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

In Western Sydney, we are creating more local jobs for local people and the infrastructure to unlock even more opportunities. I am backing, at the table and fighting for more local jobs for Western Sydney to be at the heart of a new era of manufacturing and to educate and train our kids at world-class institutions in the jobs of the future. People in Lindsay want to work where they live. As someone who did the commute each day for over 10 years, I know how important this is. That is why creating local jobs for local people is at the centre of my plan for Lindsay.

Over 82,000 people in Lindsay have benefited because of the Morrison government's tax plan, and the benefits from creating tax relief for our local people is so important when we are talking about creating local jobs. Over 76,000 taxpayers are benefiting directly from our tax cuts, and over 15,000 businesses in Lindsay are able to access the instant asset write-off. This is one of our measures when I go out to local businesses that I hear about most, whether it is a manufacturer creating Australian-made doors and windows or a manufacturer that is creating Aussie-made Penrith trucks. A great example of this was when I took the Treasurer to visit Scott and his team at JK Williams, a local earth-moving business. We saw how much their business benefited from the instant asset write-off.

We are also creating wage subsidies for apprentices, backing over 2,000 apprentices in Lindsay. We are extending the support to ensure they can finish their training. It is so wonderful when I walk onto the floor of a manufacturing business, on the floor of a factory, and see young women taking up trades and being supported in doing that.

The COVID pandemic has hit businesses in my electorate of Lindsay hard, like across Australia, and for many it has been the biggest challenge they have ever faced. But JobKeeper has supported almost 6,000 businesses and 26,500 employees in my electorate of Lindsay. The tax-free cashflow boost has helped around 5,200 small and medium businesses, providing $229 billion in payments to help businesses in Lindsay stay afloat during the pandemic. Around 6,500 local businesses will be able to use the extended loss carryback measure to support cash flow and confidence.

With unemployment at 4.2 per cent, the Morrison government has made an unprecedented investment in skilling and training Australians, and we have the highest number of trade apprentices—220,000—since records were first kept in 1963. There are now more Australians in jobs than there were pre COVID. This is so important to my community of Lindsay, which is growing in opportunities and growing in investment. A lot of this has to do with our investment in Western Sydney international airport, a nation-building project right in the heart of Western Sydney, with 28,000 direct and indirect jobs by 2031, five years after the airport's opening, which is really just around the corner, in 2026. It's a $5.3 billion investment from the Morrison government, connecting Western Sydney to the world. Over half of the workforce during construction, which I'm really proud of, has been local people. So that is exceeding the original target of 30 per cent. We have a local workforce of over 50 per cent. That truly is local jobs for local people.

Something I am really passionate about is the future of our young people and educating and training our kids in the jobs of the future. When there's a once-in-a-generation opportunity like the Western Sydney airport, and with universities coming on board and the CSIRO moving into the local area, we have to grasp hold of these opportunities for our young kids so that they can work where they live and not move out of the area to find a good job. That's what I'm passionate about, that's what I'm driving, and that's all part of my plan for Lindsay.