Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you to Labor for raising this very important issue. I am very proud to have this opportunity to speak about exactly what the coalition government is doing for rural and regional Australia. Let's not forget that Labor had their chance as well. Labor did not build a dam either. Labor did not build any pipelines. Labor now stand here in hindsight and say: 'We're in drought. What are you doing about it? You should have expected this drought.' Well, hello? We are Australia. We have droughts and floods. And we are the first government to ever put in place a forward plan to help make our country more resilient for the next drought. Where were Labor when we first brought the Future Drought Fund to this place? They refused to support it. Despite what Senator O'Neill says about how Labor have reached out the hand of bipartisanship, they refused to support the first forward-thinking drought program this country has ever seen. It was brought in by the Liberals and the National Party in government.

I could talk for hours about what the coalition government are doing for rural and regional Australia. Where to begin? We are decentralising. We are actually getting people and jobs out of the cities and into the regions. More than 200 have already been moved out of the cities. We are connecting the regions with the continued rollout of the NBN and the Mobile Black Spot Program. And, of course, we are addressing this current challenge of drought. What we are not doing is riding roughshod over the jurisdiction of the states, who have responsibility for town water supplies. We are working with the states, saying: 'What projects do you need? How do you need our help?' Together, we will work on getting through this drought.

The federal government is taking responsibility to help our farmers and communities here and now. We have the farm household allowance. Yesterday's amendments mean that 30,000 more farmers are eligible to access the farm household allowance. We have also introduced new loans programs. We're the first government to extend the drought support package to small businesses in drought-affected communities. Now these small businesses can access no-interest and low-interest loans through the Regional Investment Corporation. We are supporting local councils with the Drought Communities Program, getting $1 million into drought-affected councils, and we've extended that just recently. We're also bringing out another round of the Building Better Regions Fund that is specifically designed to help drought-affected communities build infrastructure and community support programs. And we've announced the water-for-fodder program, with 100 gigalitres of water being added to the southern basin thanks to working cooperatively with the South Australian government.

Our suite of drought relief measures goes to the heart of what actually matters. I live in a drought-impacted community, so I know what matters out there. From small businesses to primary producers, we are working with these communities to take the pressure off in one of the worst droughts in history. But we also know that we will be here again. That is why we brought in the Future Drought Fund. That is why we are delivering priority water infrastructure projects. Our $100 million National Water Grid Authority is now up and running. Specifically, in New South Wales, we are working with the state government to deliver major infrastructure upgrades, including a $650 million upgrade to Wyangala Dam in the state's central west to improve water reliability along the Lachlan River and a $480 million upgrade to Dungowan Dam near Tamworth to improve water security for the region, as well as undertaking a feasibility study into a Mole River dam to improve water reliability along the Border Rivers, which will help both New South Wales and Queensland.

We are the first government in Australia's history to take a long-term, strategic approach to drought, and we are very proud of doing so. But, beyond the drought, we are also thinking about what is needed to help our country communities grow and prosper into the future. We are delivering the infrastructure needed, through several projects. We are also concerned about health. The coalition government are getting 3,000 additional doctors and 3,000 additional nurses and allied health professionals into rural practice. We are addressing rural mental health, supporting headspace services across the nation. We have the $503 million rural mental health strategy. We will continue to grow regional economies through delivering free trade agreements and opening up opportunities through projects like Inland Rail that will connect our regions to our ports to better facilitate agricultural exports. We will continue to deliver the infrastructure needed to improve economic and social outcomes for rural communities. I thank the Labor Party for giving me this opportunity to highlight just some of our projects. (Time expired)