Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I like the member for Fenner. I respect the member for Fenner. But on this occasion there are a number of points that he raised in his contribution which quite frankly are beyond the pale. Young people have every reason to be optimistic about their future. They've got every reason to be confident and optimistic because of the policies put in place by the Liberals and by the Nationals in government. If the member for Fenner should be so lucky as to be a minister in a future Albanese-Bandt government—

An opposition member inte rjecting

I agree: he may well do some good things. But I do not want to see Labor and the Greens in government, because it will be a coalition. I know members opposite have talked about the coalition that's in government at the moment. Should there be a change of government at the next election there'll be another coalition, but it will be a Labor government dragged along by the nose by the Greens. I know that members opposite do not want that to happen, but the only way that they'll get into government will be on Greens preferences and the only way they'll be able to get into government will be on the back of the Greens—and they will be at the beck and call of the member for Melbourne.

On this motion that has been brought to the House: I appreciate that there are some aspects for youth which are very disturbing and very worrying at the moment. My daughter lives in the member for Higgins' electorate—she has a very good local member. She teaches, and it has been very difficult for teachers to have that face-to-face contact whilst giving students their best opportunities in life. Of course, let's face it: through COVID and through the lockdowns in Victoria and elsewhere, kids have had it tough. There's absolutely no question about that. But the member for Fenner talked about university graduates, and there are so many opportunities for university graduates. Not every year 12 leaver wants to go to university; there are many, certainly across regional Australia, who want to go into a trade and who are going into the trades. They're also absolutely being given such advantages because they've got a Liberal-Nationals government in place looking after their interests through the apprentices program and looking after their interests through increased funding at the right levels through their education.

The member for Fenner talked about home ownership. The HomeBuilder scheme put in place by this government has enabled young people, in many cases for the first time in their own families—their parents rented and their grandparents rented—to have the opportunity to live that great Australian dream of home ownership. I can well recall in the mid-1980s buying my first home with my wife, Catherine, and paying anywhere in the order of 18 to 21 per cent home mortgage rates. Could you imagine if there were interest rates that high on a home repayment now? It would put the anti-vaxxer protests to shame, because there would be 10 times the number of people protesting in the streets. But whilst I appreciate that interest rates, since the dollar was floated in 1938 by then Prime Minister Bob Hawke, are not the purview of the federal government—I acknowledge that—the economic conditions under which the Labor government ran this country in the mid-eighties and around that time saw interest rates at an unaffordable level, and for many Australians, for many young Australians, home ownership was impossible. Well, we've got the HomeBuilder scheme in place and we have other things in place which are enabling home ownership for many people for the first time.

For those young people who do have a bleak outlook on life, there are so many jobs in regional Australia at the moment. We can't fill them. Whether they're in the hospitality sector, in the health sector or in the education sector, in every single area of endeavour in this country today there's a job in regional Australia waiting for that right young person to take that opportunity to avail themselves of that chance of a better future. And for those for whom it's tough, we have significant mental health investment in place right around the nation through headspace and other endeavours to help those young people. So I say that if you're finding it difficult, please reach out and say that you're not okay. There's help available for you.

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