Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the member for Lingiari.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Madam Speaker. What a wasted hour we have just had.

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am sorry, Member for Lingiari. You stood to get the call, but in fact the call is to go to the government side. People were still taking their places. I give the call to the Assistant Minister for Education.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am pleased to speak this afternoon in the address-in-reply debate, and in doing so I take this opportunity to update the parliament and the nation about the circumstances of my electorate of Farrer. Farrer is approximately one-third of the state of New South Wales, and it might interest members to know that my colleague the member for Parkes represents another one-third of the state of New South Wales—his electorate adjoins mine to the east—and 46 other members, including the minister at the table, the member for Wentworth, represent the remainder of New South Wales. This illustrates very neatly the city-country divide, which is something that defines my electorate—it always has, and I suspect it always will as we see increasing regionalisation of populations moving to the coast.

But at the moment it is a sad time for my constituents, particularly in the far west, because of the increasing and ever-creeping drought. I think it is fair to say it started in western Queensland and is moving south. Towards the end of January I spent a week driving, not flying—Deputy Speaker Scott, as you take the chair, I acknowledge that your electorate of Maranoa is also experiencing some very tough times—around my electorate. I wanted to take to the roads because as local members we need to see how bad our roads are, and I also wanted to talk face-to-face to as many people on as many properties as I could along the way. So from Wentworth to Broken Hill, to Packsaddle, to Tibooburra, back not quite to Wanaaring, down to White Cliffs and Menindee and back again through Ivanhoe, Booligal and Hay I was confronted with the very sad situations of so many rural properties. I represented most of these areas throughout most of the last long drought. They have probably had three good seasons and now they are slipping back into a similar situation—although, as I said, there is no reason to think that, because it is not raining today, it will not rain next week, next month or next year. I very much want to give a message of hope and optimism, even though that is difficult.

One thing you have to say when you meet the people of this part of Australia is: their resilience is striking and notable and remarkable. But even tough people who are used to tough situations come to the end of the line, and I did see that in many instances. I stood on the bank of a dam in the north-west of my electorate, near Cameron Corner which borders New South Wales, South Australia and Queensland, and I heard from the property owner that there were 22 dams on the property and none of them had ever been dry, but now they were. Then I went into town and heard similar stories from so many people. And while people are preparing themselves for a drought—they are doing their best to look for groundwater, to put down bores, to prepare with poly pipe, storing fodder and everything that we are expected to do when this happens—they also called for support from government; they called for support from both state and federal governments, and I have brought that message back to the agriculture minister. I have spoken in depth with him about that, and I appreciate his understanding; as a person from the land, of course he does understand. I also sent the message to the New South Wales agriculture minister, and she, as a woman from the land, understands the situation we are facing. I was delighted today that support that had previously been available in the Bourke, Brewarrina and Walgett shires has now been extended to the central Darling and unincorporated areas of western New South Wales. That will help with fodder subsidies, transport subsidies and emergency water grants. So there is hope. I want to say to the people that I represent in that part of my electorate: we are with you. We are unable to wave a magic wand and take away the pain that you are experiencing, but we understand it. We have many rural members in this place, and we are hurting for you.

I want to touch on some of the coalition's commitments and the circumstances, again, that our people are facing. In keeping with the remoteness of much of my electorate, mobile black spots are a key issue for the length and breadth of Farrer. So I am delighted that the coalition's $100 million regional Mobile Coverage Program is underway. There is $80 million to improve mobile coverage along major transport routes in small communities and in areas that are prone to experiencing natural disasters. A further $20 million, through the Mobile Black Spots Project, will improve coverage in locations with unique coverage issues and a higher demand for services. The process includes not only a discussion paper but on-the-ground, face-to-face talks with local communities about the impact poor mobile signals are having on their lives and businesses. I am delighted that the parliamentary secretary responsible for delivering the program has accepted my invitation to come to Farrer. I can assure the member for Bradfield that we will be keeping him busy when he arrives in May, with a 600-kilometre round trip in store.

I want to list the mobile phone black spots because it is important. It is not a complete list but I have been, obviously, to all of these places and spoken to the people involved. They are located: between Savernake and Rennie on the Riverina Highway; west of The Rock; on the rural outskirts of Jindera; in Booroobanilly and Moonbria near Jerilderie; in Bunnaloo and areas in the Deniliquin-Mathoura-Barham triangle; in Willow Vale, near Balranald; in the Clare-Hatfield region and areas north of Balranald; in Coomealla, on the run between Wentworth and Dareton; in Topar, east of Broken Hill; in Packsaddle, north of Broken Hill; south of the Coombah Roadhouse at Bunnerungie; west of Tibooburra; north of Ivanhoe; on sections of the Adelaide Road, in the Thackaringa Hills; and in Silverton, just north-west of Broken Hill, where, it might interest you to know, the Mad Max car is located, because Mad Max was filmed in Broken Hill. (Quorum formed)

I want to touch on a couple of other key issues for my electorate. One is natural gas. There is currently no provision for natural gas in the townships of Deniliquin, Moama, Mathoura, Jerilderie and Berrigan. With the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the subsequent pressures on traditional, agricultural based industries, the importance of economic diversification in these towns is high. To illustrate this point, the New South Wales Department of Planning forecasts that the LGAs of Deniliquin and Jerilderie will experience negative population growth of 21.9 per cent and 18.8 per cent respectively between now and 2031. It is the joint responsibility of all levels of government to arrest this decline.

The Commonwealth government will release $32.5 million to the New South Wales government following a signed agreement on the Basin Plan under the regional economic diversification program. It is my firm belief that this money should be used to assist in the rollout of natural gas infrastructure to these townships, all of which have been significantly impacted by the implementation of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. There is unanimous agreement amongst residents, local government, local business and industry that the supply of natural gas to these towns should be a key priority for all of us.

We are all working together. The Deniliquin Shire has already begun some preliminary investigations. Engineering consultancy firm GHD recently provided a quote for a feasibility study into extending the natural gas network to Deniliquin. This would be a logical first step in the process. I have written to the New South Wales Treasurer and I very much hope he will fund the feasibility study as the first step in this very important process.

I cannot mention Deniliquin in my electorate without commenting on the severe impact that my constituents who are involved in irrigated agriculture and the associated value-add, particularly the rice industry, are experiencing as a result of Labor's flawed policies and its complete disregard for the contribution that irrigated farming makes to the region and to the nation as a whole. I am delighted that we are turning the ship around. It is actually a bit of a juggernaut when you look at the amount of environmental water bought by the previous government and parked up in dams high in the headwaters of the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers in the Snowy Mountains, where it is unable to really achieve a single credible outcome. I always say that, regardless of whether your philosophical position is that you support more of the environmental watering of wetlands and not of agriculture, the previous government's policy did not even achieve that. It was not able to demonstrate that it was improving environmental assets in the basin—not one little bit. That is the huge disappointment.

So I was delighted to see that the Environmental Water Holder is commencing trading in the Gwydir Valley, and that is a first step. I would encourage that to continue in all of the valleys, but particularly in those in my electorate—and I understand that the member for Riverina is similarly placed—where we have people who are desperate for this water if it is not being used for an environmental outcome. We understand that that is what the act says: that it actually be put back into productive agriculture. It is unconscionable that the water holder should hang on to this water and not use it for the purpose that the Snowy Mountains scheme was originally created for.

I have had some talks with the Environmental Water Holder and I am very encouraged. I believe that within the parameters of the legislation under which he operates he can actually do some good things, and I will certainly be at the forefront of advocating necessary changes to the Water Act to make sure that we recognise that irrigated agriculture is an industry that we all do support, that we want to survive and that we believe in for the future.

I should note that about one-third of the population of my electorate lives in the big rural city of Albury. Albury, unlike some of the smaller towns around, is doing very well, which I am delighted to report. It does not face the significant growth challenges that the rest of the electorate does. It is part of the patchwork economy—it is the good part, as opposed to the part that we have concerns about where we have worries about areas not growing.

Albury is growing and it is thriving. In fact, it was noted, in the latest hot-spotting report on Australia's top 10 suburbs to buy in for future capital growth, that the outer suburbs and regional areas are where investment money is to be made. I am not suggesting that people come to Albury to make money on their houses, but I am suggesting that it is a great time if you do want to move away from the crowded cities on the New South Wales coast. The typical house price is $260,000 and the typical unit price is less than $165,000 according to this report. Albury-Wodonga is one of the winners in that regard.

I also want to note something that has come out of Albury because of the sad news we have heard about the car industry this week. The local Australian Industry Group has put together manufacturer activation plans, recognising that in our area some of the original equipment manufacturers in auto need to transition out of that and into something else. They have come up with a scheme that will enable this transition to manufacture motorcycle after-market parts as opposed to car after-market parts.

I think this is really smart. If you look at the facts, the popularity of motorcycles continues to grow—6½ per cent globally—and the four largest motorcycle markets in the world are all in Asia: China, India, Indonesia and Vietnam. We want this pilot project because it will actually help four to five local manufacturers transition to new opportunities, and it could indeed extend the project nationally. I have had some conversations with the industry minister and he is interested. We have, as members will know, a $100-million fund to facilitate the transition into different industries, and I will be knocking on his door as soon as I possibly can to make sure that we are able to access that fund if we can to get this pilot project underway.

I should note that the circumstances the government faces in terms of the national accounts and the economy generally are not good. As I speak to people and travel over my electorate, which has so many needs and represents so many diverse interests—whether those be resurfacing of the netball courts; building community infrastructure; more places for child care, which is of course my portfolio responsibility in the ministry; or just finding the right niche for a person who has recently lost an income and is looking for a job—there are so many demands on government. Unfortunately, against the backdrop of our increasing debt we are unable to say, 'Yes, we have money for this and we can assist you.'

I know the Treasurer has talked about this today, and it is a message that we just have to repeat: we cannot turn the ship around on a 10-cent coin. The trajectory of government spending that the previous government left us with is enormous, and if left unchecked the deficit would balloon out to $667 billion from just over $300 billion at the moment.

So we have no choice, as we have said, but to get our house in order, and that does involve some pain and that does involve some difficulty. But for members of the opposition somehow to attribute the current level of spending to us I think is disingenuous and most unfair, because people need warning. In terms of winding back spending programs and moving money back to pay off our debt, it does take time.

When people come to see me with wonderful requests and good ideas in the childcare area I say, 'When our Productivity Commission inquiry reports'—and we have asked the PC to get its skates on and have a draft report in July and a final report in October—'that will reshape policy in terms of child care and early learning for the next couple of decades.' We have exciting things that we can do, and that is not about adding more money, because at the moment, patently, the government cannot do that. But it is about making better use of the money we have, and there is a lot of opportunity for that. So some people may interpret that as a gloomy message; I do not—I see great optimism. Since we have come to government, confidence in business has picked up; people are feeling happier, and if confidence picks up investment picks up. And investment is desperately needed, certainly across regional Australia.

So there are good signs on the horizon, and I think a government that manages the economy responsibly—and it is recognised that the Liberal and National parties are doing that—will engender that further confidence. So, when it rains I will be much happier. Until then, I will look forward to further support from both state and federal governments in terms of the drought that is affecting my electorate and which at the moment worries me the most. I thank the House.

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It pains me to say that my purpose in getting up this afternoon is one that causes me a great deal of discomfort—not the address-in-reply but what I am going to be talking about. It was not my intention in this address to comment on question time today, and the abysmal performance of the Prime Minister and the absolute disdain shown by the opposition towards the community of Gove and the surrounding region. That was not my intention. My intention was to be here at the address-in-reply and do what others have done in this place: thank my community for their support, thank all those hardworking volunteers who worked on my campaign, and thank my wonderful family—my partner, Elizabeth, and our wonderful children—for their contribution and great support; without our families, as we all know, politicians are nothing. And frankly, I am disappointed that I cannot spend the time I wanted to on that rather than having to talk about this other matter.

What we have seen this afternoon is an absolute disrespect for the people of Gove and the surrounding communities—one that has been perpetuated by the behaviour of this government since the announcement was made on 29 November by Rio Tinto that they were going to curtail their operations at the Gove refinery as of February this year, with that curtailment to last until the end of July, at which time it would be finished and effectively the plant would go into mothballs: care and maintenance. They were given eight months from go to whoa.

This afternoon I asked the Prime Minister—as did the Leader of the Opposition—a question. The question was based on the simple fact that at the gathering at Garma last year the Prime Minister made this undertaking:

Why shouldn't I—if you will permit me—spend my first week as prime minister—should that happen—on your Country?'

That is a very clear statement. Yet, from listening to the Prime Minister this afternoon, he would have you believe it was something entirely different—which of course it was not. He was no doubt seeking to ingratiate himself. That is fine. But he did say this thing. And we heard at the Close the Gap ceremony this morning of his intention to spend a week in north-east Arnhem Land—he said 'eastern Arnhem Land', but I am assuming it will be north-east Arnhem Land—sometime during the course of this year. And I think that is terrific. Good on him. But don't come in here and show your complete disdain for people who heard what you said by trying to tell them you said something different, because it is clear that you did not.

Also this afternoon, something I found really intriguing: not only did the Prime Minister say that he had spoken to Rio Tinto on a number of occasions, but he simply has not bothered to talk to the people of Gove. There was no conversation with the Gove community action committee, elected representatives out of the Gove community, who came together after the announcement on 29 November to try to cause some reaction from government around the issues—which are immediate to them and obvious to them—of the impact of this proposal to eventually put this plant into mothballs.

I know personally people who have written to the Prime Minister seeking a response from this government about this particular thing. They are deafened by the silence. Now, I certainly do not blame the government for the decision by Rio Tinto to curtail its operations; I certainly do not blame the government for that. I do blame the Northern Territory government for that. That decision rests squarely at the feet of the current chief minister, Adam Giles. Why does it sit at his feet? Almost 18 months ago an agreement was reached between the Commonwealth, the Northern Territory and Rio Tinto to supply gas to Gove so that the Gove alumina refinery could generate its electricity from gas rather than the fuel oil they were using. This would have an immediate long-term impact on reducing their production costs and making it more competitive. This agreement was reached in full knowledge by the Northern Territory government through its then chief minister, Terry Mills. It was done also as a result of a negotiation and agreement by the Commonwealth through the avenue of the then resources minister, Martin Ferguson, that the Commonwealth would underwrite the cost of the pipeline to Gove. We did not expect to have to pay anything; this was just insurance against the investment. Sadly, in February of last year Terry Mills was on a trade mission to Japan, and while he was out of the country there was a coup. Adam Giles brought together the small number of members of the CLP, the Country Liberal Party in the Northern Territory, and they decided they were going to replace Terry Mills as the chief minister. Once they had made that decision, the die was cast, because clearly Adam Giles had no interest in living up to the deal that was agreed to by the former chief minister, Terry Mills.

So, over a period of time, despite the current minister for industry going to Gove after the election and guaranteeing the supply of gas to Gove as a result of the agreement reached between the Commonwealth under Labor, through Martin Ferguson's good offices, and Rio Tinto and the Northern Territory government, the Northern Territory's now chief minister, Adam Giles, said he was not going to live up to the deal. He welshed on the deal. Rio Tinto had made it very clear that if they could not get this deal to get the gas cheaply to Gove it would have a tremendous impact on their current and future operations at the refinery and they may have to curtail refinery operations.

Through subsequent events we know that discussions had taken place with Commonwealth agencies around possibilities should the curtailment take place. These discussions took place up to 12 or so months ago. It was clearly on the cards then, and on 29 November this year Rio Tinto dropped the axe. They told the community and the world at large that this operation would no longer be. Sadly, and to the disgrace of Rio Tinto, they did not—as Toyota have done—give notice of a number of years so that people could find another job. They gave them eight months. The Prime Minister has said he has spoken to Rio Tinto on a number of occasions. Has he asked them why they are in such a rush to close down the plant? Has he asked them why they are not prepared to spend a longer period in transition, say two years, to give the workers and the community time to adjust and look for new opportunities on the Gove Peninsula? You would think he would ask that, but I do not think he has done so and I am sure that the Northern Territory government has not done so.

Again today the Prime Minister said he had spoken to Rio Tinto and they had guaranteed the jobs of Yolngu people on the mining operation in north-east Arnhem Land. The mining operation will continue. Rio Tinto have cast-iron agreements with the traditional owners, principally through the Gumatj and the Rirratjingu. The company will live up to these agreements, because the mining operation will continue. But instead of employing 1,400 people at Gove, 350 people will be employed. We are losing more than 1,100 jobs, and that is not including the indirect jobs that will go from small businesses needing to relocate, close down or go bankrupt.

This is an immediate thing. It is not prospective, not happening in 2016 or 2017. It is today, but we have not heard one positive message from the Prime Minister or any minister. They have not deigned to visit the place. The Northern Territory CLP senator, Nigel Scullion, the Minister for Indigenous Affairs, was all over the place like a damn rat before the election. I was there during the election period and he was always there seeking people's support. He will know as a result of the election that he did not get that support. The bottom line is: he is a senior cabinet minister in this government, but since that announcement was made on 29 November he has been nowhere near the place.

The Prime Minister talks about preserving the jobs of Aboriginal people, Yolngu people, on the mining operation in north-east Arnhem Land, and we understand why. It is because agreements are in place. I took from what the Prime Minister said today that he has received a guarantee from Rio Tinto that they would guarantee jobs for those Yolngu people who work at the refinery. Rio Tinto's performance in employing Yolngu people at the refinery has been poor, so there will not be many of those jobs. As a direct result of these decisions, it is as if an economic cyclone has hit Gove and ripped the guts out of the community. It is happening today—as we speak, it is happening.

I said they are losing more than 1,100 jobs in the town of Nhulunbuy. It is estimated by the company—the only ones to have done a socioeconomic impact assessment, because the Northern Territory government certainly has not and neither has the Commonwealth government—according to the Northern Territory Chief Minister, that as a result of these decisions the population of Gove will go from 4,000 to 1,200. Gove is not a bad size for a small town supporting infrastructure, services and small businesses. I say to the Prime Minister: you are proudly advocating your intention to visit north-east Arnhem Land, but you will be visiting a ghost town at Gove. The communities you are going to visit, the Yolngu communities, rely as much as non-Aboriginal people do on the services provided by the Gove community.

Small businesses currently provide them with supplies and transport connections to Darwin and elsewhere. They rely on these services as much as the people of Gove do. They rely on the volunteers who work at the tennis club and the football club. They rely on having access to the tackle shop—we met the tackle shop owners last week. As a direct result of the decisions taken by Rio Tinto and this government's lack of support, the tackle shop, which is a little family business paying rent of $11,000 a month, now has a turnover of $300 a day. This business is sliding rapidly towards bankruptcy, as are other community based small businesses that are not directly employed as subcontractors by Rio Tinto.

Rio Tinto have a social licence to operate. The community and I expect them to give a longer transition period and invest a lot more money into the transition. We do not know what job opportunities exist, because the Commonwealth has not deigned to provide any resources.

There is—this is for the edification of members and those who might be listening to this—a task force which has been set up. There are three members from the Gove Community Advisory Committee, including one Yolngu representative, one federal government representative, one Northern Territory government representative and one NLC representative. There have been three meetings. At the first, a senior public servant from the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development was requested to seek a Commonwealth structural adjustment package. We have not heard anything.

At the second, he joined by video link and said he had requested a structural adjustment package. At the third meeting he did not attend. Someone else attending in his place by video conference and said, 'I'm sorry I'm late. I haven't read any of the papers.' And, of course, there was no structural adjustment package. That person indicated that there was no inclination or enthusiasm by the federal government to provide any federal support. That is where we left it—just a referral to Centrelink.

We know what needs to happen here is that the Commonwealth government, through the Prime Minister and the other senior ministers who have a relationship, through their portfolios, to this issue, ought to be up at Gove. They should have been there in the first week of December. They have not been near the place.

At the last meeting of this task force the Yolngu representative, Timmy Djawa Barrawanga—a person I know—said to the Commonwealth representative on a phone, 'Come here and help us. I am crying here. We plead with the Commonwealth government to send someone here to see that we need help. This is happening to us now.' There was no positive response from the Commonwealth.

I am disgusted by this behaviour. What is it, if it is not the right of a member of parliament to stand up and talk about what concerns their community? This afternoon we tried to move an MPI which would have given me the opportunity to debate with the government the issues to do with Gove and the lack of jobs around this country—jobs which are being lost as a result of closures.

We were refused the opportunity to have that debate. They do not even want to talk about it. What an indictment that is! How sad it is that this government cannot even be bothered to talk about these issues in the parliament. They cannot be bothered to debate these issues. What does it say about people on that side of the House who come from regional electorates? We know what the member for Murray has said. She has been dealt a really low card by this government in terms of the treatment of her community—likewise, myself—but the changes at Shepparton are prospective. The changes in Gove are immediate.

Why is it that there has been no structural adjustment package? Why is it that there has not been any attempt by this government or by the Northern Territory government to look after the jobs of those workers or the prospective jobs that may have been there in the longer term had the refinery stayed open a little longer? There are many young people in that community who want jobs. But those jobs are shifting. They will not be there. We have third generation non-Indigenous people—balanda people—living in North East Arnhem Land, who have been in Gove for the last 40 years. They are being forced to uproot themselves and move. It is a national disaster but, listening to this government, you find that they have no regard for it at all.

I can tell you that the people of Gove are insulted. They are grossly insulted by this behaviour. One of the business representatives said to me recently that people invested on the advice of Rio Tinto in February and late May last year that there were decades of prosperity ahead. They are finished—gone—despite the positive words from Rio Tinto and the then Northern Territory government.

The region will suffer as services diminish. 'We hear about closing the gap,' this person says. 'Well, in East Arnhem Land the gap is widening as their commercial sector is destroyed.' That is the truth of it. There will be a small number of jobs in the mining operation, but once that refinery closes down, and the contractors to that organisation no longer have jobs, the contractors will go and small businesses will close. The multiplier effect is immediate and long term. I want this government to do something reasonable for the people of Gove and the surrounding community. I want the Prime Minister to get onto the phone to those communities and say, 'We are prepared to help you.'

I first got elected to this place 26 years ago. I have never, ever seen such disdain by a government for a people in this country. (Time expired)