Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We are the regions who provide your food. We have custody over the places that you go on holidays. We provide you with critical minerals. We provide your power. We are practical people. We are the salt of the earth. We are the best parts of Australia. Not a single person in this House would disagree. Do not disrespect us.

I grew up in Gippsland.

An opposition member: Best member to ever come out of Gippsland!

Thank you! I keep telling him! I played in Wollongong. I spent some time in Albury and the Atherton Tablelands. I played in Cairns. But I also spent a bit of time in New York City, where I picked up a phrase: studio gangster. I might be the first person to put the phrase 'studio gangster' into Hansard. I'd like that to be recognised. For those who don't know, a studio gangster is someone who yaps when there's nothing on the line. This is what we are seeing from those opposite: a lot of noise; no influence. Studio gangsters are fun. You like to hang out with them—good times, great times—but when the rubber hits the road they're nowhere to be seen.

So let's speak about roads and investment in roads. Take the main artery for Queensland, the Bruce Highway. The last time the Bruce Highway had any investment in it at all, guess who did it? Then infrastructure minister, now Prime Minister, the Hon. Anthony Albanese. Oh, and he's back as Prime Minister, so guess what's getting invested in? The Bruce Highway with $7.2 billion. This will allow freight and families right the way up Queensland to see each other, to spend time with each other. We're making that road safer so that our truckies don't have to worry about it so much anymore. I go to the depots; I have a chat to the lads. They are afraid of the road, but they know the money for it is coming. They know the work is going to commence. They know they will get home at night to see their loved ones.

What I'd like to hear from those opposite is more science and fewer feelings. We tend to cherrypick ideas, cherrypick stats. Portugal and Spain? That's a nice example, and it fits your narrative then fantastic. California, the fourth-largest economy on the planet, has 67 per cent renewable and clean energy—the fourth-largest economy on the planet! It's something we should be aspiring to, but, instead, we cherrypick numbers rather than trying to deliver for the people that we are paid to represent.

So what is the Labor Party doing for the regions? As Minister McBain said, we don't have to put the word 'region' in front of it to make it relevant. Tax cuts. People in the regions pay taxes. Fee-free TAFE has been taken up more in the regions than anywhere else to address skill shortages. The students are building the homes that people can live in. Come to the wide open spaces that we represent, that we love so much, that we hold so dear. We want to share them; we want to show them. Bring your businesses to us. Bring your talents to the regions. Build these houses. Build these businesses. All that is going to be made possible. When you get there, there are urgent care clinics and there's cheaper medicine—there are going to be two clinics in Cairns; it's going to be awesome! Cairns is a big, big place. There are two electorates—Kennedy and Leichhardt. They've just got effective members!

Fee-free TAFE is under threat from the Queensland government. It is taking our workforce away. We have an opportunity here to show the regions as they are—the place we all love—and we are taking it. We're delivering for the people that have delivered for Australia for well over 200 years. Our food, our mining and our places to holiday all belong to us. Labor knows that when we take care of the regions, we take care of the country.

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