Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) | Hansard source

The opposition leader likes reminding us daily that he peaked in high school when he got an A on his economics test, but the Australian people and running government require adults making adult decisions, like on national security. The member opposite who just spoke mentioned Ukraine. This is an important lesson for the member opposite. He may have liked to have looked up economics 101 before coming into the chamber. The impact of gas prices in regard to the issues going on with Ukraine is directly related to Australia's issues around cost of living, which the Prime Minister addressed today in question time. When we are talking about adults making adult decisions and the Morrison government, we have to look at our achievements when it comes to the economy and getting our country through the pandemic and retaining our AAA rating. When we look at strengthening our national security, we need to look at which government, the coalition or a Labor-Greens government, will be best placed to ensure Australians have strong borders, with national security at the forefront of everything they do.

Looking at how we can best deliver for our local communities is what I like to talk about most. Also delivering jobs is something I'm really passionate about in my community of Lindsay. Since the pandemic hit, it's quite an achievement that over 1.1 million jobs have been created. Many thousands of these jobs—in fact, 28,000—will be delivered with the construction of Western Sydney airport. This is a national delivery. It's a job getting done nationally, a great achievement for the Morrison government but also a great local achievement. This is game changing for Western Sydney, linking us to the world when it comes to produce, in particular, and getting our produce across the world quickly.

Another thing I would like to talk about when it comes to getting the job done is supporting women and also the packages that we are delivering for women in the workforce but also, as the minister talked about today, ensuring that women and children are safe. I was really proud, again, to deliver on an election commitment for caseworkers for Penrith to ensure that women escaping domestic violence are looked after. This is something I'm really, really proud of.

We are talking about delivering for community. There is nothing I like talking about more than delivering my plan for Lindsay. I've been working hard for three years to do this. There are infrastructure projects like the fully funded Dunheved Road upgrade of $127 million. This will ensure that people in my community can get to where they are going and home again safer and quicker. There's nothing we want more than that for people. We are also ensuring that we have healthy active living spaces. There is nothing that people love more than the Nepean River. I worked really hard to deliver upgrades to the Nepean River, ensuring that the river is kept healthy for people and children to enjoy for generations to come.

We're also delivering $1.2 million to the Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, which will ensure kids can get the best access to sporting facilities there. Also in Kingswood, with Chapman Gardens, there's an upgrade that will benefit softball, cricket and rugby league. This is making sure that our kids have access to fantastic facilities so they can live their dreams of becoming future sports stars or just staying healthy, which is really, really important for all our local children.

One of the members opposite talked about supporting manufacturing. There's nothing I'm more passionate about than supporting manufacturing in Western Sydney, with over 600 local manufacturers. That's what we've been doing through the instant asset write-off. When I go to manufacturers around my electorate, they tell me about the infrastructure that they have been able to invest in and the way that this Morrison government measure has changed their business. It's enabled them to upgrade and employ more people and, importantly, more apprentices, many more thousands of apprentices, actually a record number of 220,000 trade apprentices, which is a record high under the Morrison government, because we're getting on with the job of delivering for the Australian people.

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