Helen Polley (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to raise my concerns about this coalition government's lack of care for regional Australia. The government's failure is twofold. The Morrison Liberal-National government is failing regional areas. It is failing the jobs test; it is not creating jobs in Australia's rural and regional areas. It is failing in the education space for people living in rural and regional areas. People living in rural and regional areas deserve the same opportunities to access skills training and apprenticeships. This government is not delivering on the commitment it made at the last federal election, and the Australian people deserve to know why.

To prepare the regional workforce for jobs of the future, skills must align with the skills of the future. Sadly, under the Morrison government, TAFE and regional jobs are under attack. Tasmania and Australia cannot afford to delay investing in the jobs of the future. Government must build with the private sector a framework for future jobs in the service, agriculture and tourism sectors. These sectors are particularly valuable to my home state of Tasmania. We have been very proud of what we have achieved over the decades, but that is at risk under this government. The government talk the talk about jobs, jobs, jobs, but we have not seen the jobs manifest themselves in Tasmania. What we have in fact seen is over 5,200 Tasmanians lose their jobs. They are full-time jobs that have gone, and we've also seen casualisation and underemployment. What I know is that I can't hold my breath waiting for the Liberals' Tasmanian team to be the voice of reason in the Morrison government. We had a new federal member elected at the May election, and she's missing in action. She has not delivered on one commitment that was outlined at the May federal election. She is in hiding.

It's the same with the health system in rural and regional areas, particularly in Tasmania. The Launceston General Hospital is in crisis. We have ambulances ramping. We're threatened with losing our most valuable resource, our medical fraternity. The doctors, the nurses, the ward clerks, the other hospital staff—they are all under stress because we have a Liberal state minister and a Liberal federal minister who have gone missing in action.

The Liberals' Senate team and this Morrison government are planning on ripping more federal Public Service jobs out of Tasmania as they privatise the visa-processing system. This means 2,000 jobs across Australia, 100 jobs in Hobart alone, will go.