Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable member for Whitlam proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The Government letting down rural and regional Australians.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's very difficult to talk about a matter that concerns rural and regional Australia without mentioning the circumstances of drought-stricken communities. This morning I was reminded of the impact that it's having in the Illawarra and on the South Coast. I spoke to Labor's candidate for the seat of Gilmore about the circumstances facing the dairy industry on the South Coast. Fiona Phillips, Labor's candidate for the seat of Gilmore, comes from four generations of dairy farmers on the South Coast. Her family is still involved in the dairy industry. She reminded me that the drought is affecting the industry on the South Coast enormously. She told me a story of one farmer who was taking 80 cattle to the abattoir every week. There are very real concerns that on the South Coast over 50 per cent of the family-owned dairy farms will not be in operation by Christmas. So we know that this is having a devastating impact on families, on communities and on businesses in rural and regional Australia.

Against that background, we have to consider what the obligation of government is. We know that governments cannot make it rain, but we are quite certain that governments have an obligation to ensure that we do not make life harder for communities and businesses and farmers in rural and regional Australia. We need to ensure that our response is adequate to the challenges at hand. And I have to say: while the response from the government, announced during the midwinter break, was welcome, it was not adequate. The response has been criticised, quite rightly, by farming communities as overly bureaucratic, slow and inadequate to the challenges that farming communities are meeting.

Communities from regional Australia, whether they send a National Party MP, a Liberal Party MP or an Independent or a Labor Party MP to this place, expect us to stand up for the needs of rural and regional Australia—not just in crisis but in normal times as well. We know that rain will come. And we know that, as every day goes past, we are one day closer to the drought breaking. That is why we need to set our minds to the task of what needs to be put in place to sustain those communities through the drought, and to set rural and regional Australia up for the future.

That is why we, on the Labor side of the House, were so concerned when we had confirmed last night that a plan was afoot between the NBN and the government to slug rural and regional consumers of NBN products up to $20 extra a month for accessing wireless internet services from the NBN. We had it confirmed, late last night at an NBN committee, that there was a plan afoot to slug the 240,000 premises throughout the country who access their broadband internet services through a fixed wireless NBN service up to $240 extra a year. This is for a substandard service. This is for a service that we now know, as each week goes by, is suffering more and more congestion. And we know that the NBN is putting in place plans to, in their own words, try to groom or throttle the access to those internet services, to ensure that the demand matches the bandwidth that is available. Charging those consumers is not the right answer.

If anybody doubts that this plan was afoot, they need look no further than the words of the NBN and the government spokespersons themselves. At 8 am today on ABC radio in Hobart the presenter asked an NBN spokesperson:

Is it fair that customers why just, by I guess where they live, have to pay more for a service that's available in the city?

The answer from the NBN spokesperson was:

Well this is one of the realities of the internet.

The answer from this government at eight o'clock this morning was: 'That's just the reality of the internet. You just have to get over it.'

By 11 o'clock this morning the backflip was in full swing. I have to pay credit to the member for Lyons, who was instrumental in putting a spotlight on this plan in the Joint Standing Committee on the National Broadband Network in this place last night. It was not a member of the National Party—because no member of the National Party even turned up to the committee to put pressure on the NBN and to put a spotlight on the plans that we knew were afoot from the NBN and the government. It wasn't a member of the National Party. It was not even one of the regional Liberal representatives who are members of that committee. It was the member for Lyons who exposed the plan. It was the member for Lyons, representing a regional community in Tasmania, who exposed the plan that was afoot. By 12 o'clock today the minister was shamed and embarrassed into withdrawing the position. But what is absolutely clear is that, had it not been for the pressure applied by the member for Lyons and the Labor Party, regional and rural consumers would have been paying $20 a month more from Monday—not from next year—for accessing exactly the same services as people in the cities.

The minister cannot pretend, as he has attempted to do today, that he knew nothing about it. Members opposite who pretend to represent rural and regional communities cannot pretend to have known nothing about it, because members opposite would have had available to them—as I have had available to me and as all members for rural and regional communities have had available to them—submissions that have been made by every telecommunications company in the country to the regional and rural telecommunications review. Every telecommunications company has put a submission into that review saying that the government has a plan for differential pricing for NBN services accessed over the wireless internet platform and that this is going to have an iniquitous impact on rural and regional communities. They cannot claim to have had no knowledge. It was in the written submissions.

I am sure the telecommunications companies were raising the same objections with the Minister for Regional Communications, who is not interested in anything unless it has got a hockey stick strapped to it. She is supposed to be the Minister for Regional Communications, but she has been completely missing in action on this issue.

Members opposite have been caught out. They were but days away from implementing a new plan that would have had regional consumers slugged a minimum additional $240 per annum on their internet bills. These guys talk about the costs of living. Here is a cost-of-living impact that they have a direct responsibility for.

This whole episode makes it clear that you cannot trust the National Party and you cannot trust the Liberal Party—in fact, you cannot trust anyone on that side of the House—when it comes to providing internet services, broadband services and telecommunications services for regional and rural communities. You cannot trust them. They are either ignorant of the facts or asleep at the wheel and doing nothing about it. Labor has a plan and Labor will ensure that these communities get the internet services they deserve. It was Labor that conceived of the National Broadband Network after a decade of inaction from those on the other side of the House—a decade of inaction. It was Labor that conceived of the NBN. It was Labor that had a plan to ensure that they would get a fibre-optic cable connection to every premises in those large towns, villages and cities throughout regional Australia. It was the National Party and it was the Liberal Party who sold them out. Not only have they sold them out on the plan and on the rollout, they have not had the strength, they've not had the attention to the subject matter, to ensure that the plan is thoroughly rolled out in their regional and rural communities so that they get the services they deserve.

When you talk about prices and the cost of living, this is something which is directly within your control, and you have been found wanting. Once again, not one National Party member and not one Liberal Party member has done their job and stood up to the government— (Time expired)

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here's Labor again. They hate it when someone from regional Australia stands at this dispatch box, representing the whole country, such as the National Party and the Liberal Parties do. We have heard from Labor today, once again leading by the chin, once again misleading the public on the NBN. They claim that NBN intends to charge more for fixed wireless services compared to the fixed line services. This is not the case. It will not occur.

We've heard from the member for Whitlam. What a display! Here he is wanting to mislead Australians about the challenges, the fortunes and the opportunities in regional Australia and getting on and helping them do it for the future. He's grandstanding once again. Whereas the coalition—the Liberal Party and the National Party—are getting on with the job. We're 100 per cent focused on delivering more secure jobs and a stronger economy for all of those who call regional Australia home. We're focused on supporting nearly eight million people who live outside of our capital cities. From Busselton to Boulia, the coalition has a plan and we are focused on getting it done.

Building up regional Australia is all about what the coalition plan is focused upon—not tearing it down as those opposite would do. They're more focused on destroying jobs, pouring on more tax and destroying confidence throughout regional Australia. We're backing regional Australia with more jobs. More than one million jobs have been created since the coalition government was elected. That's up to one million more families spending more and investing more. We're building communities up, not tearing them down. We're providing tax relief to families and businesses right across Australia.

It would be interesting to consider what the contribution would be from the member for Whitlam and those opposite, because they continue to miss the facts. They continue to ignore the fact that 61,000 locals in the electorate of Whitlam, for example, are benefitting from the very tax relief, thanks to the coalition, that I refer to, or the more than 12,000 small- and medium-sized businesses in that electorate who are already spending more and investing more, thanks to that tax relief. We're building them up, not tearing them down.

A key part of our plan for regional Australia is the Building Better Regions Fund—local infrastructure, vibrant communities, more jobs. Last month, I travelled right across Australia, as I do quite regularly, and saw some of the 240-plus projects supported, thanks to the $212 million fund that we've invested in the second round of this vital program. Hundreds of local communities have benefited over the years due to this program under coalition leadership, and they do not feel let down. They feel that we are building them up. For example, there are the projects in Baradine, in the member for Parkes electorate; Mercy Aged Care in Rockhampton; or delivering support for the transformational Middleton Beach Foreshore project in Albany, in the member for O'Connor's electorate. That is the coalition developing and delivering on this plan for regional Australia. Of course, all regional electorates are not missing out. We're building them up; we're not tearing them down. We are generating jobs—more opportunities in a stronger economy. The Regional Jobs and Investment Packages have done exactly the same thing in 10 key regions across our great nation—10 key regions that are benefitting from those projects.

Let's think about those opposite just for a moment. Let's think about the six years of Labor shamble in government. Unlike Labor, we are getting it done on the NBN. About 96 per cent of all homes and businesses outside major urban areas either can order NBN based services or have new network construction under way. We're getting it done on the Mobile Black Spot Program. There have been three rounds of this program, investing over $680 million to deliver 867 mobile base stations. Nearly 600 of those have already been turned on and are changing and saving lives. When those opposite were in power for six years they did not spend one single dollar on improving mobile phone coverage—zero, zip. They had six years in government and there was not one mobile phone tower. That's tearing down regional communities, yet again.

The member opposite referred to the drought. Let's talk about the drought. Let's talk about the fact that when we came to power the drought cupboard left to us by the former government was bare. It took the member for New England to lead the charge and respond properly to drought circumstances right across the country, just as our government is stepping up to do again in the conditions now enveloping much of western New South Wales and western Queensland and into Victoria, South Australia and Western Australia. As well, we're getting feedback on Blackall, Boulia, Charleville, Trangie, Dubbo, Moree, Narromine. The list goes on. From the farm household allowance and, of course, the Drought Communities Program that I administer through to local governments in order that they might support their local communities, we have invested more than $1.3 billion in support for farmers in need since 2013. Farmers are resilient. The National Party and the Liberal Party know farmers. Many of us are farmers. We know that we will be there simply to give them a hand up when they need it, unlike those opposite. The history books have shown that Australian farmers can do that, and have done it time and time again.

Let's think of Labor's debacle with the live cattle export industry, which is still being felt right across the east coast of Australia and through cattle markets right across the nation. In contrast to that, let's think of our efforts to open up new markets in China, Korea, Japan and Peru—free trade deals that those opposite have either ignored or not supported. In fact, they've argued against them in the past. They want to attack regional economies. They continue to plan to let them down.

We have a very significant decentralisation agenda on behalf of this government. Those opposite don't support it. They don't think that the opportunities for public servants in Sydney's CBD, Melbourne's CBD and here in Canberra should be shared across regional Australia. They don't understand that opportunity. Let's think of the $75 billion infrastructure program, the pipeline that this government is leading for the benefit of regional Australia, be it billions for the Bruce Highway or for the Pacific Highway—the roads of strategic importance. Let's think of stepping into individual regional economies: the $7 million Rockhampton riverfront redevelopment; $5.3 million for Ronald Macdonald House, for example, in South Brisbane—

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

John McVeigh (Groom, Liberal Party, Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You know what? Because it supports regional families in need of support when they come to get health care in our cities such as that one. There is $2.8 million—why does the opposition hate these sort of projects in regional communities—for Kingston Park community hub in the electorate of the member for Franklin. For the Moss Vale Enterprise Corridor in the electorate of the member for Whitlam there is $4.6 million. Those opposite are not interested in regional Australia.

If the Labor Party got back into power, can you picture them in regional Australia? You'd have the Leader of the Opposition there, jumping in the front seat of the ute. He'd be wondering how to get a regional economy going. He'd turn to his colleagues and say, 'How do we get it going? Why won't it go?' He'd say, 'We must have the brake on.' Regional Australia knows that is the potential under a Labor government in the future, should that dreaded outcome happen. They talk a big game but, when the rubber hits the road, the contrast is stark. The shoddy, shambolic Leader of the Opposition may be able to hoodwink his party room. He might be able to take a two-faced approach, saying different things in Melbourne's CBD to what he may say in regional Queensland in relation to the infrastructure and resources industries, the very industries providing jobs and opportunities for the regional families of the future. How dare the opposition talk about regional Australia? They have no idea. The coalition, the National and Liberal parties, which represent the bulk of regional Australians—that's right: the bulk of regional Australia—will continue to support them going forward, because they are the future of our country. The opposition do not get that. Regional Australia dreads the opposition. They have shown their shortcomings in the past so many times.

Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Minister for Regional Development, Territories and Local Government is letting regional Australia down. Come to my electorate and speak to the 18.6 per cent of young people who are looking for work while TAFE has been gutted. Talk to them and then represent regional Australia. The government is letting down regional and rural Australians and this is certainly the case in my electorate of Dobell on the New South Wales Central Coast. It's letting down regional Australians in health care, education and employment. On the Central Coast, one in five of us is aged over 65 and one in five of us is aged under 15. These are the regional Australians who you're supposed to represent, who need your help. The very young and the very old are the people who most use and need health care and yet Medicare rebates are not keeping pace and people are paying higher gap fees to access the healthcare services they need, after the New South Wales government tried to sell off our local hospital in Wyong.

Our oldest are waiting too long for home care packages and too long for their pensions to come through. Some have been waiting since last December. Our youngest, especially those from vulnerable families, risk missing out on important early childhood education because of the harsh changes that this government has made to childcare subsidies. On the coast, our population is hollowed out in the middle, as people of working age are forced to travel to work or study outside of our region—to Sydney, Newcastle or further. Young people are forced to travel away for TAFE to Sydney or Newcastle. Under this government, Central Coast TAFE has been gutted. Our schools have lost $33 million. Yes, $33 million to Central Coast schools has been cut. And our university, the University of Newcastle, has lost $69 million that would have supported regional Australians to get a better education, a better start and a better job.

There is no doubt this government is letting down rural and regional Australians and it's not fair. We're not wealthy on the coast. We're decent people, we work hard and we support one another. Young people, in particular, are struggling to find work. We have stubbornly high youth unemployment, sitting at 18.6 per cent, and yet this government is doing nothing. It's sitting on its hands, doing nothing to help them get a job, nothing to help them acquire skills or education and nothing to help them get apprenticeships.

Only Labor is interested in young people and in education, skills and apprenticeships for young people. Labor will commit $100 million to rebuilding TAFE with our Future Fund to reverse the decline in TAFE and rebuild campuses across regional Australia. Labor will ensure two-thirds of funding for vocational education goes to TAFE and will scrap up-front fees for 100,000 students. Labor will provide pre-apprenticeship programs and advanced adult apprenticeship programs, and Labor will ensure one in 10 jobs on Commonwealth priority projects are filled by apprentices. In regional areas like mine on the Central Coast of New South Wales, the chance to gain skills through an apprenticeship is a trusted pathway to a secure career.

Behind health care, manufacturing is our second biggest value-add sector on the Central Coast, worth nearly $1 billion and employing nearly 10,000 people. What is the government doing to support manufacturing in regional and rural Australia? Nothing. The manufacturing sector is crying out for support to grow, expand and employ more people, and the government is doing nothing. The manufacturing industry needs skilled workers and willing apprentices and the government is cutting them off at the knees.

Our regions even more than our cities need TAFE, and Labor will work to rebuild TAFE. We will rebuild education and we will rebuild health care. What could be more important to anyone, whether they live in the city or in the regional and rural areas of Australia, than access to quality health care, a good local education and a secure job? This is what is necessary for anybody in our country.

Before I finish, I want to turn to something that this ideologically driven government is fixated on: trickle-down economics. It has let down the people of regional and rural Australia. It has let them down badly. I want to talk to you about Enid and Warren. Enid is 94 and vision impaired. Warren is 97 and living with dementia. Last April they were assessed for a level 3 home care package. They are still waiting. When my office contacted My Aged Care, we were told that they'd look at another assessment, to hopefully move them from a medium priority to a high priority. It is just outrageous that someone who is 94, is vision impaired and is the carer for her husband, who is 97 and living with dementia, has to struggle. Do you know what they said? 'Don't bother, Emma. We'll be dead before this gets fixed.' That is how this government is supporting struggling regional Australians who are suffering. It must do better. This is not fair.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am quite astounded at the Labor Party bringing on this MPI today about rural and regional Australia. It's always amusing to listen to the member for Whitlam talking about regional Australia. I know he has a great knowledge of regional Australia—he drives through it on his way from Canberra to Wollongong every couple of weeks and has a clear understanding of what's going on! He comes in here without a real issue but with a made-up issue, about telecommunications. I've been here for a while. I sat on that side of the House while his party removed the Regional Telecommunications Infrastructure Fund and gave people $900 cash flashes to put through the poker machines and buy things from Kmart—all gone; not one mobile phone tower. But the people at Yellow Mountain, west of Condobolin—a vast area that had been neglected by the opposition—are now getting telecommunications services thanks to the Mobile Black Spot Program.

The member for Whitlam mentioned drought. I've got to know a bit about drought. I was a farmer for 33 years before I came here, and I've been through a few. This is as bad as it's been. I've seen as bad as this, but it's as bad as it's been. I can tell you farmers are handling this a lot better because of the policies put in by the member for New England when he was the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

I can point you, Member for Hunter, to grain storages, water systems and farms that have been properly fenced because of the tax incentives that were put in place for that white paper. You've got to be able to speak about regional Australia because you understand regional Australia, and we don't see any of that from the other side. I sat in this place—I think it was in 2008—when the member for Watson as agriculture minister said, 'We're not going to use the word 'drought' anymore.' Remember that? He said, 'We're going to change 'drought' for 'dryness'. We've just got dryness now. We'll put in a bit of a $60,000 scheme.' Remember the scheme in Western Australia, where they were going to do trials about farmers managing dryness? That was it. That was their drought policy.

This is not a place for negative speeches. I want to talk about the positives in regional Australia. The member for Dobell might want to send her young people to the electorate of Parkes, where youth unemployment is in single figures. The unemployment level of Dubbo is 2.2 per cent. Last year 58 Indigenous kids did the HSC at Dubbo College Senior Campus and have gone into employment or education because of the funding of things like Clontarf, Girls Academy, Sista Speak—all these things that the federal government is funding for young people in regional Australia. She might want to go across the road a bit, to the campus of Dubbo Base Hospital, and have a look at the construction of the cancer centre—thanks to the help of the member for New England once again. That cancer centre is going to serve the people of western New South Wales. Go a little bit further round, to the medical school, where country kids can do their full training—from students right through to specialisation—in the bush. It is training doctors for the bush.

There is the Inland Rail. We heard a lot of talk about the Inland Rail. I can actually take you out there now and show you where the tracks have been laid out, where the earth's been dug up, for that corridor of commerce that's going to link Melbourne with Brisbane, right through—

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The assistant minister will take his seat for a second. The member for New England on a point of order.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's absolutely disorderly to interject from outside your seat, and I would remind the member for Hunter that he might want to sit on the very back of the backbench because he's such a hopeless minister he should get in front of it.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I take the member for New England's point. I do warn the member for Hunter. He has been warned. He is outside of his seat and he will be removed if he does that again. I give the call to the assistant minister.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Inland rail is going to boost the economy of the entire country, but particularly of regional Australia.

Regional Australia is a land of opportunity. One thing that I know unites the people of regional Australia is they're absolutely terrified of this group sitting opposite. They can remember the shemozzle that was the government when those opposite were in. They can remember the raiding of the money that was set aside for telecommunications infrastructure and changing—

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Services, Territories and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And building infrastructure.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Not a cent! (Time expired)

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Here we are, yet again, talking about how the National Party has abandoned rural and regional Australia. I always find it interesting—

Mr Coulton interjecting—

I'll get to coal seam gas and how you're pushing full steam ahead with that, don't you worry about that. But I always find it interesting that the National Party members can come here and yell at us, but they can't walk down the hall and yell at the Prime Minister in defence of regional Australia. They're too scared! They'll come in here and carry on about us, but they've done nothing to help the people of the regions. Why don't they tell the Prime Minister what they need in regional and rural Australia? They don't do it, because they've abandoned the country. Time and time again they've done that.

This government continues to fail people from the regions. It was long ago that the National Party abandoned them. But people are onto you; people are onto the National Party. They know what you've done, and they also know what you haven't done. As we know and as we say in this House quite often, government is all about choices and priorities. The Turnbull government has chosen to give the banks that $17 billion tax handout. That's what the government has chosen and that's what the National Party have chosen too. When we say that National Party choices hurt; they really do hurt! They really do hurt when they choose to give the big tax handout to the banks instead of funding vital services in the bush. That's why people have had it with you. That's why people know you've abandoned them.

Let's run through of some those harsh National Party cuts, shall we? Cuts to hospitals and healthcare, cuts to aged care, cuts to pensions, cuts to education, cuts to the ABC, cuts to penalty rates as well, and of course, the government's NBN debacle. We haven't heard any of their speakers talk about the NBN, have we? Because it's a complete disaster! Let's have a look at some of those education cuts and cuts to families. We've got increases in childcare fees, cuts to school funding, cuts to apprenticeships and TAFE, and also cuts to university funding. It's interesting when we look at those cuts to schools. What is that figure again? They have cut $17 billion from schools whilst they're giving $17 billion to the banks. The National Party aren't talking about that too much out in their seats, are they? No.

Those harsh cuts to universities really hurt people in the regions. If you live in a regional or rural area, it's already hard enough to get to university, with all the added costs of transport. The government's cuts to universities and the increase in fees make it extra hard for kids from the country to actually get to universities. Look at my area in northern New South Wales. For Southern Cross University, the cuts from the academic years 2018 to 2021 are $25 million. How hard does it make it for kids then from the regions to actually get to uni?

Let's get back to the NBN. Let's see if any other speakers following us today are actually going to mention those words, because it is a total debacle. People in the country have a right to access good reliable broadband. They don't have that. The government's NBN has been a disaster—$20 billion over budget and four years behind schedule. We need to have the NBN in the regions. We need an effective NBN for our students at universities, for our small businesses to connect to the world, for our flourishing creative industries, and for our health and hospital services as well. We've already heard from some of the speakers today about the debacle over the government's increase for fees in the regions. Goodness me! They certainly were caught out, weren't they? They did a big backflip with that. It just shows that you cannot trust the National Party and you cannot trust them with their NBN as they try to slug those extra charges. I will just point out what it would have meant for my electorate in Richmond: nearly 12,000 homes would have been slugged $240 extra a year with their secret plan to increase the NBN in the regions.

Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You're making it up!

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Don't worry—we're onto you! We're onto you! We also see these members across here constantly attacking penalty rates. That's what's hurting families in the regions: your constant war against penalty rates for people in the regions who rely on them. We have here a National Party that supports cuts to penalty rates. Time and time again, we hear them supporting it.

Let's never forget that every single National Party member in this House has had eight opportunities in this parliament to protect penalty rates. And what have they done each time? They've voted against them. Every single time, they've abandoned the people of the regions. Eight times they had that opportunity and they chose not to protect penalty rates, each and every single time.

It's very clear that there's only one way to protect penalty rates, and that's to elect a Shorten Labor government. As I said, governments are all about choices and priorities. The Turnbull government has abandoned Australia and the regions by choosing to give the banks that big handout. But it's the National Party that has really abandoned those people in the regions. It's only Labor that will stand up for the country—only Labor.

Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Today may very well be known in the future as the day the opposition finally went mad. All week, we've seen them argue about serious funding that this coalition government has delivered to help secure a strong future for the Great Barrier Reef. We've also seen them sit on the fence when it comes to setting up an energy system that actually works and that provides affordable, reliable energy for everyday Australians and employees alike. Energy prices are of vital importance to people in the bush, but this opposition just does not care.

And then, today, we have this. The very idea that a motion such as this could come from the Australian Labor Party—the very same party that's done everything within their power, in living memory, to ruin and demonise those who live and work in the bush—is entirely confusing. Labor has never shown any interest in the needs of the people in the bush, nor do they now. They simply find an excuse to talk about themselves.

It was the Labor Party which halted the live cattle export to Indonesia overnight, on a whim. Graziers and communities across the Top End are still reeling from this stupid decision made in haste by people who had no idea about the industry they were in charge of. If you combine this with the radical hatred those opposite have adopted when it comes to coalmining then there is very little remaining for regional and rural Australians to rely on in getting a good job under a Labor-Greens regime.

On the matter of the cruel, crippling drought grasping much of Queensland and almost all of New South Wales, I'm confident that the government, while unable to perform miracles—although we sometimes may like to—is delivering what is needed for farming families in desperate situations. There is a range of assistance out there for farmers and graziers, from financial to therapeutic. We need people to reach out and take advantage of what is being offered, though, and I hope that more take up those opportunities in the near future.

What is more important and appropriate for a government to get stuck into, though, is to continue to develop the infrastructure that our regional and rural communities and businesses need to thrive. There is no good in fighting to get through a drought and then not have the infrastructure you need to bounce back and thrive. That's why I have led such a crusade for two vital forms of infrastructure: water and roads.

There is not a Central Queenslander who has not heard of Rookwood Weir, the state's No. 1 water infrastructure priority. Rookwood has been a passion of mine since I entered parliament back in 2013. And when we know what it will do for CQ, we can understand why. There will be 200 to 400 jobs through construction, 2,100 ongoing jobs, a $1 billion boost to the economy and opportunities for all sorts of agriculture development—feedlots, tree crops, timber plantations, small crops, vegetables and agriculture. The sky is, indeed, the limit.

Clearly, what this project can do for the region is immense, and it is only the coalition who are serious about making it happen. It is only the coalition that has invested real money into feasibility studies across the country for new dams and weirs. It is the coalition that has led the process all the way with Rookwood Weir. It was us who delivered the original $130 million to get Rookwood built, as well as $2 million for the state government to complete a business case. We waited over 600 days until the Queensland government finally dragged themselves up to the table, and eventually all of the $352 million needed has been placed on the table. We are ready to go, but for some reason nothing is happening. It's clear the state government continues to drag its feet, and I for one have had enough.

Foot dragging is not confined to the Rookwood Weir project either, with a range of infrastructure projects on the go-slow across the region. We have serious issues with sections of the Fitzroy Development Road, a remote highway responsible for carrying heavy loads for the mining and grazing sectors—utterly ignored by the state government that owns it. Motorists and their properties are in real peril. Meanwhile, major upgrades to the Capricorn Highway are sitting on the books, once again waiting for action by the state government. We're doing what we can to improve local infrastructure, while the state colleagues of those opposite simply don't care. Today's MPI suggests the government is letting down rural and regional Australians, but I can only see one government doing that: the Queensland Labor state government.

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

To have lessons about rural and regional Australia from the National Party, the party that's abandoned the regions, is just beyond the pale. This is a party that has voted multiple times against a banking royal commission, against investigations into banks that are hurting farmers and hurting regional communities. They had to be dragged kicking and screaming, after the work done by this side of the House, into getting a banking royal commission up and running. Look at what that banking royal commission has uncovered: crime after crime after crime. Yet they sat over there with their Liberal counterparts and did nothing for years. You should be ashamed. The same party voted against action on penalty rates. I'll tell you what: young people in my community who work in hospitality, retail and other services across the regions need penalty rates not just as pocket money but to survive, to pay the rent and to put food on the table.

So don't sit there, National Party, and lecture us about rural and regional Australia. You haven't been doing your job, and that's why people are voting more and more to elect Labor MPs into regional seats. Shortland, Richmond, Hunter, Paterson, Bass, Braddon, Lyons, Newcastle, Whitlam, Herbert, Solomon, Lingiari, Dobell—and I'm sure there are more. We are on the march for rural and regional Australia, and we're coming for you.

I will just say this about the drought in New South Wales and Queensland: I'm proud to say that Tasmanians have really delivered the goods here. Dairy farmer Michael Perkins, his mate Robbie Edwards, dairy farmer Paul Lambert, Glenn Phillips in Smithton, and Ruby Daly from Marion Bay potatoes in my electorate are all doing their bit to help the farmers and regional communities who are doing it very tough out there in New South Wales and Queensland—in some respect repaying the debt to mainlanders from when Tasmania suffered a drought and also floods in recent years. This is what rural and regional Australians do. They act together . They work together for the common good.

I've got a long speech here, which I have completely blown, on the myriad failures of this government on rural and regional Australia, and I'll try to get to some of it. But I tell you what: I'll come to the NBN, because those opposite have been saying about the NBN that we're not telling the truth. Well, let me say this. This is the recorded Hansard of my question to the NBN yesterday:

I … want to confirm what you were saying … I represent a country electorate. A lot of my people are on fixed wireless. I want to be crystal clear: are you saying that, if somebody who lives in the centre of Hobart and is on a 50-meg bundled service and paying $45 wholesale moves out to my electorate and gets a fixed wireless tower, under the new bundled service you are talking about they would be paying $65 wholesale? Is that the essence of what you're saying?

Mr Stephen Rue of NBN Co said:

If the RSP chooses to purchase a 50-20 bundled product from us, that would be $65, yes.

So there it is in Hansard: a big difference between what NBN Co is going to charge people on fixed wireless, $65 wholesale, and what they're charging people in the city on a fixed line, which is $45 wholesale. That was last night. Then today we've had the press release from the minister: 'Oh, no, nothing to see here. We're not really doing that. That was just sort of a plan—maybe something we were thinking about.' I truly hope that the government and NBN Co have changed their minds and have backflipped on this, because that means that, thanks to Labor questions at the committee last night, Labor have saved country people $240 a year on their NBN—240 bucks a year, a Turnbull tax, a tax from Malcolm Turnbull because of his rank incompetence in delivering a workable NBN. Labor has saved country people $240 a year that they otherwise would have had to pay. I'm sure The Nationals will be thanking us for that—certainly, there were none of them there.

Health, schools, universities, penalty rates—wherever you look, in every single instance the National and Liberal parties are failing rural and regional Australians. From tomorrow, one in four families will be worse off under the Liberals' unfair childcare system, which will disproportionately affect women and families in rural Australia.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It has never been so much of a joy to talk about regional Australia and the National Party as it is today. You'll see in the Hansard how many times the Labor Party have mentioned the National Party—because they obviously acknowledge the work we do and are fearful of the work we do. I commend the new National Party senator for Tasmania, Senator Martin, for the hard work he is doing.

Let us start. Who banned the live cattle trade? The Labor Party. Who's going to ban the live sheep trade? The Labor Party. Who fought against us on the decentralisation of things, such as the APVMA to Armidale? The Labor Party. Who's taking money out of our portfolio for building dams and driving investment? The Labor Party. Who had no money on the table for the Inland Rail in their last budget? The Labor Party. The member for Hunter, who stood up and proposed this MPI, was sitting down the back and has now left the chamber. He's not even here anymore; he doesn't believe in it. Where is the Labor Party's drought policy? I haven't seen it; it doesn't exist. What about mobile phones? How much did the Labor Party spend on mobile phones in their term? Nothing. They are absolutely hopeless. They will do nothing. Who's going to get rid of the Regional Investment Corporation we set up? The Labor Party.

The Labor Party have the temerity to come in here and say that they represent regional areas. When you listen to them closely, you don't hear one thing about regional Australia, just a grab bag of issues. Who decided to set up one of their regions as Parramatta? The Labor Party. Aren't they remarkable? Today they had the chance to come in here and say that the National Party did a great job on decentralisation. They should support it. They should say, 'We like the way the National Party is building dams, and we support them.' God knows how long we had to wait for them to come to the party on Rookwood Weir! They should support us on the Inland Rail and say where in their budget the money to build it is. They should support us on rolling out mobile phone towers, but they never do. They have no vision for regional Australia.

Now we have the drought. I would have thought that, in a time of drought, you would have had myriad questions about the premier issue in regional Australia. I would have thought you'd have the dignity and the decency, during question time, to be firing question after question to us about the drought—not one. This is all theatre. They don't have it. They don't care. Even whilst this MPI is going, the member for Hunter has gone. Even he doesn't think he belongs here. He doesn't even support you. Your own shadow minister for agriculture is not here. He doesn't even care. He has left. He's the most hopeless shadow agriculture minister we've ever had. He is a complete and utter joke. He can never get a question up in question time, and leaves during the MPI—and you stand there and say that you're representing regional Australia? It is a total absurdity.

I'll reflect on the drought. I hope that there is a bipartisan view on the drought. Fires, floods and cyclones are bipartisan issues, and so should drought be too. I commend the minister for his incredibly important changes to the farm household allowance. I want to make a couple of suggestions about things we could do, if we worked in a bipartisan way. The Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder has a huge resource in water, and we have a crisis—a national crisis. There should be the capacity for the Commonwealth Environmental Water holder to put water into irrigating fodder. If you want to be serious, you could actually work towards that. You could lobby for that. I'm absolutely stating: that is something that should be put on the agenda now, so we can start growing the lucerne that is needed. We need a huge amount of feed, and it is literally running out.

We have got to be able to make sure that we move the infrastructure projects forward that are required so that towns that are in the epicentre of the drought at least get the commercial benefit from the infrastructure projects, such as road projects, which would have to be done in any case. They could be moved forward and dealt with now.

I commend the Leader of the Opposition on something he suggested the other day, when he talked about the use of agronomists for the sowing down of country that is, in some instances, virtually sterilised. I'll close with this: guess what the rainfall for Tamworth has been this year? A bit over four inches. Guess what the rainfall has been for Riyadh in Saudi Arabia? Four inches.

Cathy O'Toole (Herbert, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That was a very entertaining speech from the member for New England. If you want to talk about water, Member for New England, you might want to ask your government where the money is for the second stage of water security for Townsville. We are currently having to pay $34,000 a day to pump water into our city. Seventy per cent of Queensland is drought declared.

If we want to talk about the LNP, which we believe are letting down rural and regional Australians, let me tell you, it's not a matter of letting us down; it's a matter of totally destroying us. This government is cutting our health funding, cutting our education funding and cutting remote Indigenous housing, which is a major issue for me as Palm Island is in my electorate.

The only thing this LNP government has increased in my community is unemployment figures. Unemployment in Townsville has almost doubled under the LNP government. Townsville has the seventh highest unemployment rate in Australia. We have experienced the highest unemployment figures in our recorded history, thanks to the Abbott and Turnbull government. But we weren't always this way. No, we were not. Under a federal Labor government, Townsville thrived. Townsville's unemployment rate, when Labor left office in 2013, was lower than both the state and national averages. Now Townsville's unemployment rate is higher than the state average and almost double the national average.

However, the picture only gets worse. Since the LNP came to power, Townsville has lost 3,000 manufacturing jobs. We have lost 149 Australian tax office jobs. We have lost 50 Defence staff jobs, 40 aviation jobs, 19 CSIRO jobs and 30 regional Customs jobs. We've lost 442 construction businesses and 153 retail businesses. We are now the insolvency capital of Queensland, and I haven't even finished painting the nightmare picture that consecutive LNP governments have caused in my home town.

Let's not forget how this government hates to fund health and education in regional Australia. If you live in Townsville and you don't have a job let's hope that you or your family do not get sick under this government, because this government is cutting funding to our hospitals and making it harder for families to visit a bulk-billing GP. The Turnbull government is cutting $9 million to the Townsville Hospital and Health Service. These cuts mean the loss of four beds, 12 doctors and 25 nurses—more job losses for Townsville, the home of the only tertiary health service outside the south-east corner.

Then there's the Medicare freeze, which we now know is impacting on regional Australians more than any other citizens. The people in Townsville are paying double to see their GP, according to the national health report released today. And, with the increases in fees, guess what that leads to? The front page of today's TownvilleBulletin reads, 'Minor health concerns flood hospital.' Because, at our hospital, we are treating 55 people a day for minor ailments—ailments that people would normally take to their GP. But now they are flooding to the emergency department, because they cannot afford to go to a GP. Around 26 per cent of patients—that is, 6,475 people—just over the last six months presented to the Townsville hospital with minor ailments like coughs. This is ridiculous, and it is putting absurd pressure on a hospital that this government is already taking an axe to.

Then there are our schools. This out-of-touch Turnbull government is cutting $17 billion from our schools whilst giving the big banks a $17 billion handout. This government puts banks before children. This cut is the equivalent of losing almost one in three teaching positions. The picture is one of job cut after job cut under this government. In Herbert we will lose $14.8 million from our schools.

Let me get to the universities. James Cook University will experience a cut of $36 million and Central Queensland University a cut of $38 million. This attack on JCU, a genuine regional university, has resulted in the axing of the only on-campus arts degree in a university in North Queensland. As well, 14 people are losing their job at James Cook University because of this government.

The picture for regional Australia isn't pretty under the Turnbull government. And the Turnbull government has done absolutely nothing for the NBN in Townsville. That will require a Labor government. Without a Labor government, the picture for Townsville becomes bleaker and bleaker, as the picture is one of job cuts and funding losses under the LNP. There is absolutely no good news for regional Queensland in the seat of Herbert under this government.

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's no wonder that Australians are so disheartened by the state of Australian politics at the moment, when they hear the sort of contribution that we've just heard from the member for Herbert. Regrettably, what the Labor Party does is make a whole lot of claims—I would have to say very untruthful claims—about cuts to schools, cuts to health. It goes on and on and on. We just heard the member for Herbert say that we're imposing the Medicare rebate freeze. Let me say very clearly to the member for Herbert that it was the Labor Party which imposed a freeze on the indexation of the Medicare rebate. We are lifting that freeze. So that is an absolutely unmitigated untruth from the member for Herbert, and that is the standard and calibre of the contribution we have from the Labor Party.

We've heard very little from the Labor Party today about how it would stand up for regional Australia. As we know, Labor's plan is all about imposing more than $200 billion of taxes over 10 years on nearly every aspect of the economy—and we saw the Leader of the Opposition on television the other day looking for a handbrake. The only handbrake he would be looking for is a handbrake on the Australian economy, because that's what would happen if Labor were elected. We know that because we can see that Labor is planning to impose considerable taxes on electricity. Capital gains tax would go up. There would be increased taxes on family trusts, on housing, and of course on our retirees and pensioners—on self-funded retirees, with the shocking retiree tax, which is the single biggest tax that would be imposed on Australians.

We've heard very little about infrastructure from the Labor Party today in this MPI. If I look at and consider what's going on in my electorate of Corangamite, we are rolling out massive investments, not just in regional roads but also in rail. That's happening across the nation under a $75 billion infrastructure plan. I say shame on the Labor Party for the way in which it is failing to fund rail in the Corangamite electorate. We have actually announced and committed $254 million to upgrade local rail, and we have received a very small proportion of funding from the state Labor government—only $20 million. It took two years to create a business plan. There is no plan, no construction—it is an absolute joke. The member for New England rightly called out the member for Hunter, who was in the chamber before, for slinking out of the chamber. When the member for Hunter was in charge back in 2008, along with the member for Corio, he presided over one of the worst economic decisions for our region, which was to stop Avalon Airport building an international terminal. That was an absolutely disgraceful decision for our region. Proudly, we are now building, with $20 million announced in this year's budget, an international terminal, creating Victoria's second international airport at Avalon.

Mr Deputy Speaker, as you know, we're rolling out a program with $245 million to combat mobile black spots around the country, including 18 in Corangamite, and I'm fighting for more mobile base stations for Teesdale, Armstrong Creek and Moggs Creek.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Sarah Henderson (Corangamite, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As we hear from the interjections opposite, what an embarrassment they are. What an embarrassment the Labor Party are. When they were in government there was not one single dollar for mobile base stations. We know how critical this infrastructure is for regional Australia. Farmers, families and regional communities cannot get on and do their business—cannot run a business and go to school—without mobile communications. If anyone wants to know how poorly Labor stands up for regional communities just look at what they committed to mobile base stations when they were in government: a big fat zero. It is a disgrace.

In Corangamite, 94 per cent of homes now have the NBN available to them. We are rolling out the NBN. It was an absolute shambles under the Labor Party. In Corangamite and across regional Australia there has been massive investment for jobs in manufacturing and in wonderful regional businesses. We're putting millions and millions of dollars through the Building Better Regions Fund. They are really important projects. As I say, look at Labor's record on mobile base stations, such important infrastructure for regional Australia, and that tells you everything you want to know about this disgraceful Labor Party.

Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion is concluded.