Dean Smith (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Before Prime Minister Anthony Albanese joined thousands of his New South Wales electors at the Taylor Swift concert, he had a moment to drop in on Western Australia. In the 48 hours that he spent in Western Australia, he left more questions than he was able to provide answers for. Western Australians were left wondering: why is this Labor Prime Minister damaging the agricultural sector by continuing the ban on live exports, an industry that is worth $120 million to regional communities across Western Australia? Western Australians were left wondering: why is this Labor government's unmodelled, unplanned immigration policy hurting Western Australians? Western Australians' rents have peaked at $600 a week, and we know that first home buyers have fallen from 2,600 when the Coalition was in government to just 1,000 last year. Western Australians are wondering: Prime Minister, why don't you listen to our concerns when you come to our state?

They all know in Western Australia that our wealth, which is shared with the whole country, is built on agriculture and mining, but this government wants to fund the Environmental Defenders Office that is going to harm and damage Western Australian mining interests. They know that this government is not interested in farming communities across regional Western Australia. On top of that, they know they are experiencing the worst cost-of-living crisis they have ever experienced. This Prime Minister comes to Western Australia with no answers and just leaves people with more questions.