Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Trade) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to applaud the small communities across my electorate of O'Connor that continue to deliver transformative projects under the Building Better Regions Fund. The Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government claims she axed the fund because it was a pork-barrelling exercise for the Nationals, but my regional seat of O'Connor is not a Nationals seat, and neither are the regional divisions of Durack and Forrest that border O'Connor. The excellent members for those electorates can no doubt vouch for the fund's role in building their communities, so I'll stick to O'Connor, which has 57 local government areas—the most of any electorate in Australia.

In O'Connor's largest centre, Albany, the fund assisted commemoration of the centenary of the first two convoys of Anzacs, which departed there in November 1914. Albany has a profound connection to the Anzacs, and the centenary was a big deal for both Australia and New Zealand.

Further north, in the Goldfields region, the fund is helping to restore the Niels Hansen Basketball Stadium. The stadium was in very poor condition. It desperately needed an overhaul so Kalgoorlie-Boulder can have courts comparable to the slick city stadiums in Labor's metropolitan heartland.

Minister King thinks Building Better Regions was all about delivering votes for conservative politicians. If that were the case, why would the program have funded a digital education program in Gnowangerup, which has a population of just 1,215; environmental work by the Fitzgerald Biosphere Group in Jerramungup, which has a population of 1,160; and an early learning centre for the children of Mukinbudin, which has a population of 555? There are not a lot of votes in those areas, but the coalition believes that country towns and the shires that surround them deserve the best possible facilities.

There was a time when both sides of the political divide championed equity of access for regional communities. Minister King's axing of the fund shows that equity of access is a withering value on her side of politics. Particularly pernicious is the pulling of round 6 of the fund. The coalition had fully budgeted for this round in May 2021. More than 20 local government authorities and community groups across O'Connor applied by the deadline of 8 December last year. In the lead-up to last night's budget they were told their earnest efforts had been in vain.

This means that, among many other projects, a cultural centre planned by the Southern Aboriginal Corporation remains unfunded. If the centre had been funded, it would have been a centrepiece of commemorating the 2026 bicentenary of Albany's foundation. The bicentenary is important as Albany was the first town where Aboriginal and European people learned to live together on the western side of the continent. Now the clock is ticking, and the bicentenary is fast approaching.

Last night's budget was Labor's first in nine years. It's a shame that pulling the rug from under regional Australia will be the budget's legacy.

Jerome Laxale (Bennelong, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last night the government delivered our first budget in nearly a decade. I'm proud to say that this is a budget the people of Bennelong voted for. The budget delivers on the commitments we made to the Australian people and the commitments I made to the people of Bennelong. It delivers responsible cost-of-living relief that doesn't put pressure on inflation. It makes targeted investments to build a stronger and more resilient economy. And it begins the hard yards of budget repair so that we can pay for what's important.

This budget is for those who are worried about the cost of living, for mums wanting to get back into the workforce and for employers that are desperate for skilled workers. This budget is for kids who worry about affording an education and for those who want to reduce emissions and invest in renewable energy.

Labor's first budget in a decade is responsible, is measured and provides the security Australians need. It repays hard work and rewards aspiration. It's right for the times and ready for the future. We know there are difficult times ahead, and we're being upfront about the challenges that we face. These are difficult times, and hard choices are required to get the economy and the budget back on track. We can't clean up this mess overnight, but we're working every day to build a better future for Australia.

One thing that was raised a lot with me in Bennelong was cost of living, and I'm proud to say that this budget has over $7.5 billion for targeted cost-of-living measures and provides responsible relief for households in Bennelong. It includes cheaper child care and early education, with higher subsidies for 1.26 million families in Australia, including 9,800 families in Bennelong. We're expanding paid parental leave, with six months paid leave by 2026. There are important amendments to eligibility for modern families.

We've got cheaper medicines. We're slashing the PBS general co-payment to $30 a script, a reduction for the first time in 75 years. We'll have more affordable housing, delivering the Housing Australia Future Fund and a new national housing accord. And we are getting wages moving again, supporting a wage increase and minimum wage increase for workers, fixing the broken bargaining system and investing in capacity in the economy.

We've also got some fantastic local commitments. I'll close by touching on these. Locals elected me to be a strong voice for Bennelong in Canberra. I'm proud that our government has listened. There's $2,000 for the Asian Australian Association of Bennelong to host the Harmony Cup. There's $20,000 for the Ryde Persian community to celebrate Nowruz, their new year, with a street and food festival in Bennelong. There's a community battery in North Epping, which is just extraordinary. We're working with the state government to widen Epping Bridge. There's to be an upgrade of Blenheim Park and there's to be additional university spaces at Macquarie University. This is a budget that delivers for the nation and delivers for Bennelong.

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 193, the time for members' constituency statements has concluded.