Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Granted that we live in the best country on earth, we all want the best outcomes for it. Every Australian had a stake in the result of the 18 May election. Over the years, the Liberals and Nationals have secured much for the future growth and wealth of this nation. Realising what was at risk on polling day, voters again placed their trust in the government. Great outcome that it was, there is still much work to be done. It does, however, feel like the refresh button has been pressed—a reset, a third-term government, but with a real purpose and a long-term vision.

Not for a long time has there been such expectation on an administration, and we won't let people down. Australians had a distinct choice at the ballot box, and leading the National Party took me to many far-flung corners of this land. Every single community matters, and ensuring that the right infrastructure is built in the right places, especially in regional areas, was and remains a priority of mine and of the government. Things such as X-ray services in Port Macquarie ensure that people can get those important diagnostic images without having to drive hundreds of kilometres, that they can get those right in their local community; a pipeline at Mitiamo in Victoria; a bypass at Coffs Harbour; a convention centre at Keppel Bay at Yeppoon in Queensland; and an Aboriginal outreach for night-time support services in Alice Springs were all amongst the regional commitments made, and now they will be delivered.

All 16 National Party House of Representatives seats were retained, a fact of which I'm particularly proud. National Party Senate representation also remained strong, with Perin Davey from New South Wales, Susan McDonald from Queensland and Sam McMahon from the Northern Territory joining Bridget McKenzie for Victoria and Matthew Canavan from Queensland in our upper house team. Deputy leader McKenzie is now Australia's 34th agriculture minister and the first female to hold that portfolio since it was first formed in 1925 as the Minister for Markets.

I'm particularly pleased that we tripled our female representation, without quotas, in the election. That's even though the pollsters, the critics and even some in the national media were quick to write us off, as they always do. The Nationals, as we always do, persevered and we succeeded. Re-endorsing Nationals means a continued strong voice for rural, regional, remote, country and coastal Australians in the federal parliament. Nationals candidates successfully held two transitioning seats in which our party had retiring members, with Pat Conaghan succeeding Luke Hartsuyker in Cowper, and Dr Anne Webster taking over from Andrew Broad in Mallee, and I acknowledge the presence of the new member for Cowper in the chamber. In any electorate held by any party, transitioning a seat always makes for vulnerability. I know that the constituents in the seats of the new members for Cowper and Mallee will certainly benefit from their members' hard work, their diligence and their grounded representation.

Centenary celebrations will be held next year for our party, which was first led by Tasmanian newspaper editor, William McWilliams. How far we have come in those 100 years! Over all of those decades, the Country Party, and now the Nationals, have never lost sight of what we are sent here to do: ensuring regional infrastructure and services are everything they should be, and indeed more. Leveraging off our strong position in the parliament, the Nationals have always fiercely championed the bush and the interests of those who live in country areas, and we'll continue to make that case in the 46th Parliament. Australians—8.8 million of them—who call the regions home would expect nothing less.

So much of this nation's wealth—through agriculture and resources and through innovation, indeed—comes from the regions. Commonwealth expenditure on infrastructure over the next decade is now a record $100 billion, of which a third—rightly, appropriately and aptly—will be spent in regional Australia. All across the country, money will be spent on new roads, rail lines and airports and on ensuring that we get product from farm to fork quicker and get people to where they need to be safer and sooner. That is the government's pledge. Having the infrastructure Australians want, need, demand, expect and, perhaps most of all, deserve means having a balanced budget so that we can pay for it—living within our means. Economic growth, drought notwithstanding, has been achieved 28 years in a row, an outstanding effort.

Rail is an important part of our plan to contribute to and grow prosperity to build a better future—remembering, certainly, the legacy of the late, great Tim Fischer. Inland Rail, that 1,700-kilometre corridor of commerce, will ensure that goods travel on double-stacked trains between Brisbane and Melbourne within 24 hours. That's a first. It's nation-building at its best. It's something that's been talked about since the 1890s, and we are delivering—the Nationals in government are delivering. Even our hardy rail pioneers would not have envisioned just what a difference Inland Rail will potentially make, with savings per tonne, originally costed at $10, now as high as $94 and at an average of $76. Access to and from regional markets, supply chain costs, reducing congestion—creating so many benefits for Brisbane, Melbourne, Sydney and everywhere in between—and connecting communities to the world are all benefits of the Inland Rail. Never has there been a better or more appropriate time to do it, and that's what's actually happening right now, as we speak.

Drought has had a profound and severe impact not just on our farmers but on small businesses and regional communities. We've been there, as Nationals in government, to assist the whole way through, and we will continue until the rains return—and they will return; they certainly will return. Large water infrastructure storages right down to pipeline projects will be part of the new National Water Grid, which I announced on 30 April. Mining, agriculture and urban water will benefit from this ramped-up push to build Australia's water capacity.

To go back to Inland Rail: most importantly, Inland Rail is creating jobs now in construction, and there will be permanent employment when the line is fully functional from the mid-2020s.

Cooperation is sought from states and territories as we embark on our ambitious dam-building program. Having the necessary water storage in the right catchments will help droughtproof the nation for the future. Already we've signed on to the north-east Tasmanian project, the Scottsdale dam, and Dungowan Dam in north-west New South Wales, near Tamworth. And we're raising the wall of Wyangala Dam in New South Wales by 10 metres, to 95 metres, which will increase that dam's capacity by 650 gigalitres. Environmental and cultural approvals will be done. But, once they're completed, we will need to get on with the job. Nothing will then stand in the way of making sure that we actually get these vital projects built.

As I said, mining, agriculture and urban water will benefit from this ramped-up approach. Just consider this: even if job creation and agricultural output are anywhere close to what is anticipated or expected, they will be providing overall benefit not just to regional communities but, indeed, to the nation, increasing markets, opportunities and wealth in our regional areas. Can you imagine the success that's going to come from the Inland Rail? And our government will continue to fix mobile black spots, with already more than a thousand towers installed or on their way.

Through the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network for rural medical students, we are going to ensure that we address the shortage of country doctors. I'm especially proud of achieving this particular provision. It's something that I've talked about for nine years and, thankfully, it's now being done.

Of course, when we do get re-elected we always need to remember those people who helped us get there. I certainly haven't forgotten the people who enabled me to do just that. First there are my wonderful branches throughout the Riverina, ably led by my campaign director, Barney Hyams. Barney has now saddled up twice to help me during election campaigns. I appreciate very much his efforts. I appreciate the indefatigable Gretchen and Richard Sleeman, grassroots members, as well as the more than 350 people who handed out three weeks of prepoll—perhaps two weeks too long, but we're all about convenience in this day and age. Of course, it is so important to have people on the ground willing to hand out for you. I know the member for Cowper would endorse those remarks, because he too had many, many hundreds of people ensuring that he was elected to this place.

You always need a supportive family. I'm very fortunate to have my wife, Catherine—as I said in my maiden speech, my greatest ally but my fiercest critic, at times—and our children, Georgina, Alexander and Nicholas, and their partners, Daniel Bell, Jemma Yates and Lydia Grigg. Indeed, we're empty-nesters from this weekend, the first time for 28 years. They all helped out in the campaign and they know this: the Nationals and the government intend to succeed. The future of Australia depends on our successes in making sure that we deliver the infrastructure that is part of our $100 billion overall 10-year pipeline of investment and that we deliver the services that our nation, particularly our regional communities, need and deserve. When I talk about services, I'm talking about education, health and mobile phone technology. Those are the sorts of things that our country communities need to be on the same page with as our city cousins. Anyone who lives in the bush knows that.

We produce and punch well above our weight when it comes to making sure that we've got regional activity happening—drought notwithstanding, and people are hurting at the moment. We have announced more changes to date for farm household assistance. We are certainly getting on with the job of making sure that we stand side by side, shoulder to shoulder, with our farmers and our regional communities. Drought doesn't just affect farmers; it also has a crippling effect on our regional communities. The rains will come and, when they do, prosperity will return. That said, the agriculture sector has produced $58 billion worth of goods and export opportunities over the past 12 months. Generally, it is around $60 billion. As Nationals in government, we want to build it up, and I know our regional Liberals are on board with this; indeed, the entire government is. We want to build up agriculture to a $100 billion industry. In this regard, we share the vision of the National Farmers Federation—that marvellous 40-year-old organisation—to build it up to $100 billion by 2030. We're putting in the plans and the processes to do just that.

I know the Prime Minister was recently in America, where he announced $150 million for a space program. It received undue criticism, but the fact is that investing in space, in technology, in our future, is just going to help Australian businesses, because that's where the money is going. It's not going to America. It's not going to NASA. It's going to real, practical examples here on the ground and to businesses here in Australia. What space technology investment has done in the past is improve GPS technology such that our farmers are now able to plant their crops and strip their crops to the nearest centimetre. I can remember growing up on the land at Brucedale, and one way of getting out of spending hours and hours on the tractor was to go slightly out of the lines. My late father, Lance, used to go crook at that and say, 'If you can't do it, I'll do it myself.' One way of getting out of spending those hours behind the tractor wheel was to just slightly go out of the line every now and again, and that would ensure that you were relieved of your farming duties. I probably shouldn't admit that! Dear old dad was a stickler. He was absolutely pedantic and wanted to have everything as it should be and not to miss a single bit of unused land.

The fact is that nowadays farmers have so much technology in their tractors, and they need that. They have the GPS technology, which enables them to get it down to the nearest centimetre, and they also should have good mobile phone technology. If there's one thing my communities tell me they want and need, it's good mobile phone technology. Whereas once upon a time, all wheat was sold as a single desktop operation, unfortunately many farmers tell me that's not in place anymore. But it does enable them, and it does require them, to then look further afield for market opportunities for both buying and selling. They do that these days by sitting behind the wheel of their tractor. They can be in touch with the world, whilst they get that precision in their cropping endeavours.

I am very proud of what the National Party was able to achieve at the last election—despite the doomsayers and naysayers who wrote us off—appreciating the fact that there were some seats lost in the New South Wales election. We will endeavour—working as hard as we can, always—to win back those state seats of Murray, Barwon and Lismore. But I was very, very proud and pleased that all 16 seats held by the National Party federally were retained. When you look at seats in Queensland like Capricornia, Flynn and Dawson held by Michelle Landry, Ken O'Dowd and George Christensen, not only did those hardworking members retain their seats, they built on their margins from the last election. That not only endorsed them as hardworking local members, but it certainly gave the message to the people of Queensland that the LNP was doing the job it needed to do. I would like to think that on 31 October next year Deb Frecklington will become the next Premier of Queensland. Because if there's one thing I know, that is that Queensland needs an LNP government. Deb Frecklington cut her teeth in law in Coolamon, in the electorate of Riverina, so she has experience of the Riverina. She's a very good friend of mine and I wish her every success in the coming state elections next year in Queensland.

We want to get on and build dams. We want to make sure that we get on and build the roads that we need. I don't care what it takes, in terms of making sure that we work with our state and territory governments—Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria or whatever the case may be. I want to work to build the infrastructure as part of our $100 billion pipeline. We don't want to be stymied by unnecessary impediments. We want to work with the bureaucracy. We will do that. We will continue to strive hard to build better roads and to build more dams. It's what the people want, it's what the people expect and it's what the people will get.

Debate adjourned.

Ordered that the resumption of the debate be made an order of the day for a later hour this day.