Perin Davey (NSW, National Party, Shadow Minister for Water) Share this | Hansard source

The Labor Party went to the federal election last May with a $15 billion commitment to deliver a National Reconstruction Fund. On the surface, it sounds like an exciting proposition. But, as with so many of Labor's election promises before and after the election, this one will not deliver what industry wants. It won't deliver what the economy needs, and it does not deliver what the community was expecting. It's not what Labor said it would do. But, frankly, why should any Australian be surprised that what Labor comes up with post the election is different to what they said before the election? This government has wasted no time in dismantling so many of its lofty election objectives. Their October budget slashed programs, particularly programs to deliver infrastructure in regional Australia. It pushed up the cost of living for families, and it put even greater pressure on rural and regional Australia.

I mean, let's look at what the Prime Minister promised. He went to the election promising he would drive down electricity prices—indeed, 97 times. Yes, 97 times he promised he would cut electricity bills and that they would fall by $275—a very specific number, and he was wedded to it. And indeed, they have not gone down by $275; they've gone up—a lot. And their proposed cap on coal and gas prices has done nothing to alleviate the rising electricity prices. The Prime Minister went to the election saying superannuation would not be touched; it was sacrosanct. We now know that one in 10 Australians will have their super impacted by the taxation changes that this government, who promised they wouldn't touch super, are now bringing in.

Let's not talk about what they're proposing for franking credits. That was another one: 'We won't touch franking credits.' Hmmm. He went to the election promising to strengthen Medicare, but instead he's cut back Medicare funded mental health support. They've cut back telehealth, and bulk-billing rates are falling everywhere. They promised cheaper medicine, but now we're seeing them remove medicines from the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, meaning that people who depended on these medicines are now faced with higher prices, at a time of higher inflation, higher cost-of-living pressures across every single aspect of living. These are medicines that were on the PBS and they're being removed from the PBS—vital, life-saving medicines.

Labor have butchered the support available to encourage overseas trained doctors to move to rural areas through changes to the Distribution Priority Area classification system. So now, whereas the DPA system ensured that overseas trained doctors or bonded medical students had to move to regional areas or that only regional areas could recruit those doctors, Labor have reclassified it so that peri-urban areas have the same status as places like my home town of Deniliquin, Bourke and Wentworth in the south-west.

I have tried getting a doctor, thank, you Senator Pratt. We have also tried getting doctors to move to those areas through the Distribution Priority Area status, and Labor have just made that task impossible. Now doctors can move to Western Sydney under that DPA status, whereas before they couldn't. So, I don't accept—well, I accept your heckle, because you are wrong. We were seeing doctors move out to regional areas—not enough, admittedly. We introduced changes to ensure that the Murray-Darling Medical School was established to train doctors in regional areas. And what did we hear on the weekend? We heard your health minister, Mark Butler, say to the pharmacists that there will be health cuts in the budget. Where are those health cuts going to be felt the most? I can tell you where they're going to be felt the most: in rural and regional areas. It is despicable, the disrespect that this government has for rural and regional areas. They have butchered rural and regional infrastructure programs. The October budget set out clearly what this government thinks of rural and regional Australians. In the budget, they did have $4.7 billion for childcare support.