Ted O'Brien (Fairfax, Liberal Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, the Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026. These bills draw on the Consolidated Revenue Fund to finance continued operation of government and to give effect to decisions taken since the budget. Together, they appropriate $98.2 billion from consolidated revenue for the 2025-26 year.

To be very clear, the opposition will not oppose these bills. Our support ensures the continuity of essential government services and funding for ongoing activities. However, that support does not mean that the coalition, the opposition, endorses the government's management of the Australian economy or its economic program. In fact, we are strongly of the view, based on the evidence already in after three years of the Albanese government, that they are doing a very poor job of managing the economy. As a consequence of their poor economic management, we are seeing Australians becoming poorer and the economy becoming weaker. We know Australians are poorer because they are experiencing the largest drop in living standards among the developed world. The largest single drop is here in Australia, and the Australian people are feeling it. They're feeling it right across the country, no matter what it is people are doing in their daily lives.

When one's living standards fall so much, families in particular have hard decisions to make. We are talking about families who are not just cancelling holidays but are telling their children they can't buy that new pair of shoes. Some children are having to move school because their parents can't afford the school they were going to. We are seeing hard decisions being made by families about how to live their lives. We are seeing senior citizens make hard decisions such as do they eat at night or do they heat their homes. These are the day-to-day consequences of very poor economic management, where you do see the Australian people suffering, and enormously so.

We know that the Australian people have been experiencing a per capita recession. That continues to be the case. We have the cost of living only getting worse. We've seen the price of rent and housing go up by around 20 per cent. Insurance is up by well over 20 per cent. Electricity and gas have gone up by well over 38 or 39 per cent. These are enormous increases in everyday costs for the everyday Australian, and that's just the start.

We know that it's not just the Australian people feeling poorer but the economy itself being weaker. We see that through the insolvency figures, because, under this government, this is the biggest drop in solvent businesses that we've had in our history—that is, more companies than ever before have become insolvent. We know that, and, in every town in Australia you walk through, you can see the shops which have closed. You can talk to the cafe and restaurant owners; they've been doing it tough—the small businesses. Any business which is reliant on energy in particular is suffering because they're dealing with the highest electricity prices in the world today. That's Australia. That's the Australia of 2025 under this government. It is why you also see our major manufacturers closing their doors. Look at smelters right across the country; the only thing that's keeping them working at the moment is the fact that governments come in and basically subsidise their operations. Such is the pain being felt by not just the Australian people but businesses operating in the Australian economy.

There are two imperatives that this government should be mindful of: (1) it needs to stop its spending spree and (2) it needs to start growing the economic pie. On the first, when it comes to stopping the spending spree, outside of recession we have not seen this level of government spending since 1986—an extraordinary amount of spending. We have seen spending as a percentage of GDP go from 24 to 27 per cent. We have seen in this year's budget the plan for this government to spend $160 billion more than only a bit over three years ago, in the last coalition budget. They just keep on spending. And this government cannot claim that the spending spree is due to pressures on the budget that are coming from the NDIS, aged care, pensions et cetera alone. No, this is a government that has made deliberate decisions on budget measures from which, quite candidly, this economy has not been able to produce the revenues. So what does this government do? It goes to debt and it goes to tax.

When it comes to debt, we have seen debt go up enormously. This government has added around $100 billion to the national credit card over the last three years. We have debt quickly racing to $1 trillion. It'll hit around $1.2 trillion by the time of the next election. Every time this government puts more debt on the national credit card, it's putting debt on the next generation of Australians, because it's them, the next generation, who will have to pay off Labor's debt. This government knows it, but it continues to saddle the next generation with more and more debt. Why? Because it cannot stop its spending spree.

The second imperative is to start growing the economic pie. The problem here again—it's all in the evidence of the last three years, and we've seen it at the household level. We've seen this economy actually shrink in size. We have seen productivity go backwards—it's been in decline—by over five per cent over the last three years. This is a government which is sending the economy backwards. Just recently, the RBA downgraded their forecast for both productivity and economic growth. Here we have a government where economic growth is less than half of the long-run average. When the economy actually shrinks for the Australian household, you know there's a problem. So what do they do? If it's not debt, there's one other thing they're doing: taxes. We are still in the early days of the second term of the Albanese government. The only tangible economic measure this government brought into this term is to saddle Australians with higher taxes, and that is through its superannuation tax. It's super big and super bad, and it will be hitting the Australian people. Worst of all, it crosses a red line in tax law by introducing the taxation of unrealised capital gains—in other words, theoretical profits. This government wants to tax Australians on profits they haven't even made. This is the state of affairs we are dealing with.

We have asked in this chamber many a time of the Treasurer or the Prime Minister whether or not they would rule out extending the taxation of unrealised capital gains into other areas. They will not rule that out. Whether that be family trust or the family home, who knows? This government has been asked many a time in this chamber over recent weeks as to whether or not it would rule out a series of taxes. It will not rule out any further taxes, and we know why it needs more taxes—because (1) it will not stop its spending spree and (2) it has proven to be incapable of growing the economic pie, which means it's either debt or taxes. They're the only things. If you're going to just keep on spending, you've got to put more on the next generation in terms of debt—which, yes, they're doing—or they've got to come after people's tax, and that's precisely what they plan to do.

I'll finish with this: there's one simple thing this government could do it if it wanted to fix the fiscal mess that it has created. The first thing it could do, if it wanted to start fixing the budget, is to introduce some fiscal rules. Every single government since the Hawke government, except the Albanese government, has had rules that the Treasurer has had to abide by, rules that would basically contain spending. This prime minister has allowed this treasurer to have free rein. As cabinet ministers and backbenchers rock up with their hands out, wanting more from the Treasurer, there are no rules—off it goes! More money is spent. The starting point to fixing the budget is to introduce fiscal rules. If it's good enough for every single government since Hawke, why is it not good enough for this government, especially given that spending is out of control, that they're not growing the economy, that Australians are feeling so poor and that the economy is becoming so weak? With that, I conclude my remarks on the appropriation bills.

Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm pleased to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, the Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, to support the passage of them and to talk about the positive impact of the budget handed down in March and our commitments from the May election and the government's economic plan and reform agenda for this term of government, both for the nation and for my electorate of Blair.

At the outset, I want to say a few things about the broader economic context because it's always critical for the framing of any budget. The Labor Party is the party of lower taxes. The coalition voted against our tax cuts in the last parliament and took a policy to the last election, notwithstanding what the shadow Treasurer said, that would increase personal income tax on the 80,000 Australian taxpayers in my electorate and also around the country. Let's be clear. When we came to power, we were emerging from a sustained period of global inflation, and that inflation surge was primarily caused by international supply-side factors such as the war in Ukraine, which had an impact on energy prices, and the global supply chain pressures arising out of the post-COVID international economic environment. This caused inflation and cost-of-living pressures to rise well before our government came to power in Australia. Inflation at a high level is something we inherited, not something we caused, as those opposite and their cheer squads, some in the media, would like to assert.

We're putting downward pressure on inflation and bringing inflation into the band of two to three per cent, and we have done so. That has been the centrepiece of government economic strategy not just over our first four budgets. For governments for a long time, the aspiration has been to have inflation within a two to three per cent band. Of course, it is something that the Reserve Bank of Australia also supports strongly. We've made significant progress on that front—inflation is below three per cent; it was six per cent and rising when we came to office in 2022. New monthly ABS figures out last week show headline and underlying inflation is still well below three per cent, for the eighth month in a row, and still within the Reserve Bank's target band. On top of this, the ABS data shows that the government's cost-of-living policies are actually detracting from inflationary pressures, not adding to them—contrary to what those opposite think.

While most other advanced economies have had to trade progress on inflation for higher unemployment, negative economic growth or, indeed, a recession, we've managed to preserve a strong labour market at the same time as strong job and wage growth. It's no small achievement, and I commend the government—the Treasurer, in particular—for it. The latest jobs figures for July show Australia's unemployment rate remains historically low, falling to 4.2 per cent, while a record 1.15 million new jobs have been created since Labor came to office in 2022.

What's more is that real wages, which were falling sharply under those opposite—remember, it's a deliberate design feature to keep wages low under them—have been growing strongly under us. We've improved the budget, with the first back-to-back surpluses in almost two decades. They promised to be 'back in black' and to have a budget surplus every year. They didn't deliver one for the near-decade they were in government. We've brought debt and debt interest down and we've restrained real spending growth with a $207 billion positive turnaround in the budget, the biggest nominal improvement in the budget in a single term. Unlike our predecessors, we've banked the vast majority of revenue upgrades, with fiscal policy and cost-of-living assistance working hand in glove with the Reserve Bank's monetary policy.

In summary, we've been able to pull off lower debt, reduced inflation, low unemployment, falling interest rates, higher real wages, improved living standards, record job creation and a growing economy. That's what a good government does. It's no small feat, and it means we're well-positioned to navigate the uncertainty and volatility we're seeing in the global economy right now. But there's more work to do. While the data and economic fundamentals are looking much better, these numbers don't always reflect people's lived experience or how people are feeling in the real world.

We know a lot of people are still doing it tough, especially those vulnerable members of our community, so the government's focus has also been about cost-of-living relief. We've been responsible economic managers but want to make meaningful cost-of-living relief while building Australia's future with a stronger and more productive economy.

I want to talk about some key budget measures and election commitments that will benefit my local community. First, the government is delivering more tax relief in the budget, with two more tax cuts— those opposite took to the election a position opposing them—to every Australian taxpayer in 2026 and 2027, adding to the first round we delivered in July last year. That means 80,000 taxpayers in my electorate of Blair will receive a new tax cut from next year of up to $268 in 2026-27 and up to $536 in 2027-28. It will increase take-home pay for people and ease cost-of-living pressures, especially for people on low and middle incomes.

In fact, the OECD's 2025 employment outlook analysis confirms that the Albanese government is delivering the lowest personal income tax rates in 50 years, while unemployment levels are below the OECD average. That analysis also notes that, when combined with the government's cheaper childcare policy, our tax cuts will increase the financial rewards for working people and, in fact, will help with additional working days, especially for secondary earners in the household—in other words, people will get a benefit from working harder and longer, including more money in their pockets and more financial security for their households. It is also expected that there would be a boost female workforce participation, which, in turn, would increase our GDP or economic growth. The OECD analysis is really a ringing endorsement of the government's economic strategy.

In addition to tax cuts, every household in my electorate, along with eligible small businesses, is getting an extra $150 to help with their power bills, building on previous rounds of energy bill relief.

On the health front, our record $8.5 billion investment in Medicare announced earlier this year is expected to see an additional 117,700 bulk-billed visits and a boost to the number of fully bulk-billed GP practices to around 35 in my electorate. This will save local patients hundreds of dollars a year, depending on how often they visit their GP. On top of this, the government has delivered two Medicare urgent care clinics for our community—one in Ipswich, in my electorate, and one in Goodna in the member for Oxley's electorate—which provide bulk-billed walk-in care to locals who need it. I'm proud to have opened the Ipswich Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in 2023. It's been a huge success, with more than 2,500 visits in the first year alone, and it's helped to ease pressure on the Ipswich Hospital emergency department.

Complementing our record investments in Medicare, my constituents will also save from cheaper medicines with the government's reduction of the maximum general co-payment for medicines to $25 under the PBS from 1 January next year. That means more than 42,000 cheaper scripts are expected to be dispensed, on average, each year in Blair, saving people more than $1.5 million and building on our expansion of the number of medicines eligible for the 60-day scripts, which those opposite opposed, as well. Another measure which is really resonating with students and young people in my electorate is our policy to cut student debts by 20 per cent. You only need to stand at a prepoll to know how popular that was. It will ensure that about 23,000 people in Blair with a HECS debt will see an average reduction of $5,500 to their outstanding student loans. A key issue on the ground in Blair is housing supply and affordability. In my community, some people are finding it very hard to break into the housing market. Some experience mortgage stress, and others struggle to pay the rent from week to week.

During the election, Labor announced that first home buyers will be able to get into the housing market with just a five per cent deposit. Just last week, the Prime Minister announced that this will start from 1 October 2025 instead of next year for all first home buyers, with no caps on places or income limits—in other words, it'll be demand driven. Property price caps will also be set high, in line with the average house prices. This is a real game changer, and it will bring the great Australian dream of owning a home back into reach for so many people. We're also going to invest $10 billion to build 100,000 homes that only first home buyers can buy. This is building on the fact that we've already helped more locals buy their own home, with more than 3,400 people in my community able to get into home ownership with the support of the Albanese government—the highest rate of take-up in the country. We're also supporting renters through a range of measures, including improving renters' rights, incentives for the private sector to build more long-term rentals, a 45 per cent increase in Commonwealth rent assistance and delivering more social and affordable housing rentals.

Another area that's made a big difference to families in Blair is support for child care. The government is taking the next step in building a universal early education and care system by replacing the much discredited and loathed current activity test with a guaranteed eligibility for three days a week of subsidised early education for children who need it. We've established a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund, allowing more centres to be built and expanded in areas of need. That'll help in electorates like mine, outer suburbs and regional areas. The Building Early Education Fund will deliver grants to providers, and the government will look at options for the Commonwealth to invest in owning and leasing out services. This will build on our earlier Cheaper Child Care reforms, which have helped 8,900 families in Blair, saving families $7,049 on average over the last two years. On the eve of this year's budget, the Albanese government signed a new $2.8 billion school funding agreement with the Queensland government, which will see more funding for local state schools in Blair over the next 10 years. I recall going to a number of schools after that agreement, particularly schools like Raceview State School and Bremer State High School, where that announcement was really well received.

Finally, this budget invests in key road infrastructure that will improve congestion and safety in our fast-growing region. It locks in the $20 million in funding for the Brisbane Valley Highway safety upgrades, bringing the total Australian government commitment to $40 million. That's the amount that was asked for by the Somerset Regional Council. During the election campaign, I was delighted to announce $200 million to deliver a new Amberley interchange on the Cunningham Highway, drawing on previously allocated funding. I call on the Crisafulli government to match that funding; they didn't do it in their recent budget.

In the last term, our budgets focused largely on inflation and the cost of living, but this term we know we also need to look at reforms to drive growth and productivity while ensuring inclusion and intergenerational equity. The best way to improve living standards over time is to make our economy more productive, to make it more resilient and to make sure our budget is more sustainable. These themes were all discussed at a recent Blair economic reform roundtable I hosted in Ipswich at the Ipswich Jets Leagues Club with representatives from local business, chambers of commerce, unions, government agencies, community groups and experts. The forum canvassed a wide range of issues from the need to fast-track more housing and road infrastructure to cutting red tape for local charities and cracking down on sham contracting and tax evasion. Locally we've seen strong economic and jobs growth in recent years, but we've got growing pains in a fast-growing region. We need to be investing in more housing, infrastructure, skills and services to support our high population growth. We want to keep securing good, well-paid jobs for locals now and into the future. That means backing local industries, tracking new investment and equipping people with the skills they need to succeed.

I wrote to the Treasurer with a range of ideas coming out of the Blair roundtable and sent that feedback back to participants in the roundtable. This has been fed into the national economic reform roundtable, and I'm pleased to see the initiatives coming out of the national reform roundtable. The announcements last week to cut through red tape and delays in federal environmental laws are very welcome and precisely what a number of local participants said. Going forward, the economic reform roundtable will inform the next three budgets and beyond with clear and broad areas of consensus and common ground. It's very encouraging to see real appetite and ambition for change with some clear reform directions and a number of immediate actions, or low-hanging fruit, and some further work areas coming out of the event.

In closing, we know the best way to boost living standards and modernise our economy is to make our economy more productive and resilient and to make our budget more sustainable, but we need to ensure that promotes fairness and tackles intergenerational equity so that no-one is left behind or held back. That's exactly what this budget, along with the associated appropriations bills discussed here today, will do. Our election commitments and our second-term agenda will achieve this. It backs my electorate of Blair and the strong record I have of delivering for our community, and it builds for the future. That's why this budget and the appropriations bills that we are discussing are important. I commend the appropriations bills to the House.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  I rise to speak about Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 in relation to the budget. It gives me an opportunity to talk about the things that are important to my community and my electorate of Nicholls, which is, as many people in this place would know, in northern Victoria. The northern border of it is the Murray River. The Goulburn Valley, which is obviously the Goulburn River, comes up through the middle of it and provides fantastic irrigation, water, fertile soils—some of the greatest agriculture in Australia—and the ability to grow, manufacture and process food that not only benefits Australia domestically but earns great export dollars.

However, I feel this is under threat from the policies of the Labor government in relation to energy, water, infrastructure and labour. I think that, if you want to see an example—not the only example but an example—of the entrepreneurial spirit that has built Australia, you can go up to the Goulburn Valley. See what waves of migration and that entrepreneurial spirit have done—arrive with nothing and build it into a terrific business based on the principles of liberalism and the free market.

In relation to energy, obviously there's a lot of talk in this place about net zero, which is an ambition. It's an ambition I support. It appears to be somewhat more of a slogan than a policy. I said in my maiden speech that climate change is an important and serious problem facing Australia, but the transition is an incredibly nuanced and complex problem. If we get it wrong, all that will happen is that businesses will see that Australia is too expensive a place to do business, and they'll move the business, the economic opportunities and the jobs offshore, along with the emissions. So in terms of reducing global emissions, which I think is the desire of many people, we will have achieved nothing. But we will have damaged our own economy and the future of our generation.

I don't think the energy transition is going as well as the minister would have us believe. I have serious doubts about thinking that you can do the energy transition limiting yourself to a very small number of technologies. I think we have to have a much more technology-agnostic approach to this area. I worry about legislating ourselves into a corner where we could seriously damage our economy in trying to reduce emissions, which—let's face it—given the percentage of our emissions compared to the rest of the world, wouldn't have an overwhelmingly significant impact on global climate change. There's not only that. The rollout of wind turbines, solar factories and transmission lines is happening without social licence and without community consultation, causing great distress and great anger in the regions. That needs to be addressed. We need to have an honest conversation and an honest answer from the government about what this is going to cost. It's very difficult to make assessments of what you should do without knowing what it's going to cost, and we don't know that.

In relation to water, I was very vocal in the last term of parliament about incredibly regrettable changes to the Murray-Darling Basin Plan. I thought they were unnecessary. I thought they were based on politics and not science. I've been following this, having been involved in irrigated agricultural agronomy before I came into this place. As CEO of the Committee for Greater Shepparton, I was trying to futureproof the economic prosperity of the Goulburn Valley and the Greater Shepparton region up to the Murray Valley. It's based on irrigated agriculture; that's what we do. We grow 90 per cent of Australia's pears and over 50 per cent of Australia's apples, and we produce a significant proportion of Australia's dairy products, particularly those that get exported. That all relies on access to reliable and cheap irrigation water. When governments come in and want to pull a whole heap of that water out of what we call the consumptive pool for irrigation and put it into environmental accounts that, in many cases, do not get used, it damages our economy. It damages Australia's ability to export food, and that's something that we do so well. It's an area I'm very passionate about.

There were a lot of compromises through many governments, from the Gillard government to the coalition governments, and with the states. There were many compromises that were made to reach an agreement that not everyone liked but everyone was able to live with. The previous minister came in and said, 'I'm going to tear those agreements up. I'm going to tear up a socio-economic neutrality test.' That test, which protected basin communities, had been painstakingly arrived at by state premiers, many of them Labor state premiers. I want to pay particular tribute to the former water minister in the Andrews government, Lisa Neville, who was very constructive in this area. That test was torn up and taken away, and we've ended up with regrettable and unnecessary water buybacks.

Agriculture is really important to my region, and it's important to Australia from a cultural perspective, from an export perspective and an employment perspective. It's also important for our sovereign food capability. I'm very proud to have been involved in the agricultural industries. I had a go at uni when I first left school and tried an arts degree. It didn't quite work out, mainly because of my immaturity, which some people might say still exists.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Never!

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Regional Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

But, when I went back to university, I did agricultural science. What an incredible profession to be involved in—the growing of food, the technological advancements in growing food, trying to feed people and trying to make sure that South-East Asia, Asia and places further afield have the benefit of our sustainably produced agricultural produce.

I was disappointed with some of Labor's attitudes towards agriculture in the last term of government. It's just an area I don't think they get. The biosecurity tax was withdrawn eventually, but it was a bad idea. It showed disrespect for people who run agricultural businesses in Australia to think that you could introduce a levy that said, 'We're going to allow people to bring food products into the country to compete with you.' Okay, we're a trading nation. We've got to accept that. But to then say to those Australian businesses, 'And you're going to pay their biosecurity costs so they can bring the food in and compete with you'—it was a nonsense. Someone eventually saw sense, and it was withdrawn, but the fact it was put out there shows a bit of an anti-agriculture flavour to the government which I wasn't incredibly impressed and neither were the people in my electorate.

Then we come to the live exports. It's not an issue that I was hugely involved in. It was very much a Western Australian issue. I visited Western Australia as part of a backbench committee with the member for Durack, and she help me to understand the importance of these industries to her constituents. Again, it's an issue I don't think Labor got. They had an ideological fixation that we're going to ban live export. There were problems, many years ago, in the industry. The industry worked incredibly hard and was given an ultimatum by the previous coalition government to improve animal safety standards. They did so in a very impressive way.

What's going to happen now that we've banned it? The countries that still have markets for live sheep imports into their own countries are going to get it from places like those in Africa that don't have the animal standards, so it actually decreases animal welfare in that industry globally. There are things that people might not like doing, but, if we stop doing them in a way that's sustainable and responsible, other countries are going to take up the slack in a way that's not sustainable and not responsible. That's what's going to happen with live export. I also think that, in terms of labour, we had a really good plan that a lot of people were keen on in my electorate, before I came into parliament, called the ag visa, which was going to put people into agricultural jobs on a pathway to permanency, but, regrettably, that hasn't been followed through by the Albanese government.

Infrastructure is really important to the regions. Part of the reason I ran for parliament and part of the reason I ran for parliament in the National Party—I'm not a born and bred Nat; I came to it a bit later. I had a great admiration for earlier Labor governments of the eighties and nineties who got business, but I saw the coalition, driven by the National Party, take infrastructure in the regions very seriously. We saw both infrastructure that enabled productivity for farm businesses, manufacturing and the infrastructure that gets people to move to regional places in the first place. For example, the Echuca-Moama Bridge over the Murray River which has linked that Victorian town with the New South Wales town over the river has seen significant improvements in transport movement across the Murray River. It was driven by a Victorian coalition government, and it was acted on by a federal coalition government. I saw the coalition come in, take it seriously and try and get things done. I hope, one day, I'm part of a coalition government that will do that, because we've got another bridge that needs to be built across the Murray River—the Yarrawonga-Mulwala bridge. I am not blaming the federal Labor government for that at this point, because the Victorian Labor government are holding that up. The New South Wales government has decided which route it will take, and I'm hoping they can drive the project. Victoria don't even know it exists. When it comes time to fund that project, I really encourage federal Labor to do that, unless we're in power and we do it.

There are some other cultural areas where it's not as apparent how important this is to regional communities as a bridge, but it is important. The Shepparton Art Museum is a great example. It was funded by the coalition government and driven by the knowledge that we've got to move people to regional areas, particularly professional people, and, more particularly, health professionals. If we build cultural institutions, like the incredible Shepparton Art Museum, then we help to achieve that.

There are a number of other infrastructure projects that deserve funding, and it disappoints me that the cupboard is bare when it comes to regional funding at the moment. The Growing Regions Program has not had any new money put into. We try to explain to this parliament, in the best possible way, how important this is for regional communities. The link roads in Kilmore; the safety upgrades to High Street in Broadford—there's a bridge being built over what will be the inland rail route, but there needs to be some traffic safety features; the Shepparton sports and events stadium; the Seymour RSL club; and the completion of the Welsford link road are all important things to regional communities.

Shepparton is my home town and I love it. It's not as obvious a place for tourists to go as the Gold Coast or Noosa, but people go there for what's called 'the visitor economy'. There's always an event on in Shepparton, whether it be BMX or beach volleyball. If we could build the Shepparton sports and events stadium, we would get so much extra leverage in economic activity because of it.

In the minute I've got left, I also encourage the government to focus and look at the successes of the coalition government in the health workforce. The most important one of these is the Murray-Darling medical school, which has moved medical degrees outside the big cities to places like Bathurst and Shepparton. At the end of 2025, we are going to have 30 young people graduate with a degree in medicine. They have been living in Shepparton, Bathurst or wherever else for a long period—four years—and are more likely to stay there and practice, because they've put down roots in those communities. We need more of that.

In terms of education, I'm very honoured to be the shadow minister for regional education. I'm the beneficiary of a degree in agricultural science from Dookie, a university campus outside Melbourne, and an MBA from university campus in Shepparton. These are some of the things that we need to talk about in this term of parliament.

Trish Cook (Bullwinkel, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on behalf of the people of Bullwinkel on Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026. An appropriation bill might not sound terribly exciting at first, but it is one of the most important pieces of legislation that the federal parliament will pass this year. In simple terms, it's the government's budget bill—the legal authority for the government to spend money from the Consolidated Revenue Fund.

Labor's appropriation bill reflects our priorities and our Labor values. It shows us what matters to us most, and these are some of those things: investing in Medicare, aged-care reform, housing, renewable energy, cost-of-living relief and education. The bill gives legal effect to our budget commitments and allows the government agencies to spend the money accordingly. In short, Labor's appropriation bill is the legislation that puts our budget into action, and it authorises government spending in line with the values that I mentioned and others.

I come to this parliament with a range of experiences. I'm a nurse, midwife, occupational health and safety consultant, small-business owner, lecturer in nursing studies at TAFE and Edith Cowan University, community volunteer, shire councillor, PhD candidate, and, now, of course, I'm an MP.

The first half of my career was as a remote-area nurse and midwife in the Kimberley and Pilbara regions of Western Australia. I had the privilege of caring for people in remote Indigenous communities such as Ardyaloon, Lombadina, Bidyadanga and Looma—small Aboriginal communities. It was in these communities that I saw the true impact of a model of health you may be familiar with, what we call the social determinants of health—access to fresh food, local employment, education, housing and connection with country and culture. They're not just abstract ideas; they are real, measurable factors that affect the health and wellbeing of the community. They're not just unique to health; the same principles apply to justice and to mental health. When these social determinants are addressed, people and communities are healthier, safer and more resilient. That's why I am proud to be part of a Labor government committed to improving these social determinants.

I'll speak to three of these issues. Housing, education and health are all priorities because we know that investing in these delivers real outcomes for Australia. Let's start with housing. From 1 October 2025 every first home buyer will be able to purchase a home with just a five per cent deposit, and they won't pay a cent in expensive mortgage insurance. For many young Australians this could shave years off the time it takes to save for a home. For example, somebody buying a $1 million home could do so with just a $50,000 deposit backed by the Albanese government. This is a change that brings hope. Owning a home will no longer be a privilege just for the lucky few or those that have been helped by the bank of mum and dad; it'll be achievable for hardworking Australians across the country. That's the Labor commitment: to give everyone a fair go.

Education is another cornerstone of social investment. We have made fee-free TAFE permanent so Australians can gain the skills they need for a well-paid, secure job. Fee-free TAFE is already helping Australians get ahead while easing cost-of-living pressures. It gives people the opportunity to work in meaningful jobs and give back to the community. We've also cut student debt by 20 per cent, and the Commonwealth practical placement payment provides support for student nurses, teachers, midwives and social workers while they're on their mandatory placements. These programs ensure that our important future workforce can contribute fully and confidently without being burdened by crippling debt.

Of course health is always at the forefront of my mind personally and professionally. The Albanese Labor government went to the last election, in 2022, promising 50 Medicare urgent care clinics. They overdelivered 87 clinics. For this election we promised to open 50 more across Australia, and I'm thrilled that one of them will be in my community in Bullwinkle, in the suburb of Mundaring, to cater for the hills people and regional people nearby. These clinics make it easier for Australians to gain access to urgent care free of charge, taking the pressure off hospital emergency departments and GP clinics. Our goal is for four in five Australians to live within a 20-minute drive of a Medicare urgent care clinic. That's the kind of change that makes a real difference in people's lives.

Alongside that we're delivering the largest investment in Medicare in history. This means 18 million more bulk-billed GP visits every year, giving Australians the confidence to see a doctor without worrying about cost. When someone falls ill, when a parent is concerned about a child or when an older Australian needs ongoing care, access should not be a barrier. Labor created the PBS, the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme, and our commitment extends to these medicines as well. In 2023 we delivered the largest cut to the cost of medicines in the history of the PBS, and we're going even further. As of 1 January next year no Australian will pay more than $25 for a PBS prescription. For pensioners and concession card holders we have frozen PBS medicines at $7.70 until 2030—no surprises, no rises, just certainty.

I know from my own life that this is extremely important. Many people on medications simply aren't on just one medication; they're often on multiple medications. It's making a real difference. I became a nurse when I was 18, following in my mother's footsteps, and being a nurse quickly teaches you that affordable medicine can be the difference between seeing somebody get better and somebody ending up in hospital. I've seen people skip doses because the cost is too high, and I've seen the consequences. That's why cheaper medicines aren't just good for the pocket; they're good for health as well.

Health is something very close to my heart and one of the favourite topics when I go doorknocking out in Bullwinkel. One of the most exciting things I talk about is delivering the new Medicare urgent care clinic in Mundaring, but there's also, alongside that, a new Medicare mental health centre in the suburb of Kalamunda, also in the hills of Perth. We've recently set up a Medicare mental health centre in the regional area of Northam. That was opened late last year, and we've seen firsthand how valuable it is for locals. It offers free, walk-in services for people aged 18 and over. It's a safe, welcoming place to access mental health care from qualified professionals. No appointment is needed; no referral is required. You don't even need your Medicare card; you can just walk in seeking help for yourself, supporting a loved one or assisting a patient. That is universal, compassionate care, and it's exactly what we want for Kalamunda and for communities across Bullwinkel and Australia. Mental health is just as important as physical health, and no-one, once again, should face the barriers.

Firsthand life experience also plays a role, and I didn't need surveys or focus groups to see the impact of these services. I had a very personal experience with a Medicare urgent care clinic just last week, so I'll quickly tell you a little bit about that. It's not a prop; it's a legitimate splint on my finger.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That would, of course, not be right, would it?

Trish Cook (Bullwinkel, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I injured my finger just the night before I was meant to come to Canberra with a silly incident of ripping my sock off extravagantly. I also ripped my tendon off. But this is how it went. It was an obvious deformity. I went to an urgent care clinic. I waited five minutes, saw a triage nurse, saw a doctor, went five minutes up the road to the X-ray department, waited five minutes, had the X-ray and went back. By the time I got back, the doctor had my X-ray, he had assessed it and then I waited, probably, another five minutes while I got a referral for a proper, customised splint, some analgesia for the pain and, obviously, the splint. It took, in total, one hour. I was able to come to Canberra happily the next day. There were no charges and no delays, just quality, accessible care. I wasn't the only patient in there; it was just an efficient service. All I needed was my Medicare card, and that experience isn't unique.

I'm proud to be part of a government that invests in these services—housing, education and health. I'm proud to be part of a government that understands the social determinants of health. Improving these factors and the other ones that I mentioned earlier in the speech is the most effective investment that we can make in our communities, and it's why Labor's appropriation bill matters so much. It translates into real, relatable impacts on people's lives. It's the parent who can take their child to a doctor without worrying about costs, it's the student who can pursue a nursing career without crippling debt, it's the young person who can own their first home with hope and security and it's the community that has access to mental health support without barriers.

For me, personally, it connects directly back to my life and my career. From my earliest days as a nurse in the remote communities to my work in occupational health and safety, volunteering and serving on the shire council, I've always seen the importance of putting people first. I've seen the difference that accessible services, compassionate care and real investment can make in people's lives. We will continue to work on expanding Medicare, improving access to urgent care and mental health services, lowering the cost of medicines, making housing more achievable and supporting education and skills for all Australians. It's a reflection of our values, our priorities and our vision for a fairer, healthier Australia. I'm proud to be part of a government that invests in people. I will continue to work every day to make sure that healthcare, education, housing and support services are accessible, affordable and compassionate. I will continue to advocate for the social determinants of health because I know from experience that, when we get things right, communities like Bullwinkel thrive. It's about people, and it's making life better for every Australian.

Mike Freelander (Macarthur, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Bullwinkel, and I will be very careful taking my socks off tonight.

Anne Webster (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Labor promised Australians permanent energy bill relief, but, instead, they have been hit with yet another spike in the cost of living. Inflation has risen at its fastest pace in a year, now sitting at 2.8 per cent, driven by a jump in electricity bills of 13 per cent just in this year to July. Inflation is up, power bills are soaring, and interest-rate relief is now further away because of Labor's failures. This is the direct opposite of Labor's election promise of a $275 cut to power bills. Instead, families are paying thousands more. The Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 enables government spending, but why would we pass such a bill without commenting on, firstly, the Albanese government's woeful record on spending in the energy portfolio and, secondly, Labor's brazen spin that their energy achievements are positive when clearly they are negative?

This is a government that, shortly, this month, in September 2025, wants to set an emissions reduction target for 2035. They might be preparing to admit that they cannot actually reach the 2030 target by setting a new 2035 target. Labor's current target is 82 per cent renewables in less than five years time. Current renewables billed are just at 43 per cent. To be clear, that is a gap of 39 per cent. Global energy consultancy Rystad estimates that Labor will only get, at best, to 60 per cent by 2030, not their commitment of 82 per cent. In fact, Rystad said 80 per cent will only be reached by 2037. So how on earth can Labor set a higher target for 2035 than the 82 per cent they have set for 2030 when 82 per cent renewables won't be reached until two years later, in 2037, at best?

Before I go on, I have to mention that, in my home state of Victoria, the Allan Labor government has an even more aggressive renewable energy target of 95 per cent by 2035 and has a 2045 net zero target, five years earlier than federal Labor's 2050 target for net zero. I must highlight that Spain had a 100 per cent renewable energy generation on 16 April this year. Twelve days later, its entire electricity grid collapsed in a 12-hour blackout. While Victorian Labor claim their renewables rollout is on track, Victoria Energy Policy Centre's Professor Bruce Mountain says achieving it will cost more than the Victorian government's $7.9 billion estimate—possibly as much as $28 billion.

I also highlight, as I will every time I speak on these matters, that the Victorian government said it will need up to 70 per cent of prime agricultural land if it cannot build offshore wind energy, and that objective is looking increasingly doubtful. Here's the rub: these targets, in the bullish race to net zero, are already resulting in mammoth cost blowouts, and these are being felt by (1) all energy bill customers and (2) farmers in my electorate of Mallee and across the nation. These farmers are being told, not asked, to bear the burden of the rollout of panels, turbines and transmission lines over their prime agricultural land. I say 'told, not asked' because the Victorian government, last Thursday, passed a bill imposing $8,000 fines for refusing to open the farm gate to allow Transmission Company Victoria, or TCV, to build hundreds of kilometres of the VNI West transmission line exclusively through my electorate of Mallee and $6,000 fines for farmers taking TCV signs off their own fences.

On the cost blowouts, let me take you through a few project examples. This is the federal government's Rewiring the Nation funding and other federal funding sources enabling this waste of precious taxpayer funds. VNI West itself was projected to have a $1.6 billion price tag in 2018, rising to $3.6 billion in 2024. Just one year on, it's been estimated to cost between $7 billion and $11.4 billion. Professor Mountain estimates that around 50 per cent of those cost blowouts will show up on our power bills. Looking further afield, the Central-West Orana Renewable Energy Zone in regional New South Wales was initially estimated to cost $650 million in 2020 but is now projected to cost $5.5 billion—a slight rise! A 2020 estimate of the CopperString project from Townsville to Mount Isa put the price tag at $1.8 billion, but it's now estimated to come in at $13.9 billion. A Queensland Labor project, the Pioneer-Burdekin Pumped Hydro project near Mackay, was initially estimated, in September 2022, to cost $12 billion. When the new LNP government cancelled it, in October 2024, the cost estimate was $36.8 billion.

Anyone who believes that renewables are the cheapest form of electricity and that they will bring down your power bills are off with Minister Bowen and the fairies. Every Australian taxpayer will absolutely feel these multibillion-dollar cost blowouts on their power bills. Make no mistake: they already are. And guess what? Everyday Aussies don't want to pay for net zero. In fact, when I recently surveyed my electorate of Mallee, collecting over 5,000 responses, almost 70 per cent said that they do not want to pay a single cent towards attaining net zero—not one cent. But they already are. This brings me to the wonderful, lucid comments of former Labor MP and Australian Council of Trade Unions leader, Jennie George. Her truth bombs are so critical and so damaging that I have to read some of them into Hansard. Labor luminary Jennie George said:

Labor's 2030 targets won't be met. It's an all too familiar story. Labor has set its modelling was "the most comprehensive ever done, for any policy, by any opposition in Australia's history since Federation". When reality struck, it was quietly abandoned just before the election.

This is still Ms George:

The promise of $275 by 2025, the $378 cut and 604,000 green jobs by 2030 disappeared, never to be aired again.

Ms George goes on to explain the broader cost of Labor's reckless race to net zero:

Labor refuses to disclose its whole-of-system costs for a transition held together by billions in taxpayer subsidies and relief packages. The secrecy is indefensible. The public's right to know should be defended by a Labor government promising transparency and accountability. The reason for this might lie in the eye-watering costs revealed in independent research.

Ms George goes on:

Take the Net Zero Australia report, a joint effort by three universities, chaired by Professor Robin Batterham. It found: "The modelled capital requirement $1.2 trillion to $1.5 trillion of commitments by 2030, and $7 trillion to $9 trillion by 2060 will not be met at the current rate; the gap is enormous."

Ms George proceeds to discuss the plight of another group of forgotten Australians—the workers; remember them? My mind goes back to the Australian Workers' Union's support of nuclear energy, but I digress. Ms George says:

Our metals smelters and Tomago aluminium smelter in NSW are now at risk; thousands of workers face an uncertain future. It makes no sense to provide taxpayer-funded bailout packages, while hitting them with a de facto carbon tax.

What wise words. On this note, I note the Prime Minister, in a far-from-dazzling performance at the Bush Summit in Ballarat on Friday, in response to a one-word-answer challenge regarding a question on coal, responded, 'Jobs.' Really? This is the man who told ABC radio in February 2020:

I don't think there's a place for coal-fired power plants in Australia, full stop.

But he had the hide to tell the Ballarat audience, regarding coal-fired power stations—and I quote from Friday:

… there hasn't been any regulations stopping that.

After the audience scoffed at that suggestion, the Prime Minister went on to say that the 'market determined it doesn't stack up'. The audience jeered the Prime Minister on that blatant spin, and rightly so. Somehow, the speechwriters thought he'd be safe talking BS—yes, he did actually use that word—to regional Australians. Victorian farmers called him out.

It is little wonder the farmers are protesting, when the bulldozers will be moving across their farms with the accelerator pedal down to reach Labor's political targets. We, on this side of the House, know that energy is the economy, and we take a technology-agnostic view on our energy mix. By contrast, Labor is taking away our key competitive advantage and jobs by taking a renewables-only zealotry approach.

We go back to Ms George, who summarised this perfectly by saying—and I paraphrase—'Labor's spin is like a burning wind turbine.' She also said:

The Clean Energy Council reported only 1.17GW of renewable energy generation reached financial close in the first six months of 2025. This is just a third of the 6-7GW required annually to meet the 82 per cent target. Already, Wood Mackenzie forecasts reaching only 58 per cent renewable energy generation by the end of the decade, and Rystad Energy estimates a substantial shortfall of about 18 per cent by 2030. The minister often reminds us "there's no transition without transmission". In his own words—

and I'm still quoting Ms George—

he concedes the impossibility of reaching the targets. Soon after Labor's election in 2022, five "urgently needed" transmission projects were identified: HumeLink, VNI West, Sydney Ring, New England REZ and Marinus Link.

Ms George goes on:

Three years on, not one of the projects is at construction stage. All are years late and billions over budget, and most won't be in operation by 2030. It's Snowy 2.0 on a grand scale. Be warned: a tsunami of transmission costs is still to hit our power bills. So much for the claim that renewables are the cheapest form of energy.

The newly minted Labor MPs might want to listen to the Labor elder's truth bombs. I repeat that a 'tsunami of transmission costs is still to hit'.

Those opposite can continue to parrot Minister Bowen and the Prime Minister, but understand this: it is at your peril. When the Prime Minister told the Ballarat audience renewables are the cheapest form of energy, he made himself a laughing stock. The lived reality for Australians is that power prices are up 30 per cent, or $1,300 more than Labor promised for 2025 to 2026. Even on the metric of greenhouse gas emissions, Labor are failing. Emissions have gone up, not down, under this government and are now only back at 28 per cent on 2005 levels, which, by the way, is the same as when we left office. Fascinatingly, when Australian emissions increased by 0.05 per cent last year over the same period, steel production fell by 12 per cent. Labor are shipping jobs offshore in the reckless and destructive pursuit of political targets that are not being attempted on this geographical scale anywhere else in the world.

While the Minister for Climate Change and Energy tries to cover his failures with clown-like antics and smirks and waves his hands about arguing, 'There is nothing to see here,' the facts are plain. The renewable energy and emissions targets he has set are not going to be met. Meanwhile, he continues to hide the enormous costs to taxpayers from the public under a shroud of rhetoric and obfuscation. It's little wonder public sentiment is shifting. A survey from the Bush Summit indicated that, a year ago, support for renewables was at 66 per cent. Now it is at 44 per cent, and, I assure you, support is plummeting fast. Momentum is turning. It is turning because Australians can see that their power bill prices are going up, not down.

Julie-Ann Campbell (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In my electorate on the south side of Brisbane, it doesn't matter if you're speaking over the back fence in Corinda, it doesn't matter whether you're on someone's doorstep having a conversation in Salisbury, and it doesn't matter whether you're down at the shops in Sunnybank; the conversation is always the same. The thing that is impacting people in my electorate on Brisbane's south side, and indeed across Australia, is the cost of living. During the election campaign, I had the great privilege of speaking to thousands of people from across Moreton, and they told me very clearly that what matters to them is the cost of living, health and housing. The 2025-26 budget is firmly focused on those issues—not just talking about them, not just empty rhetoric about them, not blocking them as we have seen the Greens and the Liberals do together, not mere chatter, but actual delivery when it comes to these critical issues.

The member for Mallee talked about truth bombs before. I tell you that, particularly when it comes to the cost of living, the biggest truth bomb in this chamber is the fact that those opposite have voted against every single cost-of-living measure that Labor has put forward. When it comes to the opposition, what is clear is that they do not want to take action on the cost of living—because, if you don't vote for 20 per cent off HECS, if you don't vote for free TAFE, if you don't vote for a tax cut, if you don't vote for better health care, that means that you are voting against tackling the cost of living.

I would like to spend my time tonight talking not only about what Labor has done in terms of the cost of living and health care and in terms of housing but also about what we're doing locally in my community. When it comes to the cost of living, Labor has undertaken a tax cut. We know the opposition has voted against that tax cut—because Labor helps Australian taxpayers earn more and keep more of what they earn. We did the first round in July 2024, and additional cuts in both 2026 and 2027 are coming down the pipeline so that people are paying less tax at the same time as Labor is investing in making sure that some of the lowest paid workers are given a pay rise. This is all in the context of inflation coming down from having a six in front of it to having a two in front of it. It is all in the context of making sure that we have kept unemployment at a low level and of delivering a critical tax cut to everyone around the country.

Energy bill relief is one of the other things that we have been incredibly passionate about. We have been delivering for people across Australia and extending relief to the end of 2025 for every household and around one million small businesses—two $75 rebates. I'll tell you, in Queensland, where we had a Labor government that also delivered back-to-back energy rebates for people in my patch, what that meant and what that continues to mean is hundreds of dollars worth of energy relief. When you get your bill, it means it's going to be cheaper. This is around $1.8 billion in additional payments on top of the nearly $5 billion of bill relief delivered so far.

I spoke earlier about cutting student debt, but it bears repeating, because this Labor government has cut student debt by 20 per cent. It doesn't matter if you have a university debt, it doesn't matter if you have a TAFE debt, it doesn't matter if you are studying to be a sparky or if you are studying to be a journalist at university—wherever you are and whoever you are, you will get a 20 per cent cut when it comes to your student debt. We're cutting a combined $19 billion in student loans for three million Australians, reducing all HELP debt and other student debts by 20 per cent. These reforms made indexation arrangements fairer, limiting future indexation and retrospectively reducing the indexation applied in 2023 and in 2024, which have already decreased student loan debt by $3 billion. It's designed to give people a flying start to life, because, when you start your career, when you start your family and when you start your journey towards your future, having 20 per cent off your debt makes a difference.

Deputy Speaker Freelander, I want to go to health—something very close to your heart—and making medicines cheaper. From 1 January 2026, the maximum cost of medicines on the PBS for everyone with a Medicare card and no concession card will be lowered from $31.60 to $25 per script. Labor created the PBS, and it runs through our veins—the importance of making sure that health care is accessible and that health care is affordable. This is the lowest in 20 years. It will remain frozen at $7.70 for pensioners, and $1.8 billion has been invested for new medicines on the PBS. We've seen that from the health minister just today.

Urgent care clinics and strengthening Medicare are some of the other important things that we're doing to make sure that health care remains affordable and accessible, and, in my patch, I am lucky enough to have an urgent care clinic in Oxley. My daughter Margaret, who turned two in June, has something called reactive airways, and what that means is she has trouble breathing sometimes. For our family to be able to nip down to the Oxley urgent care clinic and get an assessment quickly, professionally and without having to wait in enormous emergency room lines for people who are more critical than her, it means that, as a family, we have peace of mind and the advice that we need, when we need it. It's not just on the south side of Moreton. It's not just at the PA. It's not just at Canossa at Oxley. This is 87 urgent care clinics across the country, and there are plans for an additional 50. This is an example of how Labor delivers when it comes to health care. It strengthens Medicare with increasing rates of bulk-billing, and we're doing more training for doctors and nurses to be able to deliver it.

When it comes to housing, we're making it easier to buy, we are making it better to rent, and we are building more homes, because we know that the challenges around housing are hard for everyday families. We know that this is something that has been building not just for the last few years but for 40 years. What we also know is that the opposition has been a major contributor to the challenges that we face around housing. It's not just young people trying to get in their first home; it's families who are trying to scrape together rent and also save for their first home. It is parents who are worried about whether their children will ever get into the housing market. We know that those opposite not only want to raid people's super to address housing, causing significant issues to people's future nest eggs, but failed to have a housing minister for most of their tenure last time they were government.

In the last three years, over 180,000 Australians bought their first home with a five per cent deposit, and more than a million households have been supported with our 45 per cent increase to rent assistance. More than 500,000 homes have been built since we came to office. There are 28,000 social and affordable homes in planning and construction with Labor's investments. When you contrast that with those opposite, we know that, when it comes to social and affordable dwellings, they built just 300-odd houses.

I want to take the opportunity to talk about my electorate of Moreton. We've been talking about the big picture, and it's something that impacts on people in my electorate every single day. It's reflected everyday. These measures in the budget add to significant Labor commitments to the community. We're delivering on health, we're boosting our green spaces and we're providing tangible support to grassroots community groups.

There's the Southern Suburbs Junior Rugby League club, or Souths Junior Magpies, with their president, Ryan Bartley. I'm incredibly excited that we made an election commitment to deliver an important upgrade to the change rooms at that facility. It's a community hub on the south side, with players from a diverse range of cultural backgrounds, in Acacia Ridge, which is the suburb where I first chose to live—and we decided to stake our claim on the south side because we knew it was a great place to raise a family. That election commitment is for $693,000 to upgrade the change rooms, allowing women and girls to play rugby league on the south side.

The Old Bridge Football Club in Salisbury—the club president is Amer Sadikovic—has kids' football and 150 senior players. We made an election commitment of $190,000 to install new lighting at that club so it will be able to host games and run training at night. That will help the club attract more players and increase participation from juniors all the way through to seniors.

There will be a Medicare mental health clinic in Moorooka. That's something that we have not ever seen in our part of the world. It will be a first. There has been a $1 billion investment to expand free public mental health services via Medicare, including $225 million for 31 new or upgraded Medicare mental health centres, and one of them will be in the heart of Brisbane's south side. It's got free walk-in mental health care. Every centre provides free access to a psychiatrist and psychologist either onsite or on call. This is an important facility to ensure that, when it comes to mental health, people have the support that they need.

There's the M1 upgrade. The Treasurer and I had the great privilege of going out to the park-and-ride at Rochedale just a few days ago. From Eight Mile Plains to Daisy Hill, the M1 Pacific Motorway upgrade has been completed. It means the six to eight lanes will reduce congestion and improve travel times along one of Queensland's busiest roads. Also, the busway extension, a new bus station and the park-and-ride at Rochedale will improve public transport connectivity. It includes an extension of the cycleway for more active transport opportunities, and there will be approximately 700 jobs during construction. So it doesn't matter whether you're riding your bike, you're catching the bus or you're driving your car, it's an investment that Labor have made to ensure that we are getting people home to their families faster and more safely.

In terms of the environment, at Toohey Forest, which Minister Plibersek and the former member for Moreton, Graham Perrett, and I visited early this year, we have a $3 million funding injection for the Brisbane City Council—and I do want to acknowledge the work of our local councillor, Steve Griffiths—to construct a fauna crossing under Toohey Road, connecting two large bushland habitats. It's designed to make sure that koalas, wallabies and echidnas have a safe mode of passage across to fantastic, beautiful parts of bushland in my local community.

There is $2 million for the restoration of the Archerfield Wetlands, which forms part of the $200 million Urban Rivers and Catchment Program. This project will restore degraded man-made ponds to natural wetland systems. The project will support native species and create habitat for threatened species.

Graceville Riverside Parklands will receive part of $11.7 million, from the government's Thriving Suburbs Program, for six projects in Brisbane. Minister King and I visited the site where this upgrade will happen. It's $1.4 million going into Graceville Riverside Parklands to revitalise the park's existing structure and transform the area with activated, open green space; a children's nature play area; picnic facilities; and riverbank and fauna habitat stabilisation.

The Acacia Ridge TAFE is the largest trade training centre in all of the southern hemisphere. Labor is investing $20 million over five years to create the TAFE Queensland Batteries Centre of Excellence at the Acacia Ridge campus, and I want to thank Minister Giles and the Deputy Prime Minister for visiting there with me recently.

In addition to that, we have seen so many local community groups again and again receive support from this Labor government. Whether it's women's hockey, Meals on Wheels, neighbourhood community centres, Girl Guides, the RSL, horse and pony clubs, basketball clubs, P&C or sailing clubs—and so on—this is a Labor government that supports the community every day. This budget delivers real results for Moreton: lower bills, more access to health care, more homes and stronger community support.

Tim Wilson (Goldstein, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Small Business) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Every community needs essential services to help residents live successful lives. The Glen Eira Adult Learning Centre, or GEALC, supports the education needs of many older and new Australians in relation to digital exclusion, adult education and workforce readiness, particularly those re-entering the workforce. Prior to the election, the Labor Party made a commitment to fund GEALC with $60,000 to support the expansion of digital literacy programs and the upgrading of learning spaces at GEALC's Glen Eira campus. A few weeks ago, I wrote to the minister and the Treasurer asking for the funding commitment to GEALC to be honoured. Labor won the election, so it is now time for the government to fund GEALC so Philippa and her wonderful team can get on with the job. Minister and Treasurer, it is time to deliver on your promise. This funding will provide essential services and enable digital literacy services for older and new Australians and those seeking to re-enter the workforce. Don't be known for empty promises and leaving vulnerable Australians behind. I seek leave to table copies of the letters sent to the minister and the Treasurer and the social media post by the Labor Party announcing the funding commitment during the election.

Leave not granted.

Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million from our community, and we are still living with the consequences. The Peterson Street Reserve sports ground in Highett has been waiting years for an upgrade. It doesn't have modern facilities, particularly for women's sport. At the 2022 and 2025 elections, we committed funding. Earlier this year we committed $3 million to build the facilities that the Highett community needs for the 21st century so it could have modern facilities for the Highett West Cricket Club, the Hampton Hammers Football Netball Club and the East Sandringham Junior Football Club. Bayside is ready; if the federal government helped, it would mean Highett would get the facilities it needs and wouldn't be left behind. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

I note some MPs are questioning Australia's commitment to net zero. As you will know, I have a long-term interest in this important area and know delivering long-term emissions reduction depends on trust. Nothing will corrode that trust more than price increases and outages, which takes us to the teals. They were elected on a platform of explicit trust and integrity in politics, so it is fair to hold them to account on this standard. So, when the member for Warringah was elected on the basis of climate action and reducing fossil fuel subsidies but then voted for $2 billion of new coal and gas subsidies, it was a direct betrayal of their commitment to integrity in public office. They have tried to sweep it under the carpet, hoping no-one would notice. When one teal MP was asked why they broke this trust, they first said it was 'misinformation' before begging forgiveness, saying that they would have had strips torn off them rightly if they voted against it. If you get elected on a platform of climate action and then you vote for $2 billion in new coal and gas subsidies, I'm sorry but you have no integrity.

Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. After Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, we are still living with the consequences. The Brighton Beach Oval Pavilion on South Road has been waiting years for an upgrade. It doesn't have facilities for women's footy or cricket. Before the election we committed $2 million to bring the ovals into the 21st century so they could have modern facilities, including change rooms for women's football and cricket at clubs like Old Brighton Grammarians Football Club and Brighton Cricket Club. Bayside is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean women got the facilities they needed and wouldn't be left behind. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.