Bert Van Manen (Forde, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to rise in this chamber today to speak about the coalition government's record and our achievements since winning the election in 2016. The Australian people returned a coalition government because they believed in our plan to grow the economy and create more jobs. Since taking office in 2013, the coalition government has been focused on making Australian lives better, safer and more prosperous. During the previous coalition government in 2007, when we were at the peak of the mining boom, with some $20 billion in budget surplus and $40 billion in the bank, we had the opportunity to make many decisions for the benefit of the country. However, after losing government in 2007, we saw a period of government under Labor which saw the Australian financial situation—from a coalition perspective—trashed. That left a legacy for this country of debt and deficit as far as the eye can see.

Since winning the election, the coalition government has sought to tackle budget repair head-on. In the past six months or so, we have managed to pass significant pieces of legislation, many of which those opposite—and other commentators elsewhere—did not believe we could pass. And this was despite having fewer seats in the House and fewer seats in the Senate. We have already passed some $22 billion in budget repair measures and are currently working to pass a further suite of $13.2 billion of budget savings.

Our focus on restoring the budget surplus is more than finding savings. We have also sought to improve the way we manage the money that is placed in trust with us by the Australian people, because, at the end of the day, not a single dollar of what we spend is the government's money; it is the Australian people's money. We have sought to expand the Department of Human Services forward-prevention and debt-recovery capabilities, and, by recovering welfare overpayments or, in same cases, fraudulent payments, we have delivered some $2.1 billion in net savings over the forward estimates. The temporary budget repair levy remains in place and is expected to raise some $3.1 billion.

But I think most important is our multinational tax avoidance legislation, which we passed in 2015. There was also a further tranche last year and further tranches will be brought to the House. That will raise more than $2 billion in the 2016-17 financial year. Interestingly, it was those opposite that voted against this legislation. There is also the coalition government's diverted profits tax legislation, which is expected to raise a further $3.9 billion over the next four years. It is this coalition government that is looking to pass important savings and ensure that those who operate business in this country pay their fair share of tax. That is what will allow us to continue the task of budget repair.

But we have not stopped there, because Australian taxpayers want to know that they are getting value for money. In that regard, we have said that any spending decisions, including all of our election commitments, must be fully offset by spending reductions in other parts of the budget. What we are saying to the Australian people is that we cannot pass unfunded, uncosted promises and election sweeteners. Any funding promise will be costed and accounted for in an effort to reduce borrowing and, importantly, prevent tax increases, because we know that more taxes have a negative effect on economic activity. We want to see lower taxes, so that we have a growing economy that provides the opportunities for business to grow, develop and employ people.

Locally, the coalition government is delivering for many of the communities in my electorate of Forde. One of these achievements is the increasingly positive progress of the NBN rollout. Many suburbs in the electorate will soon have access to faster, more reliable internet with the construction rollout that is currently occurring. For the residents of Windaroo, Bannockburn, Belivah, Bahrs Scrub, Logan Reserve and Chambers Flat it is clear that super-fast broadband is on its way. I was pleased to catch up with many of these residents recently over coffee and, with a representative from NBN Co, explain some more of the detail around the NBN rollout.

The NBN has also commenced construction in and around Beenleigh and Yatala, which is one of our major enterprise areas. For many years, that area was significantly underserviced by the previous telecommunications infrastructure provider, and the businesses in that area—many of which are exporters that will benefit from the free trade agreements that I spoke of early—are tremendously optimistic about this rollout and the opportunities it will provide for them and their businesses. The next cab off the rank is the area down around Upper Coomera, where the NBN is presently being rolled out as well. That is one of our fastest-growing areas on the northern Gold Coast. There are so many businesses, schools and other organisations in that area that will benefit from the NBN rollout and the opportunities that it will provide going forward. I recently spoke at a chamber of commerce business lunch where, again, with the assistance NBN Co, we were able to explain the detail of the rollout and explain to people what that will mean for their businesses and what opportunities that will provide.

When we talk about these local initiatives, it is important to reflect that we only get to stand in this place because of the support of a great many people who help us on election days. In that regard, I want to acknowledge and recognise the many people who have helped out not only in the 2016 campaign in Forde but also in previous campaigns—people like John and Gwendoline Skeers, John and Helen Broadhurst, John and Ros Murray, Jeff and Cathy Charlesworth and many, many more. It is those people, some of whom have been members and involved in the LNP or its previous incarnations for 30 and 40 years. They are the backbone of our local campaigns who turn up at little community events and at our regular meetings, and are there on polling day each election helping out, and sometimes in very difficult circumstances. Unfortunately, this campaign in Forde was very negative to the extent that at one of our polling booths, a gentleman who was assisting a particular party—not yours, Madam Deputy Speaker Bird but who was a representative of a union that does support your party—ended up having to be arrested because of his conduct. I do not think anybody in this chamber would support that sort of conduct by a person at a polling booth. Equally, the comments that were made to some of my volunteers by representatives of political parties were, I think, quite uncalled for, particularly when they were directed at women volunteers. Those who made those comments to those ladies should be very, very ashamed of themselves.

But I am pleased to say that, now, as a representative of the most marginal coalition seat in the country, I do have the honour of representing the electorate of Forde for another three years. In closing, I would like to thank some very, very important people: my campaign manager, Nathan Kucks, who, as usual, has gone above and beyond; and the fantastic team who work tirelessly every day, day in and day out and during the campaign, went over and above. Everybody in this place and all our staff in our offices do a fantastic job. Lastly, I would like to recognise my wonderful wife Judi and my two fantastic sons, Zac and Josh. We, all in this place, spend a lot of time away from our families and I think it is important that at an opportunity like this we get to recognise and to acknowledge the value, the support and the love we get from our families, and thank them for supporting us in a job that we do here to represent our communities and to make decisions and represent the best interests of what is great in Australia. I thank all of those people whom I mentioned. There are many others whom I have not mentioned but deserve thanks and gratitude for their support, their service and their assistance; but, most importantly, to my wife Judy and to my two sons, Zak and Josh, for their undying support, love and commitment, without which I would not have the honour of being in this place.

Stephen Jones (Whitlam, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The formality of this speech requires some explanation to those who might be reading it hence and wondering, 'What is thing called an address-in-reply to the Governor-General?' Seven months ago, the Governor-General gave a speech which purported to set out his plan for the next three years of the 45th Parliament. It is a sad indictment of the capacity of the government to manage the business of the House that it is nearly seven months after the opening of the parliament and we are still dealing with the addresses-in-reply to the Governor-General's speech.

I have to say I do look forward to the time when the parliament is opened by an Australian head of state who is chosen to represent the Australian people and is directly accountable to no-one else but the Australian people. Until that time, might I suggest that a modest change to the way that we deal with these opening proceedings of the parliament might be to dispense with the fiction where the Governor-General has us all traipse over to the upper house and lip-syncs a speech that has been prepared in the Prime Minister's office, under the guise that this is his or her plan for the future of Australia. I mean no disrespect to the man or woman who holds the title of Governor-General. In fact, when it comes to the speech that was delivered at the opening of the 45th Parliament, it would add to the dignity of the office if the Governor-General did not have to pretend that it was his plan—because it is a woeful plan for the future of this country. It would do great dignity to the Governor-General if what he or she did instead was say, 'I have this speech that has been prepared for me by the Prime Minister, who has been able to gain a majority of seats in the House of Representatives, and I'm going to set it out for you.' That would enhance the dignity of the office, not distract from it, and it would make very clear to all Australians the ridiculousness of the fiction that we currently have and, I would say, it would add to the enthusiasm that I and the majority of people on my side of the House have for having an Australian head of state who is directly accountable to the Australian people.

In my address-in-reply for the 45th Parliament, I want to speak in great detail about one of the most challenging issues for all Australian parliaments. It is the one that I intend to make the key focus of my work, both as the member for Whitlam and as a shadow minister responsible for regional economic development, regional communication and regional services. Labor believes that we need a strong economy, including a strong budget and the capacity to reduce the deficit over time, but we need to do that in a way that does not increase the growing inequality in this country but, in fact, decreases inequality between those who have very much and those who have very little. Australia's growing inequality is a particular challenge for regional Australia. On so many measures, the gap between those who live in rural, regional and remote Australia and those who live in our large urban centres and in our cities is growing.

Inequality is not an inevitable result in any society. Inequality is the result of policy choices. There is nothing on the agenda of the Turnbull government that addresses inequality, particularly when it comes to inequality between regions and the cities, but there is plenty which exacerbates that growing inequality. Until recently, inequality has not been at the top of the agenda, but I think, when we are seeing the tensions that are growing, particularly in regional Australia, people are starting to sit up and listen. The history of the second half of the 20th century shows that Australia's progressive tax and transfer system has, rightly, been the envy of most developed economies around the world. Added to that is the important role that our unions and our unique systems of conciliation and arbitration have in ensuring that workers are fairly remunerated for the work that they do and that there is a minimum social safety net for all people who earn their living through toil. We have a unique system, which has served us well. While we can look afar to other countries battling the demons of inequality; the discontent and cynicism about politics; the rise of populists with their shallow slogans—and there are those in this place who seek to mimic them; the rise of the working poor and the decline of the middle class, we know that we have some answers to these problems. But we are not seeing them in the program of the Turnbull government.

You do not need statistics to know that our egalitarian heritage, handed down from our grandparents, is rapidly vanishing. We will be passing on to our grandchildren an Australia very different from the one we grew up in. It is a future where job security can no longer be taken for granted. It is a future where we can no longer take for granted the fact that, if you work hard, apply yourself and save, at some point in your life you will have the capacity to own your own home. It is a future which includes fear about our capacity to see a doctor and get the best health care, or our capacity to get the best education for our kids, which will set them on the pathway to success in their own lives. In the regions, this future is more uncertain, and these anxieties about fair access to services and a meaningful role in society and the economy are deeply felt. We see not only that inequality is growing in Australia but also that the inequality gap between rural and urban Australia is growing.

In 2015, the Australian Council of Social Service released a study on this very issue. It found that wealth concentration was growing. The top 10 per cent of wealth holders own 45 per cent of all wealth, and somebody in the highest wealth bracket owns more than 70 times the wealth of somebody in the lowest quintile of wealth. If you are in one of those top wealth brackets you are more likely to be living in a capital city, and if you are in the bottom wealth bracket you are more likely to be living in regional Australia.

If you look at the key indicators of health, education, housing affordability and income, you see there are growing gaps. Regional Australia is being left behind urban Australia, and the policies of this government are making matters worse. If the Prime Minister benchmarked growing inequality between regional and metropolitan Australia against his own electorate, he would see what I am talking about. Compare key indicators such as unemployment, rental stress, digital access, life expectancy and full-time participation in work against the indicators in the seat in which the Prime Minister lives, the seat of Wentworth, and it is crystal clear that regional Australia is falling behind. So, instead of a $50 billion tax cut to big business, the Prime Minister might like to focus on some of the following.

Let's look at average wages, which are between $20,000 and $40,000 a year lower in regional Australia—areas like regional Tasmania, where the average wage is a little over $47,800 a year; regional Western Australia, where it is $63,000 a year and falling as the mining boom comes off; regional South Australia, where it is a little under $48,000 a year; and regional Queensland, where it is a little over $55,000 a year. Compare those to the average income in the Prime Minister's own electorate, which is over $80,240 per annum. You can see, through that one snapshot, how life is very, very different in one of those regional areas compared to the area that surrounds the Prime Minister.

Unemployment rates are high in Sydney's eastern suburbs, which has a 12-month unemployment average of 3.1 per cent. That is 3.1 per cent too high, I have to say, if you are an unemployed person living in the Prime Minister's seat. But if you compare it with regional New South Wales, which has a 12-month average close to 5.6 per cent, regional Queensland, where it is 6.6 per cent, or regional South Australia, where it is close to 5.7 per cent then you can see there is a huge gap.

Then, when you drill down to jobless families, you see we have an even bigger problem, and this is an issue we need to focus on. If no-one in your household, no-one in your street and no-one in your social network has a job, where do you get the life examples? Where do you get the life connections? How do you have the capacity to get a foot on the ladder, to get a toe into the labour market, when the majority of people nowadays get a job through somebody they know? If you are living in a jobless household in a jobless street, you are behind the eight ball before you even start. Typically double the proportion of families with children under the age of 15 in regional areas like regional New South Wales are unemployed compared to such families in urban and inner urban areas. In regional New South Wales, 16.5 per cent of households in this bracket are jobless households; in regional Victoria, close to 15 per cent; and in regional Queensland, 14.6 per cent. Compare those areas to an area such as Waverley or Woollahra, where the figure is a little over 6½ per cent. That is 6½ per cent too many, but you can see in each of those examples I have cited that it is a factor of three—three times the number of jobless households in those regional areas compared to those inner city areas. And I am not talking about retirees; I am talking about families which have a child aged under 15 years.

People in regional Australia are delaying medical treatment because they cannot afford it, at a much greater rate than anywhere else in the country. In the wealthy eastern suburb of Woollahra in Sydney, around six per cent of people are delaying medical treatment because they cannot afford it. That is still six per cent too many, and we need policies to assist these people. But compare that to an area like regional Tasmania, where a massive 17 per cent of people are delaying medical treatment because they do not believe they can afford it, or regional Northern Territory, where over half the population—53.8 per cent—are delaying medical treatment because of economic factors. This is at a time when the government persists with a version of the GP tax which will make access to a GP even more expensive, and at a time when it is increasing the pharmaceutical benefits thresholds to ensure that the cost of medicines is more expensive. These policies are going to make existing inequality even worse.

Rental stress is often thought of as something that only affects people who live in the cities. In fact, in a famous intervention about a month ago, the Deputy Prime Minister said, 'Well, that's only an inner-city issue—it doesn't affect people in regional Australia.' We who live in regional Australia know that that is an issue. In regional Australia around 26 per cent of people are undergoing rental stress—that is, they are spending more than a third of their income on housing. That is significantly higher than in areas like Waverley or Woollahra, where it is around about 12 per cent. Nearly a quarter of people living in regional Australia are suffering from rental stress.

It is not for no reason that I am referring to these comparisons as a Wentworth index. It is an index of where people in rural and regional Australia are at, when you look at all of the proxy measures of disadvantage and inequality in this country, compared to where people in our capital cities are at. What could be better than using the Prime Minister's own electorate as an example, as a benchmark? Of course, it has the added benefit that, if the Prime Minister currently seems either unaware of or unmotivated by the growing inequality that exists between urban Australia and regional Australia, perhaps the production of a Wentworth index will help him to understand that the world that the majority of Australians are living in is not the same world that he lives in.

Of course there are solutions to all of this, but you will not find them in the Governor-General's speech-in-reply. If we are going to do something to close the gap between life expectancies for people who are living in the regions, as opposed to the cities, then you want to pull down on education as a key lever, because we know we have got a huge gap even in the area of education.

There is a gap of nearly 7.5 per cent in participation in secondary education when you compare the regions versus the cities so, if we are going to make a difference, we have got to close that gap. And you do not do that by failing to commit to funding the additional years of expenditure, the critical years of expenditure for our schooling system on a needs basis, commonly known as the Gonski funding arrangements. You do not do that by ripping nearly a billion dollars out of apprenticeship support and traineeship schemes; in fact, you invest in education, you invest in our TAFEs and you invest in your universities. You do not persist with a policy that is going to see students lumped with $100,000 university debts. There has to be a better way, if we are going to give these people a better chance in life.

I was pleased to see last week that the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, called a skills summit to bring all of the key stakeholders together to ensure that this was on Labor's agenda, if it is not on the government's agenda. It was a fantastic summit, and there will be more policy announcements in this area over the course of the next couple of years.

It was laughable to many when a couple of weeks ago, in fact, not two weeks ago, we saw the Treasurer Scott Morrison tell Australians that his No. 1 economic priority for the year—that was last week's No. 1 economic priority for the year—was to increase wages. I ask you to think about that for a moment: the man who today will refuse to vote in favour of Bill Shorten and Labor's plan to protect penalty rates so that existing wages are not reduced said the No. 1 priority, the No. 1 economic priority, is to boost wage growth in this country. At last they understand: if you boost wage growth, you stimulate demand, you have people with money in their pockets so that they can invest, they can spend that money in small businesses so that they can afford to invest in their children's education. At last, he has cottoned on, but you have a massive gap between rhetoric and action.

Something that the government could do, something that the Treasurer could do, immediately to boost wages, or to at least protect wages to ensure that they do not good backwards, is to ensure that people's penalty rates are not cut by 25 per cent which the government seems to be supporting, as we stand today.

We only have the capacity to stand in this place because of the great work that is done by literally hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of people who assist us over the course of a campaign and, in my case, over the course of my previous three years in this place. I want to place on—

A division having been called in the House of Representatives—

Sitting suspended from 11:13 to 11:31

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

To be returned to represent the people of Petrie for a second time is humbling, to say the very least. I would like to begin by offering them my most sincere thanks and to say, 'I will not let you down.' I love the electorate of Petrie; it is my home. I feel extremely grateful for a childhood spent outside the borders of the big smoke. Days were carefree and saw me traversing the area between the boundaries of what would become the electorate I now represent. I know its demography like the back of my hand. If you have never visited Petrie, I encourage you to do so. I think you are actually coming up soon, Madam Deputy Speaker Wicks. It is rich with natural wonders and thick with community spirit.

When the people of Petrie elected me a second time, I made the same commitment to myself that I made the first time: I will give all that I have to represent the best interests of the only community that I really know. I will continue to work hard for the people of Petrie. With all due respect, I am not here to mix it with you in this chamber. I have said it previously, and I will say it again with the greatest respect to each one of you here today: I would rather be home in my electorate than be knocking around the walls of Parliament House. If I could, each time I jumped on a plane to Canberra I would bring them all with me to show them around—to show them what we do here and how I represent them here. Petrie is a community of diverse interests and goals. It is important to me that we all have our say. Unfortunately, there is not room for everyone to be here in the chamber, but I do my very best to get out and talk to people through mobile offices and on the ground at different community meetings, listening to what people say is important to them. I guess that while they man the fort I join you as an electoral bugle of sorts to highlight the needs of each person, like me, that calls Petrie home. I bring my voice and each one of theirs to the seat of decision making, with one single goal: to work together to see that the communities of Petrie continue to grow and become the best they can be.

Today I have with me the concerns of the people of Petrie, and I would like to raise them with you. The people of Petrie tell me that the issues that sit at the top of their minds relate broadly to quality of life, costs of living, opportunity, health and employment. Company tax cuts, small business and jobs are things that are top of mind for the government. We spoke a lot about jobs and growth in the economy at the last election, and jobs are certainly a big issue in my electorate. Small business is the backbone of our community. It generates jobs, injects diversity and opportunity into the electorate, and fuels growth and prosperity for all. Locally, of course, I have been running the Job Seeker Boot Camp, where I have been inviting small businesses—those that employ five or more people—to come along and meet with people looking for work to explain what it is they look for when hiring. That has been quite successful, and I will continue to run that.

Company tax, of course, will provide welcome relief to businesses and workers and will boost the economy, which creates jobs. It sends a strong signal to the small-business and medium-business community in particular that, as a government, we are supporting them and thanking them for employing the majority of Australians. As Jodie Mae Ladhams from Bracken Ridge says to me:

Show support to Australians who work their butts off and pay their taxes, stop our companies from going bust, and make our small businesses profitable and successful…make Australia great again – strong industry, strong community…

I agree, Jodie, and I urge all members to support the Ten Year Enterprise Tax Plan—a solid plan that will put money in the pockets of workers. Under the enterprise tax plan, the government will back small businesses by reducing their tax rate to 27½ per cent starting on 1 July 2017—this year—for those that turn over less than $10 million. The plan will deliver a lower tax rate for around 870,000 companies who employ more than 3.4 million workers, allowing them to invest, grow, hire and pay more. We are also doing a lot for small business in relation to the instant asset tax write-off, which is a great initiative and will definitely be highly utilised by businesses with turnover under $10 million. That will be a great opportunity from 1 July this year for businesses with turnover under $10 million, and it will send a strong signal to them that the government is supporting them, and that we want them to invest in more workers and more employees, to help grow the economy and their business.

In relation to company tax, the weight of company tax is carried by consumers and workers. More than half of the economic burden of corporate tax weighs on employees through lower wages and on consumers through higher prices. We know that business passes on costs through higher prices. Research like that from the Tax Foundation in the US shows that for every US$1 rise in state and local corporate tax collections, real wages fall by US$2.50 five years later. But thankfully, the reverse also applies: wages increase by US$2.50 with every US$1 reduction in state and local corporate income taxes. As Bill Shorten said when he was Assistant Treasurer:

Cutting the company income tax rate … leads to more jobs and higher wages.

But we do not hear that being quoted now by those opposite. More jobs and higher wages are both useful and necessary in order to get by. The OECD has said that corporate income taxes are the most harmful for growth, as they discourage the very activities of businesses that are most important for growth; those being investment in capital and productivity improvements. As Dustin Henegan from Northlakes says, 'when are we going to wake up?' Well, with the vote for the enterprise tax plan, I hope, Dustin! I definitely appreciate that comment.

Australia has one of the least competitive business tax rates in the world. Thankfully, this parliament is about to be handed the opportunity to change that. Recalibrating company tax in favour of the prosperity of Australians involves more than just tax cuts. As Max Colquhoun from Scarborough rightly points out: 'Get stuck into businesses that are avoiding tax.' Max, you are absolutely right. In December 2015 we passed the multinational tax avoidance bill which is now in place, and we are already seeing income flow from that. But it is also time to crack down further on multinational tax avoidance—and Max, you would be pleased to know that we plan to do that right now. In fact, legislation has been introduced. The diverted profits tax will put an extra $100 million in revenue alone into the government kitty next year. The diverted profits tax is a useful anti-avoidance provision which will impose a penalty tax on profits transferred to offshore associates. It will apply to multinational operations with global income greater than $1 billion and that are making income in Australia of more than $25 million. It arms the Australian Taxation Office with a powerful mechanism for tackling contrived arrangements and uncooperative taxpayers, and it provides the Commissioner of Taxation with extra powers to achieve this. By making it easier to apply Australia's anti-avoidance provisions and applying a 40 per cent rate of tax payable immediately, the diverted profits tax will complement the application of the existing anti-avoidance rules and will encourage greater compliance by large multinational enterprises with their tax obligations in Australia, including with Australia's transfer pricing rules, and encourage greater openness with the commissioner, allowing for more timely resolution of disputes.

These two initiatives, the DPT and the company tax cuts, demonstrate this government's commitment to Australian businesses and workers, to creating jobs and to repairing a budget that Labor dragged backwards through a bush. By investing in fairness, we secure a brighter future for all, and that is what we all want, isn't it? We all want that. Fairness is a fair expectation, and the people of Petrie want that. They have tightened their purse strings and have a fair expectation that we will do the same. They do not see the value in or necessity of MPs who have left parliament flying for free, and neither do I. It does not put food on their tables or on mine.

Just ask Chrissy Bonello from Scarborough in my electorate or Gary Swanson from Kippa-Ring, who have both raised this issue with me. Parliamentary expenditure and entitlements, they say, must be reformed. In fact, Gary said:

If you really care in making a change, I suggest you and the liberals and the other parties, all pass legislation to cease making payments and any other concessions that are paid to former prime ministers, ministers etc. that includes offices, travel, support staff which all cost the Australian tax payer.

Gary and Chrissy, you are absolutely right, and we recently cracked down on that, when we got rid of the gold travel pass for former members of parliament, who were able to fly. That has now completely gone. It still does apply for former prime ministers, but I would say to Gary and Chrissy that I think that is reasonable, because most former prime ministers still do work hard, whether it is Julia Gillard, Kevin Rudd or John Howard. They all still have numerous contacts and represent the country. Maybe at some time in the future we could put a time frame on it—up to 15 years or something after leaving office.

The other thing I would say to Chrissy and Gary is that new MPs like me and you, Madam Deputy Speaker Wicks, who were elected after 2004, no longer receive pensions. So, when we leave parliament, it does not matter how long we have been here, we will not receive pensions. We get superannuation on top of our wage, like everyone else, and we have to wait until after the age of 55 before we can access that superannuation. It is an important point, because you will often hear people say, 'You get a pension, mate. You'll be right.' Well, I do not want a pension, I do not expect one and I do not get one. Having been in the private sector for all my life before coming into parliament, it is not something that I support, and I think it is important to put that on the record for my constituents.

In 2016 the government commissioned an independent review into the parliamentary entitlements system. All 36 of the review's recommendations were accepted by this government, and we are continuing to implement them. With the recent passage of the Parliamentary Entitlements Legislation Amendment Bill 2017, the coalition government has abolished free travel for former parliamentarians, as I said before, and this is very important.

The authority that we are setting up will also act as a watchdog and adviser to provide oversight and certainty to Australians that their money is being spent appropriately. I think that is important, given that we earn right now, with the budget coming up in May, about $400 billion a year. That is how much we earn in income—$400 billion or so—from income tax from those people that work and from company tax from all those companies that do the right thing. But right now we are spending about $40 billion a year and we have done so for the last 10 years, since John Howard and Peter Costello left. If you add that up—$40 billion times 10—it is roughly $400 billion in accumulated debt plus interest that continues to grow and will be paid for by my children and the next generation. That will continue to grow.

Opposition Member:

An opposition member interjecting—

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is right. The member opposite interjects that it has gone up. That is what I just said, if you had listened. Every year for the last 10 years since Howard left it has been $40 billion. Forty billion dollars a year times 10 is $400 billion. You are right—it has gone up—but the problem is: members opposite do not seem to want to help us rein in that spending. People in my electorate should know that the Prime Minister is not in a position to just go, 'Let's spend $395 billion this year. Let's reduce it by $5 billion.' The Prime Minister cannot do that. The only way we can reduce expenditure is to get the support of the parliament through the Senate. And unfortunately, the Senate is not enabling us to do that—

An honourable member interjecting—

And they continue to see them go up. But that is an important point for the people of Petrie to know. I am certainly committed; I do not want to leave debt and deficit as a legacy to the next generation. I spoke today to Joe and Meirav Strasberg from Bracken Ridge, who made that important point to me. They said: 'Luke, we cannot continue to let debt and deficit go up. If the Senate does not support it, why not call another election now?'. And I said: 'Look, we did call another election, but the Australian people still voted for a different Senate. But it is important for me to know.' As someone that was elected, I continue to explain to people that this is an important measure, that debt is continuing to go up, and that we do need to address it—and I will continue to highlight it. Joe and Meirav Strasberg also spoke about free speech, and said that the changes to 18C were important. They criticised me—and us—for taking too long to do it, but I explained that we have been listening and we are doing it, and that I certainly believe in free speech. I think it is a really good thing—if people know me, and they know Prime Minister—that people in Australia do not tolerate racism. There is protection still in place there and, as the Prime Minister has said, we are strengthening that. So Joe and Meirav: thank you for your contribution in relation to that issue as well.

Paul Weisenekker from Carseldine shone a light onto a reform issue that had us all talking during the first sitting period—that when senators leave their party, the spot should go back to the party. So if someone leaves the party, then that seat should go back to the party; that person should not be able to sit in parliament for another six years. I agree with that. It has happened on both sides of parliament—but I think that if you are elected under a party, like I was, then you should stick with that party. Madam Deputy Speaker Wicks, you will find that most Independents in this place—apart from the member for Mayo and the member for Indi, I think—were all originally with a party and then switched to become Independents, which I do not think is right, whether they are in the Senate or in the House.

Stella Burnell from Redcliffe calls on the government to fast-track the complete legalisation of medicinal cannabis for appropriate affordable treatment:

Please push for the complete legalisation of medicinal cannabis. Many people are suffering and this substance could alleviate their pain. It is frustrating to see how slowly this is happening.

Stella, thank you for contacting me. I have raised this directly with the Minister for Health, the Hon. Greg Hunt, and I am pleased to see that fast, safe and easy access to medicinal cannabis is on this government's agenda. I voted for that change last year, Stella. It is new territory, of course, for Australia. It offers hope for those with a wide range of health challenges. I congratulate the minister's office for listening to the people and moving swiftly to address concerns over difficulty accessing the product on script while domestic production becomes available. The controlled importation by approved providers from approved international sources offers interim supply and bridges the gap until domestic production can meet local needs. Essential services like health are stretched to their limits. We need to inject efficiency into the triangle of government responsibility.

Allan Bell from Scarborough also echoed the sentiments of many when he spoke of the high cost of living and said he would:

like to see more done about lowering the daily living cost which is killing low income Australians such as petrol, power, water, rent, fresh food…where and when does it stop?

Too right, Allan! The rising costs of living have reached a crisis point for many people. These costs include the costs of child care—our childcare reform package will make child care more affordable, more flexible and more accessible for families, and many families have contacted me. Hopefully we can have this sorted by 1 July, so we can encourage more women and more parents back into the workforce. Our package delivers the highest rate of assistance to those who need it most. I would also say to Allan to that the cost of power is a real issue. I was talking to The Golden Ox Restaurant from Margate: five years ago, their electricity bill was $2,750 a month and it is now $5,240 a month—almost a doubling of their electricity costs. That is why the Prime Minister's announcement in relation to a 50-per-cent expansion of the Snowy Hydro scheme, pumped hydro and other forms of renewable energy—as well as clean coal and more gas for the domestic supply—is important, because we need energy security. If businesses' electricity costs are doubling, how are they going to employ more people?

I also had a number of other people—Dawn Cue from Rothwell, Terry Mead from Redcliffe, Brenda Wood from Scarborough, Trevor Johnson from Clontarf and Debra Lee Andrews from Kippa-Ring—talking about foreign ownership. One of them mentioned Cubbie Station being sold off to the Chinese. Obviously that happened during the former government when Wayne Swan signed off on it, but I would that say that the Foreign Investment Review Board has been in place and the government did stop the sale of the Kidman cattle station twice when it came before the FIRB, because it was 100 per cent Australian owned. Then a new bid came through from Hancock Prospecting for 60 per cent ownership and part Chinese ownership, and that was approved.

But I would say to people that, whilst some farmers are struggling, there are others who are doing very well. We have had a big increase in exports in the last 12 months, from $46 billion in agriculture exports to $60 billion in agriculture exports. Of course, that is partly because of our free trade agreements, and we can also invest in other countries. So I say to the people of Petrie, and everyone who has contacted me: thank you for your engagement. I will continue to work hard to represent you well and I look forward to leaving this place soon and being back with my constituents.

Andrew Leigh (Fenner, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the many virtues of Australia's Bush Capital, a city which is, according to the OECD, the most liveable region in the OECD. It is a great privilege to represent the north side of Canberra, the electorate formerly known as Fraser and now known as Fenner, after the great Australian scientist Frank Fenner. With community volunteers, we organised a 'Clean up Yerrabi Pond' afternoon last Saturday and were pleasantly surprised at the number of locals who turned out to assist us with making that part of Canberra just a little cleaner. I would like to acknowledge my staff, Nick Terrell, Eleanor Robson, Lillian Hannock, Jacob White, Nick Green and Taimus Werner-Gibbings, and the many volunteers, including Rob and Robin Eakin and Gerry Lloyd, plus other community volunteers, who helped us not only to pick up some of the garbage that had been strewn on the ground there but also—after we had washed our hands—to cook a barbecue for the community. It was a reminder of the strong community spirit that exists in Canberra and the Gungahlin area in general and Yerrabi Pond in particular. One of the things I love about Yerrabi Pond is it is a terrific spot take the kids with its flying foxes and state-of-the-art play areas. It is also the start area for the Gungahlin parkrun. I know that my colleague Ross Hart has recently spoken about the virtues of parkruns. This parkrun is very well attended and certainly one that I have enjoyed running in the past.

But Canberra in general is home to the highest quality of living worldwide, according to data from Numbeo, the world's largest database of user generated content. That research website ranks Canberra first on its quality-of-life index, which takes into account purchasing power, pollution, cost of living, safety, health care and climate index. Over the past seven years, it is the fifth time that Canberra has finished in first place. Sometimes this is a surprise to outsiders, but it is not to those of us who live here and understand the great cultural, sporting and community strength that is Canberra's.

Canberra will soon wrap up the Versailles: Treasures from the Palace exhibition at the National Gallery of Australia. It is an exhibition which is only travelling to Canberra and an extraordinary opportunity to see the excesses of Versailles, which played no small part in precipitating the French Revolution. My son Sebastian and I very much enjoyed spending time there, as indeed have tens of thousands of visitors. It is just one of the successful art exhibitions that have come to Canberra recently. These include the History of the World in 100 Objects exhibition, which, according to the Director of the National Museum of Australia, Mathew Trinca, has welcomed more than 128,000 visitors. Indeed, the exhibition saw its one millionth visitor during its Canberra showing. It is the National Museum of Australia's most successful exhibition to date, surpassing the 2010 Yiwarra Kuju Canning Stock Route exhibition.

Of course, culture does not just come in the form of the high arts. Canberrans were so enthusiastic to see Midnight Oil perform at the AIS Arena in October that tickets sold out in just 30 minutes flat. It is no surprise that Canberrans are keen for Midnight Oil, because it was a group formed in the 1970s when Peter Garrett was studying at the Australian National University. Indeed, I remember Peter telling me about the share-house he had on Limestone Avenue where, on the last night before moving out, they had a bonfire in the backyard which ended up being a little bigger than they expected because, by the end of the night, the entire broken down paling fence had been added to the bonfire. And, of course, the Doug Anthony All Stars were formed on the streets of Canberra in the 1980s and have held successful shows here. Canberrans love their live music.

On the sporting front, Canberra is home to the great Australian Institute of Sport, which has seen a range of sports stars, including marathon runner Rob de Castella. I would like to take a moment to acknowledge the Canberra Sports Award winners: San Antonio Spurs guard, Patty Mills, named Canberra Milk Athlete of the Year, Men's Sport; Olympic Gold Medal rower, Kim Brennan, named Capital Chemist Athlete of the Year Women's Sport; and Paralympic cycling medallist, Sue Powell, named Athlete of the Year, Para Sport. Sue and I met up last year for a run-ride photo opportunity by the shores of Lake Burley Griffin, and I can confidently report to the House that she rides a good deal faster than I can sprint. We also recognise as one of our own, tennis player Nick Kyrgios—certainly one of Australia's most interesting athletes. On the playing field, the Canberra Raiders had a stellar 2016 season, falling agonisingly short of a grand final berth. So Canberra's sporting prowess can be seen right across the board.

Last year Canberrans also showed their progressive values through re-electing Labor members in the federal election for the lower house, in Gai Brodtmann and me, and, in the upper house, in Senator Gallagher. And, in a historic re-election victory, Canberra Labor was re-elected for four more years, showing a clear mandate for light rail. Members and senators would, as they travel around Canberra, be aware of the light rail construction that is now underway—phase 1 linking Gungahlin to the city, but future phases will naturally build this out into a wider network. The world's leading cities are all investing in public transport, recognising that it is a way to ensure that we do not have our streets choked with congestion—and Canberra is doing just that.

As a result of that election, the ACT now has the first-ever female majority parliament, making it the first female parliamentary majority in Australian political history. The 25-member assembly can take great credit for this progressive move. Indeed, it reflects the progressive values of Canberra. Canberra is also the first jurisdiction in Australia to be led by an openly gay parliamentarian, in Andrew Barr. As Labor member Chris Steel, the second-ever openly gay person to be elected to the ACT parliament, has noted, Chief Minister Barr's 'hard-won path' meant that things were easier for others as they ran for office.

The ACT's progressive values are also seen in the ACT's strong commitment to renewables. The ACT is currently on track to be fully powered by renewables by 2020. That has meant that the ACT has seen significant jobs growth in the renewable sector. Jobs growth in the ACT renewable energy sector in the past six years has been 12 times faster than the national average and six times higher than in any other state or territory. The ACT government has invested $12 million into a renewable energy industry development strategy. Members will be aware, for example, of the solar farm on the side of the Majura Parkway, and also of the wind farm outside Canberra which serves the ACT region. It is another reminder that investing in renewables not only reduces our carbon emissions and brings down the long-term cost of energy but also creates renewable jobs. It is a progressive, sensible measure from a progressive, engaged jurisdiction.

Canberrans have always been naturally internationalist. Australian National University Vice-Chancellor Brian Schmidt said that he could not have won the Nobel Prize in physics without the natural international inclination of the ACT, a jurisdiction where people think of themselves very often as being citizens of the world, where they are interested in what is going on elsewhere and where they are committed to open engagement, whether that is a commitment to trade, to migration, to investment or, indeed, to travel. The opening of Canberra airport to international flights through Singapore Airlines, linking Canberra up with Wellington and Singapore, has been an important step. Indeed, we can look forward, I hope, over coming years, to other international carriers connecting Canberra up to the rest of the world. Canberrans like travel and its benefits of broadening the mind, and of course they love coming home to the most livable city in Australia.

Yet all that livability and those great achievements in culture and sport and in progressive values are so rarely recognised by the Liberals. We have seen, since the Liberals came to office, massive cutbacks on the federal Public Service. When Labor was in office, we saw Public Service numbers rise, year-on-year, in every year under Labor, except for the final year, in which they fell by a couple of hundred. Public Service numbers rose under Labor because, as the population increases, you naturally need more public servants in order to do the job. Most public servants are involved in service delivery—things like Customs and Centrelink and family assistance officers—so it makes sense that the Public Service should modestly expand as the population modestly expands.

But, in contrast to that steady growth in Public Service numbers under Labor, we have had massive cuts in the Public Service since the coalition came to office. We had a promise that there would be no more than 12,000 Public Service jobs cut, but indeed there have been considerably more jobs than that cut from the Public Service. The lie that the Liberals will tell is that these Public Service job cuts were implemented under Labor, but it is simply not true, as I have told the House. Public Service numbers under Labor rose every year, year upon year. And for people like conservative Senator Zed Seselja to suggest that there is a secret plan for job cuts is simply not true. Labor increased the Public Service in line with the population; the Liberals cut the Public Service, more than decimating Public Service job numbers.

Malcolm Turnbull, the member for Wentworth, has continued to be just as fixated on attacking the national capital as his predecessor, Tony Abbott, the member for Warringah. They have looked to cut the Public Service—to rip jobs out of the Public Service. The worst offender on this has been Deputy Prime Minister Joyce.

Deputy Prime Minister Joyce has announced a plan to move the Australian Pesticides and Veterinary Medicines Authority out of Canberra. There are many reasons to think that this is a terrible idea. One of the first is an independent cost-benefit analysis which found that the agricultural industry could lose up to $193 million a year, in part because the recruitment of new regulatory scientists to approve key agricultural chemicals could take up to five years. Most of those who work at the pesticides authority have said that they are reluctant to relocate to Armidale. That could well mean that the agency is unable to keep up with the rate of new product approvals. That would mean significant losses in crop values and for the chemical industry. It could mean the exit of key chemical companies from the Australian market. It could mean damage is done as the result of diseases to not only farm animals but also household pets. Yet the benefits are not there.

The independent report commissioned by the government says there is no material economic benefit of the agency being in Armidale rather than in Canberra. The government bypassed parliamentary approval of the relocation using extraordinary regulations to make the move happen. The result will be the loss of 365 jobs in Canberra and $4.4 million in costs to replace staff plus training costs; the agency not being able to relocate, recruit or replace key executives; reduced access to stakeholders; and the loss of technical staff, potentially 'seriously disrupting the ability of the agency to fulfil its purpose.'

As CropLife chief Matthew Cossey said,

Just relocation in itself doesn't achieve anything except interrupting the efforts being made by the APVMA to improve regulatory efficiency.

When asked about this, Deputy Prime Minister Joyce said,

If you did a cost-benefit analysis on the Sydney Opera House, well (you can say) that doesn't pay for itself either.

I am not sure how much Mr Joyce knows about the Opera House. It is one of the 20th century's best-known buildings in the world. It cost $102 million and now makes $60 million in annual revenue. If Mr Joyce could suggest another investment that would cost $102 million and would make $60 million in revenue every year, I do not think people would be booing. I think they would be cheering. If he could suggest an investment that would build an iconic building with 350,000 visitors, that would be a pretty good thing.

What we have instead is the pesticides authority being taken to Armidale, where the staff are now working out of McDonald's. That is right, because McDonald's has free wi-fi, albeit not very fast free wi-fi, APVMA staff are now, as we speak, sitting in Armidale Macca's doing their work. That is where Deputy Prime Minister Joyce's reasoning has ended up. Because he so wants to hurt Canberra, he is willing to have public servants working out of McDonald's in order to fulfil his vision of Australia. This is not a Sydney Opera House vision; this is a golden arches vision of Australia's future.

The Deputy Prime Minister has also launched a campaign to move public servants out of Canberra and into the regions, calling on his colleagues to identify Public Service jobs that could be taken out of Canberra. As my colleague Gai Brodtmann, the member for Canberra, has put it, Robert Menzies would be turning in his grave to see the result of a national capital built to the benefit of the nation now being turned into a crass pork-barrelling exercise in a desperate hope that the member for New England can get a few extra votes in his local region.

But it is not just Canberrans who are hurt when you rip Public Service jobs out of Canberra. It is also those who rely on those services. I pay tribute to the member for Chifley, Ed Husic, who gave an important speech on digital transformation and the problems that have occurred in digital transformation over recent years, under both Prime Minister Abbott and Prime Minister Turnbull, the so-called tech-head Prime Minister. We have seen a decision by the government to locate the Digital Transformation Agency in Sydney rather than in Canberra. The member for Chifley is a Sydney member, but he recognises that if you are going to do digital transformation in the Public Service then you probably want that agency to be in the same city as the Public Service. Putting it in Sydney is great if you want to do digital transformation for one of the councils or the state government in Sydney, but if you want to do federal digital transformation you need to put the agency in Canberra. I do pay tribute to the member for Chifley for that, because he recognises—as the member for New England does not—the benefits of a national capital and the benefits of centralisation.

If you look at other areas in the world in which terrific productivity is being enjoyed—areas like Silicon Valley and wine clusters such as you see in South Australia—you will see that these occur thanks to co-location; thanks to the ability of people to quickly get together for an informal chat or, in the case of public servants, for an interdepartmental meeting. This makes sure that we do not have silos forming, preventing the cross-pollination of ideas between departments. The idea of pork-barrelling Canberra Public Service jobs to the regions means that we get less cooperation, more silos, less engagement and more barriers between departments. It is bad for the great bush capital of Canberra and it is bad for public policy in Australia. Ours is a great city, and it needs a great government to defend it.

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is terrific to be here giving a speech on the address-in-reply, the first one where, as the member for Farrer, I represent the new boundaries of my electorate, and on a day when I am inviting the food producers who make this part of western New South Wales so magnificent to come and showcase, here in the parliament, exactly what they do and the contribution they make both to the wining and dining boom and to our national economy.

At the last election the boundaries of Farrer changed, as I just mentioned, and they now take in the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers. That, in fact, is almost all of the irrigated agriculture in the southern Murray-Darling Basin, so I like to say that my electorate is the home of irrigated agriculture. The person who has that responsibility here in this place has a very big one, because irrigation that feeds the nation and the world is not well understood by so many of Australia's citizens. That is not, in any sense, their fault; it is just that people who live in New South Wales east of the Great Divide have little opportunity to visit those of us west of the Great Divide and see what we do. Over the years, debate between environmentalists and irrigators has become very tense, as if they are polar opposites in any debate. That is not true—farmers are the best environmentalists, as I know many people have heard me say. There is no fun in living in an area of rural Australia where the environment is not well looked after.

One of the things I have committed to do is to make sure that the interests of irrigated agriculture are my No. 1 interest here in the parliament, because every community that I represent—the small businesses, the manufacturing businesses, the freight businesses—depends on farming, and most of that farming depends on access to water to grow crops, food and fibre. The complex Murray-Darling Basin Plan and the interests of so many people across a whole basin are very much brought together in my electorate, because we see the effects and we struggle with many of those effects. I am pleased that the MDBA recently announced that they would have a presence in my home town of Albury-Wodonga, which will enable their officials and their staff, I hope, to see beyond the world they live in here in Canberra and to live, work and raise their families in the areas that depend so much on the policies that they implement. I am quite excited about that; it is an important start. It would be terrific to see much of the MDBA move out of Canberra, and I know that once the message spreads about how great it is to live in rural Australia more will follow.

The important thing from my perspective is that we understand that the Murray-Darling Basin Plan is here to stay but we also understand that it is not a hands-off exercise, it does not have the confidence of rural communities, it does not have the investment in it by rural communities and we are not at all certain that it does not need some fairly major strategic resetting. I want to see that happen with the support of everyone, because there has been too much division in this area for too long, but I have to say that you only have to mention '450-gigalitre up-water' anywhere in my irrigation communities to get a really negative reaction—because, from the perspective of the people I represent, they have already given up enough. The recent announcement of the Murray-Darling Basin Ministerial Council that there would be no more buyback is incredibly welcome and I support that, but we still have a job to do to manage the recovery of water for the environment in a way that does not harm agricultural producers—and I mean that in a literal sense: the recovery of water must not harm them by flooding their property—and in a way that gives them, as I said, the confidence that the water being recovered actually will do some good and provide some benefit for the environment. If we are going through all this pain, we want to know that there will be gain and that it does make sense in a holistic way for the entire basin. No-one argues that the communities that I represent have given up the most, have lost the most and have experienced the most pain, but it has to be for some gain—that is vital.

In addressing this problem, I am looking very closely at what I can do to persuade my colleagues in this place that there should be no additional diverted water above a total cap of 2,100 gigalitres, which represents the diversion target of 2,750 gigalitres less the 650 that can be provided with water-saving projects that drop that target—and that is all. Let's find a way. When we have reached that and established that it works and does what it was supposed to do, then we can look at an additional 450 gigalitres, because right now the river systems do not have the ability to deliver that. It does not work in the real world. You only have to look at the floods that we experienced late last year—which could have been an environmental flow, and some people describe them as such—and the damage they did to really appreciate that this is not something that you can do via numbers on a page and dollars that would seem to satisfy various interests. So I am watching that 450 gigalitres very closely and hoping it can be delayed until a time when we can guarantee that it can in fact be delivered. I would love to see the total cap on diversions at 2,100 gigalitres be announced in some way to give my communities confidence. The third thing that I alluded to was that there be an audit of the environmental flows to recognise that they actually are delivering what they are supposed to deliver.

I want to mention one more thing. If it rains and water has been recovered for the environment that is not needed because it has rained—and, of course, you cannot predict the rain—doesn't it make sense for that water to be delivered back into productive agriculture? Amendments to the Water Act have in fact allowed for that, but we need to get it happening. We need to have some sort of offset account that says, 'This much rain came into a particular area of the basin at a certain time and environmental water, therefore, is not needed and that environmental water needs to be traded back to agriculture.' In that way, again, we see the environment and farmers as partners. Ultimately, if we want the world to look at what we do and recognise the great steps we have taken in preserving both our environment and our farming systems, then we need to have that partnership working very well—and of course I absolutely welcome the Prime Minister's announcement about Snowy hydro 2. I used to have Snowy hydro in my electorate. It is a demonstration of a project that was built not just to generate electricity but actually to irrigate the inland and transform the inland of New South Wales.

In making those comments about my electorate and how I see it going forward, there are more things that I will say in due course about access to telecommunications, the NBN and the very real need for an inland freight route to develop the produce that is being grown in the electorate. We are quite excited about the prospect of an airport at Deniliquin to link with the airport at Toowoomba, which will allow fresh produce to be flown to Asia. All of those things bring an exciting future to our manufacturing industries. So, when you think of us as farmers, do not just think of us as growing the raw material in the paddock, important though that is; think of us in terms of the value add, which is fantastic.

I want to make some comments that relate to my own personal circumstances. Earlier this year, following intense media speculation about the circumstances surrounding my purchase of an apartment on the Gold Coast in May 2015, I asked the Department of Finance to review my travel records inasmuch as they involved travel to, from and transiting the Gold Coast, for the entire time that I had been a government minister, namely between September 2013 and January 2017. I have recently received the Department of Finance's final report and, as I indicated that I would do at the time, I am making the report publicly available at the first opportunity, which is today. To assist the Department of Finance, I provided whatever records were required or requested, way beyond what would be normal for acquittal of ministerial travel claims. In doing so, some of the information that I provided was personal and related to government processes, and, for this reason, I shall not be releasing the attachments to the report, as they are regarded as cabinet-in-confidence. However, the 15 pages of the report itself and the conclusions that were reached I shall be tabling today.

The department found that over a 3½-year period there had been one claim that was outside entitlements. This was for a five-minute car trip. Even so, to avoid any doubt, I had already repaid the entire amount in January this year. As I stated at the time, my unplanned purchase of a property changed the character of that trip from business to personal, and I repaid the total cost. As it drew so much attention, I would like to place on the record the circumstances around this purchase. I know that the notion of buying a property on impulse might seem quite strange to some and, while the purchase of this particular property was on impulse, the decision to purchase a property was not. I was in Queensland on ministerial business. I had an important announcement in Brisbane first thing Saturday morning, followed by a meeting with doctors and patients. I then had a meeting on the Gold Coast mid-afternoon, which was the reason I was travelling there. It also meant that, in the normal course of events, I had a couple of hours where I was at a loose end. I had been considering purchasing a property for some time. In mid-2014 I had received preapproval from the Hume Bank in Albury for such a purchase. On Friday night, when my attention was drawn to something suitable and when I was going to be on the Gold Coast as a matter of course, I went along to the auction. It was an entirely incidental and unplanned activity in what was an otherwise busy weekend schedule. The first time that I saw the apartment was 20 minutes before the auction commenced and the first time that I spoke to an agent about this property was when I registered, as I walked through the door.

There are two other matters that I would like to address. The first is the issue of the number of times I travelled to the Gold Coast. This has also been the subject of substantial media commentary and public speculation. During the 703 days that I was a cabinet minister, I spent 15 nights on the Gold Coast. To put this in perspective, as both a minister and cabinet minister for some 1,100 days, I spent over half of that time—684 days, to be precise—away from my home electorate. This might seem an enormous amount of travel, but it is explained by two factors. The first is that I had two very busy portfolios: health and sport—three, really, if you include aged care as part of the health portfolio. These portfolios have a very substantial number of constituent and interest groups, with whom a minister needs to be visible. This is a massive workload. I am not complaining; I loved it. I simply raise it as a matter of fact. The second factor is that, unlike most ministers, I represent a rural electorate. Flight schedules and connections make frequent travel more challenging. For example, while most ministers may be able to fly home on Saturday afternoon and fly out to another destination on Monday morning, for someone from a rural electorate, this is often simply impractical. Quite apart from the substantially longer travel time—assuming that one could get flight connections on a weekend in the first place—and the ridiculously short turnaround time when one was at their home base, there is the issue that to do so would involve considerably greater cost to the taxpayer than staying put. A minister from Melbourne or Sydney can get a six o'clock morning flight to Brisbane, a minister from Albury cannot.

To return to the issue of my overnight stays on the Gold Coast, of these 15 overnight stays, six were related to me being the keynote speaker at a conference. A moment's thought would confirm that an organisation such as the Pharmacy Guild will have more success having their annual conference—whether it be on child care, aged care or health—over a weekend on the Gold Coast than attempting to run it at Darling Harbour midweek. Another six stays were for major hospital openings and/or sporting events in my capacity as Minister for Health and Aged Care and Minister for Sport. The 2018 Commonwealth Games are being held on the Gold Coast, so it is hardly surprising that the Commonwealth sports minister will be required to be there from time to time in the lead-up. Two of these six trips were specifically related to discussions around the 2018 Commonwealth Games. One newspaper article suggested that, because a meeting to inspect sporting infrastructure went for only an hour, that was the sum total of my working day. It is a pity that the person writing that article did not seek the full facts before going to print. In fact, the day in question contained a full morning's discussion of Commonwealth Games infrastructure, a working lunch and a youth mental health visit. Two trips involved no more than landing at Coolangatta airport, utilising it as a hub before travelling into northern New South Wales on parliamentary business. Regardless of these facts, the public impression was cast. In politics, I understand that the facts can get lost in the search for a good story. I would like to draw attention to the section in the finance report which notes overnight stays where I did not claim travelling allowance, and I quote: 'The itinerary of the trip was shaped in part by considerations that could be categorised as personal in nature. Ms Ley had given thought to such matters at the time of submitting her claims and did not seek to be paid travelling allowance for a number of overnight stays.'

In revisiting this period and reflecting on the standard I set myself, I determined, in the course of this review, that, while not required to do so, I have nonetheless chosen to make further voluntary adjustments, which, together with the earlier repayments and including a 25 per cent loading, amount to just over $5,000. Most of this amount is attributable to three nights accommodation for business meetings in Brisbane where an overnight stay was required and I chose to stay on the Gold Coast; two flights to get to Canberra for parliamentary sittings that originated from Coolangatta rather than my home base; a flight back home after a business meeting in Brisbane where that meeting had been followed by personal leave; and taxi fares where I had not made a diary note and whose purpose I cannot recall, totalling approximately $200. I was within the rules in claiming reimbursement for such expenses. However, I have always believed in listening to the electorate and one thing became clear to me: the parliamentary expenses guidelines did not align with the community standard. When I reflected on both the community standard and the standard I set myself, I decided that standard had not been met. Up until now, because the rules and regulations have been unclear, members of parliament could not always be 100 per cent sure when the line of public expectation was crossed. That decision-making is set to be taken out of our hands with the announced changes to work expenses, and I think that is a good thing.

I take this opportunity to comment on further allegations made against me concerning ministerial charter and my pilot's licence. I have held this licence since I was 19 and, from time to time, I fly a small four-seater single-engine Cessna in my electorate. Claims suggesting I booked a ministerial charter between capital cities in order to maintain flying hours as a pilot are ridiculous. Yes, as a pilot myself, I may have sat next to the pilot on some of these charters, and sometimes I tweeted from the cockpit. That is perfectly legitimate. The simple fact is: I am not endorsed to fly any of the aircraft that were ever booked for ministerial travel or travel to Canberra. The thought that I might have logged flying hours on such flights is laughable.

When I resigned as minister, I did so because the facts could not overcome the story. The repayments I have chosen to make entirely voluntarily are because I recognise that I have fallen short of community standards, and I want to put the matter beyond further commentary. I am releasing this report as I gave a previous commitment to make it publicly available ahead of time, not knowing what it would contain. In no way do I seek to complain about my situation or the way events played out. I simply table the outcome of the investigation, as I said I would. In doing so, I allow people to draw their own conclusions.

I accept the mercurial world which is politics today, although if I could pass on an observation that I am sure others have experienced: the front-page news and associated conclusions drawn about me talk of someone who bears no resemblance to me. Even so, I have been incredibly fortunate to serve in Malcolm Turnbull's cabinet and even more fortunate to represent the people of Farrer here in the federal parliament. I thank my colleagues and friends for their support and I thank my constituents from the bottom of my heart for the faith they have shown in me.

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Farrer seeks leave to table a document.

Leave granted.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am honoured to have been elected for a fourth term by the people of Blair. The electorate of Blair covers most of Ipswich and all of the Somerset region in South-East Queensland. The region has been my home all my life. It is where I was born, grew up, went to school, married, and raised my children. I expect it is where I will grow old. Representing Blair is a great privilege. It is a great to have represented this region. I have always considered myself a working-class boy from a working-class Ipswich suburb, Basin Pocket.

Blair is a region of many working people, with a rich rural heritage. It is home still to coalmines and was home to limestone quarries before that. It is home to manufacturing. There were the woollen mills. There were big railway workshops, now much smaller. There is much meat production. Blair boasts numerous meat manufacturers, at places like Kilcoy, Churchill and Coominya, and, of course, Australia's largest abattoir, JBS at Dinmore. It is home to the largest RAAF base, soon to be the largest military base, in the country, RAAF Base Amberley, which is surrounded by a growing aerospace industry precinct, located currently on the base. I hope it will be adjacent to the base in years to come.

The region has a love of cars, and we have the Willowbank motorsport precinct, with drag racing and the V8 supercars. It is home to many resilient people, and the floods in 2011 and 2013 showed that. Indeed, the floods in 1974, which I experienced as a child, showed that. Some of the largest floods that have taken place across Australia, such as the 1893 flood, have affected Ipswich terribly. Looks can be deceiving. The beauty of the Wivenhoe Dam and the Somerset Dam, their picturesque aspect and the aesthetics of the region, can be deceptive, and we saw much devastation in 2011 and 2013.

I am humbled by the support and loyalty of the electorate. I believe Labor has a strong track record and our core values have contributed to the strong performance of Labor in our part of the world. Blair is a unique electorate, in the sense that it has nine other electorates surrounding it and, for most of the time, only the Labor electoral of Oxley has been my Labor neighbour. I want to honour my friend the former member for Oxley Bernie Ripoll. Together we fought for and delivered the Ipswich Motorway upgrade from Dinmore to Darra, the Robelle Domain parklands development and the USQ building upgrades. The Mater cancer clinic was built very much because of the work that he and I did in getting the funding for it in Springfield. And the very popular Orion pool has added to profitability and employment in the region. It is a pool which is much bigger than the South Bank pool in South Brisbane.

For most of the last term, Bernie was a neighbour in this place, next door to me, and the member for Moreton was located nearby, so we called that part of Parliament House the 'Ipswich Motorway', much to the bewilderment of the members for Batman and Makin, who also had offices along that corridor in Parliament House. I want to thank Bernie for his friendship and cooperation and wish him every success in his business endeavours. I am fortunate to have Milton Dick as his successor as the member for Oxley. Milton has been a longstanding friend of mine. We share the growing Springfield region, and I have enjoyed many opportunities to collaborate with him and campaign together for infrastructure and the project needs of our local communities.

I want to mention my good friend and former senator Jan McLucas. Jan was a friend of mine before I even came to this place, in 2007. She helped me launch the first Blair Disability Links in 2010, and became well known and beloved throughout the community of Ipswich and its surrounds. I had the pleasure of seeing Jan in action on the campaign trail in North Queensland during the election, and she was in her element; she has certainly not retired from her political campaigning. She represented me in the Senate when I was the shadow minister for Indigenous affairs, and she had an almost encyclopaedic knowledge of the topic. I want to thank her for her commitment to Queensland, to Indigenous affairs and to disability particularly, and to Far North Queensland and North Queensland specifically.

Locally, with my colleagues in Oxley and Moreton, Labor has continued to hold strong across the western corridor between Brisbane and Ipswich—not always in good political times for Labor. It is precisely those Labor values that resonate, I believe, with the men and women of our region. Labor has long been the party advocating for and delivering on upgrades in infrastructure, particularly of the Ipswich Motorway. However, the previous Liberal government, the Abbott-Turnbull government, did not have a commitment to nation-building, and the government in its current context does not have a commitment to nation-building, to infrastructure development or to planning for the future of South-East Queensland. As a result, despite the fact that Labor delivered funding in the 2013 May budget, the Ipswich Motorway upgrade has ended at Darra, leaving the Darra-Rocklea stretch one of the most notorious car parks in the Brisbane region. It is a seven-kilometre headache and heartache for the 93,000 motorists a day—vehicles that include 12,000 trucks—that use the Ipswich Motorway. This stretch of road is not actually in Blair—it runs through Oxley and Moreton—but a good number of those 93,000 motorists come from Blair, and they have made it clear to me that this upgrade is absolutely essential. I want to thank the Palaszczuk Labor government for their $200 million commitment to kickstarting this section of the motorway.

We made the Darra to Rocklea upgrade a priority in the election campaign. We put pressure on the Turnbull government to do the right thing for motorists in the western corridor. Last year, the Leader of the Opposition, the now member for Oxley, the member for Moreton and I gathered at the Oxley roundabout to announce Labor's commitment of $200 million in funding for the Ipswich Motorway upgrade from Darra to Rocklea, should we win the election. I am proud to say even the local media recognised that we forced the coalition government under the current Prime Minister to finally respond to the outcry from local businesses, local councils and residents who are tired of waiting and want the job done. Finally, in the May 2016 budget, the government committed to doing it. Construction of this section of the motorway will help create 470 jobs, provide a safer and quicker journey for motorists, and improve national and local freight movements. Before that May 2016 budget, Labor made that commitment and forced the government to do this. It is now up to this government to make it happen, and to make it happen sooner rather than later.

I will never grow complacent when it comes to the infrastructure projects and programs that Ipswich and the Somerset region need. This is not a government with a great track record of following through on its promises. One of the big infrastructure projects that I have campaigned on for some time is the upgrade of the Willowbank interchange from Ebenezer Creek to Yamanto along the Cunningham Highway. The Queensland government considers $345 million the necessary amount, and it is one of the priority projects, according to Infrastructure Australia.

We currently have a government here in Canberra that seems to be focused on wealthy metropolitan areas rather than regional and rural areas. Let me give you an example of that. I was pleased to see the Lowood Show Society receive $25,000 under a National Stronger Regions Fund grant to improve the Lowood showgrounds. It is one of seven terrific applications, worth over $7 million in funding, from my electorate. I will always welcome any investment in Blair, but I cannot understand how two wealthy, Liberal-held electorates in Sydney and Melbourne can receive $13.2 million in grants when the government is supposed to be building stronger regions. I cannot understand why the seat of Warringah would receive a $10 million grant and the leafy suburbs of Kooyong would receive a $3.2 million grant when Blair only received $25,000. This is a genuinely regional and rural area, and home to many disadvantaged people.

Recently we were excluded from any additional applications that we could make under this particular aspect of the Building Better Regions Fund. Ipswich was entirely excluded; only Somerset in my electorate could get it. I wrote a letter to the minister, Senator Fiona Nash, about it, asking that Ipswich be included in future. I cannot understand why Ipswich has been excluded.

Those opposite fail to realise the impact their disastrous budgets and mismanagement have had on ordinary people in regional and rural areas. Mobile phone reception is yet another example. When mobile phone reception in places like Manly is bad, it is inconvenient, but living in an isolated community like Moore, Linville or Somerset Dam and not getting mobile phone coverage can be disastrous. Certainly in the 2011 floods, when land lines were washed away and towns were cut off, these rural communities were without communications, often for weeks.

The coalition campaigned heavily on mobile blackspot funding. We have learnt this program is to be nothing more than pork-barrelling, so people living in isolated areas in Blair have no coverage even though some of those areas were supposed to get funding in the first round. They still have not got coverage in places like Linville, Moore and Somerset, less than a few hours drive from Ipswich CBD.

People in Blair have been hurt by unfair and unreasonable budgets. The 2014 budget of the member for Warringah is a classic example of that. It is a government which makes policies for Rose Bay rather than Rosewood in rural Ipswich. Cutting penalty rates might seem like a good idea if you are living in Chatswood, but in Churchill it sees workers lose their homes. And privatising Medicare was not a scare campaign; it has always been policy of this government if they are given a chance. The coalition has never supported socialised medicine. Scare campaigns from this government seem to be demonising unions while protecting banking and finance, and the people of Blair have told me at numerous mobile offices that they want a royal commission into the banking and finance sector.

Scandals, rip-offs and rorts are simply not good enough for this government, which seems to turn a blind eye. It is appalling to see what the government does not do in relation to the 200,000 customers of financial services when the banks charge exorbitant fees. And what is the government intending to do? Give them a $7.4 billion tax cut. It has been made clear to me by the middle-class and working-class people of Blair that they deserve a better go and a fairer go in the financial and banking sector. That is why the evidence demands a royal commission into the banking and financial sector, and I will continue to campaign in relation to that. I will never give up fighting for ordinary working people in my area.

In the previous term, I had the privilege of being Labor spokesperson for Indigenous affairs and ageing and later for northern Australia. It is a great honour and privilege to be on Labor's front bench, and I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition for allowing me to serve in that way. I appreciate the unity and collegiality and the number of members who also gave me assistance through that time. We came within, in rugby league terms, a field goal of winning the election, but we will continue to campaign and hold the government to account.

I want to thank the member for Lingiari, who was my deputy in Indigenous affairs and in many ways my superior because of his encyclopaedic knowledge of Indigenous affairs. We enjoyed numerous flights in small planes, visiting some uniquely beautiful parts of remote Australia. We battled where there were some of the worst examples of ineptitude. The appalling Indigenous Advancement Strategy, condemned by Labor and criticised heavily by the Auditor-General, is just one. Over half a billion dollars was slashed from front-line services. Family and legal services, diversionary programs and preventative health initiatives make a big impact.

With the member for Lingiari we listened to Indigenous people in remote areas, country areas, rural areas and metropolitan areas. They are our first people and deserve to be recognised in the Constitution. The rest of us really are new arrivals compared to people who have been here for 60,000 years. Their traditional ways are not lifestyle choices. They are part of a culture and heritage that should be recognised as one of if not the oldest living culture on the planet. That is why Labor believes we should support the National Congress of Australia's First Peoples, the only peak representative body to truly represent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, not a hand-picked advisory committee as the government seems to do.

We understand engaging with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people requires genuine partnership. It is not always going to be comfortable, but we need to do that. We need to make a serious commitment in this country to stemming incarceration rates, ensuring Indigenous young people are free from family violence as well.

In the ageing portfolio I want to thank Senator Helen Polley from Tasmania for sharing the same passion I did. For 14 years before I was elected into this place, I served on the board of Carinity, an aged-care provider in Queensland, and acted as a lawyer for many aged-care providers in Queensland, so I had some knowledge of that space. We did the hard yards in terms of that portfolio and we held the government to account. I want to thank Senator Polley for the work she did. I also want to thank Everald Compton, in particular, for his tenacity and the wonderful contribution he made. He kept going, despite the funding cuts to the Advisory Panel on Positive Ageing, which was established by Wayne Swan, a former Treasurer. I thank him for his Blueprint for an ageing Australia, delivered in September 2014, which I think provides a significant way forward in addressing the challenge of an ageing workforce and the challenges of housing and transport for the ageing. I also thank former Labor Deputy Prime Minister Brian Howe for his contribution and the wise advice he gave me across that space.

I am honoured to now be the shadow minister for immigration and border protection. In the last eight months or so I have travelled to North Queensland, Central Queensland and the Hunter region, hearing about rorts in the 457 visa program and the importance of local jobs. I was proud to join the Leader of the Opposition in introducing legislation to the House to put local workers first and toughen the rules on 457s. We will make sure that local workers are ready and willing to work and that employers have to advertise, and genuinely try to fill, jobs locally before recruiting from overseas. We will also make sure businesses using a significant number of temporary workers have a plan for training local workers. We will protect Australian training standards for our trades and make sure temporary workers meet Australian skill standards before they come here to work.

I met with Australian Border Force staff working on the front lines at airports, such as Sydney International Airport, and spoke with them about the challenges they face. We have also been alive to the issues of refugee families, who have spoken to me about their experiences in relation to Manus and Nauru. Labor has initiated a Senate inquiry about serious allegations of abuse, self-harm and neglect of asylum seekers in these places. That inquiry is due to report in the next few weeks, and it is a direct result of the single largest leak of documents about asylum seekers in offshore detention we have ever seen, known as the 'Nauru files'. I want to be clear: Labor supports offshore processing, regional resettlement and turn backs—when it is safe to do so—but we do not support this government in using Manus and Nauru as places of indefinite detention. Offshore processing centres were meant to be regional transit centres where applications for asylum could be processed and those people found to be refugees resettled in third countries. The refugees on Manus and Nauru have been there far too long because the immigration minister has failed to secure third-country resettlement options.

We support the US refugee resettlement deal, but, just this week, immigration officials have confirmed the Turnbull government is not negotiating with other countries to resettle refugees currently living on Manus and Nauru. Potentially hundreds of refugees on Manus and Nauru will miss out on the opportunity to resettle in the United States and could be left to languish in these places. It is simply not good enough to put all your eggs in one basket, and the minister should do his job and look for other third-country resettlement options for those people. Australia can and should do more. We should engage better with the UNHRC. There are 65 million people displaced around the world, fleeing war, conflict and persecution. We need to do much better in this country. We need to play a bigger role in the region and work with international humanitarian agencies to tackle this crisis while maintaining the integrity of our borders. We will always stand against this government when it has gone too far, as it has with legislation to impose lifetime bans on former refugees who have been awarded citizenship of other countries. As shadow minister, I promise my door will always be open to hear good ideas about how to protect local jobs, get refugees off Manus and Nauru, and bring transparency, accountability and trust back into the immigration portfolio.

In the couple of minutes remaining I want to thank the 250 volunteers who joined the Labor cause and supported me in my re-election. At Rosewood railway station at five in the morning, with Labor hoodies on, there were too many people to thank. I want to thank my wife Carolyn; our daughters, Alex and Jacqui; my electorate staff, who work so well; and people such as Carolyn and Yvonne, Melissa Harris, Jarod Boyle, Kerryl Harmon, Suzanne Miller and Kim Fullarton, who made many phone calls. I would also thank 16-year-old Thomas Chapple and his mum, Nicole, who were fantastic at the Ipswich pre-poll all the time; Steve Franklin and Allan McMillan from the Rosewood branch; Darren Baldwin and Ian Fraser from the Springfield Central branch; Janet Butler and Ineke Rouw from the Somerset branch, who flew the flag year-round in an area in which we were generally not too popular; Councillor Kerry Silver and members of the Riverview/Collingwood Park branch; Trevor Baker and the president of my FEC, Councillor Kylie Stoneman and her Ipswich North branch; and Nick Hughes and all the members of Ipswich Central branch. I want to thank my own branch—the Raceview Flinders branch, one of the biggest branches of the Labor party in Queensland—for their ongoing support. They are sometimes known as the 'Shayne Neumann Protection Society', that branch. We are a force locally and I appreciate the work of people like Frank Zarb and Carol Nevin, my new mobile office and country show offsider.

I want to pay tribute to a good, departed, friend of mine, Greg Turner, who passed away. Campaigning without Greg is not the same. He joined me every weekend on mobile offices, year after year, and I am very sad that he is no longer with us.

I also thank Brian Hall, who managed our sign shed, and the late Peggy Frankish, who was also a great friend of mine. I thank my mum, Joy Butler, and her husband, Rob. I also thank a good mate of mine up in Toogoolawah, a former coalition cabinet minister in the Queensland government, Beryce Nelson, who was always there to offer advice and share stories. I also thank Bill and Lyn Rose from the Fernvale Bakery, Ally from the Kai Lounge, and Harry's Cafe in Rosewood and all the small business operators who worked with me.

I thank Mayor Paul Pisasale and all the state members who have assisted me in councils here in Ipswich. Thank you very much. I will not let you down. (Time expired)

Maria Vamvakinou (Calwell, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It being 1 pm, the debate is interrupted. The member for Mitchell will have leave to continue his remarks when the debate is resumed.

Proceedings suspended from 13:01 to 16:06

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the address be agreed to. I call the member for Charlton.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Shortland, Mr Deputy Speaker. Do not worry; I trip up on it occasionally as well.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Does Charlton still exist?

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, sadly, Charlton was abolished.

Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is really showing my age now.

Pat Conroy (Shortland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No, that is okay. I might take an opportunity to talk about the Australian Electoral Commission and the way they manage the redistributions, but not this afternoon. Instead, I will be talking about the address-in-reply. I am pleased to speak on the address-in-reply. We are well into the 45th Parliament, and I gave my first speech as the member for Shortland in October last year, but I do welcome the opportunity now to reflect on the record of the Turnbull government as well as bring to the attention of the House the tremendous benefits Labor's needs-based schools funding model is having in the electorate I represent, and finally I will talk briefly about my shadow ministerial roles.

The Turnbull government is as divided and dysfunctional as the Abbott government was, and working Australians are being neglected whilst this government is tearing itself apart. The Prime Minister has abandoned every principle he once held dear—principles which Australians, for the most part, respected him for—in a desperate bid to hold onto power. Meanwhile, Labor has been focusing on growing jobs and wages, grappling with the housing-affordability crisis, investing in needs-based school funding, improving Medicare and our public hospitals, supporting infrastructure projects and sensibly dealing with climate change. This is in stark contrast to the Liberals and Nationals who have been more concerned about their own jobs than the jobs, aspirations and priorities of Australians. The announcement around 18C of the Racial Discrimination Act yesterday, yet again, demonstrates this government's skewed agenda.

I want to particularly highlight the government's dreadful economic management. The record of the coalition on the economy and the budget is absolutely appalling. Our country is in a much worse economic position than we were in September 2013. The budget deficit has tripled, net debt is up by over $100 billion since 2013 and more people are out of a job. There is severe unemployment and those in employment have stagnate wage growth. In many sectors of our economy, real wages are actually going backwards. Just contemplate that for a minute, Mr Deputy Speaker. Under this government, our living standards are falling. Compare this to the record of the six years of the last Labor government, a period where the world experienced the global financial crisis, but because of Labor's stimulus plan, opposed by the Liberals and Nationals, Australia was the only country in the developed world not to go into a recession. Over a million jobs were created and there was a massive investment in health, education and infrastructure. This is a record Labor is proud of. It is a simple fact that the coalition are inferior economic managers.

I particularly want to draw the attention of the House to the positive impacts needs-based funding is having in my electorate of Shortland in schools funding and the consequences for Shortland's schools if the government does not fund the final two years of the Gonski funding model. The most important, in fact the central element, of Gonski is that it provides for funding on a needs basis. No matter whether the schools are government, Catholic or independent, it is a fair system, overwhelmingly supported by Australians. It cuts through 50 years of sectarian division between Catholic schools and state schools, and debates about how many playing fields the King's School has. It says, once and for all, that the federal government will fund schools based on need—not on postcode, not on religion; on need. It is a great tragedy that in 2013, the coalition—led by the member for Warringah—blatantly misled the Australian people by saying that they could vote for Labor or Liberal and they would still get Gonski. This was a blatant mistruth—in fact, the Liberal government cut $30 billion from schools.

I recently had the great pleasure, with the member for Sydney, of visiting St Mary's Catholic College at Gateshead, which is in my electorate. St Mary's is a relatively low-SES school which is benefiting enormously from Labor's Gonski reforms. St Mary's principal, Larry Keating, told us that the school is transitioning from a year 7 to 10 high school to a year 7 to 12 college and that, because of the extra Gonski funding, the school is spending $3 million this year alone on building a new construction and hospitality centre. This centre will be critical for the new senior years. Larry told Tanya and me that:

as a community we've benefitted so much from the funding from Gonski. And we see the difference it's making in the lives of our students. They have an opportunity to grow and develop, and develop skills in particular that will set them up significantly for future employment prospects and we're really grateful for the funding that we have received.

Unfortunately for St Mary's—and for schools all around Australia—because of the government's lie and its refusal to fully fund Gonski, they will be much worse off. I also want to draw the attention of the House to the impact Gonski is having on Saint Pius X Primary School at Windale, which is a small primary feeder school for St Mary's just down the road. Saint Pius is the poorest primary school of all schools in New South Wales, both government and non-government. It is a small school of only 45 students. Because of needs-based funding, two extra teachers have been able to be employed. These two additional teachers are having a massive impact in the poorest school in the state, and this is being jeopardised by the government's failure to commit to Gonski. Youth unemployment is higher in the Hunter and the Central Coast than the national average. The new construction and hospitality centre being built at St Mary's will obviously be a fantastic opportunity for students to engage in vocational education, and hopefully to gain apprenticeships and employment after leaving St Mary's. It was fantastic for both the member for Sydney—who is, of course, the shadow minister for education—and me to see the tangible benefits of needs-based funding, and the positive outcomes that Labor's Gonski model is having in my electorate.

Another great example of the power of needs-based funding is Northlakes High School at San Remo. Northlakes is another low-SES school; in fact, it has received the most additional funding of all of the high schools on the Central Coast. The school's principal, Merrilyn Rowley, has said that Gonski has been absolutely transformational for the school. The school has been able to implement innovative new professional development programs for staff and the Positive Behaviour for Learning Programme for students, as well as being able to upgrade the school's facilities. These extra resources put into programs are having a tangible impact on the school already. The change in the attitudes of the children has been phenomenal and there has been a 30 per cent drop in absenteeism. Let me repeat that, Deputy Speaker Claydon—because of the programs which the Gonski additional funding has resourced, there has been a 30 per cent drop in absenteeism by school students at this school. This school is an entirely different place because of Gonski. This is another good example of school students in a working-class area benefiting from needs-based funding. This is what the Labor Party is all about, and I am so very proud of this school community for the advances they have made.

The government is betraying the students of Shortland and their families by not committing to the two final years of Gonski funding. The education minister has said repeatedly that funding is not everything. Of course, quality teachers, resources and facilities are also crucial to schools. But the most basic point, which the minister does not get, is that to have these things, there has to be appropriate investment from the government—and that is what needs-based funding delivers. If the government fails to implement its Gonski election commitment, schools in Shortland will be $33 million worse off, and schools in my broader region will be $140 million worse off. These are incredibly significant figures that the government cannot ignore. And I will fight for needs-based funding every day until the next election, because it delivers real and tangible benefits to the families of my electorate.

I now want to address energy and climate change policy. We have all endured a very hot summer—in fact, I think 225 temperature records have been broken in this summer period. We have seen an energy crisis that this government have done nothing about over the last four years they have been in power. The government are completely failing to show any leadership on this issue. They attack renewable energy, promote the lie of clean coal and stubbornly refuse to implement an emissions intensity scheme, which nearly every stakeholder—and most of them are not natural friends of the Labor Party—supports.

In contrast, Labor have clear priorities: a secure and affordable energy supply and a reduction in carbon emissions. We have a clear and sensible policy to achieve this and are showing leadership on this issue. I am Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on the Environment and Energy, and I have been working closely with my colleague the member for Mallee, who is chair of the committee, on an inquiry into modernising Australia's electricity network. We are working constructively together in a bipartisan way to try and take the politics out of this issue and to ensure that we have a modern and secure energy framework. Unfortunately, the summer months have confirmed the total lack of leadership from both the Prime Minister and his environment and energy minister on this issue.

In conclusion, I am pleased to provide the House with an update on some local Shortland and national issues. I cannot emphasise enough the positive impact Gonski is having in my electorate. Needs-based school funding is working. The benefits can be seen right across Australia. Liberal and National politicians should be ashamed that they deceived Australian families before the 2013 election. They should make good on the commitment they have made. It will make a massive difference to the lives of Australian families. I am proud to belong to a political party that has made this fundamental change to ensure fair funding for all schools, and I am proud to visit schools in the electorate I represent to see the impact it is having in our area.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise to make a contribution to the address-in-reply debate. In my much earlier contributions in relation to the appropriations bill I spoke a lot about the election, and I would like to reiterate what an honour it was to have been re-elected and to thank the people of Richmond. It is indeed a real privilege to serve in this House. My electorate of Richmond is truly remarkable. It is very diverse, with people from many different backgrounds, which is something that we should celebrate, acknowledge and encourage as well. It is probably the most beautiful part of Australia. It was an honour to be returned after the election with an increased majority. As I have said to locals: 'Whether you voted for me or not, my door is always open. I am always here to help you.'

There were many issues of concern in the election, including saving Medicare and acting on climate change and housing affordability. There was a very positive response to our policies in relation to negative gearing reforms and capital gains tax reforms. There were also lots of concerns about the NBN and the need to have it rolled out in the North Coast of New South Wales, and also the need for proper funding for education.

Another major issue throughout the election, and one that has been around for a long period of time, is that of marriage equality. Today I intend to speak about my support for marriage equality and my opposition to the government's plans for a plebiscite. I, like others on this side of the House, oppose the plebiscite. That is why we voted against it. I also condemn the Prime Minister for not allowing a free vote in this House on this really important issue. In the last few days we have seen news reports and speculation that the government is considering a postal vote for the plebiscite, but make no mistake: this is nothing more than a non-compulsory, non-binding, expensive, damaging and divisive opinion poll. That is all it is.

I strongly support marriage equality and, like others on this side of the House, I want to see it in place urgently. In fact, there are bills in the parliament right now that would make marriage equality a reality.

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

If the Prime Minister were not so weak and so beholden to the extremists in his party, he would allow a free vote. In fact, the plebiscite was, and is, just a delaying tactic—a divisive tactic by a Prime Minister who is only concerned about his leadership.

Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—

Scott Buchholz (Wright, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Goldstein will refrain from interjecting.

Justine Elliot (Richmond, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

These tactics have been particularly disappointing, and I especially note that the vast majority of the LGBTI community has overwhelmingly rejected the idea of a plebiscite. It surely is a measure of the Prime Minister's character that he refuses to act on this issue; instead, his dithering and weakness and unwillingness reflect his inability to stand up to the extremists in the coalition. We should get this sorted today and make marriage equality a reality.

I support marriage equality, as I believe that everyone should be able to marry the person they love—it is as simple as that. I voted for marriage equality when it came before this parliament in 2012, and I would do so again. The fact is that the plebiscite is massively wasteful and divisive for a number of reasons. We voted against it because it is essentially a very bad idea—and the postal vote for a plebiscite is also a very bad idea. Firstly, it is, quite simply, discriminatory and unfair. Why should same-sex couples be subjected to a process that is not inflicted on anybody else? Other couples wanting to marry do not have to ask millions of Australians if they approve of their marriage or get permission. It is unfair. So why are we asking some Australians to go through this process but not others? That in itself is obviously discriminatory and not fair.

Secondly, the plebiscite would just create a platform for the haters. The fact is that a plebiscite would create an opportunity for a cruel, nasty, hateful, homophobic campaign—and that is what would happen if we had a postal vote plebiscite as well. Having a plebiscite and funding the 'no' campaign was only being pushed to give legitimacy to this hateful campaign and to give it a platform. The fact is the plebiscite would unleash a very harmful debate which would punish and further discriminate against gay people, and the discrimination would be all the more widespread as a result of this debate. We have all seen the emails, the letters and the social media posts. We know what they say. Those opposite know how vile some of these cruel and nasty comments are, and that is why they should have voted against the plebiscite. They know how cruel and hurtful this campaign could be. These spiteful comments are of course hurtful to same-sex couples and particularly devastating for their children. Why should their children be victimised like this and have to face such comments and such cruelty? Why should the parents be unfairly targeted and attacked? Why should children have to watch their parents' relationship voted on by everyone else when others are not required to? That cannot be fair. This is what the Liberal and National parties have done in supporting the plebiscite. They have inflicted this emotional torment on young people. I seriously hope they reflect upon that and reflect upon those cruel, hurtful and detrimental comments.

The Leader of the Opposition has quite rightly highlighted the very strong link between this plebiscite and concerns about the mental health of LGBTI Australians, particularly the mental health of young people. I would like to focus on that for a short while. I acknowledge and thank the opposition leader for bringing attention to this very serious issue, especially when the evidence is so very overwhelming. As the opposition leader said:

It is about gay teenagers yet to come out, fearful of rejection, being told that there is something wrong with who they are and how they feel.

A study conducted by the Young and Well institute found that 16 per cent of young Australians who are gay had attempted suicide and one-third had harmed themselves—very concerning. More than four in 10 had thought about self-harm or suicide, a rate six times greater than heterosexual Australians of the same age. Up to two out of every three of these young Australians have been bullied about their sexual orientation, at school, at work or on the sporting field. As Patrick McGorry has said:

LGBTI people have a five times increased risk of suicide …

As he further said:

… this is caused by discrimination and homophobia.

As he went on to rightly say:

There is nothing intrinsically wrong with people in the LGBTI community in terms of mental illness but their experiences causes the increased risk.

This should be a very confronting fact for all of us involved in this debate and something we should always be mindful of.

I would now like to reflect on this issue of youth suicide from the perspective of my former job as a general duties police officer. As police officers, one of the jobs we attended and investigated on far too many occasions was, very tragically, suicides involving young people. I know for a fact that on many occasions those younger people had committed suicide because either they were being bullied because they were gay or they were yet to come out and tell their family or friends and so were fearful of the rejection or discrimination they may face. What is most tragic about youth suicide is the lost potential, the lost dreams and the lost ambitions. We as individuals, communities and governments have to do better—we must do better.

So this is a very real debate. It is about how people will be affected; it is about young people's lives, and we should remember that all the time. That is why all of us as community leaders have a responsibility to speak out regularly and publically to support younger people and send them a positive message—to let them know that they are valued, to let them know that their relationships are valued and to let them know that their families are valued.

I would like to share some stories from my electorate in support of marriage equality. Firstly, I will tell the story of my dear friend, Wil from Mullumbimby. Wil and his partner Paul are very strong supporters of marriage equality and they wanted to be married right here in Australia, but they were unfairly denied that right because this government is doing all it can to delay marriage equality, but Wil and Paul simply could not wait. So wanting to formalise their union and be married, they made the choice to be married under the British flag at the British consulate in Brisbane on 30 September last year, as Paul is a British citizen. While we were all happy for Wil and Paul because their day was, of course, filled with so much love and joy, it also highlighted how unjust the situation is here in Australia. I wish Wil and Paul all the best for their life together and I thank them for their continued advocacy for marriage equality in this country.

In August 2015, I told the House the story of two of my constituents and good friends, Julie and Cas, who were married in the United States. In the context of this contribution, I would like to retell the House about Julie and Cas. Cas was born in America, so they travelled to Florida where their wedding took place. It was wonderful to hear all the details of the planning for the wedding day and see all the wonderful photos. It was, indeed, a beautiful ceremony. One of the most exciting aspects for them was the fact that they received a congratulatory message from the then President Obama. I would like to read that message to the House again:

Congratulations to you on your wedding day. May this special time be blessed with love, laughter, and happiness. We wish you all the best as you embark on your journey together, and we hope your bond grows stronger with each passing year.

Sincerely,

Barack Obama and Michelle Obama

This meant so much to them: the President of the United States endorsing and congratulating them on being married. As Julie and Cas highlighted, this is a contrast to the current situation Australia. As I said in the House in my previous contribution, if the White House can turn rainbow then surely this House can do it too.

In conclusion, this is essentially a debate about fairness and rights. There should not be a different rule for gay people—it is as simple as that. Marriage equality is not a responsibility we should delegate. We should have the vote in the parliament and save our country from a divisive argument about the worth and value of some people's love—it is just not fair. I call upon the Prime Minister to actually stand up for something and reject the views of the extremists, those on the right wing of the Liberal and National parties. Reject those views and actually have the vote today—we could do it. The Prime Minister has it within his power to bring about a free vote in this parliament and I call on him and the government to do just that. Reject this idea of a plebiscite, particularly this latest idea of a postal vote plebiscite, and allow a free vote on marriage equality today. This debate has gone too long and is too harmful and too hurtful. This is a very important issue in my electorate and I will continue to fight for the rights of my constituents and, indeed, the right for all Australians to have the right to marry the person they love. It is that simple: people should be able to marry the person they love. This parliament should legislate for it today and I call upon the Prime Minister to act immediately.

Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I welcome the opportunity to contribute to the address-in-reply debate. It is a great honour to represent the seat of Cowper in the 45th Parliament. This is the sixth time that I have been elected to represent this extraordinary district in the Australian parliament. I am proud of the progress that we have made in our region since I was first elected in 2001. In the early 2000s the unemployment rate in Coffs Harbour, for example, was routinely above 10 per cent. Over the last year, it is regularly below the national average, which is a fantastic result for what is very much a lifestyle destination. Areas such as the Nambucca Valley have had unemployment rates in the high teens; today, that unemployment rate is in single digits, and the economy is growing.

Over the past 15 years, we have seen massive progress on the Pacific Highway, starting with the completion of the Bonville deviation, which has saved probably over a dozen lives since it opened. We are expecting to see another 57 kilometres of dual carriageway opening, reducing travel times and saving lives in our region over the next 12 months, which is a further exciting development.

I am proud to have successfully fought for more Public Service jobs in our region. The latest figures show that the total number of positions at the Department of Human Services call centres in Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie have increased from 441 in 2013 to 718, which is a really huge increase. These are new jobs that are supporting our local community, providing local jobs for local people.

Of course, the big change in Cowper has been the very significant redistribution that occurred prior to the last election. Coffs Harbour's northern beaches and the lower Clarence Valley were moved from the electorate of Cowper into the electorate of Page. It was certainly a great honour to represent communities such as Maclean, Ulmarra and Corindi in the northern beaches of Coffs Harbour; regrettably, they were redistributed out of the electorate of Cowper. But I certainly welcomed the opportunity to get to know the people of Port Macquarie and to represent Port Macquarie in this parliament.

There was much discussion about the changes in the electoral boundary that were confirmed by the AEC in 2016. People were not sure how the changes would work, and how it would work having two major regional cities in the one federal electorate. I have always argued that it is important to have a strong, vibrant electorate, and having Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie in the one electorate certainly does mean that the electorate of Cowper is very much a growth engine in regional Australia—a very strong economic unit, showing strong growth in population, showing strong economic growth and showing relatively low unemployment as compared to historical figures. We have actually seen those two major centres of Coffs and Port building the critical mass of the North Coast, which is a really exciting thing. I have thoroughly enjoyed the opportunity to represent Port Macquarie, North Shore and Telegraph Point since the election, and I certainly thank those communities for putting their trust in me.

Port Macquarie is a growing region, with huge potential. Last week I attended the launch of the Sovereign Hills master-planned community in Port Macquarie. Over the next 10 years, this new community will grow to include more than 2,000 new homes. This is really exciting—living in an area that is growing as strongly as the North Coast.

In November last year, we saw the opening of the Charles Sturt University campus—a magnificent new facility which is a huge driver of growth. In the electorate of Cowper, we are certainly blessed to have a number of regional universities. We have a presence, quite clearly, from Charles Sturt University, and there is Southern Cross University up at Coffs Harbour, the University of Newcastle in Port Macquarie, and the University of New South Wales operating the rural clinical schools in Coffs Harbour and Port Macquarie. So the universities have a great presence in Cowper, which is certainly buttressing the economic prosperity of our region and providing training so that we have the skilled workforce that regional and rural Australia needs for the future.

In the 45th Parliament, my focus will be on delivering on the commitments that I have made to the electorate. These include the $1.25 million commitment to help fund the upgrade of Port Macquarie Airport. I am very pleased that this commitment is already well on the way to being fulfilled, with the deed of agreement for that project being signed this week at a federal level. The project is being supported by all three levels of government, and the winners out of this will be the travelling public. It is great seeing local, federal and state governments working together to provide upgraded transport infrastructure. And there will be better amenities for travellers, with a new baggage claim area—a much-upgraded facility to assist in handling the ever-increasing passenger load that travels through Port Macquarie Airport.

I am also committed to delivering the promised funding to improve sporting facilities in Port Macquarie at Oxley Oval. These improvements will build on the major redevelopment of the Port Macquarie indoor sports stadium that I recently opened with Mayor Peter Besseling. Port Macquarie has a strong sporting heritage, and this collection of improved facilities will provide the next generations of champions with better training and playing options.

Further north, in the Macleay Valley, I am continuing to work with Macleay Vocational College, a great local educational institutional that is providing opportunities for many young people who would not make it in a conventional setting, who have faced huge barriers to their learning. The Macleay Vocational College is a great facility and certainly welcomed that funding, which will assist in the upgrade or development of a hospitality training centre.

The Australian government is also funding a significant upgrade of security equipment with Kempsey Shire Council, covering Kempsey CBD, and a further expansion of CCTVs in the Kempsey CBD as well as South West Rocks and Crescent Head. It is a $300,000 investment in safer towns, more secure towns, adding to the confidence of people shopping and doing their business in those areas.

On top of these commitments we made during the election campaign, the coalition government is also delivering $2 million through the National Stronger Regions Fund to support a new cinema development in Kempsey. This will be a major driver of economic growth, buttressing the existing commercial CBD, providing greater opportunities for recreation in Kempsey without people having to travel outside Kempsey to visit the cinema.

In the Nambucca Valley the big-ticket item we are seeing at the moment is the replacement of the Macksville bridge, which is a fine piece of infrastructure—built in 1932—but a piece of infrastructure that is way past its use-by date. The bypass of Macksville, getting the trucks out of the main street and getting the bypass of the Macksville bridge, which is so overcapacity at the moment, will be great to see. The bypass of Macksville is a major part of the Pacific Highway upgrade, creating around 350 jobs in the process and creating faster travel times and safer motoring. The construction of the bridge is well advanced and we would hope to see traffic on that bridge, weather permitting, by around the end of the year.

On the Coffs Coast the government is committed to delivering $12 million for the construction of a new allied health facility at Southern Cross University. It is one of our election commitments and an important upgrade to the university's presence in Coffs Harbour. This vital piece of educational infrastructure will allow more young people to train in the region and more young people to stay in the region. It is a fact that when young people train in a regional area they tend to stay there. So that is great news for Coffs Harbour and great news for our region.

The government is also supporting, through the stronger regions program, a $4.1 million upgrade of the Jetty Foreshores in Coffs Harbour and a half-million-dollar upgrade of the international sports centre to help with its hosting of the World Rally Championships. It is a great event that brings tens of thousands of people to the North Coast and places the North Coast on the international stage. Having that improved upgraded facility at the international sports centre makes it easier to host what is a huge event for the region—and a huge event for Australia. It showcases Australia, showcases the North Coast and, particularly, showcases what is on offer in the beautiful hinterland that surrounds Coffs Harbour and the Nambucca Valley. It is a great event indeed.

We also have—as a result of the coalition winning the election—an ability to deliver the $29 million North Coast jobs package. We know on the North Coast the huge competitive advantages that exist in doing business in a regional area, and the North Coast jobs package will allow more businesses to be attracted to the North Coast and will allow provision for funding of high-quality local businesses to grow and expand. It is a great program and will have the potential to yield huge benefits to the North Coast. The local committee for the North Coast jobs package has been formed and is working to develop a localised investment strategy to administer the funds under the North Coast jobs plan. It is a great initiative and one that will create a lot of local jobs.

We have strong and growing industries on the North Coast that are driving our regional economy. Horticulture is making a massive contribution to our region with a massive growth in blueberries at the rate of around 30 per cent per annum. We also have strong growth in avocados, macadamias and other products, bringing hundreds of millions of dollars to our region each year.

In the early days of the Howard government I actually secured funding to allow the Oz Berries cooperative to build a packing shed. They were almost a victim of their own success, because, by the time the new packing facility was finished, they had already outgrown it and they needed to expand it again. They have been a huge success story, as they grows from strength to strength. They have recently moved into a former Bunnings Warehouse site, where they have around 4,000 square metres of cool rooms. It is a massive facility, allowing local blueberries to be packed and exported from the region. It is a fantastic facility, showing the massive growth in the blueberry industry and showing how horticulture can contribute massively to our local community. It is a great facility indeed. I have been a very strong supporter of the industry since day one and certainly hope that the industry goes from strength to strength.

I recently visited Indonesia as part of the Indonesia-Australia Business Week and had the opportunity to promote a whole range of Aussie products, including Aussie summer fruits and Aussie beef, and I also took the opportunity to promote blueberries. It is a superfood. We on the North Coast know that, but it was a great opportunity in Indonesia—a market of some 255 million people and on the way to growing to 300 million people—to promote blueberries to the Indonesian market as part of Indonesia-Australia Business Week.

As I said, the education sector is making a massive contribution to our region with those universities that I have mentioned. I am confident that growth in education will continue in our region. I see education as a major driver, as I see agriculture as a major driver. We see our local Norco Co-operative providing fresh milk straight into Shanghai. It is air freighted from the east coast of Australia into Shanghai. Norco is an innovative local co-op that has been growing steadily and progressively, increasing jobs and delivering good farmgate prices to farmers as a result of its ability to provide high-quality products into the local market and its ability to export.

The government has a very ambitious agenda for the 45th Parliament. We have the constant challenge of keeping our nation safe and secure, and we have the constant challenge of ensuring that, as a government, we support strong economic growth and increased job creation. We want to continue to implement important economic reforms, like small business tax cuts, to keep our economy competitive. For an electorate like Cowper, where small and medium business is the core of our regional economy, it is vital that we continue improving the business environment and continue to work to reduce red tape, to streamline paperwork and regulation and to lower taxes. A strong economy is the only way that we can sustainably provide the services and programs that Australia needs to be at its best.

In my portfolio area of agriculture, as Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister, we are continuing to implement the measures in the agriculture white paper—striving to open new markets for Australian produce and striving to streamline processes and reduce red tape in the agricultural field. We have to ensure that we continue to strive to do that. We have introduced new country-of-origin labelling so that consumers can make informed decisions about the origin of their food—a vitally important piece of information that consumers have been calling for for a long period of time. Country-of-origin labelling allows people to buy high-quality Aussie products. People around the world recognise Aussie products for their clean, green reputation—and so do Australian consumers. The new country-of-origin legislation that we are transitioning into will certainly allow consumers to make informed choices.

It will be a challenging three-year term ahead, and I have great confidence that we will continue to see strong growth in the electorate of Cowper. I am very focused as the federal member to meet the challenges of that growth and to assist the community in meetings its aspirations. I am absolutely focused on working towards the commencement of the Coffs Harbour bypass just as quickly as possible. There is significant planning work underway. The geotechnical work and test-drilling started some months back. There is still a lot of design work to do before that project can go ahead—an important billion-dollar project—and it is one that I look forward to seeing commence in this term of government. It is an honour to represent the electorate of Cowper in this term of parliament. I look forward to working with the community to further their interests, and to ensure that we create jobs and opportunities for the people of the North Coast.

Matt Thistlethwaite (Kingsford Smith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to reply to the Governor-General's address which occurred in the wake of the election last year, some time ago now. Nonetheless, I do wish to thank the people of Kingsford Smith for re-electing me to this wonderful position as their local member for this term of parliament. I love my job and I feel privileged to represent such a beautiful area and such wonderful people.

When people come to the electorate of Kingsford Smith, they are often struck by the great natural beauty of our area: the magnificent coastline, the wonderful beaches, the historic Botany Bay, the wide open spaces, and the beautiful parks and gardens. But I often tell people it is not the natural beauty that makes Kingsford Smith such a wonderful place to live—it is the people. It is the people, their attitude, and the fact that we look after each other and we care for each other. And that was on display during the last election campaign, and in the lead-up to it. On 5 June 2016, an East Coast Low and a massive swell hit our community and the coastline along the beaches of Kingsford Smith. That massive storm occurred on the Sunday, predominantly. I remember this very well, because it was actually the day of my campaign launch—and my campaign launch was at Maroubra Surf Life Saving Club—and it poured. The wind was howling and the surf was massive, and when I woke up in the morning, I thought, 'Oh no, no-one is going to come to the campaign launch because the weather is atrocious.' But I was quite surprised to turn up there and see that there were literally hundreds of people that had turned up to my campaign launch for Kingsford Smith. I was very grateful to the members of our community who supported my campaign during that period.

One of the casualties of the East Coast Low at the time was Coogee Surf Life Saving Club. On the evening of 5 June, the Coogee surf club was battered in that massive swell. In the morning, the damage became apparent. The whole eastern wall of the surf club—in particular where the gymnasium was—had been completely knocked over by the power of the waves. The wall is on an elevated platform that stands probably 15 to 20 metres above sea level, and it had been completely battered in. All of the heavy steel gym equipment had been picked up and smashed against the back wall. The front wall of the surf club had been knocked over. The foundations and the platform of the surf club, which sits high up above a cliff face, had been damaged as well, and there was, of course, much internal damage—to gyprock walls, to carpets and the like. I went down to the surf club the next day at 7 am, and what I saw was quite amazing. At seven o'clock in the morning, here were club officials and volunteers already at work, bracing up the walls and the floors, cleaning up, and ensuring that the foundations were safe and that the place could be quickly repaired. That day, the Leader of the Opposition, Bill Shorten, rang me to express his sympathy and to say that his thoughts were with our community in the wake of the low. Within a couple of days, Bill, with Mark Dreyfus, came to the Coogee surf club. They visited and surveyed the damage, talked to club officials and gave Labor's commitment to ensure that we would do all we could to repair the surf club quickly.

What happened over the course of the next week in particular was quite amazing. The number of local volunteer organisations that got involved in the clean-up and the repair was astounding. The SES at Randwick Botany were simply fantastic. Their members spent literally hours and days and weeks not only repairing Coogee surf club but repairing people's homes and businesses in the wake of that damaging storm. The fire brigade were sensational; they were out helping in the community and at the surf club. Surf club and community members from all over the area came in to help repair the damage. On the Saturday after the East Coast Low, there was a working bee where literally hundreds of members of the community came together. I felt quite privileged to be working with those people on that morning. We were shovelling out sand from the boatshed, trying to clean it up and repair some of the damage that occurred because of the sand that had been picked up from the beach and washed into the boatshed.

The concrete foundations of the old Coogee Pier, which was taken down many decades ago, are still there and are only ever visible when the surf at Coogee is massive and wipes away most of the beach. I have only ever seen one of them before, but, in the wake of this storm, all four or five of those concrete pillars were visible on the beach at Coogee. The storm did massive damage to the promenade at Coogee, which took years to repair. It was wonderful to see the community come together to repair the damage during that election campaign. There was a dinner hosted by the Coogee Bay Hotel in the wake of that, where community organisations and businesses came together and raised $30,000. I said earlier that it is the people of Kingsford Smith who make the area so great. This was a perfect demonstration of our community's greatest assets: our people and how we care for each other. That is the approach that the electorate took and the policies that they saw as important in determining their vote in the 2016 election.

Health care was a primary concern of the people of Kingsford Smith. They certainly rejected the coalition's cuts to health care, to hospitals and to Medicare. Over the course of the last few years, the Prince of Wales Hospital has had its operating budget cut by $30 million. Staff have been made redundant and services have been closed. Staff at the hospital are under more and more pressure. The community saw that. The fact that the Turnbull government was continuing the cuts of the Abbott government when it came to hospitals was something that deeply concerned our community. I believe it was one of the reasons why they supported Labor and our better policies on health care.

With respect to education, I have a community that deeply understands the value of investment in needs-based funding and the Gonski principles for funding schools. It was great to see many teachers and parents supporting that principle throughout the election campaign. I am very, very proud of the relationship that I have with local schools and with local teachers. I will always be an advocate and a fighter for needs-based funding for our schools, because I have seen the difference that it makes on the ground to the education of kids and the opportunity for kids, particularly those from an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander background—which we have an active community of in the south of my electorate, around La Perouse and Chifley—and kids with disabilities. This funding makes a big difference to their educational opportunities and their outcomes in life. It was pleasing to see representatives of the Australian Education Union and principals here in parliament today and on the lawns of parliament this morning, making the case for the full funding of Gonski, and, in particular, the last two years of funding.

In our electorate we are very fortunate to have the University of New South Wales, one of Australia's leading universities and a university that gets better and better every year. I am very proud that I am an alumnus of the University of New South Wales. I am the first of my family to have had the opportunity to get a university education—something that I have no doubt my parents would have been able to achieve, but they simply did not have the opportunity because of a working class background. I had that privilege. I had that opportunity. Because of Labor governments and because of HECS, I was able to invest in a university education. But the government is proposing to dramatically increase the cost of getting an education at university. Their $100,000 degree program would see people in our community that would not be able to afford to go to university in the future, and that restricts their opportunity in life. Many in our community saw the devastating impact that $100,000 degrees would have on their children's opportunity to get a good education and voted accordingly in this election.

We are also privileged to have the TAFE college at Randwick on the outskirts of our electorate that does fantastic work in providing people with a vocational education. And, again, TAFE has been absolutely smashed by the combination of a federal Liberal government and a state Liberal government who have taken the guts out of the TAFE system. This has ensured that many of the teaching professions and many of the trades that were offered at TAFE are no longer offered, and some of those, unfortunately, have been removed from Randwick. That will affect our community and that is something that people in our area were vehemently opposed to. And, of course, the cost of child care in the electorate of Kingsford Smith is a massive worry for families and it is ever growing and it is ever expanding. We have seen today that this government was intent on making cuts to family payments and cuts to pensions to fund a new childcare package that, at the end of the day, did not offer more money or more funds or more investment to solve what is a big problem and will not make child care more affordable in our community.

The people of Kingsford Smith understand the importance of investing and providing better opportunities for their kids. They all want a better future for their kids and they understand that the effects of climate change and the threat of global warming has the potential to undermine the living standards of future generations of Australians. Therefore, they want strong action on climate change. I was very proud to be able to campaign in our community on Labor's policy of 50 per cent renewables by 2030. It is a strong commitment to doing what is right by our kids to ensure that we tackle climate change now. We, as the decision makers, must take responsibility for what we know is one of the most immediate threats to living standards and to growth in the future, and that is climate change. That is why we proposed an emissions trading scheme for our full economy to ensure that we have a price on carbon emissions that caps emissions, and then reduces over time to ensure we actually do reduce emissions, unlike this current government. When they got rid of the carbon price—guess what?—emissions started to go up again and our kids are going to pay the cost of that. We also advocated an emissions intensity scheme for the electricity industry, a baseline and credit scheme by which you have a baseline for emissions and any business that seeks to emit above that level has to buy a permit to do so, and those that install new technology to reduce their emissions have a permit that they can sell on the open market as a benefit. And, of course, new vehicle emissions standards were all part of that policy of 50 per cent renewables by 2030, and actually taking responsibility for and taking action on climate change.

Malabar Headland is a sacred piece of land in our community. For close to 100 years it has been the Anzac rifle range, and the people of Kingsford Smith do not want to see development on Malabar Headland. It is the only tract of pristine bushland that is left between Botany Bay and Sydney Harbour on our coastline. My community wants to see this protected.

During the last term of government, it became apparent, through an FOI request, that the government were considering developing Malabar Headland. They were considering selling off a portion of Malabar Headland for private housing development. Rightfully, our community were up in arms about that. The member for Maroubra, Michael Daley, and I campaigned vigorously against this proposal and, within mere hours of it being uncovered by The Sydney Morning Herald, Greg Hunt was out there saying that they would not be proceeding with development of Malabar Headland.

But then, in the lead-up to the election, with no notice and no consultation at all with the local community, the government announced that, through a dirty backroom deal with Senator Leyonhjelm, they would be entering into a 50-year lease with the New South Wales Rifle Association in respect of Malabar Headland, locking our community out of Malabar Headland for the next 50 years. They have just established a national park at Malabar Headland, but the thing about this national park is that you cannot go onto it for a few days in the week. In every week, you cannot access it. You are not allowed to go there. The reason is, for those days of the week, it is a shooting range. If you did go there, you would be at risk of being shot. This is the sort of national park that the Turnbull government has developed for our electorate! If you go down in the woods today, you might get a big surprise! That is the ridiculous nature of this—that they entered into this 50-year lease with no consultation with the community about the future of a very important natural asset, and the community will be locked out of Malabar Headland for 50 years.

Naturally our community are up in arms about it. They want the issue resolved. They want the area returned to the people of New South Wales for enjoyment as a national park, as parklands, as playing fields, as picnic areas and so that the walk to Botany Bay can continue—so you will be able to walk from Bondi Beach all the way to Botany Bay along the coastline, unhindered. That is a great plan for Sydney. It would be a great tourist attraction and something that preserves our natural environment.

During the election campaign, the New South Wales government's light rail project and the destruction of heritage trees along Anzac Parade in Randwick became a big issue. The New South Wales government saw fit to destroy close-to-100-year-old trees that lined Centennial Park and Anzac Parade in our community. Many of these trees were planted as a commemoration, a tribute, to the Anzacs. They lined Centennial Park, which was bequeathed to the people of New South Wales and Sydney by Lachlan Macquarie. This government roared up the chainsaws and cut down a lot of those heritage trees during the election campaign and before, to make way for a light rail project. I am all for better public transport solutions—I do support that—but there was no need to fell these trees for this. There were other alternatives—namely, moving the stop on Alison Road across the road to the racecourse side of Alison Road, where it should be—that would have avoided the destruction of these trees. This became a big issue during the election campaign, and I thank our community for supporting our opposition to the destruction of Randwick's historic trees.

Housing affordability was a massive issue during the election campaign, and I am pleased to see that most people supported Labor's policies on negative gearing and capital gains tax discount reductions, because they understand that, if things continue the way they are, their kids simply will not be able to afford to live in our community in the future.

Infrastructure was a big issue, and Labor pledged to duplicate the rail line into Port Botany. We also pledged $10 million to upgrade Botany pool, which is a much-needed infrastructure project.

I am very proud of the Aboriginal community that exists in our area, but there is a long way to go to reduce and close the gap and to address some of the disadvantage. I thank all of the community groups that I work with—the RSLs, the multicultural organisations, the sporting clubs, Surf Life Saving and the like. I wish to sincerely thank my staff, who have done a wonderful job. I could not do this job without them, and I have had a lot of support from them over many years. In particular, I thank very, very much my chief-of-staff, Leigh Heaney; my media advisor, Nick Moncrieff'-Hill; Kylie Brenton, who basically helps to run my life; Mitch Donohue, our community campaigner; Sam Howes for her wonderful work; and Filip Shu for the work that he does with multicultural communities.

I was also very fortunate to be assisted by an army of volunteers who did a fantastic job and really did support our campaign. This is going to take a while, but I am going to go through many of them: Dylan Parker, who worked on campaign management and did a fantastic job; Amber Wallace; Simon Zhou; Lachlan McGrath; Riley Campbell; Kate Minter; Michael Rosser; Felicity Mallans, who has done a great job volunteering in the wake of the election and on an ongoing basis; Merric Foley; Simeon Ziegler; John Harding Easson; Lorrena Conner-White; Christine Kibble; Pauline Graham; Christina Curry; Zoey Reynolds; Steve Novak; and many others. There were many others who did a fantastic job on the campaign and were basically out every day. I have two more people to thank, and they are Kaila Murnain and Pat Garcia at the New South Wales Labor Party head office. Thank you.

Lucy Wicks (Robertson, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Kingsford Smith very much for his contribution. There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.