time you cut the Public Service.

We have been dealing with cost-of-living issues. We know how important it is. We want every regional community to be able to address the challenges, harness the opportunities and take the issues in our community seriously. That's why we have been prioritising cost-of-living issues. The additional $150 in energy bill relief builds on the already $300 delivered to every household and $325 to every small business. There are the 127,000 free TAFE places that have been taken up in our regions, from construction to child care, and we are making them permanent, which is something that you want to reverse. Those opposite scream out for more workers to build more housing or staff our regional childcare centres, but they don't have a plan to grow the workforce, and they want to make it even harder for people to pursue those in-demand industries. We are delivering $66 million over the next five years to local councils for Roads to Recovery in the member for Page's own electorate. That's an increase of $27.2 million. We're making local roads safer. That follows what those opposite did when they delivered a funding freeze to every local council across the country, which stripped nearly a billion dollars out of the sector. That means that those roads that are problems now are problems that you created under your government.

The Leader of the Nationals said those opposite would deliver a strong infrastructure pipeline, which regional communities needed. He delivered a bunch of press releases with 800 additional projects, with not a single dollar extra added to the budget. In our latest budget, there's $7.2 billion for the Bruce Highway for safety upgrades; there's $200 million to duplicate the Stuart Highway from Darwin to Katherine; there's $40 million for the Main South Road upgrade in South Australia; and there's $1.1 billion for upgrades along the Western Freeway in Victoria. We don't need colour-coded spreadsheets. We're delivering on those commitments in an established and transparent way.

That's how we're dealing with it from our grants program perspective as well. There's $600 million for the Growing Regions Program. There's $400 million for the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program. In the member for Page's electorate, the Clarence Valley Council received $1.6 million for the Clarence Regional Aquatic Centre waterslide development, because pools are the beating heart of our regional communities. We've delivered $3 billion to NBN Co to finalise the rollout of full-fibre connections, including over 334,000 additional regional premises. But we know that the NBN will just get sold off under those opposite.

We're serious about supporting regions. That is why I'm so proud that we have launched the National Emergency Management Agency, which continues to support regional communities, most recently in Queensland and New South Wales during ex-Tropical Cyclone Alfred.

We have just heard from the Leader of the Nationals, the member for Maranoa, how grateful he is that the National Emergency Management Agency is preparing and doing the work, something that wouldn't have happened unless we created that agency and got it working. It wasn't the case in 2022 when the member for Page had serious flooding issues in Lismore, because the response and the recovery wasn't handled well. Communities in my own electorate have felt that firsthand. Unfortunately, the Deputy Leader of the Nationals in the Senate has said she can't confirm or deny whether public servants from the National Emergency Management Agency are on the chopping block with the 41,000 public servants they want to cut if they are elected. Just think about that. Every regional community, every community across the country, that feels the brunt of a natural disaster gets help. But that could be put at risk if you cut public servants from the National Emergency Management Agency. It's outrageous.

We have delivered the $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund which is supporting regional communities to be better prepared for disasters. We have supported an additional $35 million to boost our national aerial fleet, because most regional communities need emergency support and, when they need it, they shouldn't have to wait. We have invested in it. But it's not just during disasters when our regions need aviation. We need a strong regional aviation sector. I said it yesterday. It is so important. We are not going to let what happened when the other side were in government be perpetuated. They were handed the Sydney airport slot review in 2021 and sat idle at the departure gate. We have responded with an aviation white paper. We've said that we will keep Rex Airlines operating regional routes through voluntary administration. I am proud that we are supporting Rex's regional flights in the air with $80 million loaned to the administrators and additional support to reduce what Rex owes, because for regional communities like mine these flights are critical to our economy and they are critical to accessing important health services and for getting around. This is why we will continue to stand up for a strong regional aviation sector.

See this speech in context