Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a pleasure to make a contribution to the adjournment debate tonight. Here we are in the last week of parliament, before we depart this place for the winter break—and I can see the relief on your face, Mr Acting Deputy President O'Sullivan, as much as I can on everyone else's face around here. But, while we will be departing parliament, electors in five electorates across the country will be going to the polls in a number of by-elections, courtesy of our good friends who drafted the Constitution and of course those members who failed to comply with it when they ran for parliament earlier on.

On 28 July, voters will be going to the polls in the electorate of Braddon, on the beautiful north-west coast of Tasmania where I hail from originally. It's an electorate where voters will be confronted with a very stark choice between former member and Liberal candidate Brett Whiteley and former Labor member Justine Keay. It's a choice about a proven record of delivery, of being able to keep the economy strong, of being able to do things that actually grow the economy and create conditions where people want to invest, create jobs and grow our regional communities. It is about the plan that Brett Whiteley and the Turnbull Liberal government have for creating much-needed jobs—jobs we heard about in question time today, which I will turn to later—and guaranteeing essential services, which have been budgeted for, fully funded, fully costed and paid for, in health, in education and, of course, in public safety.

Going back to that choice, we have the stark contrast between Brett Whiteley, who has a record of delivery, and a Labor candidate who can't deliver. The reason she can't deliver is that she comes from a party that is not in government. How can you deliver on promises that you are making willy-nilly across the electorate when, if you are returned to this place, you will still be in opposition and you will not able to deliver on any one of those promises? It's a bit like a 'terms and conditions apply' when it comes to any of those promises that are made in this election campaign, and voters in Braddon need to be aware of that.

In addition, we face the same story we have faced in Tasmania time and time again, where Labor members are often captive to the Greens—and in Braddon it's no exception. Those of us who hail from the north-west coast will remember the damaging days between 2010 and 2013 when Bob Brown and Julia Gillard signed up to a lovely coalition agreement and, at the same time, we had a double whammy with the Giddings and McKim Labor-Greens government in Hobart, which did nothing but wreak havoc on the regional economy and regional communities in north-west Tasmania, in the electorate of Braddon. That is what voters will get when casting a vote for the Labor candidate in Braddon. So I strongly counsel them against that.

As I said, voters will be confronted with a choice on 28 July. They can vote for a stable strong, majority Liberal government and an economy that is growing, where jobs are being created and where people have the confidence to invest, like they do in Tasmania—and all economic indicators show we are the highest in the nation when it comes to business confidence—and where we have tax relief for hardworking Australians who deserve to keep the money they earn and spend it how they see fit, such as saving and putting it away for their kids' futures, for their university education or for whatever it might be. Or they could vote for Labor for higher taxes, for higher power prices—$300 per annum, per household, on average—for more debt and, of course, for higher deficits and for red ink as far as the eye can see.

But, rather than talk about what the candidates are saying they are going to offer, I think it's important to talk about their records, what the candidates have delivered in the past—both of them former members for Braddon and both of them former members of this very parliament. I want to start with Mr Brett Whiteley's record of achievement when he was the federal member for Braddon between the years 2013 and 2016. I'll start with some significant ones, include the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme. That was a massive enabler for the Tasmanian economy. It's something that has helped manufacturers and other businesses that rely on getting goods to market, interstate and overseas, to be able to compete with their mainland counterparts. That's something that Brett had a great hand in securing: the extension of that scheme.

The Circular Head Irrigation Scheme was something Brett championed and worked very hard for. There were also the University of Tasmania Burnie upgrade, the $25 million jobs and investment package and, of course—even though my colleagues on the other side don't like to talk about it—the west coast NBN fibre-to-the-node package of $18.5 million, where we see west coast residents being able to connect. That's something that those opposite never delivered on, and probably wouldn't be able to if they were still in charge.

I'm talking about local projects as well. It's great to talk about some of those small projects that matter to small communities that aren't in big cities like Hobart, Launceston, Melbourne, Sydney or wherever. The Devonport Country Club facilities will open up a number of recreational facilities to many, many community groups to the value of $3.5 million, delivered by Brett Whitely. The new Dial Regional Sports Complex, also to the value of $3.5 million, will be a great regional sporting complex that will enable young Tasmanians from the north-west coast to compete in sporting events at a very high standard on a premium sporting ground. There is the Circular Head indoor pool, with the value of $3.6 million, the new facilities for the Cradle Coast outriggers and mobile phone blackspot funding for both Sisters Beach and Sulphur Creek. I have to say I was most disappointed about Sisters Beach: I used to go there for holidays with no phone reception, now I get it better than I do at home! But good on Brett Whiteley for delivering that, along with other things, including the dairy assistance package, the Wonders of Wynyard funding, the Cape Wickham Golf Course funding and the funding for the Tasmanian pickled onions processing facility to the tune of $500,000.

Senator Ruston interjecting—

Yes, pickled onions, Senator Ruston. You should come down and try them. Brett Whiteley has delivered all of this for his community. He was able to secure and provide funding to the Mersey-Leven cycling club, a great club, for their clubroom upgrades. There was also funding for the Wynyard Bowls Club new air conditioners, the McKenna Park scoreboard, $4,000 for the Vietnam veterans' Mersey-Leven memorial board, the South Burnie Bowls Club disability toilet facilities and the East Devonport Community House garden. The list goes on and on, including some critical improvements to infrastructure for safety along the Bass Highway at eight north-west intersections valued at $4.8 million. It's an extensive list, but that's Brett Whiteley's record. That's what he has delivered. That's what people can look to when they make a decision on 28 July. They can see that this man has delivered for that region.

Compare that to the record left behind by former member—a former member, so someone who should have a record we can judge her on—Justine Keay. Unfortunately, there is nothing we can point to, because she's in opposition. That is what voters in Braddon need to remember. In voting for Labor at this election, you are voting someone who cannot deliver back into opposition.

The one reminder I need to give to the voters in Braddon is that Labor and the Greens are bad for Braddon. I go back to that point about the Labor-Green government in Canberra and the Labor-Green government in Tasmania between the years of 2010 and 2013. What did they do? They shut down the forestry industry; thousands of jobs were gone and several regional communities were decimated. That was Labor and the Greens. They also targeted the aquaculture industry. The same thing is happening again: over 5,000 jobs in regional Tasmania are under threat because of a Labor Party captive to the Greens in my home state. My message to voters in Braddon is this: Labor are captive to the Greens and they are bad for Braddon. Vote Liberal. Vote Brett Whiteley.

Catryna Bilyk (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm not quite sure what to say about that previous speech, except to say that I do thank Senator Duniam for mentioning all those things that Labor funded.

Last week in the House of Representatives we had a moment of honesty from our Prime Minister. On Tuesday, Mr Turnbull was asked in question time whether he thought a 60-year-old aged-care worker from Burnie should aspire to be an investment banker in order to get a $7,000 tax cut under the Liberal's tax policy. The Prime Minister's response was telling—it was very telling, in fact—about the attitude that this government has to people in need. Here is what Mr Turnbull said: 'The 60-year-old aged-care worker is entitled to aspire to get a better job.' This reveals a lot about our Prime Minister's attitude to working Australians: a job isn't regarded as a good job unless it pays the kind of salary that attracts a $7,000 tax cut under Mr Turnbull's plan. Not every Australian can be an investment banker or a CEO or a government minister. This country needs its nurses, it needs its teachers, it needs its early childhood educators and it needs its aged-care workers. Just because they are not paid more than $125,000 a year doesn't mean their jobs are not important. In fact, they do some of the most important jobs in the country. I ask people: would you place your elderly relative—your parent or grandparent—in the hands of an aged-care worker if you thought they didn't regard their job as important, if you thought they weren't dedicated and passionate about their job? Would you rather leave them in the hands of an investment banker? I don't think so.

It is simply outrageous that, at a time when Australia needs to increase its aged-care workforce, our Prime Minister is sending a message to those already in the workforce that their jobs aren't good enough. An aged-care worker from the north-west coast of Tasmania, Elaine, heard Mr Turnbull's comments and was justifiably shocked by them. But her response was dignified and to the point. Elaine said: 'A lot of people aspire to be carers, to look after the elderly and to be there for them. It may not pay well, but it is a job we all love. One day when he becomes aged and needs help, I hope there are still carers around for him.'

What does the Liberal candidate for Braddon, Brett Whiteley, make of the Prime Minister's comments? The day after Mr Turnbull's out-of-touch statement, I read the following in the north-west based newspaper The Advocate: 'Braddon Liberal candidate, Brett Whiteley, stood by Mr Turnbull's comments.' In other words, Mr Whiteley supports the idea that Elaine and her colleagues should aspire to get what they regard as better jobs. The 39,000 workers in the electorate of Braddon who earn less than $125,000 a year need to remember, when they go to vote on 20 July, that they have a choice. They can vote for Labor's Justine Keay, who would support a bigger, better, fairer tax cut, a tax cut that is almost double what they are being promised by this government, or they could vote for someone who thinks they are not worthy of a better tax cut unless they 'get a better job'.

I have a message for Mr Turnbull and Mr Whiteley: aged-care workers in Braddon or in the rest of Australia don't need a better job, what they need is a better government. In Braddon, they need a local member who believes that, instead of giving $17 billion to the big banks, the government should be handing back the $17 billion they have cut from schools, including the more. than $14 million to schools in Braddon in 2018 and 2019. And they need a local member who, in the interests of Braddon residents, will reject the Turnbull government's other cruel cuts and their $80 billion tax cut to big business. In the electorate of Braddon Mr Turnbull and the Liberals have cut over $700,000 from the North West Regional Hospital—the equivalent of the loss of three doctors, six nurses and 1,000 emergency department visits or almost 2,000 outpatient services. The cuts to pensions have caused 1,570 pensioners to be worse off, including 400 who lost their pension entirely. And, while those opposite have been in power, vocational education and training has suffered, with the north-west of Tasmania losing 700 apprentices. There are 7,000 retail and hospitality workers in Braddon, which means more than one in five workers are affected by the government's cuts to penalty rates. That's 7,000 workers who stand to lose up to $77 a week from their pay packets—and this government thinks they should be grateful for a $10-a-week tax cut! Voters in Braddon will go to the polls in just under five weeks time and they have been presented with a Liberal candidate who supports all these cruel cuts. The 7,000 retail and hospitality workers should know that, in 2014, when Mr Whiteley was member for Braddon he said, 'Penalty rates and wages in general for young people are becoming too expensive for small businesses to even think about putting them on.' In 2015 he said that changes to Medicare that would see some patients hit with a new $20 fee for seeing their GP were 'entirely necessary'. In 2007, when Mr Whiteley was a state member of parliament, he described the mortgage stress suffered by young Australians as 'self-inflicted'.

Another demonstration that the Liberal candidate for Braddon is out of touch is that the minister for communications described the NBN rollout to the west coast of Tasmania as Mr Whiteley's signature achievement. Despite the government's backflip on the NBN rollout to the west coast, the new fixed line service was still using Mr Turnbull's outdated copper based network rather than the 21st century fibre to the premises that Labor promised during the 2016 election. The minister promised that the region would be connected by the end of this year, but we have recently heard that the first few homes will start being connected only from the end of this year. Not only have the government broken their promise, not only are they rolling out the fixed line network to the west coast using outdated technology, but Mr Whiteley didn't even support the policy in the first place.

At a forum in March 2016—and I think my colleague Senator Urquhart attended this forum—Mr Whiteley told Queenstown residents they would have to put up with the satellite service because he had to do the same at his property. Unsurprisingly, this comment wasn't very well received by the forum. It demonstrated a few things about Mr Whiteley. First, it showed a lack of appreciation for the needs of west coast residents. That's pretty typical of the attitude of the Liberal Party to remote and regional Australia. Those opposite fail to understand that fast, reliable broadband helps to bridge the digital divide between the country and the city. It improves the competitiveness of regional Australia in the global digital economy and improves their access to essential government services. Mr Whiteley failed to understand that satellite broadband is less reliable on the west coast due to heavy rainfall and regular storms. Mr Whiteley's comments also show that he didn't really support the policy of a fixed line rollout to the west coast but was instead being dragged, kicking and screaming, to accept it.

So, according to Senator Fifield, Mr Whiteley's signature achievement was delivering an outdated copper based service to the west coast when he didn't even support the policy in the first place. I think that speaks volumes about how out of touch Mr Whiteley really is with the needs of constituents. If Mr Whiteley supports Mr Turnbull's comments about aged-care workers, then perhaps he would do well to reflect on the 2016 election and why the voters in Braddon chose not to give him a second term. Sure, there were federal issues at play. But when you tell 7,000 workers that the penalty rates they rely on to pay the rent and put food on the table are too expensive, you can't really expect those workers to give you a resounding endorsement. When you tell people it's necessary for them to be slugged another $20 to see their GP, you can't really expect them to support you either. When you tell people on the west coast that if you have to put up with the satellite service then so should they, you can't expect them to support you.

There is, of course, a candidate for Braddon who will stand up and protect the penalty rates of retail and hospitality workers; who values aged-care work; who will vote for a bigger, better, fairer tax cut for thousands of workers in Braddon earning less than $125,000 a year; and who will support reversing a $17 billion cut to Australian schools rather than giving $17 billion to Australia's big banks. That candidate is Labor's Justine Keay. She absolutely deserves to be returned as the member for Braddon on 28 July.