Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to take note of the minister's comments around OPD No. 761, relating to the Stronger Communities Program. I move:

That the Senate take note of the explanation concerning the response to the order relating to the Stronger Communities Program.

It seems it's another day, another effort by the government—who promised so much on transparency and integrity when they came to power—and another week of them hiding behind redacted copies, legal advice and, 'We can't talk to you, Senate, about the documents the Senate has voted we must provide, because it will somehow discriminate in our discussions with states and territories.' I can tell you that Catherine King screaming down the phone at Jacinta Allan about infrastructure funding in my home state of Victoria is not doing a lot for state-Commonwealth relations, and I would suggest tabling the documents requested by the Australian Senate. For these ministers to continue to hide behind flaccid words and legalese is an absolute abrogation of their responsibilities to this chamber and their responsibilities as ministers of the Crown.

Catherine King's pathetic response on the Stronger Communities program round is just the latest case. This is a program which is supposed to support volunteer community organisations, such as Men's Sheds and emergency services, in buying microwaves, shade cloth and pie warmers so they can actually support their local communities and really build community involvement along the range of things most Australians like to do, which is not to listen to politicians; it's actually to get out there and play sport and help their fellow man and fight fires and floods together. That is actually what Australians want to do. Under the Labor Party, getting access to that much-needed funding for simple things like volunteer organisations just got a lot harder. Under Catherine King—guess what?—you don't just have to prove that you're doing a great job in your local community and you do need a pie warmer or a microwave; you actually have to report on how many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders are in your particular community group. What about your gender related activities? That's a bit tough if you're a men's shed. I hope that won't affect you getting the funding you need so much, remembering men's sheds were set up to assist with men's mental health needs and with having a safe space for men to participate in activities and chat to each other. No—they're going to have to disclose that they are really just about guys helping guys. You also have to report on your renewable energy sources and storage if you want to access grants between $2½ thousand and $20,000. It's an absolute joke.

But, on the OPDs that weren't responded to by this minister and that the opposition has put in, requesting an understanding of Rex Airlines funding from Minister King, how did you put $80 million on the table to not find a solution for regional aviation services to places like Wynyard, Whyalla and Albury, where I come from? We need to make sure that regional communities are supported no matter what happens with Rex, and the fact is that we have 40 other aviation service providers wanting to assist in affordable and accessible regional aviation services. This government really has only got one stakeholder they listen to—if it's not Qantas, it's the TWU—instead of the 40 other businesses that employ 10,000 Australians that want to help. Instead, this government has put $130 million on the table with no solution for regional communities, and now they want to simply buy Rex without telling the Australian taxpayer how much more money that will cost and how many other small, regional aviation service providers will be put out of business as a result.

The other question the opposition sought to get answered by the government is on an announcement made by the Prime Minister about $7.2 billion dollars towards the Bruce Highway in Queensland. Obviously, we are huge supporters of the Bruce Highway getting up to safety standards. It is not in a state that we would expect of a road for passenger vehicles or the freight tasks it is expected to undertake. After the derelict oversight of the Palaszczuk-Miles state government, we are absolutely committed to that project. However, there was a bit of misinformation and confusion amongst government ministers, with Senator Gallagher, the Minister for Finance, going on 7:30 over the summer holidays saying that it's not in the forward estimates. For those playing along at home, that means there's no funding flowing in the next four years on the ground to get this fixed. But the Prime Minister is saying, 'We're going to get money out the door this year.'

So who was right? Good question. I thought, 'Why don't I ask the minister?' The Senate agreed with me: 'Why don't we ask the minister? What is the profiling for that Bruce Highway funding?' We got stall tactics from the Labor Party and stall tactics on transparency from Minister King's office. Okay, we will come back to the Senate. We'll give them more time. We'll be considerate. This is not a hard document to find, because the minister would have had to have it all profiled when she went off to the Expenditure Review Committee to get the okay. The Prime Minister would have had to tick it off so they could make the big announcement in Queensland. And yet somehow the Prime Minister, Minister King and Minister Gallagher all had different answers around the profiling of the Bruce Highway. We want to understand what it was, and, unfortunately, this government, again running from transparency and accountability in the Australian Senate, has refused to provide that profiling. So we're none the wiser. Now we learn that neither the minister nor her department has formally written to the Queensland government regarding the proposed Bruce Highway. They're in partnership together. They're supposed to be fifty-fifty on this; we're on board for eighty-twenty. The Prime Minister makes a big song and dance. He wants 80-20. No-one has told the Queensland government.

Is this how you run the show? Is this how you run a $120 billion infrastructure pipeline? Apparently under the Labor Party that is how you run it. Don't talk to the states unless you're screaming down the phone at Jacinta Allan about: 'Will we fund the Suburban Rail Loop or won't we? How much do you want? Do you want another lazy $9 billion? We're getting the $2.2 billion out the door, Jacinta. Can you give us the Melbourne rail link? Can you give us the Melbourne Airport rail? We really want to go and announce that, because we know you've really stuffed up the working-class suburbs in western Melbourne. That's really going to cost us at the federal election.' And Jacinta is saying no. Jacinta is saying, 'I want the whole $9 billion, thank you, Catherine King.' I wonder where this stand-off will end up? That's going to unfold over the coming days, I imagine. Watch the Prime Minister swoop into Melbourne and make a big announcement about the Melbourne airport rail when he finally convinces the Premier of Victoria to get on board his re-election train.

Unfortunately—I'm coming to government—the Labor Party supported a big transparency game, and yet, as we've seen in this chamber time and time again, when it suits their political purposes, they refuse to release the detail. Ministers hide behind letters of legalese and commercial-in-confidence instead of actually treating this chamber with the respect it deserves—and, indeed, the Australian people we represent—when we ask legitimate questions about how their tax dollars are being spent, particularly around Rex and particularly around this Prime Minister's decision to nationalise Rex if he gets the chance. I wonder if Alan Joyce is going to come back as his CEO. He might get Joyce back in the saddle—in the cockpit, shall we say. They've always been great mates, and Albo—the Prime Minister; sorry. Not only does he want his own shipping line—I like to call it 'Albo's armada'—but now it seems that's not enough to have his own fleet of ships. He now wants his own airline. This is a guy that's never given up the transport portfolio, and I hope to kick them out at the next election.

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

I too question why there's no transparency on Albo airways. I'm wondering whether I want to come fly with him. 'Let's fly, let's fly away.' It'd be lovely to fly Albo airlines. I wonder if there are also—

Sarah Hanson-Young (SA, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's that time of day.

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

It is that time of day!

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I have a point of order. I'm reluctant to interrupt my good friend Senator Davey, but I should also draw to your attention that she should address members of the other place by their correct title.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Ciccone, it was referring to a fictional airline as opposed to a—

Senator Davey, allow me to handle the interjection. That's my role. I'll give you the call again; please proceed.

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

What we have seen time and time again from the Prime Minister and the government is a lack of transparency and an absolute unwillingness to actually produce documents requested by this chamber—documents on their programs! With the Stronger Communities Program, if there were nothing to hide, you would think they would be willing to present the documents we're asking for without fear or favour. You would think they would be willing to shout from the rooftops what a success that program has been, but clearly not. It should be a great program, delivering for our regional communities and, importantly, delivering for our volunteer organisations.

I want to tell you how important grant programs are, like what the Stronger Communities Program should be, like what we had when we were in government—the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, which was highly successful and highly sought after and delivered a huge amount of benefit for regional communities. There is not one community that I have visited that hasn't shown me a community infrastructure facility and said, 'This was delivered through your Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program,' like the former government's Building Better Regions Fund, where communities identify what they need. Organisations like our state emergency services are run by volunteers, who have sheds and just need that little bit of support to upgrade, to do some maintenance or, in the case of so many, put in female change rooms. A lot of our regional and rural fire services' sheds were built at a time when, unfortunately, not many female volunteers were welcomed.

Times have changed, but infrastructure has not caught up. These organisations used things like the Building Better Regions Fund, used things like the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, and should be using the Stronger Communities Program to help make their places more welcoming for female volunteers, for volunteers of different abilities and for volunteers from different cultures. But we don't know, because we don't have the documents. This government is not being transparent. This government, which promised transparency, has become the government of nondisclosure agreements, of secrecy and of hiding behind things like commercial confidentiality. It is not good enough. We deserve more openness from this government. We deserve to know what investigations they've done before hurtling into a promise to purchase Rex Airlines. Don't get me wrong: as someone who lives in regional Australia and who is dependent on Rex Airlines—being the only airline that services the Narrandera-to-Sydney route—I want to see Rex Airlines continue to fly. But does it have to be Rex, or could that route be serviced by another regional airline? What investigations have this government done to see if the routes serviced by Rex could be serviced by another commercial operator so I don't have to rely on 'Albo Airways'?

Raff Ciccone (Victoria, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You want to shut down Rex Airlines?

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

I'm not saying I want to shut down Rex Airlines—thank you; I'll take that—in no way. I'm saying I fly Rex Airlines. But what investigations have this government done to investigate all opportunities to keep Rex Airlines or regional routes serviced before they've gone into agreeing to a massive debt on behalf of the Australian taxpayer?

Our position in the Nationals has been that we must ensure that regional routes continue to be serviced. But there are options, and we are not convinced that the Labor government has considered all those options. The call for the production of documents is so that we can reassure ourselves that the Labor government has considered all options to ensure that our regional routes continue to be serviced so rural and regional Australians are not left out.

Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There has been a rolling crisis for the past almost year now in regional areas, as there has been uncertainty about the continuation of Rex Airlines. This is an incredibly important service for people in regional Australia. The distances that are involved out there require that there be access to aviation services. If there isn't access to aviation services for people who live in these country towns, they can't go to hospitals, they can't do business and they can't visit friends and family elsewhere. There's no way driving or other options are an alternative. They have to have access to planes.

We have been thankful that the government has ensured that these services have continued since Rex Airlines went into receivership. The issue here is that nothing much seems to have happened apart from that. There is still a cloud hanging over aviation services in regional Australia because there is no long-term plan for these services that people can see, touch and be confident in. It's great that the planes are still flying, that the services are still on. But people who want to make plans to move to, invest in, or expand their business into a country town actually need to know that these types of services will be there for the long term. We don't have that confidence at the moment.

We don't have that confidence because this minister has not been able to present a proper plan to the Australian people. The minister for infrastructure has not properly engaged with the broader aviation sector here to formulate a plan that would deliver solutions and certainty for people in regional Australia. What we are discussing here is the failure of the government, the failure of the minister, to release even the basics of the documentation around what they're doing and what discussions they've had in regard to the future of Rex Airlines. Maybe the reason the government is hiding details here is that there's not much to produce. The most embarrassing thing for the government would be to have to table what would be almost nothing. From the outside it would seem that the government has not done much more than that.

I myself have been in discussion with aviation operators. Indeed, I had a discussion with some just yesterday in my office. They are at a complete loss to understand why the government won't engage with them and why they aren't presenting a plan that would be good for the aviation sector, good for regional Australians and good for the country. They can't even talk to the minister. They can't even get a meeting with the minister of this government to discuss these important matters. The people I met with have some potential solutions. From this position it's hard for me to judge whether their proposals are good, bad or indifferent. But I can't believe that we have a minister for transport who has one of the most important issues on her desk right now—the continuation of regional services—and she won't even meet with senior players in the aviation sector that could potentially provide a solution and certainty for people in regional Australia. That's the only reason we could conclude the government is hiding these documents, hiding this information, from us. It is because, perhaps, the minister has not done much and has not done the basic work that any competent minister would do in stakeholder management—to get around and communicate with everybody in this area and at least have the best information at hand.

The other problem here is that, because I think not much has been done, the government is now floating thought bubbles as a substitute for action on the aviation sector. The government is now effectively trying to kick the can down the road on this matter, beyond the election, which we can all smell in the air and which is coming any time soon. You can tell that the story this week that somehow the government was going to potentially buy or take over Rex Airlines and apparently create a new national airline network was cooked up by some media adviser to get them through the next few weeks. There was no detail or substance to it. There's no detailed corporate plan about how this would work. There's certainly no money put aside for this. It wasn't even a media release; it was a leak to the newspapers to get them through the next few months without having to take tough questions from regional Australians about what their plans are for the future. That's just not good enough for people out there who rely on these services, and more should have been done by now to put us in a better position.

Now, unfortunately, those tough questions, those conversations that should have been happening, will probably have to wait until after the election. Hopefully, there will be a change of government. I've got no doubt that my good friend and leader here, Senator McKenzie, will engage with the sector. I know she's been engaging with the sector, as she mentioned earlier. She will be talking to all players and trying to come up with a solution to a difficult problem, and will come up with a solution that works for everybody.

It is also obstructive that, on this motion, we have the government hiding information about not just our airline networks but also our roads. Indeed, one of the most important roads in the country—and perhaps the road that's in the most crisis right now—is the Bruce Highway. I live not far from the Bruce Highway, in central Queensland, and I use it all the time. I have never seen it in a more shocking state than in the last few years. It has never exactly been a great road. It has always been somewhat described, in a love-hate way, as a goat track, but it gives goat tracks a bad name now, with the potholes that are emerging and the lack of maintenance that seems to occur. It is very hard to understand exactly why that has happened. As I said, it has gotten worse. It's not just that we're not getting the upgrades or the overtaking lanes and these things, which I know cost a lot of money; it's that we can't seem to keep the road in the state which it had been in for many years, including all the years I had driven on it. Now, you've got situations where large holes in the road exist or persist for weeks, sometimes even a month or more, and they are incredibly dangerous. We have had a spate of tragic fatalities on this road over the past couple of years and the people of regional Queensland simply deserve better. It should be one of the most important roads in our country, effectively linking the whole of coastal Queensland, yet it is a road that constantly seems to get ignored and lacks any kind of proper plan for the future.

We did have a plan. When Tony Abbott came to office in 2013, we had a $10 billion plan for the Bruce Highway. It has delivered enormous benefits and upgrades in some areas, like the Mackay Ring Road—a fantastic project that was completed under the plan—and like the Yeppen South Floodplain Upgrade Project, which now keeps Rocky open when it floods and was used not long after the road was opened. There's now the Rocky Ring Road as well, which this government tried to cut. One of its first actions in its first budget was deferring the funding for the Rocky Ring Road to the never-never. They left the people of Central Queensland high and dry, despite the government committing to do it. Albanese's infrastructure minister said it would be safe under him, then he came into government and cut the rug out from under us. We had to bring our own convoy to Canberra and had to have a rally in Rocky. Eventually, we got that funding restored, and it's up and running now.

Now, again, the government is hiding details from us. We've asked them a very simple question: where is the funding profile? They announced the other day that they were going to put $7 billion into the Bruce Highway. There was, again—like the Rex Airlines situation—no detail and no plan. It was just a number, and they thought that would get them through. Days after that announcement, minister and senator, Katy Gallagher, was asked on the 7.30 Report where that money was. The minister said:

Well, I think the funding will be coming outside of those forward estimates years, because it's a long-term project.

We haven't had any more information than that. We've subsequently learned that the government has had no formal discussions with the Queensland government about when this money will be released or provided—and the Queensland government is a co-funder of this road and will be responsible for delivering the upgrades.

Again, this just seems to be a total thought bubble to try and get the Labor Party through the election and to give them something to talk about when they're in regional Queensland that will try and pull the wool over peoples' eyes once again. Who knows if this $7 billion was just a figure? It doesn't seem to appear in any budget papers or anything. There have certainly been no contracts written and no agreements signed by the Queensland government.

Who knows whether we'll get another Rocky Ring Road on the Bruce Highway funding after an election? Who knows whether if the Labor Party are re-elected that they won't, in their first budget, say: 'Whoops. We don't have that $7 billion anymore. You can't have it.' It would be just like what they did with the Rocky Ring Road. You just can't trust them. You couldn't trust them last time and you can't trust them this time. Elect a government that will have a real plan for infrastructure.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for debate has expired. I put the question.

Question agreed to.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to move a motion relating to the length of time for taking note of the minister's explanation relating to general business notice of motion No. 790.

Hon. Senators:

Honourable senators interjecting—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I jumped first.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The advice I've received is that it's the government's prerogative to report a message, and therefore I focus on the message.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I seek a point of clarification? There was a break in between items. In between items, a senator is entitled to seek the call, which is what I did.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I've taken advice, and the advice to me was that, even if the call was sought, I had to focus on the message. That's the advice I have received. I'm going to accept the advice. I am relying on the advice. I am not exercising—

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And you said that, correct. In terms of that statement to the Senate that you are relying on the advice, could I ask then that you would consider the advice that has been given—I did seek leave to move a motion, and, if leave had been given, we could have proceeded with debate on that motion; if leave had not been given, we then would have sought to suspend standing orders—and provide a ruling to the Senate.

Andrew McLachlan (SA, Deputy-President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No; I will refer it to the President.