Jamie Chaffey (Parkes, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Today we're on the brink of what looks like yet another brick being kicked out from the foundations of our nation. Australians know that anyone can front the camera ahead of an election and make promises. Over the last few years, we've heard promises like this: $275 off your power bill; protecting the rights of those who have worked all of their life by not scrapping negative gearing and not increasing capital gains tax; and no health cuts. But it takes leadership, integrity and responsibility to the Australian people to keep those promises and to do the work that makes those promises a reality.

It is becoming alarmingly apparent that we have a Labor government that's not willing to do the work. Just last week, the government announced the Inland Rail would not go ahead north of Parkes. As the member for Parkes, I am aware of what this means to Australia, and I'm acutely aware of what it means to the electorate of Parkes. Businesses, organisations and families have been planning around this landmark project for many years. This is not a new project. There has already been significant money spent on this freight route between Melbourne and Brisbane. Some of it has been built, including 160 kilometres of upgraded track between Narrabri and North Star—that's passed—to the north of Parkes. Now this is a rail line to nowhere. Businesses have invested and relocated for the Inland Rail. Families have planned their lives around it, and whole communities are now facing a different future.

This project is critical to the growth of our nation. It would take hundreds of thousands of trucks off the road every single year. It would cut emissions, build jobs and ensure that we have the capacity to increase productivity. Have you heard that word, 'productivity', as well as 'population' and 'economy'? I'll now quote from the ALP website:

… the Albanese Government continues to deliver the infrastructure, skills, jobs and services that will stimulate regional economies and build thriving communities.

How does axing one of the single most important infrastructure projects drive regional economies, and how does it build thriving communities? It doesn't.

This is just one of a series of betrayals by this government. Earlier this year, I asked councils across the Parkes electorate what they needed from the federal government in the budget. Councils, the very organisations that provide so many essential services to Australians, are experiencing severe financial stress. They're facing higher and higher costs. Their grant funding and funding streams have been cut, and they're being handed more and more responsibilities by both state Labor and federal Labor governments. This is the No. 1 priority for councils, not only in the electorate of Parkes but right across regional Australia. As the shadow assistant minister for local government, I have heard this message time and time again. Local government is hurting. Local government is hurting from announcements such as axing the Inland Rail and cutting road infrastructure.

Councils have more responsibilities in aged care, child care and health care, where the state and federal governments have let them down. They are struggling to fund the infrastructure our communities need. Where is the money to help them with the facilities Australians use every day for water security, community halls, emergency airstrips, libraries, public pools and roads? They ask, but they're not being heard by this government. They ask, but they're being ignored by this Labor government. This is from a government that claims it's putting regional Australia at the centre of its plans for prosperity and a resilient future.

The government's promises to local government ahead of the 2022 election are being broken. There is no respect and no trust, just broken promises. Cut by cut, brick by brick, this government is bringing down the foundations of regional Australia that have been built by hard work over many generations. Cut by cut, brick by brick, this government is cutting the legs out from under the people who have made our country. In the past year alone, we have seen their rights and their services undermined through changes to water law, devastating cuts to the NDIS, a rapidly rising cost of living and a lack of planning for or even recognition of the fuel crisis, backward-sliding telecommunications and hasty changes to the gun laws without any consultation. These are just some of the ways in which the Labor government is targeting regional Australians through a thousand cuts. In tonight's budget, you can bet your bottom dollar there'll be another thousand more.

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