Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the Morrison-Joyce government support for sticking to the national plan will support the aviation sector, protect jobs and industry, and guarantee essential services, providing a safe pathway through the COVID-19 pandemic?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to commend the question asked by the honourable member for Flynn. The honourable member for Flynn has asked a question about services and regional areas—and he would know about services, because the honourable member for Flynn ran a hardware business providing services and hardware, and he ran a fuel business providing fuel services to the people of his community, and he also owned O'Dowd's Irish pub—who woulda thunk it!—providing all sorts of services and beverages and other things to half the city of Rockhampton. So he also understands how important it is and how vital it is to make sure that people arrive in Rockhampton, and that is why he had to rely on a coalition government for the Domestic Aviation Network Support scheme, the Regional Airline Network Support scheme and the Tourism and Aviation Network Support scheme, and why he understood quite clearly that under the Domestic Aviation Network Support scheme was support for the accreditation of people who worked at airports, also vitally important. He understood quite clearly the $750 that was paid to people in hotspots and how that kept them in their jobs.

And I tell you what, Mr Speaker, the member for Flynn also understands that the Australian people want their freedoms and liberties back and that the safe plan to do that is with the coalition, as we do it as quickly as possible. The Australian people want their lives back. The Australian people want to live like they did before. They want to get back to O'Dowd's Irish pub, because that is part of our culture. It's part of our fabric. And I apologise for all the advertising I'm doing for O'Dowd's Irish pub, but it's worth it!

Through the process of these aviation packages, we have moved nearly two million people, and that is a great sense of the efficacy of a coalition policy to deliver back to regional areas. In delivering back to regional areas and delivering services—like the member would know, we have to have people who work in regional areas. And I commend the work done by the minister for agriculture, David Littleproud, and others. We have brought forward the ag visa, which is also vitally important in providing the services so we get the food out of the paddock, and so we can get it to Rockhampton, so we can cook it in the kitchen, so we can serve the people who go to O'Dowd's Irish pub! Because we are the people who understand regional Australia. We run businesses, we understand businesses, and we know what needs to be done. We're going to give the Australian people their lives back and their liberties back as quickly as possible, and we have the safe plan to do it.