We're here today to talk about farmers and small businesses, and I'm more than happy to talk about that. When you travel across the electorate of Bullwinkel, from the hills right down through the Avon Valley, through Toodyay, York, Beverley and Northam and right across our agricultural heartland, you see the two pillars of the Western Australian economy working side by side: our farmers and our small business owners. The Albanese Labor government knows that real support for our regions means showing up in every portfolio, and I'd like to talk about some of those portfolios: education, health, transport, tax relief and, in opening up markets, telecommunications and regional economy.

But let's talk about education. For a long time, if our young people in regional WA wanted to pursue higher education they faced an impossible choice: to pack up their lives and move to the city or to give up on their ambitions. We're changing that, and I was incredibly proud to join the education minister, Jason Clare, to officially open the new Regional University Study Hub in Northam. This builds on the tremendous success of the study hub that we've already put in York, which has been open longer and has already proven that when you give locals the space, the technology and the support to study locally it means our kids can stay connected to their regional families and communities and keep their talent and that local businesses get the skilled workforce they need to grow. We are applying the same practical commitment to the regional areas in the health department.

We also know the immense pressures on our farmers, primary producers and regional small-business operators—pressures driven by the seasonal markets and the everyday demands of running an enterprise, which a lot of us on this side are fully aware of. Mental health support cannot be something that you can access only by driving two hours away. That's why we opened the Medicare mental health urgent care clinic in Northam to support the regional people. It is 100 per cent bulk-billed. You don't need a referral. You don't need an appointment. If you or a loved one are doing it tough you can simply walk through the door and get free professional, compassionate care when you need it. That sits alongside our historic expansion of Medicare, delivering more bulk-billed GP visits and waiving the HECS debt for doctors and nurses who commit to working in the regions for five years—more doctors and nurses where we need them in the regions.

We're also fixing vital transport arteries that our primary producers rely on every day to get their grain, livestock and goods to freight depots and ports. This includes a major investment in Bullwinkel in Toodyay Road, which is a major road to get from the city to the shire of Toodyay, and I happened to be there on Saturday for the Toodyday Agricultural Show. We are making upgrades to that road, for road safety, worth $112 million from the federal government plus an additional $28 million from the state Labor governments. We are making these freight routes safer and more efficient for heavy vehicles, local families and of course tourists. And across the nation we have backed that up by doubling Roads to Recovery funding to $4.4 billion, with 85 per cent going directly into regional Australia.

We have also, of course, reached a record high with our farmers of over $100 billion worth of farm-gate production, hitting that national milestone four years ahead of schedule. We've had 286 market access achievements, opening 40 brand new overseas markets and tearing down trade barriers so WA grain, livestock and produce can reach the world. And for the 2.7 million small businesses that power our economy—the tradies, the shopfronts, the local service operators—we've delivered practical bottom-line certainty, of which my fellow speakers have already spoken.

Our farmers and small-business owners do not ask for handouts. They ask for fair access, reliable infrastructure, affordable health care and a government that respects the contribution that they make to our nation's prosperity. And that is what the Albanese Labor government is delivering.