Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Hansard source

They ran it into the ground. It is really a terrible outcome. We are talking about a skills shortage that didn't need to be there. We've seen successive coalition governments at state, territory and federal levels rip money out of TAFE, in particular. Not only do we know that there's a skill shortage; we know that we have to incentivise people to get back into those skills shortage areas, which is why we've got prac payments now rolling out to nurses, teachers, social workers and midwifery students—people who make a real difference in every community across the country.

It is so important to focus on what's in front of us instead of focusing on what's behind you—for those opposite. We are committed to making sure we make a difference to every person across the country, and I'm particularly committed to focusing on how we deliver for regional Australians, because right now, on this side of the House, there are 24 members of the Labor Party who represent rural and regional Australia. That is a number larger than the National Party, larger than the crossbench and larger than the Liberal Party. So when we talk about delivering for regional Australia, can we please not go through this old trope that somehow you—those opposite—are the party of regional Australia, because it is not true. Regional Australia is not a monoculture. Regional Australia is diverse. It is interesting, and they vote Labor too.

It is incredibly important now that we come together and we look at how we deliver for communities. I've been listening to communities across the country. Over the last couple of months, I've been in the Tiwi Islands, Swansea in Tassie, Cloncurry, Bendigo, Ruffy and Colac, particularly over the high-risk weather season, listening to people and their firsthand experiences in the wake of bushfires, cyclones and floods. It's incredibly important we deliver for those communities both now and into the future.

We've delivered almost $330 million to Victorians impacted by devastating bushfires. We've committed more than $66 million for Queenslanders to help them recover from floods in the north and north-west, and we know that it is important to continue to deliver for communities that have been impacted. That spending isn't reckless, and I would really—

That interjection is so inappropriate because cat D funding has been delivered for your community. It has, and it is so disappointing to hear politicisation over something when it doesn't need to be there.

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