Tom Venning (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In response to the member for Lingiari, the government seem to be obsessed with size. If size matters, look in the mirror. Have a look at the size of your PM's electorate. It's smaller than a farm in my community of Bute, while my electorate is bigger than New South Wales. This month, thousands of young Australians will be sitting down for their end-of-year exams. As such, it is only fair that the government faces an examination of its own—an examination into the results for rural and regional Australians. The report card does not read well. There are fails in economics, science, agriculture, technology and health. If this government was getting an ATAR score next month, it would be a big, fat zero.

Failure No. 1: the Albanese government's mismanagement of our energy markets and power prices. Not only have our power prices not reduced by $275 but, importantly, these policies have a major impact on communities which make things, like Whyalla and Port Pirie, and on our farmers and small businesses. The policies are threatening our sovereign capabilities, damaging prime agricultural land, dividing our communities and increasing energy costs. By constructing tens of thousands of kilometres of transmission lines, solar panels and wind turbines across rural and regional Australia, this government is industrialising fertile rural farming land and the natural environment on a massive scale.

Failure No. 2: Labor's reckless and out-of-touch approach to fixing our regional roads. In the country, we want safer roads, not slower roads. This government threatens to cut speed limits to 70 kilometres per hour, which shows us yet again that Labor doesn't get rural and regional Australia. Rather than fixing the problem, they want to create more red tape. Why is Labor fixated on making our lives harder? Under this government, regional roads have severely deteriorated, with Labor cutting the levels of Commonwealth funding for regional road projects from 80 per cent down to 50 per cent, following its 2023 review of the infrastructure investment pipeline. Labor's rural and regional report card is a disaster.

Failure No. 3: the Albanese government's shameless attack on farmers' superannuation—an unworkable, half-baked tax on unrealised gains. It was a move that could have destroyed farming families. Under Jim's plan, farmers' self-managed super funds would have been taxed at 30 per cent, up from the current 15 per cent, without indexation. This policy was one of the clearest indications that Labor is only focused on the city and that the policymakers in this government just do not get it. This report card is getting worse and, if grades don't improve soon, they might get expelled. After all, next week is the 50th anniversary of the dismissal of Whitlam.

Failure No. 4: Labor's inability to tackle the childcare deserts impacting rural and regional families all across Australia, particularly in Grey. Despite the proven lifelong positive impacts of early learning and education, my electorate of Grey has the worst childcare access in the country. Around one-third of families don't have access to child care. Given this Labor-fuelled cost-of-living crisis, where you need two incomes to raise a family, it is impossible to employ young parents. This alone is a problem, but, combined with already widespread severe workforce shortages in regional and rural Australia, it makes for a dangerous ticking time bomb for already struggling towns. Not only has the Albanese Labor government refused to deliver any effective action on addressing this childcare crisis; they have made it worse.

Failure No. 5: the Albanese government's aged-care nightmare. More than 230,000 older Australians have been left stuck in limbo, waiting for access to home-care packages under Labor—and it's true that you'd expect an 18 per cent higher risk of death compared to those who receive support within 30 days. Imagine being on this waitlist if you're a rural and regional Australian—hundreds of kilometres from help, with only your friends and family on hand. These elderly rural and regional Australians built this country, fought for this country, produced food for this country and worked to make us who we are. This failure is unacceptable. Labor have forgotten rural and regional Australia. They've been put to the test but they've failed to deliver. The government needs to get its head out of the city and put some focus back on all Australians, which includes regional Australians, before its failures become disasters.

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