Libby Coker (Corangamite, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

More than one-third of Australians live outside our capital cities. It is these regional centres and rural communities that help drive our economy forward every single day. In regional electorates like mine, locals are raising families, running small businesses, producing food, powering our economy and building our future. Our government, the Albanese government, is committed to backing in regional communities just like mine, in the electorate of Corangamite. From health to housing, from education to early childhood education, from infrastructure to productivity, from energy to agriculture to cost-of-living measures, the Albanese government is investing in our regions because, no matter where Australians live, they should benefit from good government.

That means tax cuts for every taxpayer, including another cut this July. It means cheaper child care and building a universal early education system. It means expanded paid parental leave to 24 weeks. It means 30 per cent off home batteries to permanently cut household energy bills. It means cutting student debt by 20 per cent, for many a reduced debt of more than $5,500. It means the biggest reduction in the cost of PBS medicines in two decades. These are not metro policies or regional policies. They are policies for all Australians, including the millions living outside our regional cities, and, in regional communities like mine, that matters deeply.

In Corangamite, it means Medicare urgent care clinics, like the one in Torquay. They're now a permanent fixture of Medicare. They're free, accessible and close to home. It means a new headspace service in Armstrong Creek, delivering mental health support to young people and families in one of our fastest growing communities. It means a $20 million investment in Barwon Water's Black Rock Precinct through the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program, transforming environmental waste management across the Barwon region while supporting jobs, sustainability and long-term resilience. It means delivering the $318 million Barwon Heads Road stage 2 upgrade, connecting the fast-growing communities of Armstrong Creek and the Bellarine with Geelong. This is what practical delivery looks like.

It means the largest investment in Medicare's history, expanding bulk-billing, with seven local GP clinics in my electorate now moving to bulk-billing. We're also strengthening hospitals, investing in services but also infrastructure, with a $500 million investment in the Barwon Women's and Children's hospital, and we've doubled Roads to Recovery funding to deliver more upgrades in the regions. These investments are transformational for regions like mine. Indeed, so is our work to train more GPs and waive HECS for doctors and nurses who work in regional communities and our commitment to roll out even more Medicare urgent care clinics, with dozens in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Our budget on Tuesday also included the $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund to unlock more housing supply, including $500 million specifically for enabling infrastructure in regional communities. To make this a reality, to build the workforces we need, the Albanese government is backing in free TAFE, regional university study hubs, broadband expansions, road, rail and safer local infrastructure. We also understand the pressures regional Australians face right now, particularly around fuel, freight and supply chains. That's why this government is acting through a $10 billion fuel security and resilience package, fuel excise relief, protections for farmers and stronger safeguards for critical industries.

Of course, there is more to do, and that's why we are continuing to do the hard work to support regional Australians, because health care matters in the regions. Housing matters. Education matters. Economic resilience matters. And that's exactly what the Albanese government is doing. We are backing in our regional areas, keeping them front and centre, because we know that when we build communities in regional areas we are helping to build our nation's prosperity. It means we have free bulk-billing doctors. We can find a home, we can gain skills, we can build businesses and we can secure regional work. (Time expired)

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