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

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

Almost a decade of inaction from the Government.

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—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This week we have seen a government that has descended into a rabble without a cause. The Prime Minister is leaving Australia's future in the hands of a man who can't even see a spa as the end of a sentence. We saw that today in question time. We saw a government where cabinet ministers, including the Deputy Prime Minister, openly dissociate themselves from their own government. We saw a mob that behaves like an opposition in exile on the government benches, led by a man of no conviction who has become a caricature of himself, a prime minister who is all smirk and mirrors, no substance. He's a prime minister who's incapable of dealing with the present, let alone taking Australia into the future. After a decade of ridiculing climate change, they've been mugged by reality and dragged towards net zero by 2050.

It's a familiar pattern. First, you deny a problem exists. Second, you wait until it becomes a crisis. Third, you blame someone else for the inaction. Fourth, when you do act, it's always too little and too late. And, fifth, when you do that, you pretend you've been there all along and hope no-one notices. On bushfires we saw it: 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' Then, when he decided to be hands on, literally by forcing vulnerable people to shake his hand, he said, 'I was there the whole way along.' On the pandemic, JobKeeper was a dangerous idea that he opposed. Administering vaccines was not a race. We were first in the queue when we were right at the back. Of course, as a result, we have the Prime Minister's lockdowns, which we're coming out of now, and he's trying to take credit for us coming out of the lockdowns that are a direct creation of a failure on vaccine supply and on purpose-built quarantine.

Now we're looking at climate policy, the latest in this pattern: banal comments from those opposite and denial. They now say that technology is the answer. But what's their position on technology? First, they did create some funds, like the Emissions Reduction Fund. Where does the money for those funds come from? It comes from taxes, and yet they hope no-one notices that. They say it's about technology, and yet the Prime Minister said that electric vehicles would end the weekend. He said you wouldn't be able to drive your SUV, you wouldn't be able to tow your trailer—all this absolute nonsense when we see where the world is going on those issues. And, before they adopted that, you had the Treasurer writing op-eds supporting electric vehicles. Regarding batteries to store renewables, the Prime Minister said the biggest battery in Australia was as significant as the Big Banana or the Big Prawn—he just dismissed all of it. On renewable energy targets, he said, 'It's nuts,' and 'It's a muppet of a proposal.' Remember when he became Prime Minister, he said it was a government of muppets? He got that right then and he's right now. This is a government of muppets.

The fact is that, in spite of all of that, they take people as mugs. They're funding the proponents of a coal-fired power station in Queensland, which they promised at the last election would happen. They know it's not going to go ahead, but they're using taxpayer funds regardless. This is a government that is scared of the present but terrified of the future, and incapable of shaping the future to take advantage of the opportunities which are there. Labor wants to seize that opportunity. Labor wants to make sure that Australians can benefit from those opportunities. That's why in my first budget reply I advanced the Rewiring the Nation policy, a $20 billion plan to build transmission into the 21st century so that renewables could go into the grid. This mob, through Malcolm Turnbull, have a good proposal that has gone ahead—Snowy 2.0. But guess what: it doesn't fit into the grid. It's going to be open. They haven't plugged it in so that you can use the energy for the grid. It is just extraordinary. Rewiring the Nation will do just that.

We want cheaper electric vehicles. We're not going to tell people what to drive. We're going to drive down the price, though, to make it competitive and to make sure that we're not the dumping ground for what the rest of the world doesn't want. That's why you need to deal with these issues. We want community batteries so that it's not just about putting solar panels on roofs but also about making sure that that energy can be stored. It's an efficiency measure. We want to make sure that Austrians can take advantage of the jobs through new energy apprenticeships.

Action on climate change is just one element of our plan for a better life for working families, secure Australian jobs and a future made in Australia. We want an economy that works for people, building back better from the pandemic through our National Reconstruction Fund, supporting existing and new industries. We want a future made in Australia, manufacturing here. The Deputy Prime Minister said, 'I can't see jobs with renewables.' It's about driving down energy prices that then enable you to manufacture goods and give you a competitive advantage. It's not just about the jobs in terms of maintenance of the windfarms or building of the solar panels; it's about the whole economy and driving costs down.

We want a future made in Australia. We want a Buy Australian Plan. We want people who work in those industries to have secure work. They want temporary labour to be imported. We want to train Australians so that we lift wages, not drive them down. We want to deal with the casualisation of the workforce. We want to look after gig workers. We want same job, same pay. We want to close the gender pay gap. We want to make wage theft crime. We want to skill up Australians through Skills and Jobs Australia. We have a plan for working lives. We have a plan for cheaper child care. We have a plan to look after Australians, from their first years through to their later years, by looking after aged care. We want equality for women. This mob set up inquiries to find out what their own office knew about things that happened in Parliament House. They can't be taken seriously.

All those opposite have is fear. This week, we've seen a remarkable attempt by the Prime Minister to say that net zero by 2050 under them is good but net zero by 2050 under us is somehow not good. It's just extraordinary. Labor offers hope for a better future, and we have a plan to achieve it. We have a plan for an economy that works for people. We have a plan for people's working lives that gives them opportunity. We have a plan where no-one is left behind and no-one is held back. We have a plan where Medicare is at the centre of our health system. We have a plan to offer hope for a better future—to shape change. Change is inevitable. You can either fear it or shape it in the interests of people. We want to do that. We can be a renewable energy superpower for the world. We're located in the fastest-growing region of the world in human history. That presents us with an extraordinary opportunity to advance. Labor's plan is consistent with what Labor always does: we look after people and we bring people with us on that journey.

Labor has always seen the light on the hill as being critical. This Prime Minister is the gaslight on the hill, someone who's not prepared for the present, let alone capable of leading us into the future, and is leading a government whereby, when he leaves and goes to Glasgow, the Deputy Prime Minister will be in charge of the country. It is embarrassing. This is a government that is incapable of the leadership that Australia needs, and that's why this Prime Minister always follows and never leads. (Time expired)

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It isn't The Audacity of Hope from the Leader of the Opposition, is it? It's not really a positive, forward-leaning agenda for Australia and its future that we hear from him. Indeed, you wouldn't expect that from an opposition leader on a day when we've reached 70.1 per cent of double-dose vaccinations Australia-wide. There's no mention of the fact that Australians are leaning in and working together in this pandemic, with the support of the government—with the support of states and territories and the Commonwealth, through our national cabinet—to get through this pandemic in better shape than any other country in the world. And it is not just in a health sense, where we've been able to save 30,000 lives. Thirty thousand human beings have been saved because of the approach that our country has been able to put together, the work we've done together and the difficulties and sacrifices that people have made on behalf of each other. It is an outstanding result.

When we think about what Australians have contributed, we understand that this is going to be a difficult time as we recover and move out of the pandemic. It is the case that the government has spent enormous amounts of time working with our community to make sure we support our economy as we get through this difficult period. That's why you've seen programs like JobKeeper, JobSeeker, the cash flow boost and HomeBuilder—programs to keep the economy moving while we've been in this extraordinary and unprecedented time when government has had to limit the ability of people to work and to operate society normally. We've done that because we know that at the heart of our society is a strong economy and that our economy and the success of our economy are vital for each and every individual, their family and their business, all around this country.

As we move out of the pandemic and we go into the economic recovery phase, what kind of government we have will determine our success in recovering as we move forward. That's the question on people's minds. How can we get our business back on its feet? How can we get our family back on its feet? How can we get our mental health and wellbeing back on their feet? All of it is integrated with the success of people being able to go to work, being able to return to schools, being able to get back to life, being able to plan and think forward, and being able to socialise with each other and work together as communities and families. That's why the government is fully focused on our program to ensure we support that recovery. We heard from the Leader of the Opposition constant criticism of every feature of government policy and constant criticism of everything he thinks is wrong with society. We heard nothing, of course, about what he would do differently. In fact, we heard very little about how a Labor government would support families, individuals and businesses in that recovery process.

There's one thing, though, that he's consistent on. He's consistent on the fact that the Labor Party would use, and would continue to use, the Australian taxation system as its primary vehicle for delivering its policy outcomes. He even said so in his speeches: 'taxes, not technology'. He said that revenue is raised from taxes. That is true. It is, for government. But there's something out there called the private sector. Sometimes we call it a 'sector', but, actually, the private sector is what determines our success as a society. It's more than just a sector. It's more than just a place to collect taxes from. If it doesn't do well, if it doesn't thrive, if it is penalised and punished by oppressive government taxation and regulation, Australia will not thrive and do well. So, when the Leader of the Opposition comes in here and continues to say, 'Well, don't you know that taxes are where we get technology from,' he's missing something very important. If we don't have the right mix of tax incentives and the right plan to get to net zero by 2050, we will not attract private sector investment in this country that will be sustainable and that will be felt as a positive in our region.

Why is the government taking the time to make sure that our plan is the right one for regions and rural communities? Because we know that so much of our economic activity has been built off our productivity in rural and regional areas and that any regime internationally which punishes Australian regions must be dealt with by an Australian government first, as a primary consideration. That's what the government is taking the time to do. If we look carefully at what the Leader of the Opposition just said, he's referring back to the fact that, at the core of Labor policy—the Labor way—he wants to use the Australian taxation system to force changes in behaviour. We've seen this movie before. The Labor Party continues to demonstrate that it does not understand: 'Taxation 1', 'Taxation 2', 'Taxation 3'—the sequels are worse than the original. The Australian public continues to reflect on the fact that they do not want governments to punish them for their life choices.

We can do this with technology—not through taxes. The government is right to use technology to get us to where we need to go, because technology represents that great hope that Barack Obama was talking about. We don't hear it from the Leader of the Opposition. There's no audacity in his speech, because he doesn't want to focus on the hope of humanity, human progress and advancement, which require the least amount of government in people's lives and the least amount of taxation and regulation that you can possibly put forward for people on business and on society, so people can make genuine choices and can make the right choices and do what they think is right for the planet and the climate. We know that people will do that when they're incentivised to do so—not when they're punished and not when the taxation system is used. But we know one thing about the last 13 years, and that is that Labor is addicted to taxes and continues to be addicted to taxes.

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Isaacs!

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And that is not the view of the government or the view of the parliament; that's the view of the Australian people, by the way, and that's because, every single time the Labor Party comes forward with an approach, what they mean is: 'We're going to use the tax system to force people to do what they don't want to be doing.'

The incentives this government has provided over so many years have led to emissions reduction. We are seeing emissions reduction that is real. We have not just met our Kyoto 1 targets; we have met our Kyoto 2 targets and we've met our Paris targets. We will meet, and beat, our Paris targets. That, of course, is what Australians do: we lean in. We lean in, in an international sense, in our region when we help our neighbours in the Pacific through this pandemic, as a priority for this government. We lean in in our region when we help our neighbours in Indonesia. We lean in in Afghanistan when we establish an air bridge to rescue 4,100 people in a matter of 10 days, which was an unprecedented effort where we helped people who were in need in Afghanistan—

Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will pause for a moment. Member for Isaacs, I have indicated to you that you need to cease interjecting at the level that you are. If you continue to do so, you will be removed under 94(a). Minister.

Alex Hawke (Mitchell, Liberal Party, Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a great country because Australians do just that when there's a crisis. We've responded so well because we've come together. We've stayed together. In all the challenges we have seen around the world, our society has performed the best because people have come together in an unprecedented way. Through its economic agenda, the government supports all of the work that Australians are doing and will continue to make those investments in people and businesses as we go forward.

We've seen, of course, JobTrainer, our modern manufacturing strategy and the biggest investment that we have seen in the Australian defence industry, meaning we will have a long-term, sustainable manufacturing industry here in Australia. We continue to see that at record levels of spending.

When they put that together, Australians know that the Morrison coalition government has got their back. Every single day, when they go back to work, when they go back to re-open those businesses to get their customers back in, they go back to work on their farms, in their businesses, in their lives, they'll have a government that does not want to punish them for getting back, getting on with it and recovering from what has been a very difficult period. Instead, this government will continue to incentivise people to get on with their lives and make the decisions they need to make. We won't punish them. Of course we won't use the tax system to punish them for the choices they make. We can solve the world's problems and Australians' problems with our positive plans and incentives that rely on the good nature of humans, the development of technology and the real science that means we can answer these questions. Our government knows it. We're going to back technology. We aren't going to use taxes. We are going to let the Australian people get on with it, get back on their feet and get back to what they do best: running their own lives.

Emma McBride (Dobell, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I just wish the government did listen to the science. This government has had eight long years in power and, in that time, they have failed the community I represent on the Central Coast of New South Wales. The cost of living has never been higher. House prices are soaring, petrol prices are skyrocketing as we get back on the roads and local jobs are hard to find. As we faced COVID-19, the government sat on their hands and watched as vaccines were ripped away from our community and sent to Sydney. They've overlooked local businesses, who have struggled during lockdown, with many still waiting on their COVID payments.

They've failed the recognise the Central Coast as a standalone region. At the start of this year's statewide lockdown in New South Wales, the Central Coast was lumped in with Greater Sydney. Then, in the middle of lockdown, we were reclassified as regional. Then, once the New South Wales lockdown was lifted, the Central Coast was 'metro' and coasties were forbidden to travel to travel to other regional areas in New South Wales. Then we were promised, with the road map, that we could travel to the regions when we hit 80 per cent fully vaccinated. I fully support the health advice, but we hit that milestone and the goalpost was moved again. This government has failed to act during this pandemic. The Central Coast was recognised as a standalone region by Labor over a decade ago, and this government needs to treat it like one.

They have failed to act and protect coasties from COVID-19. When the vaccine rollout first began, we were overlooked. The first hospital hubs were in Newcastle and Hornsby. There were none on the coast. Healthcare workers were told they'd have to travel to RPA, Westmead or Liverpool to get their vaccine to protect them and to protect the people they care for. The government then promised to deliver by June a vaccine hub for people living with a disability on the coast. That wasn't set up and running until September, four months later, while vulnerable people were at risk and not protected by this government.

At the height of the pandemic, with cases on the coast, hundreds of vaccines were ripped away and taken to Sydney. When I asked the Prime Minister about this in question time he said, 'It's a matter for the Premier.' It's always someone else's fault with this Prime Minister. He never takes responsibility and he always blames others.

The Prime Minister has failed to help businesses across the Central Coast and many other parts of regional Australia that have been hit by bushfires, floods and the pandemic, especially during this latest lockdown. Thousands of businesses across the coast were forced to wind back or shut down completely during lockdown. Some won't reopen. They were promised support and they were let down. This government failed to help them. They passed the buck to the states to provide COVID support payments instead. There were many businesses on the coast who were eligible for the payment, but some of them have told me that they're still waiting to receive any support. It's not good enough. After four months in lockdown, supporting their families and their workers, business owners deserve proper support. While they didn't offer support to businesses, the government did offer COVID supplements to individuals—if only more people had been eligible. The eligibility criteria for COVID support payments were so strict that many people were ruled out altogether. They were forced to go without help, in the middle of a lockdown, for week after week.

Clearly this government has completely forgotten the people of the Central Coast and regional Australia. We have been completely overlooked on all fronts but especially when it comes to regional funding. In the lead-up to the last election this government promised to deliver commuter car parks on the Central Coast of New South Wales. We're now at the end of 2021, and still no work has been done. Then, earlier this year, we learnt that around 90 per cent of grants under round 5 of the Building Better Regions Fund went to coalition-held or marginal seats—90 per cent of the grants. None of the money went to projects in Dobell in the community I represent on the northern part of the Central Coast, but a number of projects in the neighbouring Liberal-held seat of Robertson received a slice of the funds. Now, in the latest round of regional rorts, we've learnt that 55 per cent of all regional grants announced by this government since 2018 have gone to projects in big cities. They've completely overlooked regions like the Central Coast in favour of people living in big cities.

This government's inaction during the pandemic is typical of their pattern of failure to protect Australians over the past eight years, especially those living outside of big cities. They've completely ignored regional Australians, especially people living in my community on the Central Coast and especially younger people living in my community on the Central Coast. Clearly we're not a priority for them. Eight years of their inaction has been eight years too many. Regional Australia deserves better. The coast deserves better. We deserve a Prime Minister for all Australia.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

At the outset I want to acknowledge the member for Dobell's past as a pharmacist and a fine pharmacist at that. Much of what she spent the bulk of the first part of her speech on should have been directed at the New South Wales government. They are matters out of the federal government's control. I acknowledge that she is concerned about her constituents, as we all are. We all come to this place to represent the constituents in our own electorates, and we do it to the very best of our ability, but much of what she spoke about was a state issue. I appreciate that we are the Commonwealth government, but they are matters that are out of our control and that we handed to the state government, being the administrators of public health in the New South Wales state.

As a former deputy prime minister and indeed as a regional member, I am proud of the regional infrastructure rollout and the regional funding that we have delivered in more than eight years of government. I've been in this place long enough to remember what was done during the first term that I served in this place, when the Labor-Greens alliance was in power. There is now $110 billion of money for infrastructure across this nation, a third of which is going into regional areas. Deputy Speaker Llew O'Brien, you would know about the Tiaro bypass and how important that is—$183 million. It is going to save lives. Much of the infrastructure that we're rolling out, as far as roads are concerned, is going to do just that. During my time as DPM, the $2½ billion Local Road and Community. Infrastructure Program was established, and I'm very proud of that. The mayor of Bland Shire at West Wyalong, Councillor Brian Monaghan, said to me only the other day that in 30 years he's not seen the amount of money that's being spent in local governments. He said that it's a record amount of money and that it's going to those little areas that would otherwise be devoid of spending. Now, I didn't see that sort of funding going out to local councils and to those local projects when Labor was in power in those six sorry years under Kevin Rudd and Julia Gillard and then, of course, Mr Rudd again.

If you look at the spending, there are more than 32,000 infrastructure projects with federal investment across all electorates—not just regional ones, but each and every one of the 151 electorates across Australia. There is increased funding for road black spots; R2R; and spending on heavy-vehicle safety and productivity projects. As you would also be well aware, Deputy Speaker, we established the Office of Road Safety and, indeed, the Office of Future Transport Technology. We established that in 2018. They are making such a difference not only in identifying road safety initiatives as well as funding them, but also in what we need to do as far as future technologies in the important transport space.

When we talk of regional infrastructure I am very, very proud of the water infrastructure that we are putting in place as we speak. There's an additional $2 billion to the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund taking it up to $3½ billion, establishing the National Water Grid.

I can recall going to see the Rookwood Weir progress in April this year. What a project that is. In this place yesterday in question time I heard murmurings from the opposition about the fact we had not built a dam. Well, yes, we have, Scottsdale dam. It started in 2018 and was finished earlier this year, in north-east Tasmania, making such a difference for the farmers in that area. Not only that, in New South Wales Dungowan and Wyangala dams have converted to grant funding. Initially the New South Wales government requested loans which was going to be forthcoming. Then they wanted it as grants so that's what we have provided. There's the Mitiamo pipeline in Victoria. Emu Swamp Dam has commenced—a particular pet project of mine—in the seat of Maranoa. We are getting on with the job of building that important piece of infrastructure.

We've delivered more than $60 million for the redevelopment of Newcastle Airport. I can recall when we gave Newcastle Airport international status. Well, now we are putting money into making sure that it is even better and we're doing it at the same time that defence is upgrading the important runway and other infrastructure there. So rather than Labor talking about any inaction; it's been eight years of action, eight years of delivery, eight years of getting on with the job—not just making the announcements but actually doing the work, putting the business cases in and delivering.

Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Well, after that speech we certainly had it confirmed that the coalition are the Seinfeld of Australian politicians. They've made it an art form doing nothing. If only the Prime Minister had ordered new vaccines we might have avoided locking down two of our largest cities for months at a time, and all those other areas. 'It's not a race' he said. Well, it was a race and we started with both legs tied together, because of the inaction of this coalition government. If only the Prime Minister listened to the experts instead of all those empty vessel backbenchers. The Prime Minister was warned by fire chiefs before the Black Summer bushfires that we were at risk of a serious bushfire season. We needed more aerial firefighting equipment so we'd have a better chance of saving property and lives. But what did he do? He ignored them and did nothing. Then after much of the country was burning all he could say was, 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' If only the Abbott-Truss, Turnbull-Truss, Turnbull-Joyce, Turnbull-McCormack, Morrison-McCormack, Morrison-Joyce governments had acted on climate change instead of leading a party of head in the sand climate deniers, our nation would be much safer and heading in a much better direction. The coalition have made things worse.

This year Australia ranked last for climate action out of nearly 200 countries in a global report that assessed progress towards global substantial development goals—last! This is the Prime Minister who, when he was Treasurer, proudly brought in a lump of coal into question time to taunt Labor about our renewable energy policies. Instead of playing bullyboy tactics with his beloved lump of coal, if only the then Treasurer had actually developed some policies on renewable energy himself. This is devastating on so many levels. The coalition's inaction has left Australia exposed to more environmental threats, like more intense bushfires, as well as economic risks, like international carbon tariffs preventing our products going out. Australians are missing out. On Scott Morrison's watch 2,700 clean energy jobs have disappeared. The world's climate emergency is Australia's jobs opportunity. That's what the world understands. Global capital is moving rapidly towards renewable energy. We have a once in a generation opportunity for Australia to jump ahead of the pack with Australian renewable energy made by Australian workers and Australian technology right here at home. The coalition are squandering this opportunity. They don't care about climate volatility. They are only worried about backbench volatility. As I am sure you would know, Deputy Speaker, yesterday in Queensland we had the biggest hailstones on record—16 centimetre hailstones coming at your car. But the coalition are only concerned about backbencher volatility. The Nationals should be concerned about the bush and the climate.

It's not even weak leadership; it's non-existent leadership. It's a sitcom that works like that COVID app. We actually need a good leader who inspires and motivates action. It's hard to inspire and motivate action when you run off to Hawaii when the going gets tough. It's hard to inspire and motivate action when you are in denial about any problem even existing. It's hard to inspire and motivate action when you just blame everyone else when things go pear-shaped. But this is the leader who currently sits in The Lodge. To steal a quote from General George Patton: 'Lead me, follow me or get out of my way.' Australia can't afford to wait any longer for real leadership.

The Morrison government just aren't up to the job. They are too scared to even admit there is a problem. Australia needs a government with courage and a government with vision. Australia needs an Albanese Labor government with ambition, a Labor government that creates jobs, cuts power prices and reduces emissions—net zero emissions by 2050 and enshrine this target in legislation. Labor will rewire the nation to become a renewable energy superpower. Labor's $15 billion national reconstruction fund will create secure jobs for Australian workers, drive regional economic development, boost our sovereign capabilities and diversify our economy. It will partner with the private sector on investments that will grow the economy and jobs, including in renewables and low-emissions technologies like wind turbines, batteries and solar panels that lead on to other jobs, and will modernise fuel and aluminium, hydrogen electrolysers and so many more that I don't have time to go through.

The Morrison government is stuck in the past. This is the time when we need a leader with a vision and ambition for Australia. This is the time for real leadership. Australia can't afford to waste any more time on a do-nothing coalition government. We need action now, not a poor man's— (Time expired)

Katie Allen (Higgins, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There's now an economic transformation in progress around the world, and our government recognises and has been working on providing scalable commercialisable solutions to help Australia pivot to the new energy order. But building to this point has taken months and years. Changes to an economy of this magnitude cannot happen overnight. All of this takes time. Anyone who has been in leadership positions in the real world knows that, if you want to build a building at a school or hospital, it doesn't happen overnight. It takes years of planning and commitment to actually translate those to outcomes. A lot of work needs to happen, work which includes technological development, the building of businesses, the building of new infrastructure and the development of new customers and trade partnerships. I know it has been a long time since those opposite have been in government, but building businesses, infrastructure and new technology takes time.

We have a plan to get to net zero by 2050 that is achievable, accountable and economically viable. Those on that side are all about targets and no plan. A target without a plan is simply wishful thinking. It is what you do when all you care about are votes and not having an impact. Our plan has been under development for years. In fact it has resulted in the release of Australia's first low-emissions technology strategy. I would like this place to be debating those issues, not wishful thinking about targets that have no meaning, not wishful thinking about targets that have no plan. I would like to hear those opposite talking about our technology investment road map and having real debates about issues that are going to have an effect on Australians—that are going to happen, whether we like it or not. I would like to hear them talking about our road map, which will support $80 billion of public and private investment by 2030 and support 160,000 jobs.

We are making a shift to a long-term commitment to a net zero future because we know we should and we know we can. We don't believe in offering false hope with hastily made targets on the run. When we commit, Australians can be confident that we will deliver. We are doing the hard work right across the economy—on energy, transport, manufacturing and agriculture. We have been clear that we will continue to invest record amounts in renewables and in the highest solar uptake in the world. Australia is building wind and solar around three times faster than Europe or the USA on a per person basis. Australia has the world's highest uptake of rooftop solar, with one in four homes having rooftop solar panels.

But we just can't rely on the sun and wind. We've seen that with the recent wind drought in the UK. As everyone knows, the sun goes down at night and rises in the morning, but overnight you can't use solar. We need power to back up the intermittency of renewables. We need firming power. We understand this, on this side. To this issue we've made a commitment using gas and hydropower for that firming power in the short and medium term to help us pivot off our traditional energy sources. Our investment in Snowy Hydro 2.0 will mean clean energy and more jobs.

Tasmania is leading the way with its wonderful hydropower, which has more than enough to help not only itself but also mainland Australia. We will make that happen. We will make Tasmania the battery of the nation through development of the Marinus Link. More than that, we know that the private sector is also investing in hydro. We know, through the Clean Energy Finance Corporation, the world's largest government-led green bank, and ARENA, that we're investing in scalable, commercial, clean-tech solutions to fuel our manufacturing, ag and export sectors. These five clean-tech, commercial stretch targets aim to get clean hydrogen under $2 a kilo. These are facts. This is commercial. This is what business needs. We're looking for electricity from storage for firming under $100 per megawatt hour. We need green steel production under $900 per tonne and low-emission aluminium under $2 per tonne. We need carbon capture and storage under $20 per tonne of CO2, and soil cover measurement under $3 per hectare.

The significant amount of work from this government to build a plan for our future has reached a momentous point not only for our environment but also for our economy. I'm proud to say that since day one in this place I've been working very hard every day inside the government. In my first speech I said that climate change is real and affects us all. It's not just an environmental imperative to act. It's an economic one.

Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

[by video link] Can you think of a more abject failure of political leadership in living memory? Laura Tingle asked this question in the Australian Financial Review last week. I know what my answer is: a resounding no. I cannot think of a bigger failure of leadership than the Morrison government. There are dozens of examples of the Prime Minister running away from his responsibilities. His first reaction to any problem created by his government is to deny it exists, and then detract and deflect. Eventually, if there is enough pressure applied, he will admit the problem but then shift the blame to someone else. When he acts, it is always too late. This has become a pattern of behaviour we all recognise. He said, 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' It's so obvious and blatant that it's eroding the public's trust in government. Importantly, it is also eroding the government's capacity to do what is in the best interests of Australians and the future of our nation. Whether it's climate change, robodebt, aged care, car park rorts and sports rorts, or our pandemic response, he never shows leadership—just more spin.

Australia deserves better than this. Now more than ever, as we recover from this pandemic, we need strong leadership and a vision that is not just about winning the next election but is about what is good for individuals, families, small business and the environment. The Prime Minister is trying to claim credit for Australia's roadmap out of the pandemic as we begin opening up, but we all know it is his fault that millions of Australians have had to endure repeated lockdowns for almost two years. As a Victorian, I know just how tough it has been for everyone to endure lockdowns, let alone hearing the Prime Minister for New South Wales and his Treasurer constantly undermining the extraordinary efforts of Victorians. It was blatantly obvious to all of us that the Prime Minister prioritised New South Wales when hundreds and thousands of vaccines were diverted there ahead of Victoria, which has waited too long for adequate vaccine supply.

Then there's his woeful eight years of inaction on climate change. This is one of the Prime Minister's biggest failures and Australia's great shame. After years of talking down renewables and spruiking coal, he now claims he wants to act, but it's still too little too late. And, honestly, the people of Australia just don't believe a word he says. Most of the developed world is decarbonising. We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity for Australia to get ahead of the pack. Instead, we have the National Party holding the Morrison government to ransom. It's not only embarrassing; it's devastating, and it will be costly. If Australia does not decarbonise, it will be punished economically through sanctions imposed by other nations.

The Prime Minister refused to commit to attending the Glasgow summit until he was shamed into doing so. It took Australian comedian Dan Ilic displaying messages on New York's Times Square billboards to get him to change his mind. The billboard messages—of burning native animals and other images highlighting Australia's appalling climate change policies—appeared last Thursday morning. By that afternoon the Prime Minister announced he was going to attend the Glasgow COP26 climate summit. Dan Ilic said in an interview with CNN that our Prime Minister is 'running away' from the crisis and, 'This what we have to do in this country, we have to drag our leaders to lead us.' How can we trust this Prime Minister with our future? This Prime Minister refuses to take responsibility and blames others for his government's failures. This is the Prime Minister who fled to Hawaii for a holiday while Australia burned in horrific bushfires in 2019.

Australians are demanding a government that has courage and vision—a vision for the future full of possibilities and opportunities, a vision that puts people ahead of political gain and a vision that focuses on strengthening our economy and having higher wages, secure work and more jobs. Labor has a plan to turn the challenges of the present into opportunities for the future. A Labor government won't run away from problems. Labor will secure a better future, a future fit for us now and for generations to come.

Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

If politics is the battle of ideas then this MPI should be renamed 'touching the void', because I swear to you the Labor Party have never found an idea that they won't run away from. They have completely, absolutely and abjectly given up on engaging this government and the Australian public on the things that matter. This MPI feels like something that was designed by an evil genius without any evil and certainly with no genius. If we are to take the member for Corangamite, the previous speaker, at her word and blame Scott Morrison for the lockdowns then we should thank him for the freedoms that we are all about to enjoy. The one thing he will not, however, ever take responsibility for is the haircut of the member for Isaacs. That is probably somewhere that he can't go.

This MPI is as scattered as confetti. It has no purpose. It achieves and seeks to hold no-one to account and only allow those opposite to bring forward nothing but a grab bag of complaints, whinges and whines while hiding from the fact that they present to the Australian people no alternative. It is Monty Python-esque in its comedic errors—'What did the Romans ever do for us?' The aqueducts, sanitation, education, wine and all those sorts of things. Someone has been watching too much Life of Brian.

When we get to questions concerning Australians under the age of 40—things like housing affordability—those opposite have nothing to say. Why do they have nothing to say? Because they have no ideas to offer. We have the situation where house prices in Australia have increased by 16 times since the 1990s and wages have increased only four times. If not for the policies of this government, such as HomeMaker, which has led to an absolute surge in building approvals and buildings for Australians and first home buyers, this problem would be acutely worse. According to the New South Wales government, there is an undersupply of 100,000 homes in Sydney. You wouldn't know that from listening to those opposite, because they don't care about Australians under the age of 40. They don't care about their issues, because they don't meet them in the boardrooms of industry super. You only meet them out on the streets, where people care about getting on with their lives. Those opposite have never met working-class Australians, because they are now fully and completely paid-up members of industry super. Ordinary Australians, those people under 40, have a choice between saving for their home or listening to the legislation of those opposite, where they forcibly remove 10 per cent of their incomes to give to the trillion-dollar industry super sector that donates so much to the Australian Labor Party.

They're not about organised labour anymore—and I acknowledge the former president of the ACTU over there—they're actually about organised capital. I wonder what the view of the former president of the ACTU is on the Finance Sector Union this week suing Cbus for trying to take money from workers. I haven't heard a single peep from those opposite about workers being ripped off by industry super. They have the gall to come into this chamber and accuse us of inaction, while they will not raise a finger, they will not raise a hand in support of working-class Australians who are trying to buy their own home, who are trying to get ahead. They only offer more money to their donors in the form of increased superannuation payments. They only offer them higher taxes. I quote Senator Gallagher, from the other place, who on Sunday confirmed that they're looking at a carbon tax. The shadow Treasurer has a ready said, yes, they'll be taxing different entities, more money. The one thing we can guarantee from Labor is that they will tax you more, they will take away your hope and they will give you no reason to work harder to build something for the future.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Wow, I need some earplugs! This country needs a leader, one that actually wants to lead, not someone who simply wants the title. The Prime Minister has been given countless opportunities to lead this country when we desperately needed it, but instead of stepping up he steps back time and again, and we have seen him pass the buck to someone else. In 2019 experts, including former fire chiefs, warned the Prime Minister of the serious risk of the impending fire season. They urged him to invest in aerial firefighting capacity. He ignored these warnings, left the country and went on holidays. Yes, I am again talking about bushfires. In fact, the last time I spoke in parliament about the ongoing and compounding effects of the Black Summer bushfires followed by the pandemic, the response I had from one government minister was, 'With all due respect, the bushfires were 18 months ago.'

I am well aware of how much time has passed since the bushfires, because I won't forget that summer. I'll never forget standing in front of a room of terrified community members and telling them that, if they weren't prepared to defend their homes and their lives, they needed to leave. I'll never forget the days, the weeks and the months that followed those terrifying events and the ongoing trauma that so many people are still grappling with, and I don't need this government to tell me how much time has passed. The reason I stand up in here time and again is that, despite how much time has passed, people in my community are still desperate. They are in desperate need of support, and in truth I don't want to be the bushfire reminder. I am tired of having to stand in here to beg and plead with the government to take action and to continue to take action to prioritise the recovery of bushfire communities. Scott Morrison failed these communities when he was in Hawaii. He failed these communities when he said, 'I don't hold a hose.' And he continued to fail these communities by sitting on money that was earning interest, instead of taking action.

Two years ago this government set up the $4 billion disaster fund. Two years later and more than 18 months since the Black Summer bushfires the Morrison-Joyce government has only released $50 million from this fund. During that time that fund has earned the government over $700 million in interest. The fund has earned 14 times as much in interest than it has actually been spent. The fund was designed to pay out $200 million each year to councils, with $150 million set aside for recovery and $50 million for infrastructure projects to lessen the impact of disasters. But here we are once again approaching another disaster season with nothing built, no jobs created, no communities protected, because this government prioritises its bank balance or the possibility of an election slush fund over anything else. This is just another example of the Prime Minister's big promises with no delivery.

The bushfires, followed by the pandemic and along with floods in between, has meant that individuals, businesses and communities in my electorate are struggling now more than ever. Numerous border closures and lockdowns have hurt these communities more than this government seems to understand. Businesses in my area can't simply bounce back. The alpine region can't recoup their losses until the next winter rolls around. They've got more than six long months ahead of them, where they don't know how they are going to make ends meet to pay their bills.

This shouldn't have happened. This year's lockdowns and border closures were preventable. The problem was that the Prime Minister didn't prioritise the vaccine rollout. He said it wasn't a race. He treated it like anything but a race. He was too slow to order vaccines. We know other nations ordered theirs in July; the Prime Minister waited until November. He knocked back Pfizer. He didn't order enough vaccines, and he didn't order a variety of vaccines. As a result, more people have been exposed to COVID, businesses have suffered billions of dollars in economic loss and incredible pressure every day and Australians have experienced huge amounts of stress, trying to cope with working from home and homeschooling.

The stress from these lockdowns is more intense for people living in regional areas, because the lockdowns have brought to light the other failings of this government. For years this government hasn't invested enough in regional infrastructure. While the rest of the country was working and learning from home, people in my electorate were grappling with poor internet connectivity. This impacted not only countless businesses but also students. People on satellite internet can't buy additional data, because of legislation put in place by this government. New South Wales is opening up, which is fantastic, but the damage is done to regional communities. It's time to get rid of this government after a decade of inaction.

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a great day for the strength of Australia and the strength of the great Aussie spirit. We've reached over 70 per cent of double dose vaccinations. I'd like to give a shout-out to my own community of Penrith, the Penrith LGA, where we've received 84 per cent. That's such a wonderful achievement.

This is about Aussies backing each other and Aussies getting on with the job, and that's just what we've been doing. We've been getting on with the job of supporting Australians through the pandemic, and now we are coming through and recovering on the other side. We've been supporting them through JobKeeper, JobSeeker and HomeBuilder, with 25,892 applications in my state of New South Wales alone.

We've been backing our manufacturers, and we've been backing jobs. This is what we've been doing throughout the pandemic and what we will keep our focus on. In fact, we were the first developed nation in the world to have more people in work after the pandemic than prior to the pandemic. Between May 2020 and June 2021, more than one million jobs were created. That's because we've been getting behind Aussies, and we've been supporting them through the pandemic so that they can do what they do best—getting on with the job and getting on with their lives.

This is the difference between the positive plan that we have—supported by technology, which we're very focused on—and the doom and gloom of Labor and their taxes, which they are completely obsessed about. In fact, the opposition leader couldn't even get through a speech during his MPI without mentioning the word 'taxes'. My community, the community of Lindsay, has not forgotten the taxes that would have been imposed if Labor had been in power: the housing tax, the retirees tax, taxes on electricity, taxes on cars, taxes on income and taxes on investment.

Investment is important. That's what we're doing; we're investing in the future of Australians. We're investing in important industries, like manufacturing, which is so important in my community of Lindsay, with over 600 manufacturers and over 6,000 jobs. When we look at manufacturing under Labor, one in eight manufacturing jobs were lost. This is extraordinary. Now we have a growing and thriving manufacturing industry in Western Sydney. A testament to this—and I visited just last week—is Scott from All Cast PPE, who has moved his factory to Penrith to produce personal protective equipment. We're investing in manufacturers, and they're investing in local jobs, employing local people, and also contributing to Australia's sovereign capability.

Another manufacturer tells me that he's investing in local trainees, which is so important, and this is backed by the Morrison government and the work that we're doing to support local manufacturers. Mal Hiley of Baker & Provan tells me that he has a personal passion for apprenticeships. They currently have six apprentices between first and fourth year, including two women commencing their fitting and machining trade. That is absolutely fantastic news. We're backing manufacturers and getting behind them. That's what it's all about—investing in them.

They're also investing in the technology that they use to expand their business. Tracy at Plustec in Emu Plains tells me that, because of our instant asset write-off program, she has been able to purchase new equipment, including a new upstroke cut saw for about $100,000. They not only gain a tax deduction but also the benefits of improved efficiencies through greater productivity, and that's fantastic news. We're investing in technology, definitely not taxes, and the obsession is still there with the Labor Party.

Another thing that we are investing in is the future of Australians. We've backed them through this pandemic. As we emerge out of the pandemic, we're enabling them to get on with the job, to get on with supporting each other through their communities—which we've been absolutely doing—so they can get back to work, get back to their families and get back to their lives.