Bert Van Manen's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Budget | Constituency Statements | House debates
This week we have seen a budget which really encapsulates what we already know about this government: it is a government that is bereft of ideas, it is a government that has given up and it is a...
This week we have seen a budget which really encapsulates what we already know about this government: it is a government that is bereft of ideas, it is a government that has given up and it is a government that has lost the plot. Every Australian—and particularly every resident of Forde—is poorer now than there were three years ago when this government came to power. This was the budget that they did not want. In true form, it is a budget for the next five weeks, not for the next five years or even the longer-term future of this country. It's all about short-termism and getting a government re-elected. At a time when living standards have suffered the biggest collapse on record, Labor's budget has failed to deal with the economic challenges our country faces. Our constituents waited with bated breath to see how this government planned to meaningfully bring down the cost of living, and this budget failed to achieve that. You will have $5 more in your pocket, but some 15 months down the track. The government thinks that is something you should shout from the rooftops, that you'll be able to really splurge and treat yourself. But let's not forget, shall we, that your food has gone up some 13 per cent. Let's not dwell on the fact that your electricity has gone up 32 per cent or that insurance, rent, health and education expenses are all at all-time highs. Comparatively, tonight the coalition will outline our plan to get Australia back on track. We will put forward meaningful change—something we didn't see for any of my electorate. We were once again left out to dry by this Labor government. There is nothing for the electorate of Forde in this budget, and it demonstrates that this Labor government has no consideration for our people. Labor has always taken the electorate of Forde for granted, whereas the LNP and the coalition over our time in government has delivered a wide range of projects for the electorate. We have seen a range of projects, such as the Chambers Flat Road upgrade—which, sadly, Logan City Council still hasn't built—the Mount Lindesay Highway upgrades on the M1 to exits 41, 49 and 54; upgrades to Beaudesert-Beenleigh Road to the M1, more generally; and funding for a range of local community projects, including headspace, an urgent care clinic and Logan Hospital. We have seen small business supported and our manufacturers supported through a range of initiatives. It is only under a coalition government that my electorate of Forde benefits, and that is why it's so important in this upcoming election that you vote LNP to get Australia and Forde back on track.
Forde Electorate: Tropical Cyclone Alfred | Statements by Members | House debates
When the worst hits a community, we see the best in that community rise to the surface. I never need a reminder of how incredible our Forde region and its people are, but Tropical Cyclone Alfred...
When the worst hits a community, we see the best in that community rise to the surface. I never need a reminder of how incredible our Forde region and its people are, but Tropical Cyclone Alfred probably reaffirmed this for many others. Seeing people band together at sandbag stations and dig deep to help their fellow community members—likely strangers in many cases—was so heartening. People were literally brought to their haunches after shovelling sand for hours on end for many, all in the name of doing their community duty—and it was terrific to see so many people there at the Beenleigh Showgrounds. Natural disasters such as Alfred or the 2022 floods might tear holes in homes or flood homes, yet I never cease to be amazed by the willingness of our community to get out and support those in need. I want to give my sincere thanks to so many who individually helped across the electorate in the course of Tropical Cyclone Alfred. In particular, I give a heartfelt thankyou to the SES, Energex, and the volunteers and workers at Bethania Community Centre, Beenleigh lifestyle centre, Pimpama Sports Hub and the three recovery hubs in and around Forde, as well as many others. These wonderful volunteers are what make our community such a great place in which to live. Thank you once again for supporting those in need at a difficult time.
Albanese Government | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is for the Prime Minister. Tomorrow it will be 1,000 days since the election of the Albanese Labor government. The Prime Minister promised a $275 cut on power bills and life would be...
My question is for the Prime Minister. Tomorrow it will be 1,000 days since the election of the Albanese Labor government. The Prime Minister promised a $275 cut on power bills and life would be cheaper under Labor. Instead, working households are now paying up to $1,000 more for energy than promised, the cost of living has increased by nearly 20 per cent, and people are suffering the longest recession on record. Why won't this Prime Minister apologise to Australians for his weak leadership, bad decisions and wrong priorities?
Medicare | Statements by Members | House debates
Over the past week, we've heard the government talk endlessly about their success on Medicare. We've seen them roll out an advertising campaign—'Mediscare' 2.0. The only 'Mediscare' 2.0...
Over the past week, we've heard the government talk endlessly about their success on Medicare. We've seen them roll out an advertising campaign—'Mediscare' 2.0. The only 'Mediscare' 2.0 that applies in my electorate is the fall in bulk-billing rates, from 96 per cent in 2019 to 84 per cent today. In the middle of a cost-of-living crisis, the government is waxing lyrical over there about their Medicare success, yet the people in my electorate of Forde are paying the price for their failure each and every day. They are seeing fewer and fewer bulk-billed medical services and are paying an increased cost to get health care. So whatever this government says in this space, I say to the people in the electorate of Forde: do not listen to what the government is saying to you, because nine times out of 10, it is completely and utterly the opposite of what they're doing. They have presided over a fall in the provision of bulk-billed Medicare services in the electorate of Forde since 2022. We see that in the figures each and every day. The people in Forde are paying higher fees as a result in the middle of a cost-of-living crisis. Shame on this government for their failure!
Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It's a pleasure to follow the PM's contribution on the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 and good to see that a few of my colleagues across the chamber are here...
It's a pleasure to follow the PM's contribution on the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025 and good to see that a few of my colleagues across the chamber are here for my contribution to this debate, in particular the member for Spence, who's made some important contributions during my debates this week, which is greatly appreciated. I appreciate the Prime Minister's attempt to defend the validity and rationale of this policy. And I agree with some of what the Prime Minister has had to say, as well as other colleagues in this debate. We do want to see a high-quality, robust early childhood sector, with high education standards, to ensure that our young Australians get the best start in life that they can. And I want to take this opportunity to thank the early childhood educators across my electorate of Forde for the wonderful job they do each and every day trying to do exactly that. For many kids in my community, the fact that they have access to child care makes an enormous difference to their lives given the situation that some of them, sadly, find themselves in on the home front. But when I look at this bill I see a bill that doesn't address what I see as the fundamental issues facing many in my community: lack of access and lack of affordability. Any number of centres I've spoken to over the past 12 months do not have spare places; they have waiting lists. I have also spoken to many people whose out-of-pocket costs have grown, despite increased childcare subsidies. As I look at the structure of this bill, I see that it is only going to make the situation worse. At least now the situation is that the places in the childcare centres that are available are available to families who, for whatever reason, need two incomes—and increasingly that is largely as a result of the government's failure to deal with the cost-of-living issues that we've spoken about in other debates in this House over the course of this and previous weeks. Removing the activity test is going to see families who are working and trying to make ends meet compete with those who aren't, in a situation where there is already limited space, as we're seeing—and I know our regional members have even larger problems with available space, let alone having childcare centres at all in some cases. So I don't see how this is going to help a significant number of people across my electorate. The government estimates that more than 100,000 families will have access to more subsidised care and that more than 66,000 families will be better off overall. That represents only about six per cent of all families who are currently engaged in the childcare subsidy system. I note that the Prime Minister also referred to their wage subsidy. But, interestingly, that's funded by the government for only two years. What happens after two years? Who is going to pay the cost of those increased wages? I have no issue with those wages, because our childcare workers do a terrific job. At some point somebody has to pay for it, and it is going to be the families across my electorate of Forde who are going to pay for it through higher fees than they are already paying. Despite the government's protestations to the contrary, we are seeing a government that has failed to address the supply-side constraints in the system. The modelling from the Productivity Commission shows that most of the children affected by the activity test changes live in major cities, but there is no point having access to three days of child care if there is no child care available. Once again we are finding that the real issues at the heart of the system are not being addressed. We want to have families who have a right to choose what their work life and family life look like, and the coalition respects this choice. Labor's three-day guarantee does nothing for families who choose to remain at home and raise their children until primary school or for families who use flexible arrangements such as grandparents or nannies. The bill also does nothing for families who need flexibility, such as families who do shiftwork or work non-standard hours. Again, these hardworking families will not benefit from this change, but families who aren't working, studying or training will. Similar to Labor's other policies, this rewards families who access child care at the expense of families who are unable to or choose not to. We also believe there is a discrepancy in the policy costings and that the figures in the policy costings of $426 million over five years are undercooked and don't reflect the true impact of removing the activity cost. The department has also been unable to advise how many families are eligible for CCS but not enrolling their children or how many families are completely disengaged with CCS. The government's costings do not account for these groups. Interestingly, the Productivity Commission's 2024 report A path to universal early childhood education and care costed the complete removal of the activity test at $2.3 billion a year. The PC's modelling suggested the complete removal of the activity test would increase the hours of early childhood education by four per cent. They also estimated this will lead to a 0.9 per cent decrease in hours worked by sole parents and primary carer parents in couple families. Again, this appears to be a policy that doesn't take into account the full range of factors, but that's nothing unusual for this government. They have a habit of saying one thing and actually delivering something completely different, so I find their failure to deal with the detail in the policy nothing unusual. We've also heard it said that the three-day guarantee is a cost-of-living measure, but in reality it's nothing of the sort. Since Labor came to power the cost of child care has increased by 22.3 per cent. At this rate, childcare costs will have soared by over 124 per cent by March 2032. The last time Labor was in government, the cost of child care skyrocketed by 53 per cent in six years. So, once again, the Labor government has form in saying it's attempting to reduce the cost of something, but in reality all it does is significantly increase the cost. And, since the Labor government's cheaper childcare policy came into effect, out-of-pocket costs have increased by some 12.7 per cent, with almost one in three services charging above the fee cap as providers struggle to keep up with rising regulation and red tape. I know that some providers in my electorate I have spoken to, who will remain nameless, have been going through the process of trying to apply for the subsidy for the wage rise, and, given that they've found it too hard, too burdensome, too bureaucratic, they have decided to pay the pay rise anyway. But the way they have funded that is by increasing their fees, so families are worse off. The majority of families accessing CCS will not see a reduction in their childcare costs because of this legislation. Let's contrast that with the coalition's record. In our time in government, we almost doubled childcare investment to $11 billion, in 2022-23, and locked in ongoing funding for preschools and kindergartens. We also made the biggest reforms to the early childhood education system in over 40 years. More than 1.3 million children have access to the childcare subsidy, from around one million families. Under the coalition, 280,000 more children are in early childhood education, and our targeted extra support, introduced in March of 2022, made a real difference, as childcare costs came down by 4.6 per cent in the year to June 2022. We saw women's workforce participation reach record highs of 62.3 per cent in May of 2022, compared to 58.7 per cent when Labor left office in 2013. Once again, it demonstrates that a coalition government can deliver real and tangible results for families right across this country, and it's only through a coalition government being elected next election that we'll get Australia back on track. For all the reasons I've outlined above, we oppose this bill. Debate adjourned.
Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
'What happened to that?' the shadow minister at the table quite rightly asks. Well, it has only been closed doors, non-disclosure agreements and a failure to be transparent with the Australian...
'What happened to that?' the shadow minister at the table quite rightly asks. Well, it has only been closed doors, non-disclosure agreements and a failure to be transparent with the Australian people. With this piece of legislation we see exactly the same process being rolled out. Now, it's interesting to note that the government has steamrolled ahead with offshore wind zones without any proper consultation, with a backlash across the country from the affected communities. But, interestingly, major players have also abandoned offshore wind projects due to cost blowouts, regulatory uncertainty and economic unfeasibility. Importantly—and incompetence is a hallmark of this government, so I'm not really that surprised—the government keeps pretending that offshore wind is booming. But the market says otherwise. So where are we with all of this? Well, we're here today because the Labor government have been so rushed to get more onshore wind that they forgot to finish writing the regulations. As usual, it's about politics and not about the quality of the policy. The government is attempting to push a bill through parliament without scrutiny before the election so the minister—and I'm pleased to see that the minister is in the House for the final bits of this debate—can make announcements during the campaign. They're very good at making announcements, but the follow-up tends to be rather lacking. As I said in a previous contribution in this House today, nine times out of 10, if you listen to what they say, it's complete nonsense in reality. There's a vast gulf between what they say and what they actually do. As we look at the government's energy plan overall, there's a continuing blank cheque for higher power bills. I remember, as the shadow minister at the table would remember and as my colleague the member for Fadden would remember, the Prime Minister promised 97 times during the election campaign that Australians would get a $275 cut to their power bills. Instead, we are seeing families paying up to $1,000 more under Labor's costly and chaotic energy plans. They tried to buy off the Australian people with a $300 rebate this financial year. The Australian people are a bit smarter than that. We've seen in the last week or so Moody's confirm that it will cost up to $230 billion over the next 10 years and drive up household electricity prices another 25 per cent in that time. This is yet another independent warning that the government's renewables-only approach will hurt Australians, forcing families and businesses to the wall. I know from talking to businesses in my electorate that the cost impact for them business-wise of energy prices is extraordinary. They are seeing increases in gas prices of more than 50 per cent. I know in general we talk about 34 per cent in the household sector, but in the business sector there have been 50, 100 and 200 per cent increases in gas prices. That is making their ability to keep their doors open and keep hardworking Australians employed increasingly difficult. This government doesn't seem to really care about that. The government must explain why they continue to pursue a plan which hurts everyday Australians. This government is also fond of talking about the environmental benefits of offshore wind. Interestingly, I came across an article recently by the Bureau of Ocean Energy Management. It released a final programmatic environmental impact statement on a wind development in the New York Bight. That's quite interesting reading. The report tries to gloss over the impacts a little bit, because it uses such interesting words as 'outlining measures to avoid, minimise, mitigate and monitor impacts'. Well, what are some of the impacts that they're seeking to minimise? They're seeking to minimise biological impacts. On what? Marine mammals, sea turtles, birds and fish. They could suffer due to noise, habitat displacement and changes in migration patterns. Even bats are mentioned in the report. What other impacts are they seeking to minimise? Physical and socioeconomic impacts. The potential effects on water and air quality, commercial and recreational fishing, tourism and scenic resources are all outlined. What else? It says mitigation measures are not enough, although the report outlines numerous avoidance, minimisation, mitigation and monitoring measures. That, to me, tells a completely different story from what those opposite propose of the economic and environmental benefits of wind power in particular but also solar. We've seen in Queensland the impacts of large-scale commercial solar farms on ridge lines in the Great Dividing Range and pristine bushland and koala habitats. These ridge lines are being bulldozed and massive wind turbines are being built. If a farmer wanted to do exactly the same thing, he would not be allowed to do that, but a wind farm company can come in and do that with very few questions asked. Where is the equivalence? If it was a mining company, they wouldn't be allowed to do that, but a wind farm proponent can. The double standard is just extraordinary. As I look at all of these things, the amount of money involved and the lack of life span of these projects, and I look at the impact on Australian business and Australian households as a result, all I can think of and describe these projects as is a boondoggle. Merriam-Webster dictionary defines a 'boondoggle' as 'an expensive and wasteful project usually paid for with public money'. I think that covers it! Google says it's 'work or activity that is wasteful or pointless but gives the appearance of having value'. I think that covers it very well. Wikipedia says it's 'a project that is considered a waste of both time and money yet is often continued due to extraneous policy or political motivations'. That is the best definition of these wind farm projects and this legislation I could find. It's why the coalition stands opposed to this legislation and we stand implacably opposed to the energy policies put forward by this reckless and hopeless government because all its going to do is send Australia into bankruptcy.
It is a pleasure to rise on the Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. It's interesting that the government wants to ram these provisions through the House, given that the...
It is a pleasure to rise on the Electricity Infrastructure Legislation Amendment Bill 2025. It's interesting that the government wants to ram these provisions through the House, given that the bill is still under review by a Senate committee. It tells us much about this government's agenda and what they want to do. I know in some brief conversation I had with the member for Spence in the lead-up to my remarks, I noted that once again we see the government waxing lyrical about its green energy plans. As usual, the promise of the government's programs and policies bears little resemblance to the actual delivery and the impact on the ground. But we're used to that now, and the Australian people are increasingly waking up to that reality. What we find is that Labor refuses to tell Australians how much offshore wind will cost and how much they will have to pay on their power bills. In fact, we have no idea what Labor's grand green scheme of 82 per cent by 2030 is going to cost the Australian people because they refuse to even make an attempt to detail what the true cost will be. As the member for Forrest rightly pointed out, there is a multitude of holes in this policy big enough to drive a Mack truck through. Now, in this case, Labor is changing the rules after the fact, which creates uncertainty for investors and raises the risk profile for energy projects in Australia. The government has completely ignored industry stakeholders on this bill, rushing through legislation that directly affects major investment decisions without proper consultation. Well, knock me down with a feather. This isn't the first time this government has done this. They have a track record over the past three years of ramming legislation through this place, with a fig leaf of consultation. But, when you actually scratch the surface, there has been no consultation, or maybe at best, to give them a little bit of credit—which they're probably not due, but I'll give them a little bit—they've made some attempt to speak with their favoured groups but not all affected stakeholders. That's their track record. They speak to their favourite groups and not the full range of impacted stakeholders. More importantly what we find in many of the consultation processes is that they get people to sign non-disclosure agreements so you can't even have an open and public debate about the proposals the government is putting forward. I find that incredibly interesting, because I seem to remember—and the shadow minister at the table might correct me if I'm wrong, but I'm sure he won't—that this current government came to power in 2022 promising an era of openness, transparency and letting the sun shine in.
Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2024-2025, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2024-2025, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2024-2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It's always a pleasure to rise in this place and speak on an appropriation bill. These bills necessarily provide appropriations for the continued delivery of government services and to fund the...
It's always a pleasure to rise in this place and speak on an appropriation bill. These bills necessarily provide appropriations for the continued delivery of government services and to fund the decisions in the 2024-25 budget. In total, these bills appropriate some $12 billion for the remainder of the financial year, the majority of which, some $7 billion, is directed to ordinary annual services of government. Now, of course the coalition supports these bills to ensure the smooth operation of government and the uninterrupted provision of services that Australians rely on. However, while we support the bills as a matter of necessity, we must also use this opportunity to highlight the grave economic mismanagement that has led us to this point, that sees Australians right across the country, not just in households but in small businesses, under increasing pressures, both through cost of living and cost of doing business. There is nothing this government can do to hide their economic mismanagement. They appear to have tries every trick in the book with little, if any, success because they simply don't understand how a market economy works, because none of them over there have worked in the private sector, or very few. It is why we have seen inflation far too high for far too long under their management. Now, much of their increased spending is through the increase of ordinary government services; I accept that. But there are many parts of their additional spending which could have been much more carefully thought through given the inflationary impacts of the spending and the consequent impact on Australian households. In real terms, we have seen Australian households go back by the best part of nine per cent, an extraordinary number that Australians alive today, most of whom would never have seen their standard of living fall by over nine per cent in three years, let alone a longer period of time. The evidence continues to mount, as we see this government's failure to deal with these fundamental issues of higher prices, higher interest rates, more small business collapses, and lower living standards. So let's go through a little bit of the track record of those opposite for the benefit of the House. I'm sure my learned colleagues here contributing to this debate will repeat these statistics for the benefit of all concerned: health up over 10 per cent; education costs up 11 per cent; food costs up 12 per cent; housing costs up 14 per cent; rents up 17 per cent; insurance and financial services, 18 per cent; electricity, 32 per cent; and gas up 34 per cent. That's a pretty damning report card on the government's progress over the past nearly three years. As I said, they can dress this up any way they want, but those figures tell a story. I can say that, despite the government's rhetoric about lowering the cost of living and making things easier, when I talk to people in my mobile offices or when I'm out about in community, they're not seeing grocery prices in their shopping baskets going down. They're only going up. One of the key drivers of cost of living is energy, because energy is in every single thing that we do. You need energy to make the petrol pumps work to put petrol in your car or to put diesel in your truck or ute. You need energy to run the cold rooms in your supermarkets, big warehouses, pub or cafe. Last week, we saw with the businesses that run the big warehouses to distribute food to our supermarkets that some of the cost increases for their electricity bills were up by 200 per cent or more. I know businesses in my electorate whose gas bills haven't gone up by 34 per cent but by 50, 60 or 100 per cent, and they're now talking about closing their businesses. These are businesses that are at the leading edge of innovation in their particular industry in this country. The government's not interested in them. It's not interested in their struggles. They are interested in all the fancy stuff like Quantum AI. They are happy to hand over a billion dollars with no questions asked to a quantum AI company, yet a company that manufacturers leading-edge textiles in my electorate and, by the way, supplies our Defence Force is at risk of going out of business because the cost of gas has gone up by nearly 100 per cent for them. These are the everyday stories that those opposite have no idea about and no desire to deal with. It's not going to get better; it's only going to get worse, because the impact of all of these increases accumulates over time. As the previous speaker, the member for Hughes, quite rightly outlined, Australian households are now spending or have spent an extra $50,000 on interest costs on their mortgage because of 12 interest rate rises. That's $50,000 they are no longer spending in the retail shop at the local shopping centre or at a local cafe or club, or maybe they've pulled their kids out of sport because they can't afford to pay the registration fees. Thankfully, the Crisafulli government in Queensland has brought forward the release of the Get in the Game grants to enable families to afford the registration for their kids. I thank them for that. All of these things have an impact on social cohesion and family harmony because of those financial pressures. So far we've seen some 27,000 businesses go insolvent under this government's lack of leadership. I'll say, with no degree of hesitation, that that number will only continue to grow. What are they doing for small business? We've had a bill go through the House which removes the interest deductibility for a tax debt. We're seeing before this House a proposal to increase the cost of vehicles through making the emissions standards much tougher. We're seeing for maybe some larger businesses and others—I know some business people who were clients of mine in my former life who had business assets in self-managed super funds, and we know many in the agricultural sector have many of their assets in superannuation funds and, rest assured, those funds will be worth way more than $3 million—that this government wants to introduce an unrealised capital gains tax. It would be the first time anywhere in the world that a government introduces an unrealised capital gains tax. What's going to happen to those businesses? If they don't have the cash in their super fund, will they have to sell the asset that they are operating their business from? Does this government actually care about that? Quite evidently, it doesn't. How many people are potentially going to lose their job as a result of that? I can rest assured that the government did no regulatory impact statement whatsoever to assess that risk—zero. So, despite everything this government says, it is doing the opposite of what it says it will do. I've said many times in this place and outside of here: you don't listen to what a Labor government says it's doing; you look at what it does because nine times out of 10 they are two completely and utterly different things. That's exactly what we're seeing from those opposite. We are in a sustained household recession. We are seeing negligible productivity growth, and that proposition is only made worse by the introduction of broad-ranging increased IR laws that the government has introduced at the behest of the unions. We're seeing more red tape and more regulation in the IR sector that makes it even less attractive for businesses to employ people. The Prime Minister tries to run the line that we should trust him. As I said before, on the evidence of his track record there's absolutely no reason to trust what he says. And if we have a look at the employee living cost index, which is an index measuring the true cost of living for hardworking Australian families, that cost-of-living index has risen by 19.4 per cent since Labor took government. That's almost 50 per cent higher than the CPI over the same period. The reason the government can say they've run two budget surpluses is by no dint of credit to their budget management; it's courtesy of the very industries and businesses they're attacking and seek to want to remove from our economy. We've seen a 66 per cent increase in the number of people seeking assistance for their energy bills. We know that people are struggling to keep the lights on. As I said earlier, small businesses are closing their doors at an alarming rate, and yet we have a proposal from the coalition government to assist small business by giving them the incentive to take their staff out for lunch or dinner—this will support our local cafes and clubs and pubs, and every business I've spoken to thinks it's a terrific policy—as a reward for their hard work and effort and yet those opposite are demonising it. Yet at the big end of town—those opposite are quite happy to put their knees under boardroom tables and get donations from the big end of town—can claim that as a tax deduction. It's the height of hypocrisy from those opposite to say they support small business and workers. They don't by their very words and by their very actions. We saw a revelation late last week of another $11.1 billion blackhole in Labor's budget. What else are we going to find as we keep going through the books, because, rest assured, that $11 billion is just the start. There is an alternative at this election that's coming up. It is a coalition government. We are focused on strengthening our economy and getting our country back on track. We'll look to lower inflation. We'll look to rein in wasteful spending that fuels that inflation by reducing taxes, reducing red tape and reducing out-of-control union bosses getting stuck into small business. We'll make energy cheaper by ensuring a balanced mix, including more renewables, more gas and replacing retiring coal plants with zero emissions nuclear energy. We'll make homes affordable by funding critical infrastructure required for housing, helping first home buyers, restricting foreign investors and restoring a sensible migration intake. We're looking at supporting safer communities and getting tough on violent crime by non-citizens, boosting our defence and border protection and improving online safety for children. There will be quality healthcare, funded by more GPs, increased bulk-billing rates and more Medicare subsidised services. On that particular note of subsidised Medicare services, I note with interest that the minister for health over the last few days has been waxing lyrical about their success in bulk-billing. I might remind the House that in 2019—before COVID, so it is on a level playing field—bulk-billing rates in my electorate were 96 per cent. What are they today? They are 84 per cent. That is a 12 per cent drop in bulk-billing rates. The minister for health, along with all of his other frontbench colleagues and those on the backbench, are so busy spruiking the successes of this government. Once again, look at what they actually do and what they achieve, not what they say, because they're not a true representation of what's happening. Only a coalition government will get Australia back on track.
Cost of Living | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
Much as I like the member for Hunter, and appreciated his attempted comedy routine, it did nothing to support hard-working Australian families who are struggling every day with the cost-of-living...
Much as I like the member for Hunter, and appreciated his attempted comedy routine, it did nothing to support hard-working Australian families who are struggling every day with the cost-of-living crisis that the member for Hunter and the government opposite have presided over for the past nearly three years. I might remind the member for Hunter of a few figures that may be worthwhile for the member for Hunter's consideration. Health costs are up some 10 per cent. Education costs are up 11 per cent. Food is up over 12 per cent. Housing is up 14 per cent. Rents are up over 17 per cent. Insurance costs are up over 18 per cent, and, very importantly, electricity costs are up over 32 per cent. It doesn't matter how the member for Hunter wants to cut the mustard; electricity was up 32 per cent even before the rebates, and it is having a material negative impact on the cost of living not just for everyday Australians but for our small businesses and businesses right across this country. I know many businesses whose electricity costs have increased by far more than 32 per cent under this government—some in the order of 200 per cent. Some of these are charities and other community organisations that take the scarce resources they receive in donations and grants and put them back into the community, and they are now less able to do that purely because of the cost of electricity. It is also then meaning that the cost for businesses to do business and keep their doors open—our cafes, clubs and pubs—is tough. The cost inputs to business through electricity alone are magnified through every single part of the supply chain. Everything we do has electricity somewhere in it. The member for Hunter, in his contribution, referenced child care. I can say to the member for Hunter that a number of childcare centres I've spoken to in my electorate have decided it's too difficult to deal with the government's bureaucracy and red tape for the new childcare subsidy provisions—but they are giving their employees a 15 per cent increase anyway, which I think is terrific. But they're also increasing their fees. The Australian families in my electorate of Forde who are using child care are not paying any less for child care than they did two or three years ago; they are paying more because the government's red tape and regulation around the childcare subsidy is too difficult for some of these childcare centres to deal with. It is just another example of the failure of those opposite. I've addressed child care and energy, and I will address bulk-billing. Those opposite in the government have been waxing lyrical about bulk-billing rates for the past week or so. The Minister for Health and Aged Care has tried to use the COVID pandemic as some sort of shield and cover for where the bulk-billing figures are at, so let's go back before COVID and have a like-for-like comparison. In 2019, bulk-billing in my electorate of Forde was at 96 per cent. What is it today? Eighty-four per cent—a 12 per cent drop in bulk-billing across my electorate of Forde. The government can wax lyrical all they like about addressing cost-of-living issues, but the reality of the matter is that it is not making a material difference to what families across my electorate are feeling each and every day. And I haven't even got to the 12 interest rate increases, which, for an average mortgage in my electorate, are resulting in an additional $50,000 of interest being paid by mortgage holders across my electorate. In addition, investors who own rental properties are also paying those additional costs, which is why rent has gone up. The government is failing to deliver, and only the coalition will get the country back on track.
Manufacturing Industry | Adjournment | House debates
I'm pleased to share with the Federation Chamber that innovation is alive and well across my electorate of Forde. Since its early days in 1884, when Australia's first rum distillery opened in...
I'm pleased to share with the Federation Chamber that innovation is alive and well across my electorate of Forde. Since its early days in 1884, when Australia's first rum distillery opened in Beenleigh, to the recent grand unveiling of the tech start-up eLumina, my electorate of Forde is renowned for its pioneering ideas and innovations. We now have another, who has not only been recognised by myself previously, but recognised at the 'Oscars of innovation'. At the end of last year, Loganholme based tech company, BlockTexx, won the Manufacturing Innovation Award at the InnovationAus 2024 Awards for Excellence. Their recycling solution of bringing a 'fibre-to-fibre' future to the fashion industry saw them recognised for their achievements. BlockTexx took out the award for its solution for transforming difficult-to-recycle textile waste into sustainable products. They also took out the Australian Hero Award at the InnovationAus Awards, which was the top award of the night. BlockTexx is aiming to address a huge problem of wastage in the fashion and textile industries with 113 million tonnes of fibre produced; much of this is very difficult to recycle. With the growth of fast fashion and wastage, this number is expected to steadily increase in the coming years. BlockTexx has developed a tech solution that is capable of significantly boosting the ability to recycle these types of polyester so it can be reused in other products. They collaborated with the Queensland University of Technology and the University of Queensland to conduct a pilot of this technology. The company designed, built and commissioned the first-ever commercial-scale chemical recycling facility, which has the ability to take in hard-to-recycle polyester and cotton blends. It deconstructs them and separates the cotton from the polyester. This factory now has expanded to be able to take in 10,000 tons of textile waste a year. It gathers textile and fashion waste from large companies, government agencies, commercial laundries, charities, manufactures and local councils. Earlier last year more than 150 global companies and suppliers signed the 2025 Recycle Polyester Challenge, led by Textile Exchange and the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change. This challenge commits companies to increase their share of recycled polyester to 45 per cent by 2025 and 90 per cent by 2030. Without the innovation of companies like BlockTexx these targets would likely be unattainable. I want to see manufacturers like BlockTexx continue to thrive and survive and grow. For every BlockTexx there's a Technical Fabric Services Australia, another quality innovative business doing incredible work in and around my local community. But they are doing it tough. More and more of our great innovators are doing it tough. And TFS's general manager has told me they are facing extreme difficulties, as 'billions of government dollars are being allocated to chosen industries and renewable energy, whilst leaving many sectors, like manufacturing, seriously behind'. Manufacturing insolvencies have tripled since the last election, and domestic energy prices are among the highest in the world. We are seeing the flow-on consequences of that. I am pleased to say that a coalition government is working towards ensuring Australia can play its part in the world and play to its strengths. We are looking to build a nation which is a mining, manufacturing and agricultural powerhouse, a leader in technology and innovation. We've seen the Prime Minister attempt to talk up his Future Made in Australia manufacturing scheme, and he's gone quiet on that for a little while now. What he has repeatedly failed to acknowledge is that economist after economist has criticised the policy for its lack of breadth. Not even the Labor-aligned unions believe the government has the mettle and the know-how to run this scheme successfully. The policies the coalition will seek to implement in the next election are not just about the next election cycle but about the foundation of forging a better Australia—the reason being that we need companies like BlockTexx and TFS to grow and prosper so we have a sovereign capability. Australia will get strong economic management only with an LNP government at the helm.
Forde Electorate: Australia Day | Adjournment | House debates
It's been more than a week since Australia Day passed, but this is a great opportunity to not only talk about how important Australia Day is to the electorate of Forde and to recognise what a...
It's been more than a week since Australia Day passed, but this is a great opportunity to not only talk about how important Australia Day is to the electorate of Forde and to recognise what a wonderful country we live in but, in that recognition, acknowledge that the reason we live in a wonderful country is because of the tremendous contribution that members of our local communities make at both a local and a state level. We should be very proud of that and the opportunity to share with the House some of those successes in the electorate of Forde today. One of the things that bring the community together like no other is an awards ceremony. Not only were some of Forde's best and brightest heralded at the Logan City Council's Australia Day awards but one individual from Shailer Park received one of the nation's foremost honours, the national 2025 Young Australian of the Year. Dr Katrina Wruck, a resident of Forde, has long advocated for First Nations knowledge and shared her passion for science with others. Dr Wruck's findings are giving back to remote communities, and, based on her research, Katrina set up a profit-for-purpose business which is set to alter the consumer goods sector by harnessing the power of green chemistry while inspiring others to step into STEM. Her method of converting mining by-products to zeolite LTA, which can remove contaminants from water that cause hardness, will be commercialised. Her postdoctoral research examines how to break down dangerous forever chemicals into benign ones. Altogether, Katrina's work is a possible footing for reducing global contamination. Her work has been recognised with several awards, and she is already well known in her field for her efforts. I commend her for all of her remarkable achievements to date. Closer to home, 180 constituents from 41 countries became new Australian citizens. Logan City Council held their annual event at the Beenleigh Events Centre, welcoming new citizens to Australia. To be an Australian citizen is a tremendous honour and privilege, and I think it's important that we consistently remind ourselves of this. On top of welcoming in the new citizens, two awards were presented on the day: the Citizen of the Year and the Young Citizen of the Year. Abdul Khan from Woodridge was named as Citizen of the Year. Whilst Mr Khan resides in the neighbouring electorate of Rankin, his community impact does not recognise electorate boundaries. Abdul established the Logan Roos Football Club in 2016 to support refugees and migrants as they transition to a new life here in Australia. The Young Citizen of the Year was awarded to Lilly Rider. Lilly, who graduated from Waterford's Canterbury College last year, was instrumental in igniting a passion among her fellow students and teachers to assist Orange Sky Australia. That passion shone a light on homelessness and raised almost $5,000 for the organisation's work back in 2021. Over the past four years, the students led by Lilly have raised a further $103,000 for Orange Sky, as well as another $12,000 with the support of her family and friends. People like Lilly and Abdul go about their work quietly behind the scenes, not seeking plaudits or plaques but to benefit the people across the Forde electorate and surrounding areas to make their lives better each and every day. I'd also like to take this opportunity to mention the other nominees. Though they might not have received an award, it does nothing to diminish the incredible impact each and every one of them has on our region. I wish to commend Maria Brereton, Derby Sante, Jean Davis, Kenneth McKay, Melissa Ryman, Stephanie Blooms, Claire Taylor, Imran Fazel Kahn, John Ennever, Lynda Jane Tilley, Zakaria Min and Sharol Rudd. I take this moment to congratulate Eagleby's Professor Megan Davis also on being awarded a Companion of the Order of Australia. Wongawallan's Jan Morland was presented a Medal of the Order of Australia for her service to equestrian sports. Dr Keith Graham from Shailer Park was presented with a Public Service Medal, and Loganholme's Senior Sergeant Jacinta Pannowitz was awarded an Australian Police Medal. Congratulations to all involved.
Economy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
I admire the member for Parramatta's attempt to defend the indefensible. Maybe, for the benefit of this discussion, it's worth the member for Parramatta looking at some other indices. If we look...
I admire the member for Parramatta's attempt to defend the indefensible. Maybe, for the benefit of this discussion, it's worth the member for Parramatta looking at some other indices. If we look at the Selected Living Cost Indexes for the last quarter—this is an ABS figure—we see that there was an annual rise in the employee living cost index of 4.7 per cent. Yet at the same time wage growth was at 3.5 per cent. So, on average, employees in this country over the past 12 months have gone backwards by 1.2 per cent. That's in addition to all of the other quarters and all of the other months where the cost of living has far exceeded any wage growth that has eventuated. Therefore, households in real terms have gone backwards. That is exactly the point the shadow Treasurer is making. Households in this country have gone backwards over the past 2½ years of this government. Those opposite seem to forget that they took from the Australian people the low and middle income earner tax offsets. They promised the Australian people that they would take $275 off their power bills, yet their power bills have gone up by well over 10 per cent. They have said, 'Well, we've given you back some tax relief.' That's fine, but your mortgage repayments have gone up in total by some $35,000 a year, so you're well underwater on your mortgage repayments. There is not a single piece of economic data other than the broad economic context which maybe provides some fig leaf of cover for the government. But the real everyday Australian people that the member for Braddon spoke about yesterday are feeling the pinch. They are not feeling better off under this government. Why is that? Because for three years we've seen this government make poor decisions and have wrong priorities. At the last election, the Labor government, led by the Prime Minister, promised that under them Australian households and businesses would have cheaper energy, cheaper mortgages and a better life. Instead, we have seen the Labor government consistently make a bad situation worse. Over three budgets we've seen the government keep inflation high and for longer. As the shadow Treasurer has well pointed out, we have seen that GDP per capita has gone backwards for six consecutive quarters. That's reflected in the figures I just read out. This is now the longest GDP per capita recession on record. I say to those opposite, when I'm speaking to households and to small businesses across my electorate, they are feeling the pinch; they are definitely feeling the pinch, and they are feeling the impact of the government's failed decisions and failure to deal with these issues. That's what we mean by a household recession—people are feeling worse off, because, in reality, despite the government's attempt at spin, they are. Australian families have seen their living standards fall off a cliff. Families have seen the cost of essentials go up and up not just for the big ticket items like mortgage repayments but for basics. Food, energy and household goods have all increased. For many families, they feel like they are going backwards—and, sadly, in many cases they are actually going backwards. And the latest data confirms this. Over the last two years, Australians have seen their real disposable income and their standard of living collapse by some 8.7 per cent, the largest collapse in living standards since records began in the 1950s and bigger than any other developed country. Australians are not better off under this government; they are worse off than they were 2½ years ago.
Small Business | Private Members' Business | House debates
I move: That this House: (1) notes that small businesses are struggling under the: (a) burden of the Government's cost of living crisis; and (b) weight of the Government's additional...
I move: That this House: (1) notes that small businesses are struggling under the: (a) burden of the Government's cost of living crisis; and (b) weight of the Government's additional administrative red tape; (2) acknowledges that according to the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman: (a) conditions for small business: (i) have deteriorated by 3.5 per cent; and (ii) continue to be well below the long-term average; (b) the operating environment for business has been in decline for the past two years with rising concerns about regulations, increased costs and slowing demand; and (c) fewer people are considering starting a small business and businesses are less likely to invest in expansion; and (3) calls on the Government to address its failure to support small business, the backbone of Australia's economy. We all know that small business is the cornerstone of many of our communities. They are out there every day employing locals, seeking not just to create wealth for themselves as the owners of those businesses but also to create opportunity, employment and wealth for their employees and for the nation as a whole. But it's not just about the people they employ. It's also about what they give back to the community. Many of our small businesses are intimately involved in our local community groups, sporting organisations and other community activities. They're out there each and every day. You see them at presentation nights, when they're thanked for supporting a local charity in its work in, for example, supporting the homeless. Or you'll see their signs or their advertising on the jerseys of your local sporting clubs through the sponsorships they pay to help these clubs get through the season and cover their costs of operation. But, as we've seen often over the past nearly three years, small business and the importance of small business seems to be anathema to this government. What we already knew after three years was confirmed in Labor's recent economic statement: that they've made bad decisions and have wrong priorities, and one area that is suffering enormously as a result is small business. We hear often about the cost-of-living crisis and the impact it is having on households. What we don't hear so much about is this cost-of-living crisis and its impact on small businesses: the increasing costs of rent, electricity, staff, and food and services in the hospitality sector. And over the course of the past 2½ years we've seen the average rent costs for small businesses increase by some 16½ per cent, electricity costs by 30 per cent and gas costs by nearly 34 per cent. In addition, we've seen personal income tax collections grow by 25 per cent, and food and input costs for many of the small hospitality business and cafe owners I talk to have increased significantly. This is evidenced by the level of business insolvency. Businesses are the canary in the coalmine for the consequences of actions of this government. Business insolvencies are at a record high, and this has been overseen by the Labor government, including the highest number of business insolvencies on record in a single month, with 1,364 Australian businesses going under in October 2024. And under the two and a bit years of the current Labor government, nearly 25,000 Australian businesses have gone insolvent. In addition, Australian now has 85,000 fewer apprentices and trainees, and in the construction industry there has been a 22 per cent decrease in the number of apprentices. Businesses have also been hit with additional red tape, with 82 per cent of small business indicating that it is having a major to moderate impact on their operations. Part of the reason for this is the major increase in insurance costs for small business. At a recent manufacturing roundtable I held, insurance costs were one of the main issues that were raised with me by those businesses, with 92 per cent of small businesses experiencing significantly increased insurance costs compared with 12 months ago. And the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman has reported that many businesses can't afford the prohibitive premiums that in some cases have risen by 200 or 300 per cent. With these additional costs of living or imposts on the costs of doing business, and the additional administrative burden affecting small business, it's not hard to see why fewer people are opting to start their own small business, which means that we have a generational gap. When our average small-business owner is in their mid-50s and they are looking to retire, we have nobody to replace them. This government should hang its head in shame with the way it has treated small business.
Workforce Shortages | Private Members' Business | House debates
I move: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) reform is required to retain workers in the building and construction industry; and (b) Master Builders Australia has reported that there is a...
I move: That this House: (1) notes that: (a) reform is required to retain workers in the building and construction industry; and (b) Master Builders Australia has reported that there is a critical workforce shortage, with a 14.7 per cent decrease in the number of construction industry apprentices completing their studies since 2022, and the total number of construction apprentices also decreasing by 22.4 per cent for the same period; and (2) acknowledges that the: (a) Government has delivered a business insolvency crisis, with over 23,938 business insolvencies since taking office, including over 6,399 construction business insolvencies; (b) Government's Fee Free TAFE program has delivered a 13 per cent completion rate to date and the Government has refused to reveal the dropout rate; (c) Government is failing Australian businesses and the construction sector; and (d) Opposition's Housing Infrastructure Program aims to deliver up to 500,000 additional homes and contribute to the growth in employment in the building and construction industry by direct employment to residential development infrastructure. As we stand here in this chamber today, once again we're debating an issue that the government has failed to address. We see, each and every day, Australia's need for more building and construction workers. We know that there are not enough workers joining the industry each year to keep up with demand, and this is putting significant pressure on the workforce at a time when Australia is experiencing a housing and construction crisis. In its September 2024 report The future of the workforce: the building and construction industry, Master Builders Australia reported that since 2022 there has been a 14.7 per cent decrease in the number of construction industry apprentices completing their studies, and the total number of construction apprentices has decreased by some 22½ per cent for the same period. We all know that, to be able to keep up with current and future demand, the industry needs net growth of around 10 per cent per annum over the next five years. That's about 130,000 people who need to join the building and construction workforce. The Master Builders Australia report goes on to say that two of the key things they see that could happen to facilitate this would be simplifying the process by which skilled migrants can apply for a visa and including migrants skilled in the building and construction industry on the Core Skills Occupation List. Jobs and Schools Australia also noted that the replacement rate for construction related occupations is amongst the lowest in the labour market and has declined significantly, to 54 per cent in the 2020-21 financial year. We hear the government talk a good game, but once again this Labor government is failing Australian businesses and the construction sector. When the National Housing Accord goal was announced, the Labor government pledged an additional contribution of $15,000 for each home built beyond one million homes, but Australia has never delivered 1.2 million homes in any five-year period. The closest was in 2014 under the then Abbott government, when a total of 1.1 million new dwellings were commenced. We have seen this government also preside over a business insolvency crisis across the construction industry, with nearly 6,400 construction business insolvencies in its term of government. These insolvencies and the continued workforce shortages in the building and construction workforce result in nearly 73,000 fewer workers and the loss of some 13,000 new home buildings, a decrease in building construction output totalling some $7.7 billion and a $57 billion reduction in GDP. Masters Builders Australia recently released an analysis showing the latest build times. It found that 15 years ago it took an average of nine months to build a standalone home. This has blown out to 12 months, an increase of over 40 per cent, making it even more difficult to meet the government's ambitious housing targets. In comparison, a coalition government would strongly focus on skills funding would but also ensure that students have a choice because we have seen with the government's free TAFE bill that students don't have a choice because they support only one section of the skills and training industry. We know, from the statistics, that students in the private sector have a better outcome in terms of jobs and skills and training, so why is the government only picking one sector of the training industry to support, not the whole industry? In addition, our housing infrastructure program seeks to support workers on the ground by assisting in the infrastructure that housing needs—water, power, sewerage and access roads. We're not limiting the policy just to housing. It's much broader than that. Finally, Australians deserve the sound economic management that a coalition government would deliver, not the economic mismanagement that this Labor government is inflicting on Australians each and every day.
Forde Electorate: School Awards | Constituency Statements | House debates
All of us in this place, I'm sure, have the privilege at this time of year of attending a number of school graduations, and over the past couple of weeks I've had that privilege, attending some...
All of us in this place, I'm sure, have the privilege at this time of year of attending a number of school graduations, and over the past couple of weeks I've had that privilege, attending some of the graduation ceremonies and award ceremonies in my electorate, particularly for our high-school students. These ceremonies are momentous occasions where the students get to reflect, and they have a sense of anticipation for what comes next but also a sense of celebration for finishing 13 years of schooling. To all of the school leavers and graduates across the electorate of Forde, congratulations on reaching this incredible milestone in your educational journey. One of the great things we get to do at some of these awards nights is recognise terrific students right across the schools. I'd like to congratulate some of these students that had the privilege of winning the various awards I sponsor across a variety of my local schools: Orlando Chen from Beenleigh State High School, Oliver Neil from Calvary Christian College, Vinya Eda from Chisholm Catholic College, Madeline Delaney from Coomera Anglican College and Yvette Aspden from Loganlea State High School. Over at Marsden State High School—the largest school in Queensland, with more than 4,000 enrolled students—I presented two awards: one to a grade 9 student, Carine Makiriro, and one to a year 12 student, Caleb Breitkreutz. The Parklands Christian College award went to Gabriella Neil, and Park Ridge State High School's award went to Jacob Brindle. All of these students are a tremendous testament to their communities and the wonderful work they do. At Rivermount College, Alex Burd won the award. And there were awards to Joseph Webster at Shailer Park State High School, Jaryn Oliphant at St Stephen's College, Bodhi Sheppard at Windaroo Valley State High School and Ebony Nielson and Kieran Epiha at Upper Coomera State College. Also, we have the primary awards coming up over the next few weeks. I'll congratulate all of those award winners in advance, but I won't name them at this point in time because that would spoil the surprise. I also take the opportunity to thank all of the teachers, administrators and staff of the schools for the terrific job they do each and every year to make our schools such a wonderful place for our students to attend. Congratulations to all of the parents as well for your support to your students to get them where they've got to today. Thank you for your efforts. Completing high school education would not be possible without the terrific team of supporters you have in your parents, your families and all of your teachers. Well done to everybody. Congratulations, and all the best for your future journey.
Free TAFE Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
It was interesting to listen to the comments from the member for Cunningham and, earlier, the member for Gorton. I can say there is much in those comments I agree with, having seen firsthand the...
It was interesting to listen to the comments from the member for Cunningham and, earlier, the member for Gorton. I can say there is much in those comments I agree with, having seen firsthand the benefits of TAFE education and skills education for my brother, who is a ceramic tiler, and for many others across my electorate of Forde who are tradespeople of great excellence, skill and talent and do a tremendous job in our community each and every day. If we don't have tradespeople, we don't have buildings like this. So a trades and vocational education training regime is critically important to the future of this country. None of us on this side of the House have an issue with that; we recognise the importance of that. We did much in our term of government to encourage and build on that. We can go back to the Howard-Costello government and look at the industry skills training centres that the Howard-Costello government set up. One in particular, which is not quite in my patch but I know a number of students from my electorate of Forde certainly go to, is the Industry Trade College, formerly the Australian Industry Trade College, down at Robina. I know of students that travelled from the west of my electorate, from Park Ridge, to go down there not only to complete their education but also to start on their apprenticeships. I know a number of businesses that have taken the opportunity to engage with the Industry Trade College to train their workforce or find young, keen tradesmen and women who want to pursue a career in vocational education and the trades. The success rate of their graduates getting a job when they leave the college is extraordinary; it's somewhere in the order of 95 per cent. What I find interesting with this bill—and many of the points have been well made by my colleagues in their contributions to this debate—is that the first and most important part of this bill is a complete and utter fiction. Why do I say that? I say that because there is not a single dollar of funding attached to the bill—not a single dollar. And it doesn't start until 2027. This is purely a political bill, a bit like other bills we have discussed in this place recently. It's purely for political purposes in the lead-up to a federal election. It does nothing for those people graduating from the many schools across my electorate over the last couple of weeks who are maybe looking to pursue a career in the trades. It does nothing to assist them. Equally, it favours one side of the equation. Interestingly, I note, the National Centre for Vocational Education Research show in their research that generally the independent providers achieve higher qualification completion rates than the government-run providers. In 2023 the NCVER found that the RTOs outperformed public TAFE in completion and student satisfaction, with RTOs having a 54.2 per cent completion rate compared with a 43 per cent completion rate for TAFE for certificate diploma qualifications. These statistics affirm the superior outcomes offered by private RTOs in delivering quality education to those funded through TAFE. If we want to base it on results, which is what we should be doing, we should be looking at the results of the various sectors of the vocational education training space. Why is this not being made available to those students who want to go and study at an RTO? Now, I agree with the comments from the member for Gorton that we want shonky providers removed from the system—100 per cent. You will get no argument from me whatsoever. But that does not mean you then favour entirely one side of the system at the expense of the other. That just distorts the environment. As we have seen with some of the figures that have already come out, the completion rates for some of these courses are in the order of 13 per cent. I know anecdotally of stories from the people I have spoken to in the training sector that many of the students will enrol in these TAFE courses, get a week or so in and go, 'No, that's not for me,' but the TAFE has already been paid on enrolment rather than on results. If we want to get the maximum value for taxpayer funds, we need to focus on funding the areas that actually do deliver the results. If we look at this bill and its failures—well, the list is fairly long, and I have pointed out most of them already, but they probably bear repeating because those opposite don't seem to be listening particularly hard—the funding for these 100,000 places does not exist. The Prime Minister has misled the Australian people by saying that this is funded. It's not, because there's no money attached, so the question is: where will this funding come from, or what will be cut to fund this permanent commitment of an additional $500 million a year? Maybe he's going to use the new riding instructions for the Future Fund to tap into the Future Fund to fund his commitment. Who knows? Are they going to put it off budget and have it come out of some slush fund that we do not know about at this point in time? This is purely an election fiction. The government's official documents submitted to parliament reveal that the government is yet to commit a single dollar. The explanatory memorandum says: 'There is no financial impact resulting from the Free TAFE Bill 2024.' Of course there's not! They haven't added any money to it! It's just a smoke-and-mirrors trick. And, for a government that in the lead-up to the last election promised openness, accountability, transparency and sound economic management—and all the other promises they made at the last election, which, as we go, day by day, are disappearing into the ether—this is just another one. It's purely for political purposes. It is the only reason I can see for this being done. As I said earlier, we do back vocational education and training. But we don't just back one part of the sector; we back the whole sector. We have reason to back the whole sector, because the statistics from the Centre for Vocational Education Research bear that out. As a coalition government, when we lost government in 2022, we handed the current government a skills and training system that was not just trending upwards but powering ahead on the back of record investments guaranteed by a strong economy. The coalition invested over $13 billion in skills over the final two years of government alone, representing the most significant reforms for Australian skills in over a decade. Trade apprentices in training hit record highs in the final months of the coalition government, and, as of June 2022, there were 429,000 apprentices and tradies in training, with another 277,000—nearly 278,000—commencements. Data released by the National Centre for Vocational Education Research confirms that Australia has lost almost 85,000 apprentices and trainees from the national training pipeline since this Albanese Labor government took office—a loss of one in five. The data shows that apprentices and trainees in training dropped to around 350,000 in March 2024. Over the same period, new training starts or commencements dropped to just 166,200, meaning there are over 100,000—bear that in mind—fewer apprentices and trainees starting a trade or a skill. There's been a drop of almost 40 per cent since the Albanese Labor government took office in May 2022. At a time when we have a skills crisis, we have a government that, under its watch, has seen a 40 per cent decline in apprentices and trainees starting a trade. Almost all the gains the coalition made in building up the skills pipeline have been squandered in just the last 2½ years. As I asked earlier, should that surprise anyone, really? I've often said before in this place: don't look at what Labor say they're going to do; look at what they actually do—because nine times out of 10 they are two completely and utterly different things. We have seen under this Albanese Labor government that Australia is building fewer homes, that the skills shortages have worsened and that we are losing one in five apprentices and trainees across the country. This is all adding to increases in inflation and prices. If you've tried to get a tradie recently, you'll know exactly what I mean. You are paying top dollar. It's great for them—and good on them, because they deserve it—but when you're paying the bill it hurts a bit. In summary, we support every student, not just some. We back every single student, regardless of whether they are training at TAFE or with an independent provider. The problem is the Anthony Albanese Labor government has undertaken a skills policy that directs funds to one part of the training sector rather than to all of it. The government has form in that space of trying to pick winners for its own political benefit. Once again, we've seen, in the lead-up to an election, the government roll out a half-baked policy. Overall, this bill requires greater thought and action to achieve its intended purpose to support all students in the vocational and educational training sector so that we build the skills that we need to continue to grow our economy for the future of this great country.
National Broadband Network Companies Amendment (Commitment to Public Ownership) Bill 2024; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
As much as I like the member for Fenner and as much as I could agree with some of his comments, he went through a litany of privatisations in his contribution but he forgot to include the myriad...
As much as I like the member for Fenner and as much as I could agree with some of his comments, he went through a litany of privatisations in his contribution but he forgot to include the myriad of privatisations that have occurred under state Labor governments over the past 30 years, particularly in Queensland. The only state government in Queensland that has privatised any state assets is the state Labor government. People should never forget that it was state Labor in Queensland that privatised a myriad of assets, including toll roads, which Queenslanders are now paying for more than ever. So, when I listen to the member for Fenner and the other contributions from those opposite, I find their recent conversion to the notion that privatisations are bad quite interesting, because the piece of legislation that we're talking about is actually a Labor piece of legislation that was put in place when they created the NBN back in 2011. So I suggest that they maybe go and have a discussion with the former communications minister, Stephen Conroy, to find out why this was inserted into their own bill in the first place back in 2011. This is nothing more than a political stunt. It's what you do as a government when you are facing difficulties and headwinds in other areas and you don't want to deal with those issues or face up to your shortcomings as a government, because they are myriad and plenty. I know the member for Hume at the table could list an extraordinary list of their failures, and we would find that the government has an incredible talent for misdirection. We know the Australian people are facing a cost-of-living crisis, yet what do we see this government doing? Nothing—or, at best, fiddling at the edges, to be gracious to them. They are failing the Australian people abysmally, and then they come into this place and introduce a piece of legislation such as this, which is just a pure, pathetic, political stunt. It says everything you need to know about this government. As I said, this was passed back in 2011 when the current Prime Minister was a member of cabinet. If the Prime Minister is so exercised about these couple of clauses in the current legislation that prevent privatisation, why did he not oppose them back in 2011 when this bill was actually passed to create NBN Co? He didn't, because he didn't believe it was necessary; they thought it was appropriate. It went through the government's cabinet process to be the law of the land today. This is purely a distraction from their failure to deliver for the Australian people, and it's straight out of Labor's misinformation handbook. It brings to mind the 'Mediscare' campaign of 2016. It's what they do. It's what the government does. They don't want to talk about their record because they have no record to hang their hat on, so they find or invent some scare campaign to distract from their lack of contribution and performance when dealing with the issues that are actually facing this country. So we stand here today dealing with an obstinate inflation rate of 3.4 per cent. We stand here today with the average mortgage holder paying $35,000 a year more on their mortgage. We stand here today with people's electricity prices, food and groceries, fuel, transport and energy all having increased by double digits. Yet what do we see this government doing? Putting into this House a bill that is just a political stunt to divert from their failure to deliver with the cost-of-living crisis facing everyday Australians. The interesting thing about this bill is that it actually fails to deal with the nearly 14 per cent increase in NBN prices since October last year. That's another impact on people's cost of living that the government is failing to deal with. When I talk to businesses across my community, they talk to me about their struggles to pay ever-increasing energy prices, particularly gas. I used the example earlier today of a business whose gas prices have gone up 180 per cent in the past 12 months, and they're thinking about closing their doors. But every business I speak to is struggling with energy costs, rental increases and increases in the cost of inputs into their business. They are very conscious of the fact that Australian families are struggling. They are trying to work out as a business how they cover their cost increases yet keep prices at a level that is affordable to everyday Australians. They're struggling with that, because if they have an overdraft or a loan, just like a household, their interest costs on those loan facilities have gone up quite substantially. Many a small business owner in this country also has a mortgage on their home, so they get hit doubly. Yet they are the very people that we want to be successful and prosper, because they are the ones that employ Australians, they are where our innovation occurs, they are where our new ideas occur, and they are the people that make stuff that generates wealth for this country. Just like our farmers, just like our miners, our small business community works extraordinarily hard every day, not just to put food on the table for their families, but to put food on the table for every single person they employ. And they generate enormous wealth and opportunity for this country as a result. They are the things that we should be speaking about in this place. Yet we stand here debating a bill that is nothing short of a political stunt. As I said before, we've seen NBN prices go up some 14 per cent in the last 12 months. But we also see that their satellite business is failing to keep up with new and more flexible and adaptable entrants, such as Starlink. Two years ago, the NBN had 120,000 satellite customers, and Starlink had virtually none. Today, NBN has 85,000 satellite customers and Starlink has 270,000. What has the government done about that? Nothing. Over the same time, the NBN brownfield business and existing homes has lost almost 100,000 customers. They're haemorrhaging cash. But this bill does nothing to address those fundamental structural issues in the operation of the NBN. Why are we not here talking about that—how we make the NBN more cost-effective and more effective for providing the genuine service we want the NBN to provide to Australians? And we all want the best internet possible for Australians, because we know that increasingly we are spending more and more time online. Sadly, that's probably not in the best interests of our community, because we spend time talking to each other online rather than face to face. I know from talking to some of my former colleagues in the financial industry that one of their great bugbears is that new employees tend to want to email or text people rather than actually sit down with customers and have a face-to-face discussion. But as I look at this bill and much of the other stuff that this government does, it's not, as I say frequently in this place, about listening to what the government says; it's about looking at what they do. Nine times out of 10, these are two completely and utterly different things. And as we've seen over the past 2½ years, it's the Australian people who pay the price for this government's failure to deliver on their promises and deal with the issues the Australian people are facing each and every day. To borrow somebody else's phraseology, I think it's a fair question to ask—and I have this discussion with people in my electorate all the time—'Are you better off today than you were 2½ years ago?' The simple answer is that the Australian people are not—full stop. This bill, this political stunt—that's what it is, a pure political stunt—does nothing to assist or improve the lives and livelihoods of the Australian community, which is suffering under a Labor induced cost-of-living crisis. We should, rightly, not support this bill.
Energy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
As much as I like the member for Spence, as per many of the other contributions from those opposite in this debate, there was little substance in his response to this debate. Let's have a look at...
As much as I like the member for Spence, as per many of the other contributions from those opposite in this debate, there was little substance in his response to this debate. Let's have a look at what we're actually talking about. We're talking about the Frontier Economics report and their assessment that Labor's energy plan will cost in the order of $652 billion and will be a disaster in the making. It would cost five times more than what the government has previously admitted to. That is an enormous cost to the Australian economy, but it got me thinking. I remember reading a piece of research done not so long ago on an economy in Europe that has decided to follow the path that those opposite in government wish to pursue, so I thought I'd dig that little piece of research out. This was a piece of research done by a professor of civil engineering from Norway's NTNU, and it was an assessment of the consequences of Germany's switch away from nuclear power, in this case, as their affordable and reliable source of base-load power, to their ambitious green renewable energy target, under their energy turnaround policies. It was interesting to read that the analysis by this professor suggests that somewhere in the order of $330 billion of costs to the German economy have resulted from this switch away from nuclear power to their so-called green energy revolution. That is an enormous cost. If those opposite—actually, I will correct the record. It's some 600 billion euros that it's cost them, and that doesn't cover all the costs. But that covers things like construction costs, expensive grid upgrades, subsidies et cetera, and what has the German economy got to show for it? Some of the highest energy prices in the world. This is the path that those opposite want to take us down. Here's a real-world example of your policies in full action, and I would estimate that the cost will be far greater than the $642 billion that Frontier Economics outlined in their report. We had this government come to the last election saying they were going to lower electricity prices. Well, that has not happened. When I talk to my businesses across my electorate, particularly those that use gas—I was speaking to one the other day—their gas bill has gone from $125,000 to $350,000, a 180 per cent increase. They're talking about closing their doors as a consequence. When you look at that $642 billion figure, I'd say that's just the bottom end of the range when we take in the broad economic costs of higher electricity prices, higher gas prices and our inability to then compete in a global marketplace and manufacture the goods that we need in this country to have a degree of sovereign capability and sovereign reliability. The interesting thing in the real-life example of Germany, as I've outlined, is they still need nuclear power via the umbilical cord from France. We don't have that luxury. We're a standalone economy. (Time expired)
Forde Electorate: Eagleby Achiever Awards | Statements by Members | House debates
In a wonderful, leafy eastern pocket of my electorate, you'll find the proud and storied suburb of Eagleby, with more than 14,000 residents living there. One of the mainstays of the Eagleby...
In a wonderful, leafy eastern pocket of my electorate, you'll find the proud and storied suburb of Eagleby, with more than 14,000 residents living there. One of the mainstays of the Eagleby community over the past four decades has been the Eagleby Community Association Inc. Last Saturday night it was my privilege to attend the association's annual Eagleby Achiever Awards. Ably led by President Arthur Joyce, the association received 42 nominations across nine categories. Let me tell you that the number of worthy nominees and recipients from that community is far greater than could be acknowledged in any one evening or in this speech. It was my great pleasure to personally present the Business of the Year award to Cafe in Eagle—an exceptionally worthy recipient and a wonderful little cafe in the Eagleby shopping centre. The first cab off the rank for the awards was the Arts Achiever of the Year award, which went to the Eagle Rock choir from Eagleby State School. Sports Achiever of the Year went to Amulek Ford. Senior of the Year was awarded to the wonderful Sue Bischoff. William Baldock was named Eagleby's Young Person of the Year, while Educator of the Year was Amy Hopewell, and Volunteer of the Year went to Katherine Fludder. Nightlight Outreach homeless service won the Community Organisation of the Year award, and the Spirit of Eagleby award went to Haydon Campbell Pearce. Thank you to all of our wonderful community.
Queensland State Election | Statements by Members | House debates
As the dust begins to settle, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the new Premier of Queensland, David Crisafulli, and his team on their successful campaign. Whilst we, at a federal...
As the dust begins to settle, I want to take this opportunity to congratulate the new Premier of Queensland, David Crisafulli, and his team on their successful campaign. Whilst we, at a federal level, would like to let our state colleagues do their thing, I'm looking forward to working collaboratively with the new team. I want to take this opportunity to recognise our state candidates and the wonderful job they did during their campaigns and celebrate with a couple but sadly commiserate with the others. Close to home, it came down to a few hundred—or a bit over a thousand—votes in Macalister and Springwood. Susanna Damianopoulos and my brother, Rob van Manen, did exceptional jobs with their campaigns, but, sadly, they didn't quite get there. Jacob Heremaia ran in the seat of Waterford, and Mathew Owens ran in the seat of Logan. They both ran wonderful campaigns in very difficult seats. Matt got a nine per cent swing to him, and there was nearly a 13 per cent swing in Logan for Jacob, so it was a great result. I congratulate Michael Crandon and Mark Boothman, in Coomera and Theodore, for winning overwhelmingly. I look forward to working with them again. I look forward to working with all state colleagues and congratulate again the new state government.