Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a government that is failing regional Australians every single day, and nowhere more than in my state of Tasmania. This government fails on infrastructure in Tasmania, with no new funding in the 2017 budget. The only infrastructure funding for Tasmania was for old projects, many of them initiated by Labor.

They can't even get that right. The Midland Highway, which runs through my electorate, is a mess. It's being administered by the Hodgman state Liberal government. The road surfacing is a disgrace. It's being torn up and has to be done again. That's because this government is not doing its job properly with funding and with making sure that the state government in Tasmania does its job properly. The RACT's Darren Moody says that the funding failure from the federal budget is holding Tasmania back and will cost business and cost jobs.

This federal government is failing on health in Tasmania. There was a shambles of a regional health funding changeover from preventive health to chronic care—an absolute shambles. Even Liberal senators, who usually can't be seen or heard, were crying out about this shambles of a regional health funding changeover and what happened there. There was a petition that I presented to this parliament in the last sitting which had 550 signatures from people across my electorate who said that regional health funding was a shambles and they wanted their services back. There have been unexplained delays in the commencement for a trial site as to youth suicide. It is absolutely disgraceful, the way this government is failing regional Australians. (Time expired)