Justine Keay (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I'd like to thank the member for Indi for bringing this motion forward to the parliament. I agree with the member for Bennelong on his comments in relation to the work of committees—the very important work that we undertake as members of parliament and something that government ministers should look at a little more closely in terms of implementing the recommendations from them.

I want to focus my attention on my regional electorate of Braddon, what five years of a coalition government has meant to the people of Braddon and what a Shorten Labor government will deliver for us. In my region, the north-west and west coast of Tasmania and King Island, we have so much to offer: we have a temperate climate, affordable land, the regional campus of the University of Tasmania and expanding advanced manufacturing industries, and we produce some of the highest quality products you will see anywhere in the world. Despite all of this, my region and many regions across Australia face many challenges. We have an ageing population, a growing digital divide, poor school retention rates, low university graduation rates and some of worst health outcomes in the country. What we need is a government that is truly prepared to stand up for regional Australia.

A key driver of increased educational outcomes in my region is the University of Tasmania campus in Burnie. But rather than support the university, this government has cut $175 million and put a cap on university places. You can't cut so much money and not expect for that to have an impact, particularly on regional communities like mine. How can you attract people to university if you are limiting those places? When it comes to skilling our workforce, again, this government has dropped the ball. I was just talking to some young female apprentices. I said to them that, on reflection, I've never heard this government talk about TAFE or apprenticeships, which is shocking. Under this coalition government, the north-west and west coasts of Tasmania have lost 700 apprenticeships since 2013. Instead of focusing on building TAFE, this government continues to cut it. The 2018 budget cut an extra $270 million from TAFE and training, on top of the more than $3 billion of cuts in previous budgets.

Services are so important to regional Australia, with an ageing population reliant on government services. Regional Australia is also at a digital disadvantage compared to the cities. It therefore makes sense not to cut Centrelink jobs, those face-to-face jobs. A lot of people in my electorate are on the age pension and cannot use a computer or myGov to access those services. This government has cut 6,000 jobs in that time. Those cuts to regional communities are sadly continuing. Only last week we heard of another 30 jobs cut from your area, Deputy Speaker Bird, the Illawarra. In my electorate in the cities of Devonport and Burnie, there are 30 empty desks at Centrelink. I gave evidence to the committee on decentralisation last year and told them that we have some fantastic services. We have Department of Human Services and ATO officers in my electorate in the cities of Burnie and Devonport who can undertake work that is not relevant to where they are; it's nationwide work. The ATO in Burnie is one that exceeds all key performance indicators. This is why jobs in regional communities—public service jobs, full-time jobs, well-paid jobs—are very, very important.

Sadly, for my community, where we have a high prevalence of chronic disease, this government chose to cut more funding out of health. We saw the campaign they launched in the Braddon by-election about how that is not the case, but they've cut $11 million from Tasmanian hospitals this year and next year. They've also cut a program called TAZREACH, which is a program that brought specialists to regional communities. In Tasmania we do have a lack of specialists. These specialists were coming from Melbourne or Sydney and holding regular clinics at places like the Devonport super clinic, the west coast of Tasmania, Circular Head and, of course, King Island—remote communities. That service was cut in 2016. But I'm really pleased to say that, under a Shorten Labor government, we would reinstate that program, $4½ million for TAZREACH, to get those specialists back into regional areas of Tasmania. We'd also increase Department of Human Services staff by 50 in Burnie and Devonport, based at Centrelink, who provide Medicare services, with five of those people being outreach staff. They would go to areas like the west coast and King Island to provide those face-to-face services, because people can't travel to the centres and they certainly can't wait hours and hours on the phone to get the complex support that they need. We will also be putting more money into hospital services, cutting the waiting list in Tasmania, with $30 million—much, much more than this government is proposing.

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