David Gillespie (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

This MPI has a rather hollow ring to it when you hear about what's been happening in coastal New South Wales. It's reflecting the figures that the Treasurer spoke about today: job numbers up in every state, job ad numbers up in every state and consumer confidence coming back. Business confidence is certainly coming back too, although I do acknowledge there are some sectors of the economy that are still incredibly challenged by the effects of COVID on international travel and tourism. Otherwise, it is really all going exceptionally well and better than we expected in coastal New South Wales.

In the beautiful Lyne electorate, there was hardly a spot you could put a caravan or a family who wanted a holiday up and down the Mid North Coast. Caravan parks, holiday villages and beaches were packed. Accommodation in the rental holiday areas from the Hunter River to Hawks Nest was booming over the Christmas and new year period; I've never seen Hawks Nest as busy. Through Forster and Tuncurry, there was exactly the same phenomenon. Up into the Hastings and the Manning, there were people everywhere. That is because of the plans that have been rolled out since the COVID pandemic started. Anyone on the other side must have been blind and deaf or refused to listen.

We've had so many plans. First of all, there's the JobKeeper and the JobSeeker support and increasing cash flow by tax refunds. Most recently we have had HomeBuilder kick the already growing residential housing market out into the stratosphere. To put things in perspective, there was a subdivision of 32 blocks in my own home town of Wauchope. It went on release, and do you know how long it took the real estate people to sell it? It was all gone in one hour. People are voting with their feet. They are leaving the metro and they are seeking a better life in the regions. That's what our party stands for. We want people to decentralise, and many businesses have worked out the same. Industrial lots were going very quickly too, because people realise they can move their business. They have cheaper business and land costs, and, if they've got a successful internet business, they can sell their product back into the bigger markets.

We've also had plans to support apprenticeships, which are up by 110,000. We had apprentice subsidy schemes before the pandemic, but the latest scheme brought in 110,000 new apprentices. That is exceptional. We've heard the amazing figures from the resources sector. I have two coalmines in my electorate, plus half the people in the Hunter region of my electorate work in mining and mining related industries as well agriculture. The dairy industry has recovered from the drought in most areas, and, also, Norco is paying 77c a litre. That is a big improvement in prices. So we have had huge grain crops to the west, and in our part of the world things are looking up. There have been exceptional prices for beef cattle and, depending on who the processor is, exceptional prices for milk, which is a welcome benefit.

The building industry is where it's really going gangbusters, the tradesmen all tell me, whether you're in Forster Tuncurry at the McDonald Jones sites, or in Wauchope or in Taree. In Taree, the Figtrees on the Manning project is kicking off. It's a $495 million master plan site. Bushland Health Group is delivering the $8½ million grant that we got. The project is underway. In the arts sector we've got Netflix and other prominent Hollywood movie producers making movies on the North Coast. I was there for the late Doug Anthony's funeral, and around the Byron Bay district it's full of moviemakers because of our arts plan: $270 million to get moviemaking and all the employment that runs off these big movies going in Australia.

We have had a plan. The facts are there. Employment is rising rapidly. Ninety per cent of the jobs have come back. We've just got the international and the health plan sorted and we'll get travel going again. Make sure you have a holiday in regional Australia.

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