Andrew Wallace (Speaker) | Link to this | Hansard source

I have received a letter from the honourable the Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:

The failure of the Government to do its job.

I call upon those members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.

More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) | Link to this | Hansard source

Indeed this is a government that never does its job, because it's too riven by disunity, dysfunction and dishonesty, and that's rendering it incapable of moving the country forward. The central characteristics that define this government mean that it's just not competent.

I've been Leader of the Opposition for three summers now. In the first summer, of course, we had the bushfire crisis, characterised by a Prime Minister who said, whilst in an interview in Hawaii, 'I don't hold a hose, mate.' The guy who doesn't hold a hose but wants your kid to drive a forklift—that's this Prime Minister. Of course, during that period he did come back, and he went through a period where he forced people who had been impacted by those bushfires to shake his hand.

The period was full of announcements. Something that's also characterised this government is announcement and then, 'Job done,' with no delivery. He announced $4 billion in the Emergency Response Fund. Of that, we know now that not one cent has been spent on recovery—not one cent. During that period, $836 million in interest payments has been added to the fund. This isn't a disaster recovery fund; this is more like a term deposit for the government, at a time when people in those communities are still living in caravans.

Of course, we know as well that, during that period, the Premier of New South Wales had this to say: that it was always about the politics. Gladys Berejiklian said, 'Lives are at stake today and he is just obsessed with petty political pointscoring.' We saw that again today. We had serious questions from the member from Eden-Monaro and the member for Gilmore, and how were they responded to by this government? Without any shame at all, this Prime Minister went out and spruiked the former member for Bega—not the current member for Bega, because that's a member of the Labor Party, Dr Holland, but the former member. The backlash against the Liberal Party is there for all to see, because Bega is a seat that's been there since the 19th century, and Labor had never held that seat, but we do today.

The second summer was, of course, the summer of vaccinations, when countries around the world were racing to get vaccinations to protect their populations. But for this Prime Minister it wasn't a race, so we ran right at the bottom of the queue. For a long time, we were barely in the top 100 countries, and as a result, of course, the booster rollout is later than in other parts of the world.

The third summer was, of course, the summer of rapid antigen tests, the crisis in aged care and the crisis for people with disabilities—the crisis for really vulnerable people in our community. There his response was: 'It's not my job; it's someone else's job. It's always for the states to respond.' We've seen over 700 people lose their lives in aged care. We see older Australians who've helped to build this country unable to get access to adequate food and water and unable to be showered. People are dying on their own, separated from their loved ones, because of this government's failure.

But, of course, we know that this is a Prime Minister who always chooses the political road and never looks at what the right thing is for the country. As the former Premier said, it's always about politics, not people, with this Prime Minister. That's reflected in all the characteristics of the government if you go through. We have a treasurer who's described by the Australian Financial Review as 'lighter than helium', and we see that every day at the dispatch box, with this absurd research being done, combing through the websites, combing through what people said at school and going through people's garbage looking for notes. It's just pathetic. He is the Treasurer who has presided over $1 trillion of debt, who has committed $60 billion errors in his adding up and who has not put in place appropriate protections for taxpayers' interests when it comes to the JobKeeper program, resulting in over $20 billion going to companies that were increasing their profits. He's a Treasurer without an economic reform agenda going forward.

Of course, we have a defence minister who thinks that national security is a political football, a defence minister who wants to speak about security but can't speak for one minute out of every three about those issues. We have a health minister who could have taken his moment to shine but has been reduced to a minor character in a Shakespearean tragedy. That's what this health minister has done. And we have a Deputy Prime Minister who perhaps its best to just say is an embarrassment, a national embarrassment to the country, and one who we hope campaigns throughout the country in both cities and regions. I say to the Deputy Prime Minister: you are welcome anywhere at all!

But this government is always about the politics, which is why it commits so many errors and why it doesn't deserve a second decade in office. We saw that last week with the chaos around the Religious Discrimination Bill. Here it is: a concept, an idea, that's supported by just about everyone in this parliament, I would hope. The idea that you shouldn't be discriminated against because of your faith is certainly something that Labor supports. But the government couldn't even get it right because they were too busy trying to play wedge politics and be clever. They wedged themselves and fell apart on the floor of this parliament and ended up voting against their own legislation. Then, when the amendment was carried consistent with what the Prime Minister had put to me in writing on 1 December and what he had told and leaked publicly to the media last December, he walked away from the legislation, but not before trying to do a deal in the cabinet about a national integrity commission, saying he would be prepared to bring it forward. He would not actually pass it. He was just doing a little trick to try to get the crossbenchers and some of his own party back on side. But he got rolled in his own cabinet room.

How do we know that? It's because this is a cabinet that leaks so hard it feels more like a dam bursting. These leaks are flooding out from the cabinet, from those opposite. Day after day, we have to put up with the leadership struggle in full view, a Prime Minister sitting there while Bill and Ben over there compete with each other on how they're going. Today we saw that even the Safer Communities Fund has been rorted by this government. It's a government that's good at rorts but not very good at RATs for people.

We on this side will continue to hold the government to account, but we will also be campaigning on a positive future, a better future for Australia, one where there's secure work, one where there are higher living standards, with wages being lifted while we make child care more affordable, where we have Medicare at the centre of the health system and where we have a future made in Australia. Have you noticed in two weeks there's been not a single question about our climate and energy policy released more than two months ago? It's a policy that will create 604,000 new jobs, will reduce power prices by $275, includes $52 billion of private sector investment, will reduce emissions by 43 per cent by 2030 and is supported by the Business Council of Australia, the National Farmers Federation, the ACTU, ACCI and the Australian Industry Group. That is what real policy does to take a country forward. That's along with our national reconstruction fund and our 'buy Australia' plan, which will support Australian industry, Australian jobs and Australian economic growth.

But instead we have a great pretender, someone who pretends he's a hair shampooer, pretends he's a fighter pilot, pretends he's a race car driver and pretends he's a ukulele player. He's someone who acts as the Prime Minister. He should just do his job. I have been acting Prime Minister before, in 2013. This guy has been acting Prime Minister since 2018, because he hasn't done his job. (Time expired)

Keith Pitt (Hinkler, National Party, Minister for Resources and Water) | Link to this | Hansard source

They've heard it all before, I have to say. This mob have got form. The Australian people know exactly what would happen if they came to government in a Labor-Greens alliance. I rarely get an opportunity to talk about my local electorate and doing our job and what it means for the people whom I represent, and I want to talk for a little piece just about what happens locally.

In terms of delivery, we are getting on with it. The Hinkler Regional Deal is a $170 million commitment from the Commonwealth. What has that resulted in? There is an upgrade to Boundary Road at Hervey Bay. That might not mean too much to the people in the chamber, but for the people of Hervey Bay it is a third crossing across the city, one that'll connect from Urangan all the way back to the main road out of town. It is one that will reduce congestion. It is one that will assist emergency services, particularly when they are trying to get from one end of the city to the other.

The palliative care facility at Hervey Bay is now complete and operational as part of the Hinkler Regional Deal. It is a facility that will be used by people in the local electorate for many years into the future. When they are at the most difficult period of their life, at the end of their time, they want to spend that time in a homelike environment. It is the commitment from this government that has delivered that palliative care facility for Hervey Bay and for the people of the region, who will go on to use it for many years.

The Hervey Bay town centre upgrade is well underway in terms of its planning. A lot of the consultation has been completed, and it will make a significant difference to the town of Hervey Bay. It will actually put a centre into Hervey Bay, an area that, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker O'Brien, has grown from a number of seaside coastal villages all the way through to what is now a thriving city which is growing incredibly fast. A lot of people are moving to Hervey Bay.

On top of what we've already done, there is a $6 million facility that has been built in Bundaberg for both LifeFlight and the Royal Flying Doctor Service. It includes new hangars and new facilities. Under the regional deal we provided $15 million that will be put towards a training facility for the Royal Flying Doctor Service—a simulator for their new King Airs or whatever type of aircraft they might decide to put in place. That will be in Bundaberg, and we're looking forward to the construction getting underway very soon, because, quite simply, these are the people that regional people rely on. They rely on the Royal Flying Doctor Service in their time of need. When they are out to the west, when they're out to the north, when they're out in the bush and they find themselves in a difficult position, whether that is through injury or illness, the Royal Flying Doctor Service are the ones they rely on to provide them with support to get them to further help, and we are here supporting the RFDS.

As part of the deal in Bundaberg, there will be a common conveyor. It doesn't sound like much for the Bundaberg port, but what I can tell you is that the Queensland state Labor government took more than two years to approve a simple conveyor to allow us to have more businesses working at the Bundaberg port, more economic activity and more jobs. Two years—that is simply outrageous. Of course, the costs of construction have now increased, and this means that it will be more challenging to get this built. But get it built we will, because it is important for our local economy. We have a port that has been reliant on the local sugar industry, which clearly is in decline. We have lost a number of local sugar mills, which means a loss in production, and this means a loss in capacity needed at the Bundaberg port. We need to expand its operations, and a common conveyor will allow things like timber pallets to be exported more successfully, whether that be into the resources sector in the western regions around Biggenden and whether that be elsewhere. The Bundaberg port has the ability to drive our local economy forward for the whole region. I know no-one knows more about this than you, Mr Deputy Speaker, in terms of what we need to drive our local region forward.

This week we committed $600 million to the Paradise Dam. That is $600 million of taxpayer support. It breaks my heart that we've had to do this, it really does. It is $600 million that could have gone towards a level 5 hospital in Bundaberg. It is $600 million that could have gone to extending the duplication of the Bruce Highway. It is $600 million that could have gone to further economic development. Instead, it is $600 million that is going towards fixing Queensland Labor's mistakes.

We should never forget the history of this dam built by the Beattie government. At a cost of around $300 million, it was built to a price and not to a standard, and what has resulted? They have spent tens of millions of dollars in repairs over the last 15 years. They spent over $100 million to knock down the existing wall. They released 100,000 megalitres of water that farmers were desperate for in the midst of a drought. And now it will take $1,200 million to repair this piece of equipment, this infrastructure that we desperately need.

We recognise it has to be fixed. We recognise it must be fixed. We need it for reliability of water for my local community and we need it to ensure confidence for our local agricultural sector and, of course, for water supply to the city of Bundaberg. The fact that we have to ensure a $1,200 million repair gets done is solely due to the Queensland Labor government's incompetence. It is appalling that this is where it has ended up. This is the biggest failure of public infrastructure in this country 's history. We will repair it, we will assist in the repair and we will make sure it happens. But, as the Deputy Prime Minister said, it has to be done in a certain time frame; we're not going to have the state government sitting around on their hands for the next 10 years. It has to be constructed. And we'll be supporting construction—not state required regulations or inquiries or more reports. It just needs to be fixed, and that is what we're looking to support.

I want to give a shout-out to some of the local community who fought hard to make sure this happens. That includes people like Janelle Gerry, at Macadamias Australia, and the whole Steinhardt family; Jamie Hansen, at Childers; and Bree Grima, from Bundaberg Fruit and Vegetable Growers. There are so many out there who took on this fight themselves. They put forward their own money. In fact, I am of the understanding that there is a lawsuit being looked at against the state Labor government about what has happened to this community. There have been a lot of sleepless nights for people who have invested their hard-earned money. Tens of millions of dollars has been invested in things like macadamia crops off the back of the reliability that was given by this dam. There was roughly 92 per cent reliability for water supply every single year. Last year it was 14 per cent. Currently that has improved because we have had rain. But the idea that we can have this move forward and remain in the current situation is unacceptable. That is why we put $600 million on the table to make sure that simply doesn't happen.

I'm very pleased that we're getting on with the job locally. It is the job of government to deliver things like this because it matters for our local economy, it matters for our local people and it matters for jobs. We as a government are very proud of our history and what we've done in the last three years. That includes ensuring the creation of 1.1 million jobs since the pandemic hit. It hasn't gone down; it has increased by 1.1 million since the pandemic hit. I want to thank all the hardworking men and women. Whether they are working in the resources sector, in the Murray-Darling Basin, in a small-to-medium business or elsewhere, they have simply done what they had to do. They have pulled this country through in terms of our economy due to their commitment, the risks they take and what they have delivered.

There have been 700,000 jobs saved through JobKeeper. We have 71.3 per cent of trade and exports now covered by free trade agreements. What does that mean to an individual? Quite simply, it means your job is secure if you're related to an export trade. If we look at the resources sector, we know that China, for example, has made some decisions which clearly we don't agree with. It meant there were exports from this country which were no longer being accepted and purchased by China. Free trade agreements mean we have options for those exports to go elsewhere. We as a government have spent time securing those agreements with other countries, and that is exactly what has happened. In my own portfolio, we have seen the resources sector increase exports into places like Vietnam, South Korea, Japan and India. I thank those nations for picking up that trade; it is incredibly important.

We in this country absolutely rely on what happens in the resources sector for the economy. Whether it is in the Murray-Darling Basin or elsewhere, it is how we pay for the essential services that Australians rely on. Could you imagine where this country would be positioned without the record economic contribution of the resources sector? In a year, it has provided $34 billion in taxes and royalties to state and federal governments. This is how we pay our bills. This is how we ensure that those hospitals are available. This is how we can commit $600 million to the Paradise Dam repairs.

Quite simply, we continue to build the economy, we continue to provide opportunities through free trade agreements and we continue to train Australians. And that is something I'm incredibly proud of—220,000 trade apprentices. That is the highest number since records began in 1963. I'm incredibly proud of what the resources sector is doing. Right across small and medium enterprises, they are engaging, they are employing new apprentices and trainees and they are providing opportunities for them to learn a trade, to learn a skill which they will utilise into the future—as I did as a skinny kid on 13 January 1987. I'm not quite as salubrious now in terms of the hair! It's not quite the same colour. And I might have gained a couple of kilos—as the member for Riverina is reminding me from the benches. A trade gives you opportunity, a trade means you can pay your own way and a trade means you can get on with life. I'm very pleased that we're helping to make that opportunity occur.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a government that has been failing to do its job and a Prime Minister who has been failing to do his job, and it is the people of Australia who suffer as a consequence of the Prime Minister's and the government's failure to do their jobs. What has this government been up to in recent times? You might have thought that they might have been trying to address the RAT shortage, or that they might have been trying to address job insecurity, or that, in my portfolio, they might have been trying to address their own failures to deliver recovery plans for threatened species or their failures in relation to the Murray-Darling Basin—but no.

Here's a catalogue of some of the things this government has been up to in recent times. Let's start with voting against their own antidiscrimination legislation. They voted against it, which was quite a shock to all of us who had spent a significant amount of time in the parliament advocating for antidiscrimination and antivilification provisions in relation to faith. They voted against their own legislation in the face of that debate.

They have also been spending their time looking up speeches made in 1991. I remember 1991 pretty well. I was in year 9 at Cairns State High School and it was a good year, but I don't think anyone would really care what I had to say in 1991 about anything. Yet we've got this desperate Treasurer and this desperate government sitting around trawling through the Leader of the Opposition's speeches from 1991 because they can't be bothered doing their jobs. They'd rather play up and play political games instead.

What else have they been doing? Trawling through minor-party websites. The Treasurer has the highlighter out and he's been getting printouts of the minor-party websites, looking for things he can highlight so he can bring them into question time and run an amazing 'gotcha'. What a crushing blow that is when you find something on a minor-party website and you wave it around in question time!

What else? Well, they've clearly all been auditioning for the Liberal Party leadership. That's very much what's on the minds of the Minister for Defence and the Treasurer himself. They all think the Prime Minister is a chance to be gone pretty soon, given his woeful performance as Prime Minister.

What else have they been doing? They have been leaking against each other. Who is leaking what? Cabinet leaks? We're hearing from Channel Ten there is another story on leaks tonight. They are a government so busy fighting each other that they cannot be bothered fighting for the people of Australia. That's who this government is. That's what they're spending their time doing.

What else have they been doing? Media stunts. Running their fingers through strangers' hair. They've been playing the ukulele. I would never hold playing the ukulele against someone—it is a terrific instrument; we've all heard that beautiful Hawaiian cover of 'Over the Rainbow', which is absolutely lovely—but why is the Prime Minister playing a Hawaiian instrument on national television when Australians are crying out for the aged-care crisis to be fixed, for RATs to be delivered, for the vaccine rollout to be done properly and for GPs to have certainty of supply? Why is the Prime Minister doing media stunts instead of his actual job?

What else have they been spending time on? Defending their rorts. We heard in question time today about the real-world consequences. When the Safer Communities Fund was rorted, it meant that important projects missed out; we spoke about that in question time today.

What else have they been doing? We had the Deputy Prime Minister offering his resignation over a text message criticising the Prime Minister. This is the amount of chaos this government is in. And it is an absolute disgrace, because while they are doing these things, while they are being self-indulgent and engaging in these political games, in this one-upmanship, in this backgrounding, in this leaking, in this texting, they are not standing up for the people of Australia. They are doing nothing to deliver a better future.

What else have they been doing? In my electorate they've been managing to make stuff up about an Aussie manufacturer who then had to take to the media to correct an incorrect claim this Prime Minister had made about their business on national television. Australian manufacturers deserve a government that will stand up for them, not attack them and make stuff up about them. That's what they deserve, and they will not get it, unfortunately, under this Prime Minister and this government.

I mentioned my portfolio. I want to mention two things. Firstly, on the environment, the government should have been doing its job and delivering a koala recovery plan. They have not done it; it's six years late. Secondly, on water, the minister managed to disregard a requirement of the Water Act that the second Review of the Water for the Environment Special Account be provided to him by the end of September and that he table it within 15 sitting days afterwards. It has been much more than that, and it has not happened.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

With apologies to Zach Galifianakis, playing Marty Huggins on The Campaign: I am an Australian, and I believe in Australian ingenuity and hard work—unlike my friends opposite, who believe that everyone should live in rainbow land. I'm referring to a doctrine written by the opposition leader called The Neoclassical Theory of the Competitive Market System. It's handwritten—in 1981. He tried to table it in question time yesterday. I think anybody that writes about the redistribution of wealth sounds like someone we don't need to elect. Am I right? Of course I am.

This matter of public importance debate is not Hollywood, nor is it political satire, but with the carry-on of the Labor-Greens voices for rainbow land alliance you'd be forgiven for thinking that we are in some sort of American comedy. But we are not. We do not live in rainbow land. Things aren't always for free, and certainly anything that the opposition leader comes up with that he handed in as a high school assignment really belongs to political satire.

We've heard in question time again today, with the Prime Minister and the Treasurer reminding the House and reminding the people of Australia, that those opposite stood for $387 billion of higher taxes should they have been elected at the last election—a retirees' tax and a housing tax. Indeed, they wanted to reach into the wallets and the purses of everyday, ordinary Australians—all Australians—and take their hard-earned money. Well, we on this side of the House stand for Australians keeping more of what they earn. That is our doctrine. That is our philosophy. It is not rainbow land.

The jobless rate is 4.2 per cent. It was 4.2 per cent in the Howard years. It went up to 5.7 per cent under those Rudd-Gillard-Rudd years, and of course now it's back down to 4.2 per cent. Why is that so? That is because we know that by backing small businesses and businesses they will invest in Australians. They will invest in apprentices. We heard the minister in response to the opposition leader talk about a record number of 220,000 trade apprentices who've been given a start, given an opportunity, given perhaps their first crack at a job, under the policies of the Liberals and the Nationals. It's not rainbow land. It's not some sort of high school assignment to put in.

Honourable Member:

An honourable member interjecting—

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I can hear the singing! Get in tune, maybe; it's not quite there yet! In regional Australia the unemployment rate is 3.8 per cent, and that is a remarkable number. That's almost full employment.

We heard the Prime Minister talking in question time today about us—Australia, the nation—retaining our AAA credit rating. Of all the countries in the world, we have done very well. According to the Johns Hopkins index, we're second in the world for our COVID preparedness response. That is credit to us, as a nation. I thank all Australians for the part that they've played and I thank the state premiers—all of them—for the part they've played and certainly the Prime Minister, the minister for health and all others involved in making sure that we kept Australians safe. We made sure that we protected lives and that we protected livelihoods with JobKeeper, with HomeBuilder and with all the other announcements that we have made, with all the other delivery that we put in place. This includes the 1.1 million jobs created since the pandemic hit and 11½ million Australians benefiting from tax relief, because we on this side believe in lower taxes. They on that side believe in higher taxes, taxing the billyo out of Australians. That's what they do. I can hear them carping and whining and whinging because they are offended by the fact that I am belling the cat when it comes to their higher taxing policies, policies that would lead to fewer Australians in work and policies that would lead to fewer women in work. We've got a very good record in that regard—putting more women into work. There were 700,000 jobs saved through JobKeeper, and you heard the minister talking about the free trade agreements. We will always back Australians. We, as Nationals, will always back country Australians. The regions are leading the way. That's what we're doing. (Time expired)

Peta Murphy (Dunkley, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Apparently the Prime Minister this morning told his party room, 'You do your job and I'll do mine.' It really raises a question, doesn't it: why bother starting now? More than 700 people have died in aged care with COVID this year alone, and we're about halfway through February. Why bother starting to do your job now, Prime Minister?

Every day, what we get from the Prime Minister and the ministers on his front bench and some of his very loud and talkative backbenchers is an attempt to divert from the failures that are racking up. The failures aren't just failures of politics; they are failures to resolve real problems, like the crisis in aged care, nursing homes and disability homes that is going unaddressed because all the Prime Minister can do is think up ways to try to campaign in question time and have scare campaigns about the opposition.

My community—like, I assume, many communities around this country—don't actually ask for all that much from their politicians and their leaders. They don't ask that much from government, except that they want a government that works in their interests and looks after them, particularly in their times of need and vulnerability. They don't want a government that fails to plan, fails to take action when it's needed and then makes last-minute announcements to try to patch over problems and fool people into thinking that it's doing its job or announces, just before an election comes, 'Now I'm going to do my job.'

Who suffers? Vulnerable Australian people. Two days ago, the CEO of Palliative Care South East in my home state told the Guardian:

… in the first three weeks after Christmas, as Omicron spread, she thought: "Oh my goodness, how are we going to survive?"

She says:

We had 50% of our staff furloughed on one day, and then to 25% on most days during that first couple of weeks of spread. But everyone from administration to senior management worked so hard to keep everyone supported.

She says:

… aged care facilities restricting visitors to the elderly in the last days of their life to avoid Covid spread was leading to thousands of people traumatised by a feeling they were unable to give their loved ones a proper goodbye.

Why is this the case? Because we have a prime minister and an aged-care minister who not only failed to reform the aged-care system and plan for the first wave of COVID but then failed to learn from the mistakes in that first wave so that people didn't have to go through the same thing again this year. There was an abject failure, no matter what the Minister for Health and Aged Care says in question time, to respond to the recommendations of the aged-care royal commission. If this Prime Minister thinks that his announcement of this $800 bonus for aged-care workers, with the last $400 to come just before the election, is going to fool people in the aged-care sector and people whose families are in aged-care facilities into thinking that this government is doing something to deal with the crisis, he's fooling himself.

This is an email I got from the manager of a local aged-care facility. I can't read out all of it, but here are some pretty powerful points: 'I'm writing to you to share how absolutely gutted I am about the selective aged-care worker bonus that was announced today. Tears well in my eyes as I write this email. I'm feeling absolutely hopeless that fair and equitable real change and recognition will ever happen in our sector. My staff are absolutely devastated that the government once again seeks to divide our workers into those who are valued and those who are left wondering what they did wrong. The government refuses to recognise the very valuable contribution of all aged-care staff who work in residential aged-care facilities, and again the reception, maintenance and lifestyle staff are cast aside as unworthy of recognition. Our resident services coordinator rang the director of nursing absolutely sobbing this morning when she heard the announcement, wondering why staff don't matter to the government. The government doesn't care about what they do. Why bother starting to do your job now, Prime Minister? You can't do it.

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The COVID-19 pandemic has been the greatest challenge that the world has faced since World War II. It's challenged leaders. It's challenged systems. It's challenged countries. Across the world 412 million people have had COVID, and sadly 5.8 million people have died. When you look around the world, under the leadership of the Morrison government, Australia has had one of the best responses in the world. I want to compare Australia's response to a range of other countries that we usually compare ourselves with.

When you look at our vaccination rate, our vaccination rate today is above 93 per cent. Canada's vaccination rate is 80 per cent. New Zealand's vaccination rate is 78 per cent. The UK's vaccination rate is 71 per cent. The US's vaccination rate is 64 per cent. Globally, 61 per cent of people are fully vaccinated. Australia is second only, according to my research, to South Korea in our level of vaccination per population in terms of countries that we would usually compare ourselves with.

While any death at any occasion is tragic, Australia's death rate is far lower than the countries that we would usually compare ourselves with. In the US alone nearly a million people have died. They've had 2,831 deaths per million. In the UK, over 160,000 people have died, which is 2,331 deaths per million. In Canada, 35,470 people have died. That's 930 deaths per million. In Australia, where over 4,600 people have sadly died, we are at 180 deaths per million. Every death is a tragedy, but our death rate is far lower than the countries that we would usual compare ourselves with.

At the same time that the COVID-19 pandemic has beset our country and the world, we have faced extraordinary defence and security challenges of the sort that we haven't seen for decades. Under the leadership of the Morrison government, we have stood up, and Australia has prepared itself and formed new alliances and hardened its defence spending and infrastructure. Whether that is through AUKUS, whether it is through the comprehensive strategic partnerships we now have with India, the Pacific nations, South Korea or whether it's the new defence agreements or the interoperability agreement with Japan, we are stepping up in our defence responsibilities. If you remember when we came to government, defence spending had dropped to pre World War II levels.

We live in an environment where the national security situation is far more complex than it's ever been, and it's the reason why we've brought in a whole range of important national security laws. Whether it's laws dealing with foreign interference or espionage, or critical infrastructure, or laws dealing with the ability to expel people who are visa holders who've committed violent crimes here, Australia has taken a tougher border security approach. It's appropriate we do so. The situation in Ukraine is a reminder of the instability of our world today. The world is falling into camps that we haven't seen since the Cold War, with Russia and China on one side and the rest of the world largely on the other.

Despite all the challenges, the Australian economy has proven itself to be highly resilient and well performing, again under the leadership of the Morrison government. We have a 4.2 per cent unemployment rate, the lowest in 13 years. Consumer confidence figures out today have seen an increase of three per cent. Australia has retained it's AAA credit rating, and 1.1 million new jobs have been created since the pandemic, and 300,000 Australians have been helped into their homes. Our power prices are the lowest they have been in eight years, and 11½ million taxpayers are benefiting from tax relief, including 57,000 families in my own electorate.

In my electorate the work of the Morrison government has delivered important milestones like NorthConnex, which has taken 6,000 trucks off Pennant Hills Road every single day—that's 20 per cent more than we had imagined. It's meant people can get around their community more quickly. It's meant that, for people who are living on Pennant Hills Road, the road is quieter, and there are fewer accidents. When we think of some of the infrastructure upgrades in our community, we think of Greenway Park; the $2.7 million that benefits all sorts of sporting bodies; and Pennant Hills Park, which has recently had it's DA approved and which will do the same. There's the money that's been spent in education, including the capital grant to Mount St Benedict College to allow that school to expand. All of these things are because of the leadership of the Morrison government. Whether it's at the global, at the national or at the community level in my electorate, the Morrison government continues to deliver for all Australians.

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on this matter of public importance: Australians know all too well the failure of this government to do their job. The only job they want to do is to do a job on one another, and we saw about 10 minutes ago breaking news from Channel 10 that the Prime Minister is about to do a job on one of his ministers. Whatever happened to the party of, 'If you have a go, you get a go'? After three years of this Prime Minister, we've gone from, 'If you have a go, you get a go', to, now, 'We have a job to do; I'm going to do mine and I need you to do yours.' Inspiring stuff! It's a bit like the slogan in Futurama, 'You gotta do what you gotta do.'

We went from Tony Abbott, who—when he realised that things weren't going well for him—said, 'Good government starts today,' to Malcolm Turnbull, who promised stable government about three years into his term. And now the Prime Minister is promising to 'do his job'. Wouldn't it be nice if he had realised that he had a job to do at the start of this pandemic, rather than when we are two and a bit years in, if he'd started doing his job when people were telling him there was a crisis in aged care, if he'd started doing his job when people—including trade unions—were telling him to order rapid antigen tests or if he had done his job when people from Pfizer were saying, 'We'd like to speak to you about getting vaccinations for the people in your country.' If only he had done his job. I'm worried that we are going to repeat mistakes again and again under this government.

We saw the strategy from this Prime Minister where, every time something went wrong, he would blame the states. And then we saw in question time today the new strategy: blame the nation-states. When he was asked about the increasing cost of beef in Australia, he blamed it on the situation in Ukraine! Let's blame the nation-states. We know he likes to attack states—he has attacked the great state of Queensland many times and he attacks the great state of Western Australia on a regular basis. We've seen a number of times that he wants to attack Western Australia, so much so that he even wrote a cheque to cover Clive Palmer 's court costs.

Terri Butler (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for the Environment and Water) | Link to this | Hansard source

What a disgrace!

Patrick Gorman (Perth, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Western Australia) | Link to this | Hansard source

It is disgraceful. We then saw the Deputy Prime Minister today talking about 'the forgotten roads'. Well, what about the forgotten state? The Deputy Prime Minister talks about infrastructure projects in every state and territory except one: Western Australia. I would love to see the Deputy Prime Minister come to Western Australia. I dare him to visit during the campaign. I'm sure that the same exemptions, in fact, that were available to Minister Dutton are also available to the Deputy Prime Minister, so if he wanted to come over he could.

Then we go to the never-ending digging into the essays, looking for this scrap—that is how hard this government has had to dig. Maybe it's that the Treasurer never said anything stupid when he was young—but he's making up for it now! This is a Treasurer described by the Australian Financial Review as 'lighter than helium', the same newspaper that revealed the member for Mackellar's plans for an inheritance tax. It is the only major party—this is from the chair of the economics committee, appointed by the Prime Minister—calling for death duties. This is spectacular. But we know that this government actually likes to float a lot of different ideas about taxes. When the Prime Minister was Treasurer he put out a plan to increase the GST. He said that increasing the GST was an 'opportunity', but then he was told off—slapped down. But this government successfully taxed young Australians when it introduced a knowledge tax to jack up the price of university degrees for Western Australians and for Australians across the board.

Then we get back to this government's deep, decades-long Liberal and National parties' entanglement with Clive Palmer. One of the jobs that this government doesn't do is stand up against Clive Palmer. At the moment, there is—I can't talk about it—a defamation case in the courts where Clive Palmer and the Premier of Western Australia are battling it out. I can assure you of this: you will never see a member of this government being sued by Clive Palmer for defamation. They have never ever stood up to Clive Palmer and they never will, because he is helping them try to get re-elected. (Time expired)

Melissa McIntosh (Lindsay, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition leader likes reminding us daily that he peaked in high school when he got an A on his economics test, but the Australian people and running government require adults making adult decisions, like on national security. The member opposite who just spoke mentioned Ukraine. This is an important lesson for the member opposite. He may have liked to have looked up economics 101 before coming into the chamber. The impact of gas prices in regard to the issues going on with Ukraine is directly related to Australia's issues around cost of living, which the Prime Minister addressed today in question time. When we are talking about adults making adult decisions and the Morrison government, we have to look at our achievements when it comes to the economy and getting our country through the pandemic and retaining our AAA rating. When we look at strengthening our national security, we need to look at which government, the coalition or a Labor-Greens government, will be best placed to ensure Australians have strong borders, with national security at the forefront of everything they do.

Looking at how we can best deliver for our local communities is what I like to talk about most. Also delivering jobs is something I'm really passionate about in my community of Lindsay. Since the pandemic hit, it's quite an achievement that over 1.1 million jobs have been created. Many thousands of these jobs—in fact, 28,000—will be delivered with the construction of Western Sydney airport. This is a national delivery. It's a job getting done nationally, a great achievement for the Morrison government but also a great local achievement. This is game changing for Western Sydney, linking us to the world when it comes to produce, in particular, and getting our produce across the world quickly.

Another thing I would like to talk about when it comes to getting the job done is supporting women and also the packages that we are delivering for women in the workforce but also, as the minister talked about today, ensuring that women and children are safe. I was really proud, again, to deliver on an election commitment for caseworkers for Penrith to ensure that women escaping domestic violence are looked after. This is something I'm really, really proud of.

We are talking about delivering for community. There is nothing I like talking about more than delivering my plan for Lindsay. I've been working hard for three years to do this. There are infrastructure projects like the fully funded Dunheved Road upgrade of $127 million. This will ensure that people in my community can get to where they are going and home again safer and quicker. There's nothing we want more than that for people. We are also ensuring that we have healthy active living spaces. There is nothing that people love more than the Nepean River. I worked really hard to deliver upgrades to the Nepean River, ensuring that the river is kept healthy for people and children to enjoy for generations to come.

We're also delivering $1.2 million to the Penrith Valley Regional Sports Centre, which will ensure kids can get the best access to sporting facilities there. Also in Kingswood, with Chapman Gardens, there's an upgrade that will benefit softball, cricket and rugby league. This is making sure that our kids have access to fantastic facilities so they can live their dreams of becoming future sports stars or just staying healthy, which is really, really important for all our local children.

One of the members opposite talked about supporting manufacturing. There's nothing I'm more passionate about than supporting manufacturing in Western Sydney, with over 600 local manufacturers. That's what we've been doing through the instant asset write-off. When I go to manufacturers around my electorate, they tell me about the infrastructure that they have been able to invest in and the way that this Morrison government measure has changed their business. It's enabled them to upgrade and employ more people and, importantly, more apprentices, many more thousands of apprentices, actually a record number of 220,000 trade apprentices, which is a record high under the Morrison government, because we're getting on with the job of delivering for the Australian people.

Anika Wells (Lilley, Australian Labor Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I always love it when the government brings up the instant asset cash write-off, because it's a proud policy initiative of the former member for Lilley during the Rudd government. I will pass along your compliments and your regards to him that his legacy endures in the House for the members of the government, such a good policy that it was.

It seems as though, over the last three years, the Prime Minister has done every single job but his own. He came to Geebung in my electorate of Lilley to hammer a nail into a piece of wood on an empty construction site. He washed a lady's hair in the member for Dunkley's electorate. He was a footy water boy. He's cosplayed a truck driver, a pilot and a race car driver. He's played at everybody's job but his own. He doesn't hold a hose, but he wants your kid to drive a forklift.

We also have a Treasurer who is more focused on trawling his opponent's websites to throw mud than to develop policies that will help the household budget of a working family in Boondall or Sandgate. A polite heads-up: it speaks volumes about this government and this Treasurer if he thinks that the vital infrastructure portfolio is not inextricably linked to economic development, economic management and the federal budget.

While the Prime Minister is gallivanting around the country trawling innocent shopfronts of the outer suburbs for photo opportunities, and the Treasurer busies himself on his little screen in the wee hours with dishonest and unhinged scare campaigns, ordinary working families in Australia are not getting a look in. The cost of living is skyrocketing. Real wages are going down. Forty per cent of young Australians have never had a permanent full-time job. This is the price that Australians are paying for a government that's been in office for a decade now—and, with a straight face, it's asking for a second.

The Prime Minister's failure to do his job has made it harder for northsiders living in my electorate of Lilley to make a decent living and find local, high-skilled, secure jobs of their own. At a time when productivity and wages are flatlining, vocational education and training have the potential to grow the economy and sustain the secure, well-paid jobs in Lilley. New data from the National Centre for Vocational Education has revealed that fewer trainees and apprenticeships are finishing their course than in previous years under Labor. In Lilley, 8,000 trainees and apprentices have finished their traineeship or apprenticeship under the last Labor government. But under the coalition, under this government, only 4,722 apprentices and trainees have finished their course over the same amount of time—that is, 3,278 fewer apprentices and trainees who have finished their course. That is a 41 per cent decrease in hairdressers, carpenters, fully qualified electricians, mechanics and chefs on the northside.

This is not a coincidence or happenstance; it is a consequence of years of coalition cuts to federal TAFE and vocational training budgets. The Morrison government's 2021-22 federal budget slashed TAFE funding by 24 per cent. It really is just another example of the Morrison government failing young people. They are all spin and no action when it comes to jobs and training. Young people living on the northside need a genuine strategic plan so that they have the skills required for the jobs of the future in digital, new energy and advanced manufacturing. We know that that is the ticket to a lifetime of opportunity. And we know that vocational education graduates are valuable workers and contribute tens of billions of dollars to the economy each year. That is why an Albanese Labor government will invest 450,000 free TAFE places in sectors with critical skills shortages.

Manufacturing start-ups in my electorate like GEM Energy in Pinkenba, Triple Eight Race Engineering and Vaulta in Wavell Heights have demonstrated local businesses capability to innovate and produce goods that improve our quality of life, create new jobs and boost our economy. I recently visited the headquarters of Vaulta, which is a modest enterprise in Wavell Heights. The founder and director, Dominic Spooner, is on a mission to make batteries more recyclable by designing a reusable battery casing to create less waste and a lighter product. An Albanese Labor government will invest $15 billion in the National Reconstruction Fund to partner with businesses like these to rebuild industries and to create well-paid, secure jobs for all Australians.

According to a leak from the coalition party room this morning, the Prime Minister told his party that he was going to do his job and that they should do their job. It is revelatory stuff, nearly 10 years into the gig! And, as we speak here in the House, we await the latest leak from the Morrison cabinet to air on tonight's news—the third cabinet leak in a week. Apparently the PM is preparing to sack one of his own ministers, and there are so many options! Which— (Time expired)

Luke Howarth (Petrie, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Youth and Employment Services) | Link to this | Hansard source

Australian youth are leading the way in their grit and determination in the wake of COVID-19, and I thank young Australians right throughout this country for what they've been doing. In December alone, employment rose by 64,800 and most of this was youth employment. Youth unemployment has now dropped below 10 per cent, which was a personal goal of mine. It's fantastic that this has happened, and there is more work to do. I say to young people throughout Australia: we're with you, we're right behind you and there's a great opportunity right now to find work, with jobs and labour in high demand.

Youth are our future, and that's why this government will continue to invest in them. Think about skills and TAFE and everything that we're investing there. The Morrison government has invested some $7.1 billion this year alone in skills and training. We don't hear that from those opposite. We hear negativity, as usual. This is double what we were investing pre the pandemic—$7.1 billion this year alone in skills, training and TAFE. There are a record 220,000 apprentices in trade training—the highest number since records began in 1963. That's how the Australian government is taking decisive action and has set the stage for our economy to bounce back.

This is happening right across the country. Because of this, there are more people in work and we're able to invest in our local communities. In my own local community in Griffin, we're about to start the Henry Road upgrades. Moreton Bay Regional Council, along with $4 million from the Australian government, is about to upgrade Henry Road, and the people in Griffin know that this is much needed. We've also just pumped $200,000 into Osprey House, which is an environmental centre in Griffin in my electorate. That will enable major refurbishments this year. This great for the local environment. Previously we did a Green Army project down there, and we are seeing eucalypts planted six years ago now maturing for koalas. We've also made bird boxes and built a birdwatching hide down there. It's a great spot down near the water at Dohles Rocks. Get on down there. I and the member for Dickson have also invested in USC University, which is the only university now in the Moreton Bay region. We've upgraded the Bruce Highway, which is really important as well.

Tax relief is so important, and the Morrison government has legislated tax relief for Australians. This is really important. At the last election in 2019, there was an election commitment to reduce tax. Given what we've legislated for 2024, it means that we're going to see people, effectively, get a pay rise as that kicks in, because tax will be reduced from between 2½ per cent and 15 per cent for those earning between $45,000 and $200,000. That means more money in the bank for their own families. Whether you're single, whether you're double income with no kids as a couple, or whether you're a family with young children or you have teenagers—like me, with three sons aged 19, 17 and 15—this tax relief will help families make their home repayments, pay their energy bills and fill up their car. All this has happened under the Morrison government. We know that those opposite continue to want to raise taxes. You've just got to look at what they took to the last election. Don't believe that all those things have gone. Mark my words: they'll be bringing those things back.

What we're also seeing as we reduce tax is unemployment falling to 4.2 per cent—one of the lowest unemployment's rates in the nation's history. More people in jobs actually brings more tax into the Australian coffers, which means that we can invest in more suburbs like Bracken Ridge. In Bracken Ridge, we've recently upgraded Telegraph Road. We've installed night lighting for the Ridge Hills United Football Club, which is on the Bald Hills-Bracken Ridge border. We've just finished Hoyland Street; everyone in Bracken Ridge will know that it's gone from two lanes to four lanes, which is so important for that community down near the Brisbane City Council. We've upgraded Norris Road and Barbour Road; people will find that that small roundabout has now gone and that the signalised intersection is allowing traffic to flow. We've also done oval upgrades for St Joseph's, for the Parents and Friends Association. We've done funding for education and training at the Bracken Ridge Baptist Church, for new solar panels at the scout hall, and for the Bracken Ridge Kindergarten play space.

I could go on to talk about other suburbs, like Deception Bay, but I've run out of time. Know that the Australian government is behind you.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

The time for the discussion has expired.