Andrew Wallace (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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

The Government's focus on itself instead of on the problems affecting 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—

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

This is not a government; this is a shambles, a rabble defined by division, disunity and dishonesty. And that's not the problem; the problem is that the result of that has led to dysfunction, and the government's incompetence is having a real impact on real people. This is a government which, in the lead-up to Christmas, were too busy giving each other pats on the back and high fives to worry about the crisis that was impending. Riding around in a racing car around Bathurst—remember that? The great pretender was pretending he was a racing car driver, saying he was looking through the windscreen, not looking through the rear-view mirror. Well, if he were looking forward, he would have been planning for the crisis, because that crisis is at its most acute in aged care.

There have been over 600 deaths this year. There are 1,176 outbreaks right now. Tens of thousands of aged-care residents have not got their booster shots. Over half the aged-care workforce have not got their booster shots, 12,000 residents and workers are infected as we speak, and between 20 and 25 per cent of staff are off each and every day. Residents—in 2022, in Australia—are unable to get food and water and are having their wounds untended because no-one is looking after them. They're unable to get a shower or even get a wash. This is the real-life experience of older Australians today. Most tragically, older Australians, many of whom we know are in aged care affected by dementia, are scared, frightened and alone, locked in their rooms, in their last days. Their loved ones are unable to go and say goodbye.

And yet we have this hand-picked minister who has shown complete contempt for the fundamentals of doing his job. He's a minister who is too busy to attend committee meetings and be held accountable and too lazy to know what's going on in the sector. What is his response when he finally turns up to a committee meeting? He says the sector is going 'exceptionally well'. That's his response. This is a prime minister who has said repeatedly that it wasn't appropriate for the Defence Force to go into aged care: 'No, they can't assist there.' He just yesterday changed his mind on that and sent the Defence Force into aged care, one month after the former Liberal Premier Mike Baird, who now leads one of the major aged-care providers, called for it. It follows, of course, the flip at the National Press Club on providing any support at all to aged-care workers, with a $400 payment—one to be given in March and one to be given, almost with how-to-votes, in May. What a cynical exercise by a cynical political government! But what they haven't taken account of is that it's a pro rata payment. Do you know what the figure is of direct-care workers in aged care who are permanent full time? It's six per cent. Six per cent of people will get the $400. It says everything about the need for secure work in this country—the fact that a sector like that is in a position where just six per cent are permanent full time. The aged-care crisis is indicative of the way this Prime Minister and this government approach every issue. It's always too little, too late, and it's always the case that they ignore a problem until it becomes a crisis.

In the first summer when I was Labor leader, we had the bushfire crisis, where the Prime Minister said that he didn't hold a hose, showed no empathy and acted, in the words of the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, as 'more concerned with politics than people'. The second summer was the summer of the vaccine neglect—'It's not a race!'—that led to the failure when it came to lockdowns and the slow rollout of the boosters. And the third, of course, was rapid antigen tests. 'It's not my job; it's not my job.' He thinks his job is dressing up. Whether it's a racing car driver, a fighter pilot, a cook, or a hairdresser washing someone's hair last Friday—if you want photo-ops he's your guy, but if you want someone to govern the country you should vote Labor when the election comes, because the fact is that this Prime Minister is too busy pretending to do other jobs to do his day job.

The crisis continues, and not just in aged care. Real wages are going backwards, insecure work is increasing, productivity is flatlining, living standards are falling, people are becoming more and more insecure, and yet this parliament sits for 10 days in six months because they have no agenda for this term, let alone an agenda for a second day in office. This is a government in which the latest PM, when he got the job, described the government in his own words as a 'muppet show'. At least The Muppet Show was educational! The problem is that this government never learns anything from its mistakes. They're just repeated over and over again, because it's all politics, no substance. At the height of the bushfires, the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, called that out. She called that out at a time when people were losing their lives, people were losing their homes and communities were under siege.

The Deputy Prime Minister said he regarded the Prime Minister as 'a hypocrite and liar from my observations and that is over a long time.' That was after he had served as Deputy Prime Minister the first time, sat in a cabinet with the then Treasurer for six years and served in parliament side by side with him for 15 years. This was a considered opinion in the context of the Prime Minister saying that no-one told him about a reported sexual assault just metres from his office for two years, even though his own office knew, people in parliament knew, it occurred in the defence minister's office and the defence minister's chief of staff went to work for him just after the alleged incident occurred.

I say this to the Australian people—and I don't think, I know this to be the case. Imagine if this government fought for you with the energy that they fight each other. Imagine if they had that commitment, that diligence and that passion that they show when they fight each other. If they did that, they'd be fighting for the interests of aged-care residents. If they did that, they'd be fighting for the interests of aged-care workers. If they did that, they'd be fighting for the interests of people in insecure work. If they did that, they'd be fighting for people whose living standards are going backwards because wages aren't keeping up with the cost of housing and rent, the cost of petrol and the cost of food and groceries. Young people are struggling to buy a house. This government says that it's all okay, it's all hunky-dory, even at the height where you have people in aged care being locked away and being unable to get the basic essentials of care, and there isn't food on the shelves of supermarkets. When we have an absolute crisis, the government are all spin and no substance, which is why they don't deserve another term in office.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What do we hear from those opposite? We hear more negativity, at a time when Australians are looking for leadership. They're looking for leadership in the middle of a global pandemic—

Hon. Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

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

The assistant minister will pause for a moment. Members will leave the chamber quietly, thank you. The assistant minister has the call.

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks, Mr Deputy Speaker. Australians are looking for leadership, and they're looking for messages that are not negative. That's what we hear continually from those opposite, including the Leader of the Opposition—constant negativity. They're constantly talking down the nation, constantly talking down the government. Well, I'm really proud to stand up in this House, as a member of the Morrison government—a member of the Australian government—as the Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services and as the member for Petrie, because I'm part of a government that does focus on Australians and that does care about what they need in order to live their lives to the full.

Jobs and employment are things that are close to my heart. There are now more Australians in work today than when I was elected, in 2013, when Labor lost office. There are so many more Australians in work today. The level of unemployment is at the lowest level recorded in the last 12 years. In March 2021, Australia became the first advanced economy to have more people in employment than before the pandemic. That's great for local people—that they have jobs available and that there are advertised options. I was talking to someone in my own electorate this week about the opportunity to move from permanent part-time work into full-time work within a school system. She was jumping at that opportunity, and she will talk to her principal about it.

That is 13,242,000 Australians in employment. In December alone, employment rose by 64,800 jobs and the level of youth unemployment—for those people aged 15 to 25, who make up 15 per cent of the Australian population—dropped below 10 per cent. That's the first time that has happened since 2008, during the global financial crisis. That's just fantastic, and I want to commend the young people around Australia that have taken those opportunities. It's such good news.

The shadow Treasurer, who's sitting opposite right now, said, 'The biggest single test of the government's management of the pandemic will be what happens to the unemployment rate.' Well, I agree with the member for Rankin. What we've seen is the unemployment rate going down and down and down, and the Australian government is very happy that this is happening. We represent Australian people, we're there for Australian people, and we're working hard for them every day.

Today, there are more than 146,000 more aged Australians in work than what there were in March 2020. If you go back to the beginning of the pandemic, there are 146,100 more older people in jobs today. Many people listening might not know that the number of manufacturing jobs is also increasing. There are over one million manufacturing jobs in Australia right now—Australian made, which we're all proud to buy. Prior to the pandemic, there were much fewer than that.

We're getting the settings right for business. Whether they're small and family businesses or larger businesses, they employ most Australians, and, so far, we're pleased with what they're doing and we're backing them into the future. That's why the government's JobKeeper program supported 3.8 million jobs and over one million businesses. In fact, we know that it saved 700,000 Australian jobs. Without JobKeeper, which the Morrison government introduced and delivered, 700,000 more Australians would have been out of work. In my own electorate, there's the Aspley Devils, which is a rugby league club down in Brisbane City Council. Its general manager, Mark Newman, said: 'JobKeeper was a fantastic program. It kept our employees tied to the club, which meant, the minute we got the word that we could reopen, we called the staff and they were back to work the next day.'

The opposition leader calls business owners the top end of town, and we certainly know the shadow Treasurer calls them that. But we know that they are just hardworking Australians: mums and dads, small and family businesses that had their shoulders to the wheel and were often the last ones to pay themselves. To back Australia's small-business led recovery from the COVID-19 pandemic, we're extending the SME Recovery Loan Scheme to 30 June this year. Well over $7.3 billion has been provided to businesses since the scheme commenced in March 2020 that has flowed through to employees and created the low unemployment rate we have today. Businesses were helped with the cash flow boost and so many more wage subsidies, and I can't stress too much the boosting apprenticeship scheme, which has got so many young Australians into apprenticeships

If we look at taxes, in my electorate of Petrie over 70,000 residents have benefited from the tax reductions the Morrison government has introduced. That's more money in people's pockets to help with living costs—bread, milk, shoes and uniforms for families whose kids went back to school just yesterday. At every opportunity we've looked to cut taxes. I can't say that about those opposite. They look at every opportunity to raise taxes. We look at reducing them and letting people keep more of their own money. We have small business taxes that are the lowest in over 50 years, and we know that income tax rates are falling further and further as well. With the legislation we've introduced, the maximum tax rate for people earning up to $200,000 is 30c in the dollar, and that will help so many people in my electorate. If you think of all those people who work overtime—tradies, nurses and others—they won't be hit with higher rates of tax, which will make a big difference in their lives. Of course the first $18,200 earned is tax-free. Leadership is about meeting the needs of Australians today and understanding their needs tomorrow.

On Saturday at my mobile office a young person aged 12 years, Harriet Peters Kingshott, gave me a copy of a poem she had written. I was heartened by its positivity and its observation of our wonderful country from different perspectives. Harriet won a national award for 'Gumtrees', which I have in my hand at the dispatch box, and here's an excerpt:

While the humans chattered away, the animals would watch from afar

Dancing to Waltzing Matilda, strummed upon the guitar.

Their farmer hats didn't fit and their suspenders were really quite baggy.

Their cat was outright lazy and their dog was dirty and shaggy.

What a great poem from young Harriet who is 12 years of age. I met her and her mother, Claire Peters, at my mobile office on Saturday, and they were positive about Australia's future. I'm really proud of Harriet Peters Kingshott and other young people like her in the Petrie electorate as well as youth all around the country. I met another young man in my electorate on Saturday when I had a game of snooker with him and he really carved me up. His name is Joshua Hands and he lives in North Lakes. He's 16 years of age, and he is the under-18 champion for snooker and billiards. I started off strongly and potted a few balls, but he did run away with it and really carved me up.

I mention these young people because Australians want positivity from their government. They don't want the negativity of the opposition leader and those opposite, which those listening to this broadcast will continue to hear when the next speaker gets up to speak. As the Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services, I'm encouraged by young Australians. The fact is that they are taking and accepting the challenges, whether through apprenticeships or training that they're getting through JobTrainer or through the Youth Jobs PaTH program that has supported 88,594 young people into work. We're investing $7.1 billion this year alone in skills and training.

I hope not to hear one more Labor member say, 'You're not doing enough for TAFE.' I remind them that we're putting more money into TAFE skills and training than any Australian government in history. I've heard this line and I'm sure the member for Hinkler has heard it as well—they drag it out every three years and state governments do the same, very boring—but the fact is we're investing, we're supporting Australians, we are focused on all Australians and will continue to be. The fact is that in this pandemic the Australian government—the minister for health, the Chief Medical Officer—has saved lives and livelihoods better than anywhere else in the world. That's the record that Australians can be sure of when they vote at the next election. Don't risk Labor and a weak leader. Support the coalition, and we'll continue to deliver for you.

Clare O'Neil (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Senior Australians and Aged Care Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

' NEIL () (): We saw two very different approaches exhibited in question time today to the critical question of aged care. We had the Leader of the Opposition on behalf of the Labor Party asking detailed questions, advocating for the almost 200,000 people who rely on this sector for their lives and livelihoods. Then we had the Prime Minister on the other side of the chamber doing something that I find truly extraordinary—that is, using his position as the leader of this country to minimise the crisis in aged care and minimise the fact that 622 people in aged care have died from COVID just this year.

How can we expect the government to do anything about this crisis when the Prime Minister, instead of acknowledging what is happening today in aged care, is attempting to essentially diminish it to say that other people died in aged care, so the people who died of COVID don't matter? I actually can't believe that he's using his platform in this way. Deputy Speaker, you're a member of parliament who represents constituents. I know that you, like me, must be getting many emails from people in your electorate who are suffering because of the negligence and incompetence of this government and, in particular, Richard Colbeck, the relevant minister. We know that today people in aged care are not getting showered, not getting food and water, and not getting their wounds tended to.

I spoke to the daughter of an aged-care resident whose mother has been in lockdown in her aged-care home for three weeks now. Her mother is deaf. She is sitting in her room on her own. The only person she sees every day is a nurse in full PPE. She's confused, and her daughter is continuously trying to explain to her what's going on. This is what's happening today in our aged-care system, and the Prime Minister diminishes the crisis.

We should never forget that the staff in aged care are also deeply affected by what is happening today. Aged care was already staffed at crisis point before the pandemic hit. We have nurses and carers in this country doing everything they can to protect the people who rely on them in aged care. They're getting no support from the government. The Australian Nursing and Midwifery Foundation were in Canberra today. We heard from Sue, Wendy and Linda. We are asking these people to do the impossible; we are asking them to choose between helping someone who's fallen out of their bed and assisting someone who might be in pain. Deputy Speaker, imagine you and me having to do that job every day. It is inhumane. The Australian parliament should not be asking Australian workers to make those choices.

We've had 662 people die in aged care this year. There are 12,000 current COVID infections. Almost half of all aged-care homes have a COVID outbreak. This has been going on for weeks and weeks. Where is the government? Richard Colbeck goes to the cricket during the worst of this outbreak, not for one day, not for two days, but for three days running. He goes to the cricket while people in his care suffer in misery. He should be focused on this crisis. The Prime Minister does some ridiculous photo op, washing someone's hair, when people in aged care are not being showered. We hear, endlessly, that they're sending each other abusive text messages. Come on! This is a crisis. It needs the full focus of government; instead, they're focusing on themselves.

If Scott Morrison would come and talk to the aged-care nurses, as many Labor members of parliament did today, they would give him a very clear message: this aged-care crisis is not just about COVID; this is about nine years of disgraceful neglect of a sector that cares for some of the most vulnerable people in Australia. We have a royal commission, which the government has just cast aside because it's inconvenient. Find me a person in this country who will say that there's been any improvement since the aged-care royal commission reported a year ago. They do not exist. What was the point of spending two years going through that exercise? Aged care is not a sideshow; it is not some thing that government does just because it feels like it. These people need care. If we are lucky, you will age and I will age. We might end up in aged care too. This is an urgent priority for the federal government, and if Australians want to see aged people in this country looked after appropriately, then at the next election they are going to have to choose a new government.

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Minister for Resources and Water) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Leader of the Opposition always wants to talk about 'pretenders', but he wants to pretend that facts don't exist—that it's all about feelings and not about facts. So here are a couple of facts that we can put on the record—the last three years of delivery by this government, by the numbers: 1.1 million jobs since the pandemic hit; 11½ million Australians benefiting from tax relief; 700,000 jobs saved through JobKeeper; 71.3 per cent of trade and exports now covered by free trade agreements; 815,600 female business operators, as at August 2021; 220,000 trade apprentices—a record high, the highest since records began in 1963; a 20 per cent reduction in emissions; electricity bills down five per cent; 1,213 major transport projects, supporting 100,000 jobs; over 99 per cent of homes and businesses—more than 12 million—with NBN access; over 1,200 mobile black spot base stations now funded, with over 900 already built. There are 135,000 new home projects backed by HomeBuilder. Ninety-three per cent of Australians are protected with vaccines, and we are ranked second in the world for pandemic preparedness, according to the Johns Hopkins index. Seventy defence vessels and 700 vehicles are being built in Australia—and the list goes on and on and on.

But we should come back to the government's focus—that is what this MPI is about—and it is our focus that is helping to deliver those results. In my own portfolio, the results are outstanding—outstanding! I spoke earlier about the 220,000 trade apprentices. The resources sector has put on almost 6,000 of those. That is more than they've put on, combined, for a number of years. They are doing what they need to, in the height of the pandemic. They are doing what they need to, to deliver training and skills for Australians. For all of those mums and dads out there looking for somewhere for their kids to get jobs—well, there is a job for them in the resources sector.

If we want to look at what the results are, the most recent Resources and Energy Quarterly will have them. We'll simply go to coal, a major contributor, to start with: exports totalled $23.8 billion in the three months to December 2021—nearly $24 billion in just 12 weeks, for just one export product. That is 156 per cent higher than for the same period in December 2020. And what is the result? Even with just that one product, that is a massive increase in royalties for state governments and that is an increase in taxes being paid. This is how we pay for the essential services that Australians rely on—schools and roads and hospitals. It's how we meet our commitments. In Queensland, it was reported they got $2½ billion that fell out of the sky! They didn't even expect it. So the Queensland Labor government's got an extra $2½ billion to play with that they didn't have before. That is off the back of the hard work of the men and women in the sector. Liquefied natural gas or LNG exports were $18.3 billion in the three months to December 2021. Once again, that is 148 per cent higher than in the same period last year.

There are risks involved. We have the Leader of the Opposition proposing that there's a change of government: that we—or not 'we', but the people—put the opposition into government and that the Leader of the Opposition becomes Prime Minister Albanese. Clearly, we are opposed, because what will happen is very, very clear. We have seen the member for Melbourne, the Leader of the Greens, out in the press in recent days claiming they will shut down these future projects in the resources sector. They have a target of over 100 projects. I will speak briefly about just a handful. There's Scarborough in WA: roughly $15 billion of investment, of FID, taken by Woodside. This means jobs for Australians; it means more money into our economy; it means more export dollars; and it means more reliability of supply for our domestic gas. There's the Barossa, up in the north, for Santos; it means an upgrade for the Darwin LNG project, for backfill; it means an extension of life; it means more jobs; and it means that we maintain those assets for Australia's benefit. Those are just two projects. I can go on and on and on. We could get across to the Beetaloo and the thousands of jobs for the Northern Territory. What this government is trying to do is bring those jobs forward—bring forward that economic activity; bring forward those opportunities for Australia and its people.

Those opposite, in combination with the Greens, will stop those projects; those projects won't be delivered if they are in government. It is a seamless transition and alignment with those opposite. It should be absolutely dismissed; that should never happen. We need to act in our nation's interest, and that is what this government will do.

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

Before I start on the MPI, I would like to say to the resources minister, while he's here in the chamber: Stop PEP-11. You can do it with the stroke of a pen. I'll pass you one across the chamber.

We're now in the third year of a pandemic, and this government is focused on itself instead of doing its job and protecting vulnerable Australians. We saw this over the summer when Omicron tore across New South Wales—including in my electorate on the Central Coast, where one in five people are aged over 65. We saw record daily case numbers, a severe shortage of rapid antigen tests, and deadly outbreaks in aged-care homes. What did the government do? They denied the problem and shifted the blame, instead of protecting some of the most vulnerable Australians—frail, elderly Australians, many living with dementia, isolated, alone and afraid in aged-care homes.

We have a crisis in aged care. We have more than 10,000 active COVID cases in aged-care homes across Australia. Tragically, 622 people have died from COVID this year in aged care, and the government denies there's a problem. While there are tens of thousands of aged-care residents who still haven't had a booster, and there are thousands of shifts unfilled because workers have COVID or are isolating, aged-care homes and staff are in crisis. Staff are overworked and underpaid, and they deserve more than this government. There are people like Leanne, who's an aged-care worker from Lake Haven from my community on the Central Coast. Leanne told me their situation is dire. She said: 'Aged-care workers are exhausted and at breaking point. I've seen people crying whilst at work through sheer frustration, helplessness, anger and despair. All of us are anxious about going to work, unsure what we will be confronted with—staff shortages, positive rapid tests and never enough time to do all that is required.'

What has this government done? Have they supported aged-care workers' calls for better wages, better conditions and safe staffing levels, to help them care for the most vulnerable, frail, older Australians? No. What they've done, in a cynical move on the eve of an election, is to offer aged-care workers up to $800 in a bonus payment.

An opposition member: It's offensive.

It is offensive. It's insulting. Aged-care workers deserve better. Most aged-care workers are paid around $22 an hour—$22 an hour. What they need is an urgent pay rise, like the Productivity Commission recommended, not a small pay-off on the eve of an election.

For nearly a decade this government has been denying the crisis in aged care, a crisis largely of its own making. Over the summer, when COVID cases were at their worst, where was the minister for aged care? The minister was at the cricket—as our shadow minister has said, not for one day, not for two days, but for three days. While omicron was raging through aged care, while staff were there without PPE, while people couldn't get a rapid antigen test, while people were alone and afraid and isolated, the minister was at the cricket.

One of the biggest problems we faced over the summer was a shortage of rapid antigen tests. In my community on the Central Coast, people were desperate for rapid antigen tests—including one of my constituents, whose four-year-old granddaughter is in palliative care. To visit her in hospital, her parents need to have a negative rapid antigen test every three days. After they used their last test they contacted my office, desperate. This is what the grandfather said: 'We have tried to purchase RAT kits but have been unsuccessful. It would be unthinkable if their daughter was to die and they could not see her because of the unavailability of RAT kits.' This should not happen. This should not happen to this grandparent, to this family or to anyone in Australia. It's devastating.

The government was warned last September, and earlier, to shore up rapid antigen tests. And what did they do? They left the most vulnerable people exposed and at risk and families unable to visit loved ones who were in palliative care. Families should not be forced into this position because of a shortage of RATs. Test kits should be available freely to all Australians. As I said, this government was warned, and what did they do? They failed to act, leaving the most vulnerable Australians at risk. They promised to supply more rapid antigen tests to aged-care homes, but according to the Australian Nursing and Midwifery Federation more than a quarter of aged-care staff say their workplace is not giving them free RATs.

The HSU national president, Gerard Hayes, said recently there are active outbreaks in hundreds of aged-care facilities across the country, yet workers can't access RATs and PPE. They are on the front line with very little protection. The Morrison government has effectively abandoned the sector under the premise of living with this virus. We need a government that stops focusing on itself and starts putting the health and safety of Australians first. We need a change of government.

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

I follow on from the member for Dobell and acknowledge her work as a pharmacist prior to coming to this parliament in 2016. I acknowledge her work particularly in providing medications and the like in the mental health space. Certainly she's a good person; I acknowledge that. She would also acknowledge this government's work with the Pharmaceutical Benefits Schedule. Indeed, we have listed so many medicines—in fact, 857 new medicines—on the PBS since 2019. That has come about because we actually got the economic measures in place in 2013 that allowed us to list new drugs for such things as—I can recall early in the piece—cystic fibrosis and other ailments which people, unfortunately, endure.

When we go to health we look at the 163,105 new aged-care home-care packages. That is dealing with health because these people need our attention. There are 502,413 people on the National Disability Insurance Scheme. That was one of the great hallmarks of Julia Gillard, but the right funding wasn't put in place. But we fixed it, just like with the PBS. I know that in the last days of the Labor government they were very much reconsidering putting some vital drugs on the PBS—and actually didn't—because they'd run out of money because of economic mismanagement. But, because of the measures that we put in place when we took over government in 2013, we were able to put those essential medicines and drugs on the supply list.

More than 128,000 Australians are supported by headspace each year. I appreciate that is very much a bipartisan thing, but new headspace centres are opening all of the time, particularly in regional areas, where it is a particular issue. I'm pleased to say that that is taking place. More than 1,400 nurse placements for the regions have been put in place and helped and supported by this government. Ninety per cent of families are getting access to a childcare subsidy of between 50 and 80 per cent. These are all things which this government has put in place because we are focusing on the issues that matter.

You heard from the Treasurer in question time today that when we took government the unemployment rate was 5.7 per cent and rising. We have addressed that. The figure is now very much below that. Under Labor, one in eight manufacturing jobs were lost. There were one million fewer women in work under Labor than there are now under a coalition government. There are 1.7 million more Australians in work today than when Labor was in office. We should get ticks for that. I know out there in the real world, out in voter land, they are looking at this government and they are saying we have addressed those issues. There are indeed more than 60,000 jobs available in regional Australia now. I stand in front of the member for Nicholls, and I know that in his electorate there are many jobs that are perhaps needing to be taken up by people from the cities, just like there are in my electorate of the Riverina.

What did we see from those opposite at the last election? They wanted to impose $387 billion of higher taxes on the Australian people—indeed, a retirees tax and a housing tax. Let me say: Labor are trying to fly under the radar this time as we head towards the polls. Who knows when the polls will be? The Prime Minister does, but the rest of us are just working diligently for and on behalf of everyday, ordinary Australians on those bread-and-butter issues.

But, Mr Speaker, rest assured that while the opposition leader is trying to take a low profile, perhaps hopefully to the Lodge, don't believe what Labor says it will do prior to the election. After the election, if they get Treasury benches, they will hit Australians hard. They will hit Australians very, very hard with new taxes to pay for their spending habits.

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

I rise to speak on the government's focus on itself instead of on the problems affecting Australians—a great choice for a matter of public importance debate.

Whilst it's been great to hear the talking points trotted out by those opposite, I just want to point out a couple of facts. The previous speaker, the member for Riverina, made a good tweet about cricket the other day. He was my cricketing captain, so I have a lot of respect for his very good commentary on cricket. But he made an erroneous statement just then. Obviously, Mr Speaker, as you well know, the highest-taxing governments as a percentage of GDP were both Liberal governments: Howard and Morrison. The Howard government and the Morrison government are the two highest-taxing governments. We just need to remember that from those opposite.

I did notice in the polls recently that the Australian people are starting to realise that these guys are not good when it comes to dealing with the books. We have a Treasurer who is the self-appointed king of car parks in his own electorate, rather than focusing on the Australian people. From memory, only one car park was in Queensland. This bloke gave himself three car parks, so how can he be focusing on what's in the national interest? And he seems to be obsessed with the member for Rankin. He is obsessed, problematically, with the member for Rankin, rather than with doing his own job.

I don't mind if people cluster together; that's what political parties are about. I've seen people cluster together when they don't have a cause; I walked through them this morning, coming up to Parliament House. There is no problem in having a rabble without a cause, but when they're the government clustered together and their only vision seems to be not to be Labor—their whole unifying force is not to be Labor—then that's not good enough and Australians are suffering.

We can talk about the number of jobs available, but it also helps when you slam the borders shut and don't let workers in. People who did 100,000 or 200,000—I'm looking at the member for McMahon—jobs previously, when the borders were open, now have those jobs being done by other people.

Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Climate Change and Energy) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes.

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

We also have some concerning numbers of people dropping out of the workforce; they aren't looking any further. I would suggest that there are some significant dangers out there. I know that the housing issues are very complicated, but I called into one of my poorer suburbs, Acacia Ridge, in the last few weeks and the rosy vision being trotted out by the Prime Minister and the Treasurer is not what's happening on the ground, with insecure work and the limited number of working hours for people. Concerning stories are coming out of Acacia Ridge, where people were talking about pooling their money together to feed their pets. I have never, ever seen that in modern Australia—a place where they say that every child is winning a prize. That is not the Australia that I see on the streets of Acacia Ridge or hearing about from people.

People are worried about their housing and housing opportunities, and they're worried about being able to go out. So many people aren't spending and not going to local businesses because they can't get a rapid antigen detection test. I know that personally myself. When my son had COVID at the beginning of January we could not take him out because there was a three- to four-hour wait to be tested, and we could not find a rapid antigen test—in Toowoomba, Dalby, Chinchilla, Brisbane, Gympie or the Gold Coast. I had every family member I could find looking for a rapid antigen test and we could not find any. Thankfully, it has started to improve.

But we've got a government that is obsessed with fighting each other and is not doing its job. We can't have that combination of circumstances. We have people who are worried about their kids going back to school because they haven't been able to be vaccinated—the younger kids particularly. We have parents who are worried about their aged relatives. As we've heard from the member for Hotham, there are horrific circumstances in our aged-care facilities. This is an area that we know the government failed to get right two years ago and then said, 'No-one could've seen this coming.' We've got a minister who says, 'There is no problem.' The Prime Minister slips up and says 'crisis'. Next minute we've got the armed forces in our aged-care facilities in 2022. Who would have thought that this nation would come to that?

Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To have the Labor Party effectively put forward a motion accusing the government of focusing on itself doesn't quite ring true when you look around regional Australia, certainly when you look at the National Party, at my colleagues and their electorates—I'm sure Liberal Party seats would be no different. What are we doing here? We're coming to Canberra so that we can meet with our ministers so that we can bring home the projects and programs that we need for our people. When you look around the seat of Nicholls, you can see that the Echuca-Moama bridge has just been completed. That's not a government focused on itself; that's a government focused on a project that needed to be built for the last 60 years. We've gone and built it. It's an investment of over $130 million just from the federal government but also with $100 million from Victoria and $100 million from New South Wales. We got that project built.

We've got $208 million sitting on the table to get the Shepparton bypass started. That's not a government focused on itself; that's a government focused on what our people need. When you drive into Shepparton, you'll see a couple of enormous museums. One is the Museum of Vehicle Evolution, which has an incredible history of cars, trucks, motorbikes and a whole range of other fantastic items. Then you drive a little bit further on and you'll see the Shepparton Art Museum. They're huge investments by this government, giving that region what it needs as its most important projects.

We've got $5 million going into a new building for La Trobe University on the city campus in Shepparton. It's a fantastic project. One of our most liked and respected organisations, ConnectGV, has just been able to build a brand-new home for people in the Goulburn Valley who are dealing with disabilities. This federal government has provided them with $2.5 million for a new home there.

We've also got a rail upgrade going into the Shepparton and Seymour area. There will be $400 million of this federal government's funding, put through the Victorian government, to upgrade that rail line, which has been left behind by the Victorian Labor Party. The Victorian Labor government have done up the Bendigo line, the Ballarat line and the Geelong line, but they have left the Shepparton line. We had four services a day. This federal government putting money into that line will see nine services a day. It's not as good as those other areas, but effectively an incredible change is coming as a result of a government that's prepared to look at the connectivity that we need so that we can get better access into Melbourne with our rail services.

As you drive through Mooroopna, you'll see this incredible new building there, where the federal government has invested in the fruit industry. It's one of the leading industries in the Goulburn Valley, and here's an opportunity for that industry to move into the modern age with a world-class sorting process that's going to take hundreds and hundreds of photographs of every piece of fruit that will go in there. That fruit will be flicked left, right, dropped down, moved across and graded by size, shape, colour and blemishes. This is the type of technology that this federal government has invested in with the industry, to drive that industry and to make it even more competitive on the world market.

This government has also invested in the CBD of Shepparton, right in the heart of the Goulburn Valley. Many regional cities around Australia have malls that don't really work, that have become unsavoury places, as their centre point. Shepparton is going to implement slow-moving traffic, thanks to an $8 million grant from this government to give the CBD of Shepparton what it needs. Many cities around Australia will be looking at this project to see whether or not it works; to see whether or not this courageous decision by the CBD, by the chamber of commerce, by the council—with the support of the federal government—can actually create slow-moving traffic with a whole raft of parking options in Shepparton; to see if that has the capacity to build the pedestrian traffic and make it easier for the shoppers. This is something that is incredibly important.

I can just keep reading through the list of all the works that we've been working on as hard as we possibly can. We come to Canberra. We talk to the ministers. We get back into our electorates and give our communities what they need. That's not looking at ourselves; that's looking at our people. (Time expired.)

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Something happens to the Morrison government each year as they head towards summer. I don't know whether it's visions of lying on a beach—whether it is here or Hawaii—but something happens that makes them more than drop the ball, it makes them ignore the warnings they're being given in any particular year. Let's begin with 2019, when they ignored the warnings of fire chiefs from around the country to be better prepared for what turned out to be the most horrific fire season that this nation has seen—its scale, the death toll, the destruction of homes and of the environment. But, of course, the Prime Minister doesn't hold a hose, not when he's in Hawaii.

In 2020 they ignored the many warnings about getting the vaccine rollout right. That it was a race. That it did matter. That we did have things ready to go and ready to be executed as soon as the supplies, which belatedly arrived, landed on our shores. They ignored that warning, and we paid the price for that—well they didn't, but older people did. Hundreds of older people found themselves without vaccines; the rollout was too slow to get them vaccinated in lockdown. They suffered deprivations because of this government. And then there were those who died because they had not been vaccinated.

And so this last summer, in the lead-up, people said, 'What we need is a rapid antigen testing strategy.' I said it in here! I was organising Zooms about it with my small businesses in October, with the local manufacturer Innovation Scientific in my electorate, with global leaders who said, 'We need a plan.' But the government thought it knew better. It didn't bother planning; its eyes were on that summer chill, sipping—I would hate to think what cocktail it is that they sip by their pools—mai tais or whatever. The other thing the government ignored was booster shots, getting boosters into older people, getting those vaccines into the arms of older people. It wasn't the Prime Minister's job, he said. He was happy to shampoo someone's hair, but only if they were well under 75!

This is the failure we have that compounds all the other failures that have occurred, which means we have, right now, hundreds of people who have died in aged care. We have thousands of residents who are locked down. And multiply that for the families who are no longer able to just pop in and see their husband or their wife, their mum or their dad, their grandma or their grandpa. They can't. The only way they can see them is in full PPE and if they have a rapid antigen test up their sleeve.

Now, I just want to deal with this issue where the government says, 'We're providing rapid antigen tests to aged-care facilities.' Well, there's a caveat on that. One of my facilities called me to say, 'You know we only get it when we have an outbreak?' The government doesn't seem to understand this yet: the rapid antigen test is a tool to help prevent outbreaks and to foresee when there might be someone who is COVID-positive. You need to have those screening things happening all the time; you don't wait until there is an outbreak. Right now, across the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, there are husbands, there are wives, there are daughters and there are sons sitting there and wondering, 'When are we going to be allowed back in to see our family member?'

They're suffering, but, more than anyone, the residents are suffering. And it isn't for want of the fantastic work that the aged-care workers are doing. Among others this morning, we heard from Jocelyn, who comes from the Blue Mountains. I spoke with Jocelyn and with Annette about why they had travelled to Canberra. Jocelyn had finished a night shift and headed down here. Annette is nearly 80 but will not stop fighting. She says she has been fighting for a couple of decades to see improvements in aged care, and she's not going to give up until she sees them. They were here to tell stories about what it's like, about the choices that they have to make, where they have to race to someone who's fallen on the floor, a gentleman lying in bed in pain, someone calling out or someone wandering into somebody else's room. These are choices no-one should be asked to make—whether you tend a wound or whether you shower someone.

This is what the government's distraction, its obsession with itself, has led to. It is more worried about itself. Those opposite are more worried about their own jobs than they are about making life better for the people who made this country what it is.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity provided by the Leader of the Opposition to talk about the priorities of this government and the decisions it has made in the interests of the people of Australia. Yesterday, a momentous decision was made by the National Security Committee of Cabinet to dramatically reopen the categories of and exemptions for people entering our country—to reopen our international border—effectively saying that people who have the proper vaccination status and of course the proper visa status will be able to enter our country. I'm particularly excited about the international tourists, who will now be able to return to our country and start spending money in our economy.

It's been a difficult two years, I know, for businesses in my own electorate that rely on international tourism. I'm lucky enough to have Penfolds Magill Estate in the centre, at the heart, of my electorate, and they are a significant attraction for overseas tourists. I know that particularly northern Queensland and other areas that rely on international tourists have had it very tough over the last two years, so it's great to see our government taking the first opportunity, when health and other advice says it's safe to do so, to reopen our border.

This is an example of a very significant decision that this Morrison government has taken in the interests of the people of Australia. It was, of course, just as significant to close the international border. To have closed our international border in that way has never happened in my lifetime and nor probably in the lifetime of anybody in this parliament. It was necessary. It was important. It has kept us safe. But it was just as important that we took the opportunity yesterday to reverse that decision, apart from the vaccination restrictions that remain sensibly in place.

The decision is very important to our export businesses. I know my former employer Michell Wool was significantly impacted by people being curtailed from meeting with customers and their supply chains around the world. It's a business that exports to 42 countries around the world. Obviously, people being able to travel and engage with their customers and their suppliers, and having people come to this country and do the same, is very important for international commerce. We are an exporting nation. Export income makes an enormous contribution to our income as a nation. We've got tens of thousands of businesses that export, so the border changes are an excellent outcome for those exporting businesses.

It was a few weeks ago now that I had to keep refreshing my computer screen when the ABS published the unemployment statistics particularly for my home state of South Australia. It said that our unemployment rate was 3.9 per cent. I thought, 'This can't be right.' I was pleasantly surprised that it was the case. I downloaded the historical data and thought, 'God, has it ever been this low before?' The answer is no, never. Since records began in 1978, the unemployment rate in South Australia has never been as low as 3.9 per cent. Of course, our national unemployment rate has a four in front of it. The Reserve Bank governor is saying it's going to have a three in front of it soon. It has already got a three in front of it in South Australia. No-one could ever claim that the federal government's policy settings do not directly contribute to excellent economic statistics like that.

In many ways, unemployment is the most important economic indicator, because it's so vital to the livelihoods of everyone to have a job, to be able to provide for themselves and their families and to have that economic security for the future, so to have these record-low unemployment statistics in this country goes to show that we're making decisions as a government that are paying very significant economic dividends for all the people of Australia.

It's been a tough two years—there's no doubt about that. We've had to make decisions on the health side that have had economic impacts, and we've equally made decisions on the economic side to mitigate those impacts. The economic data—not just unemployment but other statistics as well—show the benefit of those decisions. I have a confidence that we're on the other side of the worst health challenges of the pandemic, particularly the recent omicron surge that has been prevalent in my home state of South Australia, which until recently had escaped major outbreaks, and other states like Queensland and Tasmania as well. We're on the other side of these challenges, I hope, but most importantly we've got a government that knows how to make health decisions and the economic decisions to match them that not only keep us safe but also keep us economically strong and resilient.

I commend the decisions that we've made as a government, and I appreciate the opportunity provided through this matter of public importance proposed by the Leader of the Opposition to comprehensively point out just how safe and secure the Morrison government is keeping the people of Australia.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The discussion has concluded.