Damian Drum's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Echuca-Moama Bridge | Statements by Members | House debates
It is with tremendous pride that I bring to the House's attention that, on Sunday 10 April, the largest transport infrastructure project in northern Victoria, the Echuca-Moama bridge, is set to...
It is with tremendous pride that I bring to the House's attention that, on Sunday 10 April, the largest transport infrastructure project in northern Victoria, the Echuca-Moama bridge, is set to open. This $323 million project has been driven by the Nationals in government in three different jurisdictions. I was part of the state Nationals in 2013 when we put $96 million on the table, and then, in 2016, as a candidate for Nicholls, we were able to negotiate with our federal minister, Darren Chester, and also the New South Wales National Party roads minister to put their two parcels of money on the table at the same time. This new river crossing will transform the region and offer a second crossing in border towns that, for 140 years, have simply been putting up with a single river crossing. Currently 25,000 vehicles a day, including 1,500 heavy vehicles, use the existing bridge. The new river crossing will reduce traffic going through the main street of Echuca by 10,000 cars a day, making it much safer. Most importantly, the new crossing over the Campaspe and Murray rivers will slash operating costs for the freight industry. More than 400 direct jobs and more than 1,100 indirect jobs were created during the construction phase, and many local businesses were able to take advantage of those jobs. The new Echuca-Moama Bridge is a testament to the Nationals in government delivering for regional Australia.
Education | Private Members' Business | House debates
I want to commend the member for Dunkley for putting this motion on the books today. It's a great opportunity to talk about a range of educational settings within my electorate. Firstly, in...
I want to commend the member for Dunkley for putting this motion on the books today. It's a great opportunity to talk about a range of educational settings within my electorate. Firstly, in relation to TAFE college and training, we have an amazing TAFE college, GOTAFE, based in Shepparton in the Goulburn Valley. But it needs to have an enormous amount of money spent on the facility. We potentially need $100 million spent on GOTAFE and its five or six different campuses. The Victorian state government has simply stopped spending money on our Shepparton campus. When you go inside and look at the motor mechanic, there are trucks there that simply cannot get their bonnets off because they don't have enough headroom. When you're learning to be a mechanic, you need to have access to the electronics that enables you to dial into Berlin, and Berlin will then tell you what's wrong with the car. That's what the modern mechanic needs. You can't get that sort of training in Shepparton, because the state government won't invest in the TAFE college to give them not world-leading but basic training to be a mechanic. We need a state government that stops talking about the rubbish and starts supplying some funding so that these TAFE colleges have the correct facilities. We know that apprentices are at an all-time high right now, and all those apprentices are getting half their wages paid by the federal government. Again, the Victorian state government can talk this rubbish up; however, it's the coalition that is helping them in every way. The Greater Shepparton Secondary College, which is also a member of Hands on Learning, is one giant school that the Victorian state government built for Shepparton. So there's only one government secondary school for parents to choose to send their children. That school would potentially need a trade school added to it and a smaller campus for children who come from a region with a small primary school, who would do better in a smaller setting rather than be forced to go to school with 2,500 students. So we might need a slightly different nuanced approach. We all know that Greensborough TAFE had to shut down. We also know that the truth behind that is that the state Labor government at the time privatised registered training organisations and made the TAFE colleges ridiculously too expensive. Effectively, it's their own policies that have led to these outcomes. The second part of the member for Dunkley's motion goes to Hands on Learning. I want to congratulate the people behind this amazing educational facility. Many schools have adopted Hands on Learning: in Victoria, 98 schools; in Queensland, 10 schools; in New South Wales, eight schools; and in Tasmania, 48 schools. In Shepparton we have Gowrie Street Primary School, along with the Greater Shepparton City Secondary College. In Echuca we have the Echuca Primary School, the Twin Rivers School, the River City Christian College and also St Joseph's College. Nathalia's primary school also has Hands on Learning. The opportunity for those kids who are struggling academically to go and learn in a different fashion—often it means going out to a shed at the back of the school; learning how to work in a team; learning how to make things, using their hands; being tutored by potentially tradies, sometimes retired tradies. It's an opportunity for these kids to develop their self-esteem to work in a team, to build their self-esteem so that they can effectively take that new learning, that new structure, and get the confidence that they need. So while the setting for Hands on Learning may be in some building out the back, it's a front for this opportunity to develop these skills within the individuals in a different way to sitting in the classroom and learning in the same way that 70 or 80 per cent of students learn. This is a different way of learning, but it's just as critical, just as important, and the outcomes are stunning. I would urge our government, our ministers to look at this as a way of continuing to grow Hands on Learning. Victoria is obviously doing a great job, but maybe some of the other states could pick up the running with Hands on Learning.
Valedictory | Parliamentary Representation | House debates
on indulgence—Firstly, I'd like to thank the House for its indulgence to allow me to make a valedictory speech. To the Deputy Prime Minister and to the ministers and shadow ministers, thank...
on indulgence—Firstly, I'd like to thank the House for its indulgence to allow me to make a valedictory speech. To the Deputy Prime Minister and to the ministers and shadow ministers, thank you for this opportunity. It only seems like yesterday that the 2016 election was held and we were summoned to Canberra for an induction for a couple of days. It was very interesting and it was an opportunity to meet all the new members from all over Australia from all the respective parties. While it has been six years, it certainly feels like it was only a few days ago. I see today as an opportunity to thank the many people that help you as a member of parliament when you come to this place, and I want to thank the people that have enabled me to be the member for Murray and then the member for Nicholls. Firstly, there are my staff. My first office manager was Alison Foscholo. Then I had Claire Ewart-Kennedy and Lyndal Humphris. They have all been wonderful at managing the office and they've enabled me to concentrate on the job at hand of being the MP. My media adviser in the office is the wonderful and talented Luke Griffiths. I also have two incredible staffers who have been with me for the full six years: Mark Skilbeck, as my lead adviser, and Tessa Harris, who has managed the diary and been at the front of the office since day one. A big thank you to all of those staff. I also want to say a huge thank you to Di Andrews who is in the position of whip's clerk. It's a huge job, and Di has been wonderful in that role. I also need to thank Tory Mencshelyi, who has been a huge help, not just to myself but to the entire National Party team. As MPs we are all only as good as our staff, and I think all of us should, every now and again, take time to reflect on how good our staff are and how much work they actually do for us each and every day. When I talk about the Nationals team, I really want to thank all of my team here today for all of your support and friendship. Sometimes this team has the capacity to turn an otherwise quiet and uneventful day into something a little bit more frenetic, complicated, and, may I say, a little bit amusing as a workplace. So my team can never be classified as being boring. I love the Nationals and I genuinely believe in the movement that the Nationals stand for. For over 100 years, we've been putting regional issues at the front of the political debate—in politics, where the numbers rule in a ruthless fashion. We live in a country that has 43 per cent of its people living in two cities. I have, simply, a natural belief that if we go forward without a strong National Party we will also lose out on the contested issues to the parties that are centred around the capital cities. I know the Nats are far from perfect, but we know our people, we work hard for our people and we work hard to make sure that each of us gets better and better. To that aim, I would like to thank Barnaby Joyce and Michael McCormack for their leadership, and I acknowledge the entire team for your leadership and your support. However, there are three individuals I would like to make a special mention of, and they are Darren Chester, Kevin Hogan and Pat Conaghan. These guys have that extra level of friendship, again. All the members in this House, from all parties, will understand exactly how important true friends are—people you can share anything with, people who are always there to support you and people who are always there to give you some hard truths every now and again. Therefore, I want to thank those people. I would also like to thank the many members of the Liberal and Labor parties who have put party politics aside and have enabled friendship between us to grow. That's another thing people outside this House don't understand—that there are strong friendships that grow within the various parties and even across two opposition parties. I would also like to thank that little group that sits just over there to the right and normally gets the banter going whenever there is a division, because that's a very funny little group that sits over there! I'd also like to take the opportunity to thank the parliamentary staff. We have the drivers who look after us, we have the clerks and we have the House staff; they're always more than happy to help every time we want any bit of assistance. We have this wonderful catering staff here in the House, and I'll just take this opportunity again to thank those people and to acknowledge how lucky we are to be treated so well. Apart from this being a wonderful opportunity to thank people, it's also an opportunity to reflect on what my team has been able to achieve for the electorate of Murray and now Nicholls. It's very humbling to be able to stand up and announce big infrastructure projects like the Echuca Moama bridge, funding for the upgrade of the Shepparton rail line and funding for a new cancer centre at Goulburn Valley Health. To have millions of dollars spent in Yarrawonga, Echuca, Kyabram, Nagambie, Seymour and Shepparton gives you a sense of justification that the faith your constituents have placed in you has in some way been repaid. And if you want my summary of this job, it is: well, you go to Canberra and you get the money to come back and give us the things that we need in our electorate. That's effectively how I see this role. But of all the projects that I've been able to deliver, the Murray-Darling school of medicine is possibly the one I am most proud of. In an area that is short of doctors, we are four years into a seven-year program that will see 30 doctors graduate each and every year from the University of Melbourne's Shepparton campus. This will have a lasting health benefit for the people of the Goulburn Valley well into the future. Thinking about some of the more memorable moments, I can't go past this opportunity: leading into the last election, when the water debate was heating up, we called a public meeting, and I invited the then water minister, David Littleproud, and also Barnaby Joyce down to front a group of angry water advocates. They came from everywhere to meet us. And to say that these farmers were somewhat angry—we knew they would be combative, but it was taken to another level again. Most people thought I was mad to stage that opportunity—and maybe they were right. I put myself and my party leaders in front of an angry group of farmers. They knew we were trying to help them, but they were bitterly disappointed that we weren't able to get the security and the legislated changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan that they desperately craved. We escaped with our physical wellbeing barely in check. I will never forget that public meeting at Goulburn Valley coolstores. Communities up and down the Murray-Darling rivers have paid a huge price to comply with the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. I urge all political parties from all states to show some genuine compassion about the damage inflicted by the plan. I urge these political parties to take an empathetic view forward as we try and find the right balance between water for agriculture and livelihoods versus water for rivers, wetlands and lakes. It's amazing how many other industries hang off the back of agriculture. In my electorate there would be more than 5,000 people who are employed directly in food processing. Then on top of that there are also the transport industries. Then on top of that there are also the packaging industries. Then there are the steel engineering industries. Then there are also the large parts of the professional sector. All of these industries are relying heavily on the outcomes of agriculture. When ag is struggling all those other associated businesses are also struggling. The Goulburn Valley really is a food bowl that produces so much for our great country and, therefore, I think we all need to be aware of that. For those members who have been to my parliamentary office, you will see that it looks a little bit like a supermarket. I have a collection of produce from the Goulburn Valley that really does highlight the productivity of that region. On reflection, I've also really enjoyed my time as a National Party whip. People often ask me: what's the story about the whip? What is that? My response is that it's just like being a team manager. You're working with other members, having them take you into their confidence, helping the leadership get things organised. It's a role that I have really enjoyed—hosting whips drinks also! I have also enjoyed working with the other party whips, with Chris and Jo; with Anne from the Labor Party; with Bert, Nicolle and Rowan from the Libs. It is a fantastic group—Kenny O'Dowd. It's a great group of people that are effectively just trying to make sure that the House operates as smoothly as it can. I also think it's worth acknowledging the various councils that I work with across the Goulburn Valley: the Mitchell and Strathbogie shires in the south, the Moira and Campaspe shires in the north, the Greater Shepparton City Council. They've all been tremendous to work with. I start nearly every project with joint local and federal government buy-in—always start from a position of support. Very, very rarely would I ever oppose a local government and their projects. I also want to take this opportunity to thank all the volunteers within a National Party, especially in Nicholls. There are too many to mention, but I would just like to thank Lindsay Dann, Don and Cheryl Kilgour and Peter Ryan. There are so many others and I will always be indebted to you for the support and the friendship that you have offered. I would also like to acknowledge the state team led by Tim Bull, assisted by Steph Ryan and Peter Walsh. They're a great bunch and I wish them well into the future. I also want to acknowledge one of the great leaders of the Nats in Tim Fischer. He had a mantra that used to say: 'You've got to keep firmly in touch with at least 10 friends from outside of politics and you've got to work hard on those friendships.' Well, I am relatively lucky because I've got that number covered with my punters club group. These guys know a lot about horses, cricket, golf, footy and life in general. Unsurprisingly, they have some very strong opinions, but they too are great friends. I love catching up with those guys and I hope to catch up with them more into the future. I would also like to acknowledge my siblings. I was very, very lucky to be born into the family that I was born into. We were very, very poor, but as you get older in life you realise how lucky you were. A big thank you to my five brothers and my one sister, and to all my nieces and nephews. I would also like to thank my five children. They are just wonderful human beings. Wanting to spend more time with them has played a major role in this decision to step down and not contest at the next election. To Luke, Alyce, Gabby, Corey, Josh, Sally, Willow, Olive and Sonny, I am really looking forward to spending more time with you all and not feeling guilty about it, which happens to be the problem I have at the moment. Every time I'm with family I probably should be at some community event, and I get a case of the guilts. As I said, I'm very proud of my kids. I am very proud of their work ethic. I am very proud of the adults that they've become. They're very resilient individuals, but they have great care for their friends. I also acknowledge that I have been very busy for most of my life, whether it was building sheds, coaching footy, state politics or this job here, and it's the kids who have often missed out. I've missed many barbecues and many birthdays. I have missed doing what normal families would take for granted. I'm sure most of you in this House know exactly what I'm talking about. The amount of sacrifice we in this House have so that we can do our job just needs to be pointed out, because this job certainly does become all-consuming. I say thank you to my wonderful partner, Ros, and her family and extended family. Ros is in the gallery today with her great friends Bruce and Kerry Winzar, her son Sam and his girlfriend, Emma, which is fantastic. Putting your hand up for this job means making significant sacrifices—sacrificing your time and sacrificing your family. It's your partner, wife or husband who bears the brunt of that sacrifice. For me it's now time to put family first. Ros, thank you for enabling me to do this job. I thank you again for helping me better understand a few different points of view on a few different issues every now and again. You have simply been a wonderful partner over the last 15 years. I really am looking forward to having more time to do the things that we enjoy more so than the things we have to do. You're very understanding and compassionate. Ros has her own business helping people with disabilities. It's a big business that keeps her very busy. She is just the most wonderful partner. It is great to look back and see what has been achieved. It has been an amazing ride. I've just loved the ride. I'm also keen to look ahead to the new chapter, even though I have no idea what the new chapter will look like. I will finish how I started. I thank you all for your indulgence to make a valedictory speech to thank those who have done so much to help me perform this role. Cheers.
Coalition Government | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
To have the Labor Party effectively put forward a motion accusing the government of focusing on itself doesn't quite ring true when you look around regional Australia, certainly when you look at...
To have the Labor Party effectively put forward a motion accusing the government of focusing on itself doesn't quite ring true when you look around regional Australia, certainly when you look at the National Party, at my colleagues and their electorates—I'm sure Liberal Party seats would be no different. What are we doing here? We're coming to Canberra so that we can meet with our ministers so that we can bring home the projects and programs that we need for our people. When you look around the seat of Nicholls, you can see that the Echuca-Moama bridge has just been completed. That's not a government focused on itself; that's a government focused on a project that needed to be built for the last 60 years. We've gone and built it. It's an investment of over $130 million just from the federal government but also with $100 million from Victoria and $100 million from New South Wales. We got that project built. We've got $208 million sitting on the table to get the Shepparton bypass started. That's not a government focused on itself; that's a government focused on what our people need. When you drive into Shepparton, you'll see a couple of enormous museums. One is the Museum of Vehicle Evolution, which has an incredible history of cars, trucks, motorbikes and a whole range of other fantastic items. Then you drive a little bit further on and you'll see the Shepparton Art Museum. They're huge investments by this government, giving that region what it needs as its most important projects. We've got $5 million going into a new building for La Trobe University on the city campus in Shepparton. It's a fantastic project. One of our most liked and respected organisations, ConnectGV, has just been able to build a brand-new home for people in the Goulburn Valley who are dealing with disabilities. This federal government has provided them with $2.5 million for a new home there. We've also got a rail upgrade going into the Shepparton and Seymour area. There will be $400 million of this federal government's funding, put through the Victorian government, to upgrade that rail line, which has been left behind by the Victorian Labor Party. The Victorian Labor government have done up the Bendigo line, the Ballarat line and the Geelong line, but they have left the Shepparton line. We had four services a day. This federal government putting money into that line will see nine services a day. It's not as good as those other areas, but effectively an incredible change is coming as a result of a government that's prepared to look at the connectivity that we need so that we can get better access into Melbourne with our rail services. As you drive through Mooroopna, you'll see this incredible new building there, where the federal government has invested in the fruit industry. It's one of the leading industries in the Goulburn Valley, and here's an opportunity for that industry to move into the modern age with a world-class sorting process that's going to take hundreds and hundreds of photographs of every piece of fruit that will go in there. That fruit will be flicked left, right, dropped down, moved across and graded by size, shape, colour and blemishes. This is the type of technology that this federal government has invested in with the industry, to drive that industry and to make it even more competitive on the world market. This government has also invested in the CBD of Shepparton, right in the heart of the Goulburn Valley. Many regional cities around Australia have malls that don't really work, that have become unsavoury places, as their centre point. Shepparton is going to implement slow-moving traffic, thanks to an $8 million grant from this government to give the CBD of Shepparton what it needs. Many cities around Australia will be looking at this project to see whether or not it works; to see whether or not this courageous decision by the CBD, by the chamber of commerce, by the council—with the support of the federal government—can actually create slow-moving traffic with a whole raft of parking options in Shepparton; to see if that has the capacity to build the pedestrian traffic and make it easier for the shoppers. This is something that is incredibly important. I can just keep reading through the list of all the works that we've been working on as hard as we possibly can. We come to Canberra. We talk to the ministers. We get back into our electorates and give our communities what they need. That's not looking at ourselves; that's looking at our people. (Time expired.)
Murray-Darling Basin | Statements by Members | House debates
Over 2.2 million people live across the most productive agricultural region in Australia, and that is the Murray-Darling Basin. Those 2.2 million people are in extreme fear of a Labor government...
Over 2.2 million people live across the most productive agricultural region in Australia, and that is the Murray-Darling Basin. Those 2.2 million people are in extreme fear of a Labor government and the Greens party in relation to their water policies. When a senior journalist recently interviewed the shadow water minister, the member for Griffith, and asked whether they would increase buybacks out of agriculture, buying water off desperate farmers—and there is a 100 gigalitre cap in this area—the shadow minister would not answer the question. This is the most destructive policy you can have for over two million people who live around the Murray-Darling Basin, and she was noncommittal about increasing the cap on buying water from farmers. When it came to an additional 450 gigalitres that the plan is demanding be flushed down the rivers—again, this water cannot be delivered without causing incredible pain and damage to the agricultural sector—again, the member for Griffith's was noncommittal and would not comment on another 450 gigalitres being taken away from agriculture. These issues are critical to the two million people living up and down the Murray-Darling Basin, and it is a real and genuine concern that the Labor Party will simply go after desperate farmers and buy their water. (Time expired)
COVID-19: Regional Australia | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister please outline to the House how regional Australians have helped to drive the nation's recovery from the pandemic?
Nicholls Electorate: Volunteers | Statements by Members | House debates
Ahead of International Volunteer Day this Sunday, I'd like to pay tribute to the almost nine million volunteers across Australia who give their time for their communities. In particular, I'd like...
Ahead of International Volunteer Day this Sunday, I'd like to pay tribute to the almost nine million volunteers across Australia who give their time for their communities. In particular, I'd like to thank the volunteers in my electorate of Nicholls for the tireless work that they do. As such, it gives me great pleasure that 42 volunteer organisations in Nicholls will share $120,000 of funding as part of the Liberal-National government's 2021 Volunteer Grants round. Among the groups to receive funding are the Echuca Moama Search & Rescue Squad, with Lyn Chaplin and James McKenzie-Ross, who are going to use their money for an infrared camera; Cobram Barooga RSL, where Sue Nicholson, Edelweiss Cortes, Glenda Mann and John Hanlon are going to use their money for a computer for their volunteers; Broadford Scouting Group, where Tanya Malward and David Dixon are going to purchase some camping equipment; Murchison CFA, where Jon Crowley and Tino Catania are going to undertake a kitchen upgrade for their facilities; Riding for the Disabled Association Echuca, where Tanya Lucas and Edwina Boase-Stratford are going to subsidise the cost of their camps; the Lions Club of Tatura with Malcolm Campbell and Glenda McLeod are going to create a website to attract more members and more volunteers; and Shepparton FoodShare, with Grace Grieve and Kate Smith, are going to purchase a pallet scale. I can see firsthand the impacts that volunteering has in the Goulburn Valley and how hard these local volunteers work to strengthen our communities. I want to thank each and every one of them for the work that they do.
Cost of Living | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
On the last speaker's notes: all of those stories are horrendous. They're well and truly noted, but there is nothing that this government has done, in relation to its policies, that has driven...
On the last speaker's notes: all of those stories are horrendous. They're well and truly noted, but there is nothing that this government has done, in relation to its policies, that has driven any one of those people out of their accommodation and forced them to live in their cars. The concept of housing that is now seeing prices go through the roof is, purely and simply, a matter of the cost of money in Australia, which has never been this cheap. Australians everywhere are taking advantage of it and trying to get into the market. The market is heated beyond belief. However, this is not because of government policy; it is simply the fact that, through these last two years, we have had record-low interest rates. Money is at its cheapest rate ever, and therefore people are taking this incredible opportunity and they're putting themselves in incredible debt. A throwback of that is that there is a very diminishing pool of rental houses available. To throw that into this area here, where that somehow or other this is because of government policy—it's just not true. What this government has done is really give Australians an opportunity to make sure that they can secure the job they want. That's what our policies are doing—driving the private sector, which employs 90 per cent of all Australians. If we as a government can get the private sector to grow, we'll continue to create the pool and the demand for workers, for labour, that we've currently been able to achieve—a 5.2 per cent unemployment rate. We've got to be proud of that. In my electorate—and I'm sure it's happening in everyone else's electorate—workers are harder to get. Job vacancies are everywhere. Workers are hard to get. Workers now hold the upper hand. Every cafe, every hospitality area, is hiring. Jobs are available. In agriculture jobs are on the land. In mechanics, diesel mechanics, jobs are available. The work that we are doing to try and encourage apprentices into apprenticeships has been incredibly successful. But we've got a lot to do, because at the moment there are so many trades that are finding it very difficult to find apprentices that want to come in. Australians, for whatever reason, do not really want to take on many of the jobs which previously we've been very proud to take. For painters and decorators there are huge vacancies, as well as in plastering, tiling, roof tiling and plumbing. You look at a whole raft of trades about which you'd normally be incredibly proud to say, 'That is what I do as a profession,' and right at the moment there's a genuine shortage. At the moment, it's looking like the only opportunity we have to fill those shortages so that our Australian businesses can continue to work in a profitable manner, to work in a productive manner, to meet the demands they have with their contracts, is to look at overseas workers. We need to be able to do this. Stopping overseas workers coming in to pick up some of these trades and some of these jobs will penalise the Australian businesses that need them. We wish there was an Australian pool that we could call on to come and do these jobs. We wish there was a whole range of apprentices knocking down the doors of these trades, wanting to get a job, but the reality is they're just not there. What we're doing is trying to invest in the TAFE systems, trying to encourage a greater relationship between the TAFE colleges and industry so that they're offering the courses that are most relevant in each of the respective areas. This is something that we are very cognisant of—that our TAFEs need a great relationship with industry so that they're offering the most pertinent courses. But right now we understand it's the private sector that creates jobs for our people. More vacancies create high demand for our workers. As that demand for our workers goes up, wages go up. That is something that we're very aware of. We understand that, if we can keep that unemployment rate down, we will be pushing the wages rates up. (Time expired)
Forestry | Constituency Statements | House debates
I withdraw that remark. We're intending to go and pillage all these other forests in countries that have very little regulation and simply have a net negative environmental impact.
DRUM (—) (): The issue that I wish to raise this afternoon has to do with the supply of timber in Australia, and certainly in Victoria and Western Australia. Court injunctions and industry...
DRUM (—) (): The issue that I wish to raise this afternoon has to do with the supply of timber in Australia, and certainly in Victoria and Western Australia. Court injunctions and industry uncertainty in Victoria—driven by the state Labor government's early move to limit access to timber, a decade ahead of its 2030 ban on native timber harvesting—are already stopping the supply of new logs. We are now faced with the absurd situation of serious disruptions to not only the building industry but the entire supply chain. It's even going down now to wooden pallets, which are making exports unavailable simply because we cannot use the forklifts to pick up our produce. With this disruption, we are really going to have an incredible, incredible problem. Obviously, the state Labor government in Western Australia has caved to green pressure by banning native logging forests from 2024. But Australia's total imports of products continue to increase. Whilst we have the opportunity to be self-sufficient here in Australia when it comes to timber products, we choose not to be self-sufficient, and we put these ridiculous bans on using our own forests in a sustainable manner. We have possibly the most highly regulated forests for sustainable harvesting and thinning. We put a ban through that, and we then have to go and import to look after the demand of timber into Australia—into Victoria. We've got a huge demand for housing. Housing demand has risen by about 22 per cent. We've got a huge demand for timber and furniture products. We have the capacity to do it ourselves and become self-sustaining, and in Victoria, with the Labor government, Daniel Andrews's government, we are choosing not to do that. The consequence of us not doing that is that we have to import this timber from countries that have heavily unregulated timber-harvesting agendas. What happens now? We used to get most of our wood from New Zealand and Canada. We now get most of our timber products from China. Of course, China don't use their own forests. China go and get their timber products from Russia, from Brazil and from Indonesia, and they sell them on to Australia. We go to Bunnings and we get these timber products, but we have the capacity to provide all of this housing and all of this furniture—to do it all ourselves here in Australia, using the most sustainable practices. We are choosing not to do that. We're choosing to go and rape some other forest in Malaysia, Indonesia or Brazil—
Agriculture Industry | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Will the minister explain to the House how the Morrison-Joyce government's substantial investment in agriculture innovation...
My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Will the minister explain to the House how the Morrison-Joyce government's substantial investment in agriculture innovation will boost productivity, jobs and prosperity in regional Australia and assist agriculture in reaching its target of being a $100 billion industry by 2030?
The current wet season across the Murray-Darling Basin has resulted in the basin being at near-saturation point. High flows in our catchments have resulted in storage capacity running at near...
The current wet season across the Murray-Darling Basin has resulted in the basin being at near-saturation point. High flows in our catchments have resulted in storage capacity running at near full, particularly in the southern basin. On the Murray, the Dartmouth Dam is at 85 per cent, and the Hume is at 98 per cent. The Goulburn storages have Eildon at 87 per cent and the Goulburn Weir and Waranga Basin both above 95 per cent full. I'd particularly like to draw attention to Lake Buffalo, on the Ovens River, which is at 98 per cent full. Lake Buffalo has reached 100 per cent capacity every year since 2003. There is real concern that further rain will create substantial flooding which will bring some serious damage to many of the Murray River communities. Lake Buffalo was built in 1965 as a 24-gigalitre dam. That was just the first stage of a major project. The Victorian government owns all the surrounding land, and it was originally intended that Buffalo wouldn't be 24 gigalitres but would be 1,000 gigalitres. We have an opportunity now to build 'big Buffalo', construct it properly. This would act as a flood mitigator—which would enable people right now to avoid hundreds of millions of dollars of damage—plus, when we go through our dry periods, we would have this incredible amount of water for productive agriculture. It should be a win-win.
Visa Holders | Private Members' Business | House debates
I appreciate the previous member's contribution. However, if he wants to sit in on hearings of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, where we talk about bringing new Australians in to work...
I appreciate the previous member's contribution. However, if he wants to sit in on hearings of the Joint Standing Committee on Migration, where we talk about bringing new Australians in to work in Australia, bringing people in from overseas, he will see that it's the Labor Party that opposes it every time. It's the Labor Party that says, 'These workers who are going to come into Australia are going to steal our jobs.' It's the Labor Party, driven by the unions, that oppose all of this. It's a bit rich to have someone all of a sudden saying this is a coalition fear. I think what we really have to understand is that the overseas workforce is such an important, critical component of not just agriculture but so many other industries. We need to embrace overseas workers—temporary, seasonal and also permanent. Greater Shepparton City, Moira Shire and Campaspe Shire councils have fought hard to create a Designated Area Migration Agreement for Goulburn Valley. These DAMAs are going to be critically important, as is the ag visa that Minister Littleproud has put together. They're going to be critically important for so many areas that need overseas workers. It's been put by people opposed to these types of labour schemes that they're rife with people being exploited. It's not good enough if one per cent of one per cent is exploited. We have to do everything we can to ensure that overseas workers here in Australia are fairly paid and that exploitation is wiped out, but we also have to be careful that we don't let these people make this issue bigger than it actually is. They are simply weaponising this underpayment and wage theft issue to try and scuttle these programs. This is neither honest nor truthful. It is an incredibly minute number of people who have been exploited. We need to make sure that never happens so that the credibility of these overseas labour schemes is 100 per cent. That's something that is critically important for my electorate and critically important for many other regional and rural electorates. It's not just some of these lower-paid dirty jobs where we're looking at labour shortages now; it's many of the trades. Trades that have been highly regarded for many years are struggling to find the workers that they need. In plumbing, tiling, roof tiling, plastering, painting and decorating, diesel mechanics, motor mechanics and many more the vacancies and availability of work that exists throughout regional Australia now are absolutely rife. The question we have to ask is: where are these workers going to come from? COVID has made it incredibly difficult, especially in hospitality. Nearly everywhere you go in Australia the hospitality offerings have got a little sign on the window saying 'jobs available' for waiters, waitresses, chefs, front of house, back of house. These are opportunities that possibly would have normally got picked up by overseas students who are no longer here in Australia because of COVID. So this is a very, very important issue. I would just make sure that we don't attempt to rewrite history about the Labor Party. This is something that the Labor Party argue against point blank every time we get an opportunity to talk about migration policy. They've always been against bringing in overseas workers. They've always been against filling these vacancies with a ready-made workforce, because they have this inherent fear that somehow or other overseas workers are going to take Australian jobs. Well, the jobs that we're talking about are not being picked up by Australians at the moment. Australians are not putting their hand forward at the moment, as they haven't done historically and are probably not going to do so into the future. What we need to do is to look after our Australian businesses and give them the labour offerings they need so they can take their businesses forward.
Nicholls Electorate: Community Events | Statements by Members | House debates
As the proud member for Nicholls in this government, I rise to bring to the House's attention some of the work that the government has recently been delivering for the people of Nicholls. Last...
As the proud member for Nicholls in this government, I rise to bring to the House's attention some of the work that the government has recently been delivering for the people of Nicholls. Last week, I was honoured to participate in the opening of the Shepparton Art Museum, a $50 million project that this federal government has contributed $15 million towards, while $15 million has also come from the Greater Shepparton City Council and $7 million from the SAM Foundation, along with $10 million from the state. SAM will display works from over 200 artists, with 160 Indigenous and First Nations artworks in addition to a ceramics collection that is unrivalled anywhere else in Australia. I would like to take this opportunity to sincerely thank the Deputy Prime Minister for his role in the opening last week. The weekend prior to the opening of the SAM, we also had an opportunity to open the Museum of Vehicle Evolution, better known as MOVE. MOVE has been transformed after a $5.3 million upgrade, which the federal government contributed $2.5 million towards. MOVE has now been expanded to just under 10,000 square metres. It houses the museum's collection of cars, motorbikes, trucks and vintage clothing and also acknowledges the rich history of transport throughout the Goulburn Valley region. It will now highlight a collection of trucks that will be unrivalled anywhere else in Australia. I wish to acknowledge and congratulate every person in Nicholls that has helped bring these two amazing projects to fruition.
My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison-Joyce government has responded to labour challenges posed to...
My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Northern Australia. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison-Joyce government has responded to labour challenges posed to agricultural industries and how the government will secure the industry's future by providing access to a long-term, reliable workforce.
Nicholls Electorate: Building and Construction | Constituency Statements | House debates
I'd like to congratulate the previous speaker, the member for Macnamara, on sticking up for travel agents. They've gone through a horrible time. In my constituency statement I would like to...
I'd like to congratulate the previous speaker, the member for Macnamara, on sticking up for travel agents. They've gone through a horrible time. In my constituency statement I would like to explain how exciting it is to be in Shepparton and the Goulburn Valley at the moment. We are very excited about coming out of COVID and very excited to see some of the freedoms that have been given to those in Melbourne. Obviously many Melburnians are looking forward to venturing into the regions over this long weekend in Victoria. Those visitors who will come to Nicholls over the coming days and months will have the opportunity to experience a lot of 'first times', because, due to some of the significant contributions by the federal government, the Shepparton Art Museum will be officially opened. This was a $15 million contribution towards a $50 million art museum. It is going to become one of the best regional art galleries in Australia, and the region is very excited about having that building completed. At the same time, about four kilometres away, the Museum of Vehicle Evolution is being completed. Again the federal government was a major stakeholder in building that museum. We've contributed $2½ million to this museum, and it will highlight an amazing array of trucks—historical trucks and brand-new trucks—and other vehicles like bicycles and motorbikes. An incredible women's fashion collection is also on display. It's a 10,000-square-metre facility and it will be unique in Australia. At the same time work is just commencing on a $17 million overhaul of the Shepparton Maude Street Mall. About 40 years ago a decision was made to stop vehicles entering the mall so that pedestrians had right of way. Shepparton is one of the first cities in Australia that is going to reverse that and have slow-moving traffic allowed back in the Maude Street Mall. It's a $17 million investment all up, and the federal government has contributed over $8 million for that project. It will be a game-changer, and we are looking forward to seeing how that goes in the future. Also being completed right now is the Echuca-Moama Bridge. This is a bridge that's been talked about for 55 years. But over the last four or five years we've been building this $340 million bridge, and it is nearing completion. The two sides have finally met over the mighty Murray River, and it is fantastic that this project will be completed in the coming months. It certainly is an exciting time to be in the Goulburn Valley and Shepparton, and I want to thank the government for all the investment they've put into the Goulburn Valley and Shepparton.
Stronger Communities Program | Statements by Members | House debates
The expressions of interest have opened for around 7 of the Stronger Communities Program, which gives local governing bodies and community groups the opportunity to nominate projects of up to...
The expressions of interest have opened for around 7 of the Stronger Communities Program, which gives local governing bodies and community groups the opportunity to nominate projects of up to $20,000. Round 7 will provide $22.65 million across 151 federal electorates. The Stronger Communities Program delivers infrastructure and equipment to our community organisations for them to continue to grow and be successful. Previous rounds of this fantastic program across my electorate have seen football, netball, tennis, soccer, cricket and golf clubs; heritage centres; search and rescue volunteers; men's sheds; and childcare and community centres receive grants. These grants have been for kitchen upgrades, appliances, air-conditioners, security, lighting, play equipment, fencing, flooring, computers, a silo art viewing area, storage sheds, hot water services, toilets for the disabled, wheelchairs, and electrical upgrades. The townships across my electorate that have always been able to access these grants are places like Tungamah, Undera, Congupna, Nagambie, Kyabram, Nathalia, Rochester, Tallygaroopna, Numurkah, Mooroopna, Girgarre, Murchison, Tatura, Seymour, Echuca, Wunghun, Yarrawonga, Tongala, Merrigum, Gunbower, Dookie, Katamatite and Waaia. It's a fantastic program that helps an amazing group of small communities, and I want to thank the government for bringing round 7 to fruition again.
Climate Change | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
It's always great to stand up and talk about the achievements that the coalition government has achieved when it comes to emissions reduction. It's incredible how, in such a highly informed place...
It's always great to stand up and talk about the achievements that the coalition government has achieved when it comes to emissions reduction. It's incredible how, in such a highly informed place such as the Australian Parliament House, everybody from the Labor Party, somehow, would rather forget to mention the fact that Australia is leading the way when it comes to rooftop solar. We are leading countries like Germany and Japan. We are leading every country in the world, and not just by a small way; we are leading the world by the length of the straight. With the uptake of rooftop solar sitting somewhere around one in every four to one in every three houses, we have a great opportunity to build on that start. People from the Labor Party and the Greens want to say, 'How can you trust the coalition to go forward without legislation?' Well, the greatest indicator of future behaviour is always past behaviour. We're standing there in front of the Australian people saying, 'We signed up to previous agreements in Kyoto, Kyoto 1 and Kyoto 2, and we beat those targets easily.' Up until about two years ago, the term 'net zero by 2050' wasn't actually a thing. The criticism from the climate warriors of the world was all about, 'Australia, you're not going to meet your commitments from Paris,' the agreement that we signed in 2015. Effectively, that was talking about base figures from 2005 and how we were going to go against that base year by the time we got to 2030. We were criticised continually by those opposite, saying, 'You're not going to get there, and the only way you're going to get there is with some sneaky form of accounting.' Well, all that stuff was wrong. They were wrong then and they're wrong now. The opportunity is for the Australian government to look the Australian people in the eye and say, 'We're going to go to Glasgow and we're going to make this commitment but, at the moment, the technology doesn't quite exist for us to get there.' That's just being honest with the Australian people. If you're honest with the Australian people, you have to say to them that the technology we need to get us there doesn't quite exist at the moment. It's not far away. At the moment we're sending some exports of hydrogen to Asia, but it's made from coal. We're also in the process of sending some hydrogen off to Asia again, but it's made from gas. If we listened to our friends in the Labor Party, they'd say that neither of those technologies are good enough. They want us to be able to send hydrogen overseas and use hydrogen here, provided it's made from solar. But at the moment the cost of doing that is about four times the commercial rate that we need. So if anybody over there wants to go to the Australian people and say, 'Oh, we're happy to go into hydrogen but it's going to cost you four times the cost for energy that you pay currently,' do they want to have that conversation with the Australian people? No, they won't, because they're not honest enough to have that conversation. We just need to be straight. We're putting in our plan that there are billions of dollars which will go into battery technology. We're going to invest heavily—we already are and we're going to invest more. We're going to invest serious dollars—again, into the billions—in hydrogen technology and battery storage. And we're going to continue with the plan which we started four years ago for pumped hydro and Snowy 2.0. That's going to be a significant base energy source for us. And we're not going to be lectured to by these countries in Europe either. The 20 leading countries in Europe are effectively all leaning on nuclear to prop up their base energy mix. That's fine for them—they're lucky enough to be able to do that. But, again, the people who we're arguing with here in our energy mix don't want to hear about us joining the opportunity to have nuclear in our energy mix. They don't want that and they're not going to allow that—at the moment; I'm hoping that the decision and the conversation within Australia surrounding nuclear as a base energy mix may change in the coming years. I think that people who want to stand in this place and talk about the Australian government's contribution to net zero 2050 need to have a touch of honesty about it. They need to acknowledge the achievements that we have done so far. We have been able to achieve all of these previous agreements without legislation and I don't understand, quite rightly, how, all of a sudden, our ability to meet net zero 2050 and our ability to continue to meet our Paris agreement have become contingent upon legislation. It just doesn't make any sense.
Infrastructure: Regional Australia | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on how the Morrison-Joyce government is delivering both significant national infrastructure and local...
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on how the Morrison-Joyce government is delivering both significant national infrastructure and local projects supporting our communities and regional economies? How will this benefit my home state of Victoria, and is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative policies?
National Disability Insurance Scheme Workforce | Private Members' Business | House debates
The opportunity to talk about the NDIS is always a great opportunity for those in the coalition, as members of the government responsibility for bring it to fruition—an incredible...
The opportunity to talk about the NDIS is always a great opportunity for those in the coalition, as members of the government responsibility for bring it to fruition—an incredible responsibility. This is a life-changing program for many, many families and many, many Australians with disabilities, enabling them to have greater fulfilment in their endeavours and a greater chance of reaching their full potential. This is a program that really has had a life-changing impact on thousands and thousands of Australians. Yes, it has had many issues. We've had people given very poor plans. I believe that in the early stages of this program the planning quality wasn't up to speed; therefore families had to go back and appeal that they hadn't received an adequate plan compared with the program they'd been on under the old state model. But as the scheme has evolved we have continued to hone the individual cases within the NDIS, and we now have a program that over 530,000 participants are taking advantage of. The other component to the NDIS is the impact it has had on the workforce in aged care. This new industry, the caring industry, has jumped up in Australia with such prominence that we now have a situation where the NDIS, in quite a few cases, is competing against aged care for workforce. We therefore have to look at that. One thing the coalition can be very proud of is that we have funded the NDIS. I know the Labor Party like to say it was already funded, but it wasn't. We had to find many additional billions of dollars to get the NDIS funded. It is now funded, albeit there is always an incredible need to put more and more money into the NDIS. Between now and 2024, the aged-care sector and the disability sector will grow by 31 per cent and 20 per cent. That is going to be an incredible impost on the finances of this nation. But the coalition government are confident, having funded this scheme to date, that we are going to fund it into the future. The National Disability Insurance Scheme should make every Australian incredibly proud. When I was a young kid, families that had children with disabilities were, effectively, given the role of raising that child, whether the child had profound or mild disabilities. That responsibility tended to fall nearly solely to the household. The state has now, effectively, taken full responsibility for the care, the upkeep and the support of children who are born with disabilities. We will see this program give our participants even higher quality support, in terms of the different ways that we can assist and help. It's going to see an improved level of service. We believe it's going to give us a workforce that reflects the diversity of the NDIS participants—something that will be needed on an ongoing basis. Because the needs of participants within the NDIS are so wide and varied, the skills of the workforce will have to be able to match those needs. That's why we're also improving the entry-level pathway and providing greater opportunity for training and development. This offers a fantastic option for students who are studying as well as those working within the NDIS system. It gives them an 'in' to discover: what is a career in this care sector really like? Many students are then taking the opportunity to put further qualifications around their skill set so that they can make this their career.