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

At the moment there is a terrific air of optimism across the Parkes electorate. On just under 400,000 square kilometres of New South Wales on the eastern side of Parkes the harvest of one of the biggest grain crops has commenced. Those farmers have come out of years of drought they had. Apart from that, there are enormous construction projects, like the Inland Rail, and all of the work that the 18 councils and the unincorporated area in my electorate are doing through the drought communities fund and the local roads and community infrastructure fund, which was brought about during the COVID pandemic.

On an individual basis there are enormous opportunities for employment. There is a lot of talk about some of the agricultural jobs. There are enormous opportunities in all professions—from education to health, law and trades. There are enormous opportunities for people who want to move west to the fabulous communities that make up the Parkes electorate. There are enormous opportunities in the building industry as towns like Dubbo are growing at an exponential rate. The only thing holding them back is the amount of people to build the houses that are required. If we struggle to get Australian people to move there, I'm all for and support a migration program that brings skilled people with aptitude and courage into my electorate.