Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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

After two and a half years, regional Australians are worse off under this Government.

I call upon those honourable 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—

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I know, Mr Speaker, you understand what a caring kind of guy I am. I'm starting to get worried about the wellbeing of the entire Labor frontbench because they're absolutely obsessed with the Leader of the Opposition. It's six months until the next federal election is due to be held, and they've given up governing. Their obsession with the Leader of the Opposition is evident every day in this place. Forget about Labor's 'light on the hill'. Forget about Bob Hawke's famous pledge that by 1990 no Australian child would be living in poverty. It's now clear that by 2025 no Australian child will be living without a three-word slogan. As we've seen in question time, as we've seen all this week, Labor has given up on governing and is now completely focused on three-word slogans and regurgitating the attack lines, the negative points, that come up in its focus group hearings. They've given up any attempts at vision, hope, optimism or aspiration. 'No child will be living without a three-word slogan' is this government's plan for Australia's future. They strut to the dispatch box and they claim that cost of living is now their No. 1 priority. After wasting more than $400 million tearing Australians apart with a vanity project otherwise known as the Voice, it's embarrassing to watch.

Those of us who live in the regions understand there are many skills shortages in Australia today, but the biggest skills shortage in Australia today is in the Australian Labor Party cabinet. I'm disappointed the member for Moreton is leaving the place; at least if he was in the cabinet room there'd be a little bit of skill injected into the room. The biggest skills shortage on the Australian continent today is in the Australian cabinet, which is suffering a severe lack of skills—even the poor old member for Moreton couldn't get a game there. Instead of developing policies and making Australia stronger and safer, this cabinet has been turned into a three-word slogan factory. We have before us, effectively, an opposition in waiting. They've given up on governing, and all they're doing now is throwing mud at the Leader of the Opposition, desperately running scare campaigns and desperately conjuring up more three-word slogans straight out of their focus groups.

I'm sure that everyone here—I look around the room; maybe not Sam. What's your seat again?

Sam Rae (Hawke, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hawke.

Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Education) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Maybe the member for Hawke's not quite old enough to remember this, but everyone else is old enough to remember the TV show Seinfeld. Everyone remembers the show Seinfeld. There's one very famous episode in Seinfeld where Jerry and George pitch their ideas to a TV producer to develop what they call 'a show about nothing'. Sadly, when it comes to regional Australia, we are living through a Seinfeld government at a federal level. It's been a show about nothing, and regional Australians are worse off.

This Seinfeld government has failed to deliver for local communities. It's been divided. It's been distracted by a Canberra-knows-best attitude and has no interest in our local communities. They don't believe in locals and they don't trust us in the regions to make decisions that benefit our communities. I really only need to consider the performance of the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government to demonstrate that this Seinfeld government has built nothing. The minister for infrastructure and transport, otherwise known as the minister for ribbon-cutting, wasted her first year in office and then, after wasting her first year in office, the minister for ribbon-cutting decided she needed a 90-day infrastructure review to decide on her future priorities. The only problem with the minister for infrastructure's 90-day review is that it took 200 days. This minister is the only person on the planet who would take five minutes to make two-minute noodles! She took 200 days for a 90-day review. This delay meant cost increases for projects, uncertainty and then project cancellations. Quite noticeably, though, the project cancellations mainly occurred in seats held by coalition members in regional areas.

The minister also locked in some regional rip-offs when she took away the 80-20 funding split. The Commonwealth used to pay 80 per cent and state governments 20 per cent for regional projects. Now it's all fifty-fifty, so we get less for regional areas as a direct result of this minister's decision coming out of her 90-day 200-day review.

On top of the cuts to regional transport projects, the government has failed—and this is quite extraordinary—to build a single project under its Growing Regions Program. Remember that program? It had $600 million to build projects for regional Australia. It took more than two years even to call for nominations, and now, after 2½ years, work hasn't started on a single project under the Growing Regions Program. The minister has had to pretend she's delivered something by inspecting and opening coalition funded regional projects. The hypocrisy of this minister is that she comes in here and she spouts three-word slogans from the focus groups and attacks the record of the previous government but then she sneaks out of here and she travels around Australia, taking credit for projects she had nothing to do with. During the sitting weeks, she's in here shouting, the warrior for Labor, at the dispatch box making these false claims about chaos and everything else she thinks went wrong during the coalition government, but then, when she gets over here, she's off travelling around Australia, cutting ribbons, unveiling plaques and issuing press releases taking credit.

You don't have to take my word for it; you just have to look at the minister's own press releases. This is one of my favourites:

Light at the end of the Coffs Harbour Bypass tunnel

In a major milestone for one of regional Australia's biggest infrastructure projects, the first phase of the multi-billion-dollar Coffs Harbour Bypass is complete.

Well done, Minister! The minister is quoted as saying:

"This is a major milestone for this nation-shaping project.

During consultation ahead of the project in 2016, the people of Coffs Harbour were very clear they wanted tunnels instead of cuttings and it is great to see progress in bringing that to fruition."

But in 2019 the minister was the shadow minister who failed back the project in the first place. The member for Cowper fought like a Trojan to get the work done. He doesn’t even get a mention in the press release.

But it gets better. I won't bore you with the roundabout in my electorate; that's a little bit too self-indulgent. I should go to the hypocrisy roll of dishonour, which is very long. This one is my favourite in all of Australia. This one is really good: the Cooroy to Curra section D on the Bruce Highway, colloquially known as the Gympie bypass. This one really takes chutzpah. This one really does take the cake. This project started under Warren Truss. It continued when I was minister—before I was sacked the first time! Then it continued under the member for Riverina. Throughout all this, the constant advocacy by the member for Wide Bay fighting for this project has been exemplary. What you see in this press release, though, is:

The Albanese and Queensland Government funded Gympie Bypass has opened to traffic, a significant improvement for residents with heavy vehicles no longer needing to travel through Gympie.

That's all true. There's a quote from the Prime Minister himself—

"This vital infrastructure project has been a long time coming for the locals and visitors who travel throughout the Gympie region"—

and one from the minister:

"The Gympie Bypass opening to traffic today is a monumental achievement by the Australian and Queensland governments."

But she didn't put any money into it. It was funded entirely by the previous coalition government.

There are more that I probably won't quite get to—no; I will. The minister opposite, the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories—this is a beauty too—is in WA. She has announced $800,000 for a childcare centre, and she says:

It's fantastic to … see local-led projects progressing, and to discuss the Shire of Moora's forward priorities—because when we work together, we get the best outcomes for our regional communities.

That was $800,000 for a childcare centre—fantastic!—under the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. The minister loved the program so much she voted to abolish it. It's gone. The entire $800,000 came from the previous government.

Regional Australians aren't easy to fool. They can smell the bulldust of those opposite from a mile away. In just a few months time, regional Australians will only need to ask themselves a few simple questions when it comes to judging this government: Am I better off under this Prime Minister? Is my family better off? Is Australia a safer and better place to live? Do I feel positive about the future of my community under the leadership of this Prime Minister? The answer to all those questions, I'm afraid, is going to be no, because the cost of everything is going up and we will be even worse off under a Labor-Greens government in the future. We have a government that is more focused on three-word slogans than it is on the future of the Australian public.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's always great to get up and talk about regional Australia, and I'm so glad that we're on this side of the House so that we can actually deliver for regional Australia. From day one we have been getting on with the job of delivering for regional Australia, and we have delivered more in 2½ years than those opposite managed in their 10. What we're talking about is delivering much more than a bloody grants program, because regional communities deserve services. They deserve access. They deserve people who back them and support them, not people who run around and allow regional dollars to go to the North Sydney pool. I'm not sure where the member from Gippsland or any of the Nationals were when the Liberal Party gave regional dollars to the North Sydney pool—10 million regional dollars. I don't know anyone in my electorate, the member for Gippsland's electorate or the member for Mallee's electorate who uses the North Sydney pool. FYI, it's still not built and it's over budget, so no-one's using it right now.

We're investing in regional communities, as I said, because we're taking a strategic approach: we're investing in people, in places, in services that our communities need and in industries that our local communities rely on. We've restored integrity and transparency to grant programs—I know that's a foreign concept to those opposite—and we've doubled Roads to Recovery. Over the next five years it will go to $1 billion annually. That means every local council across the country will have more money to put towards road maintenance projects. The funding will allow local governments to plan for long-term maintenance and upgrade their road networks. In the member for Gippsland's electorate, it means his councils will receive close to $70 million over the next five years, which is an increase of almost $22 million. It's something that neither he nor anyone else on the coalition benches ever managed to put in place, so well done to the Labor government for delivering to every local council across the country.

We're increasing the roads Black Spot Program from $110 million a year to $150 million a year, meaning we're improving more of the dangerous sections of roads across the country. We've launched the new Safer Local Roads and Infrastructure Program, with $200 million available each and every year, providing a $50 million boost in that.

We are delivering more through every local council, as I said. But it's not just about delivering the hard infrastructure; it's also about working with our communities for what they need—the skills and training that they're after. We want more people to be able to train at home and continue working locally, because you shouldn't have to leave your home to build a career. We're bringing universities closer to our regions by investing in 20 more regional study hubs. We've established fee-free TAFE, and a third of people that have taken up fee-free TAFE live in our regions. They don't have to leave their communities to train or to upskill which is so incredibly important in this day and age.

We're making record investments in housing because, in order to attract and retain staff, we need somewhere for them to live. There's been $32 billion in housing initiatives, the biggest investment in a decade. We want to see more homes built. We're working with all levels of government to kickstart housing supply through our $1.5 billion Housing Support Program. We're building the enabling infrastructure to get more homes in our regions, and we're ensuring that more regional people can buy their first home. Over 13,000 people have already been supported under the Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee thanks to the expanded eligibility criteria that this government has put in place.

When we came to office 2½ years ago, people in regional communities couldn't get in to see a local GP. We're strengthening those services in our regions with significant investments to get Medicare back to where it should be. We have supported an additional 2.2 million bulk-billed visits in regional and rural Australia since November last year, funded through the government's Australian General Practice Training Program. General practitioner registrars have been successfully placed in regional towns that were previously struggling to attract GPs. We're also waving HECS fees for doctors and nurse practitioners that work in rural and regional Australia, and we will provide $320 per week to nursing and midwifery students during their mandatory prac placements from 1 July next year.

We've funded an additional 29 Medicare Urgent Care Clinics, bringing that total to 87 across the country from Albury to Broome to Devonport to Bundaberg to Queanbeyan in my own electorate. Those clinics are ensuring people across Australia get access to the free and urgent care that they need.

We know how important the NBN is, particularly in our regions. That is why the Albanese government took to the last election a further $2.4 billion investment which will make sure that we get fibre to the premises of 1.5 million additional homes, with 660,000 of those across regional Australia. Today, as we were saying in the House, we will ensure that the NBN is owned by who it belongs to: the Australian people. Those opposite want to sell it off. They want to sell it off, which will mean more expensive internet to regional Australia. It is not on.

As a former mayor who experienced the Black Summer bushfires with communities across Eden-Monaro, I've seen firsthand the devastation that natural disasters can bring to regional communities. The Albanese government has worked hard to enhance the country's disaster risk reduction, preparedness and emergency response capability. Regional communities are better prepared for disasters under this government than they ever have been before. We set up the National Emergency Management Agency and have a regional network of NEMA staff supporting communities across the nation. We understand the importance of improving Australia's emergency management capabilities, as we're acting on the royal commission recommendations to keep us safe and reduce disaster risk. We have built the largest firefighting air fleet in the country's history. We have 160 specialised, highly-mobile aircraft that are positioned around the country to protect regional communities against bushfires this summer. As I said, that's on the back of the recommendations from the bushfire royal commission. That's something that was not acted on by those opposite.

We built the $1 billion Disaster Ready Fund to invest in disaster resilience and risk reduction. We created the National Emergency Management Stockpile and Disaster Relief Australia, and we expanded the aerial firefighting fleet. This was all rolled out under this Labor government because we are committed to working with every community. Your postcode should not limit what you have access to. We don't need to use colour coded spreadsheets to determine where funding should be allocated. If you don't believe me, ask the ANAO. The closed, secretive grants process which saw regional dollars go to North Sydney pool—

Buddy, North Sydney pool is still not open. I'm not sure where the bleating was when that happened!

Under those opposite, the infrastructure pipeline blew out from 150 projects to almost 800 projects. They thought it was responsible to add projects that had no hope of ever being completed, because there was no additional budget ever invested in the infrastructure pipeline. You cannot build a road with a press release. It is outrageous.

Those opposite froze financial assistance grants, taking over $900 million out of local councils. They also froze indexation on road maintenance payments to state and territory governments back in 2014 and left it there for a decade. No wonder our regional roads are suffering.

The Albanese government is fixing the mess and reversing those coalition cuts. Not only are we locking in future road maintenance funding at 2.5 per cent per year; we are backdating this reform to when the freeze was put in place by those opposite. This year we've increased road maintenance funding to $460 million, and each and every year from now on it will increase.

Now, apparently, those opposite are going to block fee-free TAFE. So, for the one-third of people in regions across the nation who have taken up the opportunity to train themselves or upskill: sorry, you're going to have to pay for that from now on because they don't think it's important to upskill you.

They voted against international student caps, which for regional universities means that there is now no longer going to be a proper allocation of international students across the country. Apparently it's okay to concentrate those international students in the big eight. They don't want regional universities to succeed, and that's exactly what they've just voted against. And they've also voted against keeping the NBN in public hands.

They make reckless commitments and they don't understand that they're having a substantial impact on our regional communities. What they've said is that nuclear power might be the answer. I mean, no plan, no costs—it's another half-baked idea, another way that they're trying to force regional Australia to deal with their incompetence. (Time expired)

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I want to congratulate the member for Gippsland for bringing this incredibly important matter of public importance to the chamber and to the people of Australia. After 2½ years, regional Australians are worse off under this government. That is the statement the member for Gippsland has asked us to speak about, and I am unfortunately very happy and very well equipped to talk about this subject.

My electorate of Mallee has absolutely suffered under this Labor government. There is no question about that. I actually have the data, the very clear data, that under Labor Mallee has received $93 million in total across 83½ thousand square kilometres. Under the coalition in the 46th Parliament—and, I grant you, we had COVID—it received $2 billion.

Now, you know, the people of Mallee would go, '$93 million over nearly three years compared to $2 billion.' I can't tell you one project that has happened under this Labor government for the people of Mallee. I'm serious about that—12 shires and no funding actually implemented, no shovel in the ground other than with coalition dollars.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Member for Moreton, Member for Fairfax, I'd actually like to hear the member for Mallee.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is one particular issue. Another issue is health. Let me bring you up to speed on what has been happening in my electorate with regard to health. We have lost doctors. Over this last 2½- to-three-year period we have lost them because the distribution priority area was expanded under this government. So the number of doctors who have left regional areas for metropolitan areas has increased—56 per cent more have left. That has not helped us one iota.

What dollars have been put into education in my electorate? Well, I'd like to know. I would really, sincerely like to know. Are people in the regions—in Mallee—worse off or better off under this Labor government? I can absolutely guarantee you they are worse off. Mallee has been selected—wow, a badge of honour—to carry the renewable target zone called the 'renewable energy zone'. In Victoria, there were five renewable energy zones but now there is one, and it's called Mallee. Thank you very much.

We are an agricultural area. We are a horticultural area. And now we have the target spot, the big bullseye, on Mallee to receive 50 projects, so far, of renewable wind turbines, solar farms, batteries and transmission lines. There will be 350 kilometres of transmission lines going straight through farmers' paddocks. Are farmers happy about this? I can give you a really clear answer to that. The answer is no.

There are some farmers who have made the decision to take the money and put the turbines on their property. Are they still talking to the farmers in the next paddock? This is a genuine issue. Under this government, the divisions that have occurred throughout my communities is absolutely appalling. There needs to be accountability given to, and taken by, this Labor government.

On top of that, we have mineral sands. The coalition are pro-mines; there's no question about that. Of course, we welcome mining. I see the Minister for Resources right here, and no, it's not about NIMBYism; it's the fact that there are primary industries already taking place in my electorate. I have farms where they are going to have mineral sands on their property for 36 years. There has been an article this week from the ABC about this very project.

The local communities are up in arms. I have farmers ready to just walk away, now. They're ready to walk away from generational farming—and I'm talking about five and six generations. What does that mean for our food security in the future? I think Australia needs to seriously look at where we are going with regard to mineral sands operations and it needs to have a social licence, not just a miners' willingness.

Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm really pleased to rise and speak on this matter of public importance and highlight how wrong the members of the opposition are and how it's just not true. Regional Australians have been some of the biggest beneficiaries to policies that have been introduced by the Albanese Labor government. Five minutes isn't enough time to outline in detail all of the changes we have made since coming to government that are making a real difference to the lives of regional Australians.

I can start with health. Access to bulk-billing doctors is increasing. The tripling of the Medicare bulk-billing incentive has meant that more and more of our doctors in regional areas are bulk-billing. In my electorate, we've seen the biggest uptake. Regional electorates are tapping into this incentive; another regional electorate is the electorate of Mayo. Cheaper medicines are helping people in regional Australia. We all know the health statistics: sadly, people in regional areas don't live as long and have more chronic health conditions, therefore to have access to cheaper medicines is making a real difference to their lives.

I can also talk about the difference that the urgent the care clinics are making in Shepparton, Bendigo, Geelong and Ballarat, plus others being rolled out in other regional areas. They are all making a real difference to people's lives. I can talk about the changes that we have introduced in terms of reduction of debt for university fees and the debts that people have. Free TAFE is making a difference to regional students, by starting to try and reverse the trend of our young people not accessing tertiary education when they finish high school. These are all reforms from this government.

There are tax cuts for every worker—not just for those earning big incomes, which the previous government introduced. We changed it to make sure every worker, including those in regional Australia, got access to that. Regional wages are slightly lower than those in the metro cities—it is just a fact of life—meaning more workers in the regions got a tax cut under us than from those opposite. That is a simple fact. That is another measure of how regional Australians are doing better under us, because of our tax cuts reform.

Can we also talk about aged care and early childhood education? The pay rises introduced by this government are reversing the bleed. Aged care in regional areas was desperate for workers, but we've stabilised that by increasing the wages, encouraging workers to stay where they live and where they work. It's the same for childcare workers; when those wages come in, it will stabilise and help reverse the desert problem that we have in regional Victoria. Fixing wages is critical to turning around the challenge that we have with early childhood education.

I'm glad that renewables were put on the table. Renewable energy is a real opportunity for regional Australia. In my own electorate, and in the electorate of Mallee yesterday, a new solar power plant was approved by this government. That will power every single home in my electorate. That is what was approved yesterday. It's not just in the electorate of Mallee; it is everywhere where we can get a project that stacks up economically and environmentally. I am so pleased to stand here and say that this government, our government, has approved a renewable energy project that has the ability to power every single home in my electorate, and it is being built in my electorate. So it is not just the electorate of the member for Mallee; it is every part of regional Australia where it stacks up environmentally and economically. That is where we are making a real difference.

We are helping communities power themselves. We are training our own in our regions—through our universities and through our health system—to take care of our own in aged care, in early childhood education and in our medical service. We're giving every worker that works in regional Australia a tax cut and we're getting on with building the infrastructure that we need.

I've got 30 seconds left to even start talking about the infrastructure that we're doing. We are doubling the Roads to Recovery budget, which is helping our councils fix the roads that they need. We have the Growing Regions Program—which is not being rorted, it's being delivered through a transparent process that is being backed up by the Auditor-General's office. This is just the beginning of the shopping list of what we have done for regional Australia. Regional Australians are better off because of our government.

Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

After 2½ years, regional Australians are worse off under this government, and those opposite have no understanding about what regional and rural Australia are about. They just have no concept. They wouldn't know a farmer if they fell over one—although they do spend a bit of time trying to trip them over.

This is a little lesson for those opposite: regional Australians provide the food and fibre, not Woolies and Coles; they don't grow it out the back. Farmers have provided blood, sweat and tears and that's how you get the food. The wild-caught fishing industry is how we get fresh fish on our plates, and the grazing industry—that beautiful hunk of rump steak; how good is that? Well, that comes from a grazier. That actually comes from a cow, not from one of those plastic packets in Woolworths. And the mining industry produces so much.

But rural and regional Australians do so much more than just do the jobs and produce food. They create the wealth. In my region alone, $15 billion from royalties is generated from coal—the resources minister should actually know this—and what happens with that? That money goes towards our police, our fire and our ambulance, all generated within the regions. From the export earnings, billions of dollars goes towards our NDIS, defending our country and securing our borders, all created in the regions.

Then there is the sugar industry. In my electorate of Dawson I have the biggest sugar-cane growing area in the whole of Australia. Over 80 per cent of that sugar is exported, again creating export earnings. And horticulture: in my home town of Bowen, half a billion dollars worth of horticultural crop provides food to feed this country as well as provide export earnings. You would think that, with all those contributions from regional Australians, some money, or a little bit, would come back, wouldn't you? That's what you'd do: you'd give some money back to those that are providing so much.

What has this hopeless one-term Albanese Labor government done in 2½ years? They've made things more difficult. They've cut funding to the Bruce Highway. The Bruce Highway is the main road, the main highway, from Brisbane to Cairns. It's about 1,600 kilometre long, and that's how farmers get their produce to market and how people get their supplies up from the city and how our families get home safely. What have the Albanese Labor government done? They've cut the funding. Forever it's been an 80-20 arrangement, with 80 per cent provided by the federal government and 20 per cent by the state government. But that's been cut to fifty-fifty. So now the work is not getting done. So now we have a long conga line of potholes, and it's not as safe for my people to drive on.

And what about the fishing industry? The Labor government has decimated the fishing industry with the ban of gillnets in order to 'save the Great Barrier Reef'. Can you imagine having a net on the reef? It would get tangled up, and you'd never get it back. Gillnets go absolutely nowhere near the Great Barrier Reef. This was just a stroke of a pen; it was just a silly idea to once again appease their buddies the Greens, but it has decimated the fishing industry—the fishers and also the chandlery shops, the ice works, the boatbuilders, the whole lot.

What about the introduction of a biosecurity levy? How's this one: the Labor government has brought in a biosecurity levy into make sure they have to pay for the rest of their overseas competitors! No-one else in the world does that. But the Labor government brought that in. They have absolutely no idea.

They introduced the car and family ute tax, another blight on regional Australians. The vehicles that we need to drive—LandCruiser, Rangers, HiLuxs and those sorts of things—have gone up in price. But here's a newsflash for those opposite: electric vehicles can't carry the weight, they can't overload and they can't cover the distance. But, again, it's another attack on regional Australians.

They are driving up power prices. Power prices are going through the roof, and this was after the promise of a $275 reduction. They made this promise 97 times. I cannot believe it.

The Albanese Labor government must stop demonising regional Australians. Without regional Australia, Australians starve and Australia stops.

Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to stand here today as a regional MP, delivering for my region on the South Coast of New South Wales and for regional Australia. I grew up on a dairy farm in my region, and everything I learnt growing up means I get my region. It's where I've raised my four kids. So, as an MP—and a mum—I naturally want the best for every young child growing up in our region. I want our young people to go to TAFE to complete their apprenticeship or go to uni. I want young people to aspire to remain living locally. I want to ensure the health needs of pensioners and our most vulnerable are looked after. That is why, I have absolutely championed what's good for our regions. And today I want to mention just two of those initiatives.

We're making fee-free TAFE permanent. As a TAFE teacher, I saw what the New South Wales Liberal government did to TAFE: they gutted it. The carpark at TAFE NSW Nowra campus was constantly empty. Locals noticed it and were shocked and dismayed. That's what the Liberal government did. I am so happy to be part of the Albanese Labor government that brought in fee-free TAFE. It has meant more people going to TAFE to do an apprenticeship, to retrain in a skills shortage industry. In Gilmore, 4,400 people have taken up our fee-free TAFE.

Last week I visited the Nowra TAFE campus with the Acting Prime Minister, and we went into electrical and carpentry classes. We spoke with students and heard how fee-free TAFE is helping, providing that bit of important relief, allowing people to retrain. That's absolutely wonderful. Our Free TAFE Bill in the House will make fee-free TAFE permanent—fantastic. But it should come as no surprise that Peter Dutton won't support it. In fact, the Liberals called it wasteful spending. Well, try telling that to TAFE students in my electorate and their mums and dads, nannas and pops. People in my electorate know the importance of TAFE and that our fee-free TAFE is working.

In fact, the Deputy Leader of the Liberal Party and shadow minister for skills made some pretty shocking statements on our TAFE bill in the House. She said:

And remember this, and it's a key principle and tenet of the Liberal Party: if you don't pay for something, you don't value it. So, if you're told that your TAFE is free and all you have to do is turn up—you actually have to do some work, and then you have to get a qualification at the end—and if that's all that it is but you haven't paid for it, you don't see it as something that makes a difference to you in your life; you don't see it as something valuable.

What an extraordinary betrayal of young people and people of all ages studying at TAFE—gaining skills, getting that qualification, becoming tradies, helping solve skill shortages in our regions.

Well, I'm pleased to say that, under Labor, fee-free TAFE is here to stay. Today I launched a petition to have our Batemans Bay Medicare urgent care clinic upgraded to have normal hours of operation closer to 24/7 and to increase the care level. The Batemans Bay Medicare urgent care clinic that I lobbied hard for and delivered has seen 7,500 patients, all fully bulk-billed, receiving treatment for urgent conditions. It helps take pressure off our wonderful local GPs and the emergency departments at Batemans Bay and Moruya. Here's what Emma said just today: 'That urgent care is fantastic. My son fractured his hand yesterday and we were able to get seen there straightaway, and the level of care they gave us was outstanding. Both the nurse and the doctor treating my son were just so lovely and caring. Our town needs this.'

That's the type of support we're providing in my region and for regional Australia, making a real difference for families, pensioners and everyone in our community. But people should be very aware of the Liberals' $615 billion in planned spending cuts and what's on the chopping board when it comes to health. After all, when the opposition leader was health minister he tried to do away with bulk-billing by introducing a tax on every visit to the GP. He started a six-year freeze on Medicare rebates and cut $50 billion from hospitals. He was even voted the worst health minister in 40 years by Australian doctors. That is in stark contrast to this side of the House, with the Albanese Labor government strengthening Medicare, increasing bulk-billing and delivering for regional Australia.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's a great MPI topic—whether regional Australians are better off under this government. The answer clearly is no. I live in regional Australia. I engage with my constituents often, and they're doing it very tough. This government has failed to get core inflation under control, and that means the Reserve Bank is holding off on interest rate cuts. My constituents have mortgages; my constituents pay rent—all people across regional Australia have mortgages and pay rent. And the stubborn inflation that has been caused by the government not taking this seriously and not doing their No. 1 job, which is to get inflation under control, means that people are paying higher mortgages, higher rents, and higher prices for a number of things.

I came in here earlier for the Treasurer's economic statement, and it was very self-congratulatory about how well the government has done on economic management. And I tell you what: there's a former Australian left-arm leg spinner in the building today, but he's not the best spinner in Parliament House today; the Treasurer is a much better spinner than the forenamed former Australian left-arm leg spinner!

What the member for Gippsland said in his address—and I made these points yesterday as well, in relation to another piece of legislation—is that you can see during question time that the government seems to have given up on the vision and the policy and it's all about calling the opposition leader names. Now, come on: we deserve a bit better than that in Australia. I know the tactics committee and the focus groups have said, 'If we demonise the Leader of the Opposition, that's the pathway to holding on to government, however slender that may be.' But it's not really the path that I think Australians want us to go down. Calling the opposition leader names is not leadership; it's not vision. And another thing: a lot of people in my electorate and in regional Australia are involved in small business, whether they own a small business or are employed by one. Those small businesses are reporting to me that it is harder to do business, mainly because of the industrial relations legislation they're forced to wade through. That might be fine for really large businesses to deal with, but, for a small business who doesn't have an HR manager, it's very difficult and it makes it harder for them to do business.

I had an agribusiness investor, farmer and producer tell me just last week, 'I'm not investing in Australia at the moment because I'm too worried about what this mob is going to do around policies to do with IR and water. My investment's going into the United States.' Now, that breaks my heart, because, when he invests, my people get employed and we produce things. It's hard to produce things in my patch in the Murray-Darling Basin without irrigation water. The lack of investment confidence in the agricultural sector because of the changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan—and I'll call out again the minister for the environment's failure to come to basin communities and find out the actual consequence of the damage she's doing—is hurting my community. Those people aren't better off.

When people invest in agribusiness, people get employed, we export products to South-East Asia and beyond, and Australia is a richer, wealthier place. If you take away that confidence, Australia is a poorer place, and the people who live in regional Australia who rely on these industries are poorer. The policies announced by this government have damaged confidence and are making regional Australian people poorer.

There was an infrastructure pipeline in my electorate. It built some great things. The Echuca-Moama Bridge improved rail lines between Shepparton and Melbourne. I haven't seen much infrastructure development in the 2½ years of the Albanese government. In fact, we have had some funding, but no work's started. We've got to build some stuff; then people in regional Australia will be better off.

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

Under the Albanese Labor government, regional Australians are better off, and here's why. Bulk billing in the regions is higher now than it was two years ago. That's a fact, and the data makes it crystal clear. The Albanese government's record investment to strengthen Medicare has revived bulk billing and made it cheaper for people in regional Australia to see a GP. In regional Victoria alone, this has resulted in an additional 585,900 free visits to the GP just in the past year. That's something to celebrate, and it's remarkable. It reinforces the fact that regional Australians will always do better under Labor when it comes to Medicare and their health care.

This stands in stark contrast to the damning legacy of the former coalition government. We all know the opposition leader was overwhelmingly voted by Australian doctors as the worst health minister in living memory. It was the opposition leader who wanted to abolish bulk billing, which would have delivered terrible health and cost-of-living outcomes for regional Australians.

It's a similar story when it comes to the education sector. The Albanese government understands that regional economies are bolstered by investment in and support for their educational institutions, like Gordon TAFE and Deakin University in my electorate of Corangamite in regional Victoria. That's why we're backing in our regions, putting forward a policy that would see more Australians attend regional universities—studying, working and, hopefully, embracing and staying in regional areas.

The latest data backs this up. It shows that, under our education policy, regional university intakes would rise by 11 per cent above their 2023 international student levels, and 78 per cent above their estimates for 2024. This projected 78 per cent rise would be the economic boost these regional communities need. I know there are National Party MPs and senators who want this bill passed because it would benefit their regional communities, but, unsurprisingly, the Liberal Party are standing in the way of this bill. They're blocking our pathway to supporting regional universities, they're opposing a 20 per cent cut to student debt and they're now opposing free TAFE, a program that regional Victorians are taking up in droves.

When it comes to infrastructure, our record speaks for itself. We're progressively doubling Roads to Recovery funding to $1 billion annually. Under this program, Victoria will receive $895 million over five years—much more than the former coalition government proposed—with much of it going to regional roads. The Black Spot Program will also rise from $110 million to $150 million per year under Labor. In my regional, fast-growing electorate, this Labor government has in the last year rolled out more than $1.3 million for road projects alone on the Surf Coast, making our roads safer and reducing travel times for motorists. We're about to kick off, early next year, stage 2 of the Barwon Heads Road upgrade; this is a joint state-federal funding partnership, a $250 million project that will duplicate this busy arterial road in one of the nation's fastest-growing areas. And on Saturday we officially opened the Waurn Ponds rail duplication, with work now complete.

This contrasts sharply with the former coalition government, which took funds from regional Australia and put them into the North Sydney pool—so much for a coalition government that supports regional Australia! They have form. Do you remember, Deputy Speaker Claydon, when the former Abbott coalition government froze road maintenance funding back in 2014 and then did nothing for a decade? As a result, regional roads suffered and so did their businesses and local communities. But, luckily, things have changed. At the last election, the nation voted for a competent, compassionate government that is now getting on with the job for the people of my electorate, for the member for Gippsland's electorate and for all regional Australians.

Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am an optimistic person. I like to believe in the best of people. The MPI today is:

After two and a half years, regional Australians are worse off under this Government.

I have said many times that I don't think members of the Labor Party come here to do harm, and I don't think they mean to do harm to regional Australia. I think they are, in the truest sense of the word, just simply ignorant, and they don't understand what it is they are doing to rural Australia.

I have been keeping a bit of a list of the things that I think are really biting and really hurting and have changed in this 2½ years of government. First is the cost of everything. Only the other day I was in a butcher's shop looking at sausages that were $16 a kilogram. I can't tell you what an obstacle this is for people anywhere, let alone in the country. Our electricity prices, despite promises of a $275 reduction, have gone up by 30 per cent. If you think that's tough on households, imagine what it's like for a small manufacturing business or a large retail centre or whatever it might be. Costs in the country are pretty tough on everything. There have been 12 interest rate rises under this government. The average mortgage is $35,000 worse off. Personal income taxes are up by 25 per cent. We've heard the government parrot about their tax cuts—the stage 3 tax cuts which were actually funded under the former government—but, in fact, bracket creep is taking care of those very, very quickly indeed.

The abolition of the live sheep trade is eroding confidence right across the sheep industry, not just in Western Australia. There are some orders on some ships at the moment, and we know not what the owners of the ships will do; they may depart Australia early. There is the recommencement of the indiscriminate water buybacks along the Murray River. I led a delegation from the top to the bottom of the Murray, talking to growers about what would this mean in their communities; I can tell you it hurts. The building of transmission lines and renewable energy parks through high-value farmlands is starting to meet with real resistance in our rural and farming communities, I can tell you. There is the abolition of the ag visa program; this was to provide a workforce for Australian farmers to sow and harvest crops—that is gone.

There is the drying up of road projects. I worked very hard to get major upgrades on major highways within my electorate, and we began the duplication of the Augusta Highway; it's gone just on 30 kilometres. Work is still underway, I might say, but it's the money that was allocated from the previous government, and it's about to cease, and there is nothing in the forward estimates to keep this work going the rest of the way to Port Augusta.

On the local roads and community infrastructure, members just before me spoke about the increase in roads renewal. In fact, it has been put back in one hand—what was taken away from the left. The reduction of instant tax write-off measures for farmers and the imposing of the biosecurity levy on farmers—I think that's stuck in the Senate at the moment. But the idea that farmers would be paying for the import inspections on non-agricultural products, like fridges, white goods, machinery, electronics et cetera, is quite preposterous. The vehicle emissions standard will come into effect in the middle of next year but with another $15,000 to $20,000 on the vehicles that we use in regional areas.

There is the abolition of the native title respondents fund for those landholders that find themselves in the position of having to fight to keep their rights on their own property. There is the commitment to expand Australia's parks and reserves from 20 per cent to 30 per cent. I only heard the environment minister in a meeting this morning being very excited about the prospect of going from 22 per cent of land being under the protection of Australia to 30 per cent in the next five years. I can guarantee you that that land, that protected area, will not be coming out of the electorate of Sydney. It won't be coming out of the electorate of Melbourne. It won't be coming out of the central area; it will be coming out of the regions that I represent, and it creates holes in the economic fabric. There is the allowance of big emitters to buy up agricultural land set aside for emissions to meet the safeguard mechanism. The safeguard mechanism itself is actually undermining the metal refining platforms, like the steelworks at Whyalla, the lead smelter in Port Pirie and the copper smelter in Roxby Downs. It is making it more and more difficult. So it has been a tough 2½ years, I'd have to say, and I think the government needs to take a very close assessment of what they've done to rural and regional Australia. I would like to continue— (Timeexpired)

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm proud to stand as a member of a Labor government that supports a seat like mine in the Northern Territory that's as diverse as Lingiari, which is regional and remote Australia. Labor works hard to help all of my constituents deal with the cost-of-living pressures, and there is still more to do. When you hear speaker after speaker on the other side—not once have we heard on our side that there isn't more to do. We know that there is more to do and that everyone is hurting, and we are doing everything possible to try and make life better for everybody—not just the select few but everyone.

In my electorate, we work very hard as part of the government to build strong and sustainable communities that provide relief to those most in need at times when they need it the most. Labor's tax cuts, which came into force from 1 July this year, benefited 43,000 Territorians in Lingiari, and Labor is working hard for all Australian taxpayers to keep more of what they earn. Our government's $300 energy bill relief is another practical way Labor is easing the cost-of-living pressures. Around 85,000 households across the Northern Territory have benefited from this measure, which is reducing national household bills by 17 per cent on average compared to the previous year. In Lingiari, the Sun Cable project is going to benefit the nation but particularly Aboriginal communities along the corridor where the Sun Cable project is working. The Indigenous land use agreement is about to be signed between Sun Cable—its partners through the Northern Land Council—and native titleholders. I was listening to the member for Grey when he was talking about the native title disputes in South Australia. If it might help the retiring member for Grey, maybe that side of government needs to work more with their Aboriginal communities to get consensus rather than the ongoing disputes that we often see. I think that side of politics loves the division between pastoralists and Aboriginal people.

In the Northern Territory, we've done a lot of work with the cattlemen's association, with the pastoral industry and with Aboriginal people in terms of building the economy and the Northern Territory. A lot can be said if you work on those relationships.

Not everyone agrees, and that's okay. You can agree to disagree. But it is imperative that all of us in this House try and work together with industry to try and get the best outcome, particularly if we're looking at what needs to happen to get greater benefits and outcomes for our constituents.

One of the things that I do want to pick up on, and everyone's picked up on this because it is really important, is the Medicare reforms that our Minister for Health and Aged Care has taken through. I just want to quickly touch on the urgent care clinic in Alice Springs, or Mparntwe, which has had over 25,000 people. For a small community like Alice Springs, the number of people who have used the Medicare urgent care clinic in Alice Springs has been mind-blowing. It is in the top 25 urgent care clinics that we have put in place. The community of Alice Springs are very grateful.

It was good to be there the other day and see people coming in. It's not just Aboriginal clients that are going into these urgent care clinics but mums and dads and everyone that lives in Alice Springs. Alice has a high multicultural population—it's about 30 per cent of the community—and you hear everyone saying how good the Medicare urgent care clinic in Alice Springs is. That has been a fantastic initiative, and getting the support of the health minister, the Central Australian Aboriginal Congress, the Department of Health and others to make the Medicare urgent care clinic in Alice Springs happen has been an important part of the Albanese Labor government's promise to make it easier to see a doctor in regional communities like Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek.

It is hard to try and get a doctor into all of these regional areas. The Medicare urgent care clinic in Alice Springs, as well as what we're doing throughout those regional areas, has to be applauded. It has been a big investment by this side of government.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for this discussion has concluded.