Andrew Hastie (Canning, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last weekend, Western Australians went to the polls and elected a new state government. I congratulate the McGowan government on its victory and trust the new Premier will join me and my WA colleagues by calling on eastern Labor premiers to do the right thing and fix our share of the GST at COAG. It is worth reflecting on the outcome of the state election, particularly in outer metro and regional Western Australia. In my seat of Canning, where I had a 20 per cent uniform swing against the Liberal Party, we also saw One Nation capture 10 per cent of the vote. In fact, in the seat of Mandurah, where local Labor member David Templeman sits, he increased his margin by 10 per cent, and, at the same time, the highest One Nation vote in WA, 12.9 per cent, was recorded.

This is a repudiation of politics-as-usual, and it is quite clear that regional Australia is hurting. We need job security and basic services from government, like roads and public transport, and basic services from businesses like Telstra more than we need identity politics. This is why I was at a kitchen table in Falcon last week, talking with a frustrated neighbourhood about their struggle for basic mobile phone and television reception from Telstra. This is why I have been fighting for the Serpentine-Jarrahdale Community Men's Shed, a great community organisation struggling to get basic internet services. We cannot allow Australia to have a two-speed economy or be a two-speed society. To the people of Canning, I say this: I have a schedule planned for the rest of the year. I plan to visit every single community and speak with you directly over the 6,300 square kilometres that is Canning.