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

Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. When Labor ripped out $100 million from our community, we are still living with the consequences. The Dendy Park pavilion at Dendy Park has been waiting years for an upgrade. Despite serving Brighton Little Athletics Club and Hampton East Brighton Football Club, it doesn't have facilities for women's athletics or soccer nor disability toilets for people with a disability. Before the election we committed $900,000 to bring the facilities into the 21st century. Bayside is ready if the federal government helped, it would mean women and people with a disability would get the facilities they desperately need and wouldn't be left behind. It is time to take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Deputy Speaker Freelander, I note some MPs are questioning Australia's commitment to net zero. As you know, I've got a long-term interest in this area and that know delivering long-term emissions reduction depends on trust, and 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 to this standard. So, when the member for Kooyong 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 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 that it was 'misinformation' before begging forgiveness, saying that they'd have had strips torn off them rightly if they'd 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, you lose your integrity.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should expect decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community in the 2022 budget and never replaced it. We are still paying the price. The Porter Road Park could be an amazing open park for Bentleigh. Glen Eira bought the houses to clear the land, but it doesn't have any facilities. Before the election, we committed $2 million to make it a modern park to promote healthy living. Glen Eira is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean Bentleigh would get the park they need and wouldn't be left behind. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. The Bentleigh Hodgson Reserve smart-lighting upgrade could enable the Bentleigh community to use the Hodgson reserve park all day. The Bentleigh community are living more flexible lives and need spaces to walk their dogs, exercise and meet all year round, but the Hodgson reserve doesn't have adequate lighting. Before the election, we committed $300,000 to invest in smart lighting so it could be used all throughout the day and all year round. Glen Eira is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean Bentleigh would get the park they need and wouldn't be left behind. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. The Billilla Mansion cultural precinct on Halifax Street is a majestic asset waiting to be converted into a cultural hub. With an ageing population, the community needs the assets to support community connection and cultural engagement. Assets like Billilla are there to be used. Before the election, we committed $3 million to bring the facility into the 21st century. Bayside is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean residents would get the cultural facilities they need and wouldn't be left behind. To take action, sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. Glen Huntly Road should be a vibrant shopping strip all throughout the year, but it lacks tree coverage. Before the election, we committed $125,000 to invest in an urban canopy to beautify the street, improve community amenities and act as a carbon sink. Glen Eira wants to invest in Glen Huntly's future. We want the federal government to help. It would mean the Glen Huntly community wouldn't be left behind. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker—

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

I only need to be thanked once per speech, thanks.

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

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. The EMC Fox Pavilion McKinnon Reserve sportsground in McKinnon has been waiting years for an upgrade. Earlier this year, we committed $2.75 million to build the facilities the McKinnon community needs for the 21st century so it could have modern facilities for clubs like St Paul's McKinnon, including women's change rooms. Glen Eira wants to rebuild the facilities. We want the federal government to help. It would mean women would get the facilities they need and wouldn't be left behind. To take action, sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Thank you, Deputy Speaker. Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. The McKinnon community are living with more flexible lives and need spaces to walk their dogs, exercise and meet all year around. Before the election we committed $300,000 to invest in smart lighting at Allnutt Park so it could be used all throughout the year and all day long. Glen Eira is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean that the community got the park they needed and wouldn't be left behind. To take action, sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of the community, and we are still living with the consequences. Moorabbin Hebrew Congregation is one of many synagogues in the community, and, like others, it has lived the consequences of antisemitism towards its congregants and property. We should want Australia to be a safe place for people to worship in their houses of worship. That is why we committed $70,000 in vital security upgrades that we wish weren't needed. Moorabbin Hebrew Congregation is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean they got vital security upgrades to keep the community safe and they wouldn't be left vulnerable. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. L'Chaim Chabad is a religious and cultural centre, and, like others, it has lived the consequences of antisemitism towards its congregants and property. That is why we committed $16,000 for vital security upgrades that we wish weren't needed. L'Chaim Chabad is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean they got vital security upgrades to keep the community safe and they wouldn't be left vulnerable. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Bayside, Glen Eira and Kingston residents should have decent infrastructure. Labor ripped $100 million out of our community, and we are still living with the consequences. South Caulfield Hebrew Congregation is one of many synagogues in the Goldstein community, and, like others, it has lived the consequences of antisemitism towards its congregants and property. We should want Australia to be a safe place and for people to be able to worship in their synagogues. That is why we committed $1.2 million for vital security upgrades as part of its broader redevelopment connected to its centre for community programs. South Caulfield Hebrew Congregation is ready. If the federal government helped, it would mean they got vital security upgrades to keep the community safe and they wouldn't be left vulnerable. Take action and sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

Australia Post is there for every Australian, to ensure we have vital postal services. Australia Post has betrayed the Goldstein community. Along Bay Road in Cheltenham, Australia Post has removed a number of postboxes, making it increasingly hard for older residents to do things like post pieces of mail. Australia Post has made the claim that there simply isn't the volume of mail to justify them, based on the population. The problem with that explanation is they haven't looked at the long-term trajectory of population growth off the back of what the state government is trying to do in building new housing in the area. It's time for Australia Post to return the mailboxes so older residents can have access to the essential services they need.

Separately, Australia Post is now trying to close down the South Caulfield post office. In the last term of parliament, Hampton post office was closed, against the wishes of the community. When the head of Australia Post came to the former member for Goldstein, she didn't take the meeting. I'm calling on Australia Post to keep open South Caulfield post office. The best way to take action is to sign the petition at timwilsonmp.com.au.

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

Our budget repays hard work, nourishes aspiration and creates opportunity. That's why I stand today to support this enabling legislation—legislation that underpins our reform agenda and recognises the challenges Australians are facing, cost-of-living pressures, the uncertainty of global events and the need for stability at home. It responds to these challenges with proactive policy and investment in sectors such as housing, health, infrastructure, energy, skills, training and multiculturalism with funding to underpin reform.

For years, Australians have carried the weight of a coalition government that told them simply 'ride it out'—a government that shrugged its shoulders as prices climbed and wages stagnated and a government that told renters to just buy a house and told families struggling with power bills that nothing could be done. But Australians knew better. They knew that government could and should help. They knew that budgets should serve people, not the other way around. Now, after a wasted decade, that is exactly what this budget delivers. It acts on needs and supports Australians to get ahead.

This budget builds on the foundation laid in our last term: cheaper child care so parents, especially mums, can work more, earn more and get ahead; free TAFE so thousands of Australians can train for jobs that are in demand now and in the future; energy bill relief so households and small businesses can breathe easier; and tax cuts for every taxpayer, because, in tough times, every dollar counts. These are not abstract measures; they are practical steps that ease financial pressure and expand opportunity.

In my electorate of Corangamite, I've spoken with parents who tell me that cheaper child care has made a real difference to their lives. I've met apprentices at the Gordon Institute of TAFE who are embracing free TAFE and proud to be the first in their family to take up a trade. I've spoken with pensioners in Waurn Ponds who have felt the real difference of hundreds of dollars off their power bills. These are not lines in a budget paper; they are lives being made easier.

This budget also looks forward. It invests in the industries that will power our future—clean energy, advanced manufacturing, defence capability and skills. It is a plan to make more things here, to back Australian ingenuity and to create secure, well-paid jobs in our regions. For Corangamite, that means opportunity—opportunity in renewable energy projects on the Surf Coast, opportunity in advanced manufacturing in Geelong, opportunity in construction, in care, in teaching and in all the sectors crying out for skilled workers. It also means investment in the infrastructure that keeps our community strong—local roads, rail connections and community facilities that bring people together. From Armstrong Creek to Torquay, from Waurn Ponds to Ocean Grove and from Leopold to Clifton Springs in my electorate, communities are growing, and they need the infrastructure to match. This budget makes sure that growth in regional communities like mine is recognised and is supported in a sustainable and responsible way that looks to the future.

This budget delivers the single largest investment in Medicare since its creation—$8.5 billion to lift bulk-billing, build our health workforce and expand access to urgent care. It funds another 50 Medicare urgent care clinics, building on the 87 already open. One of these clinics will be in my electorate of Corangamite in Torquay. It has been so much welcomed, and I look forward to standing with my community when the doors open. Just last week, I'm proud to say the tender process kicked off for the provider to be selected for the clinic. The Torquay urgent care clinic will expand access to health care on the Surf Coast, ensuring locals can get urgent care close to home without long wait times in emergency. I'm proud that Torquay on the Surf Coast will soon get a mental health prevention hub.

This budget also invests in scholarships for nurses and midwives, supporting the next generation of health professionals in our region. Importantly, it delivers record investments in women's health, from contraception access to endometriosis clinics and to menopause support. For too long, women's health was underfunded, undervalued and too often ignored. This budget says clearly that women's health matters. This is a budget designed to keep the pressure off families today while building opportunity for tomorrow. The No. 1 concern for Australians right now is the cost of living. That is why this budget delivers responsible, targeted relief. Tax cuts are front and centre. Every Australian taxpayer will receive a tax cut this year and next. For the average earner, that means an extra $2,548 in their pocket, around $50 a week extra. For more than one million low-income Australians, we are also raising the Medicare levy threshold to provide further relief.

Energy rebates will continue, with $1.8 billion more invested in this budget. Every household and one million small businesses will benefit, cutting another $150 from bills this year. The Albanese government is ensuring energy companies pass on cheaper deals and discounts so families get the value they deserve. After a decade of stagnation, real wages have now risen for five consecutive quarters. This is good news. It is a core Labor principle that workers share in our nation's prosperity, and what better way to do this than through wages that add to our productivity? This budget funds $2.6 billion in pay rises for aged-care nurses, supports higher wages for early childhood educators and reforms non-compete clauses to help lift wages across the economy. Wage growth is about whether a worker can pay the bills, save for a home or buy a child new school shoes. We're cracking down on supermarket power, scams and unfair surcharges. We're making the Food and Grocery Code mandatory, boosting penalties and giving more teeth to the competition watchdog.

On education and skills, this budget delivers real reform. We are cutting 20 per cent off all student loan debts, raising the minimum repayment threshold and reducing repayment rates. Together with earlier reforms, this will wipe out $19 billion in debt for more than three million Australians. That is good news. That matters for the young teacher in Geelong West, the apprentice electrician in Armstrong Creek and the nursing student in Waurn Ponds. It means that they graduate with less debt and more freedom to build their future. Medications will also be cheaper under Labor's PBS, with the maximum price of a PBS script dropping from $31.60 to $25. For pensioners and concession card holders, the cost will remain at just $7.70. We are listing more life-saving medicines on the PBS, some of which would otherwise cost patients hundreds of thousands of dollars.

We will provide relief today. We also want to invest in our future. Our $33 billion housing plan will build 1.2 million homes by 2030. We are expanding Help to Buy, increasing incentives for apprentices in construction, cracking down on foreign ownership when it comes to the purchase of established homes and ensuring new developments are connected to the infrastructure they need. This is about giving young families across the Surf Coast, the Bellarine and Geelong, in my electorate alone, the chance to stay in their communities where they grew up, to build their futures and to contribute to local economies. Early education will be made more accessible through a new three-day guarantee, ensuring every family can access at least three days of subsidised early learning. We're investing $5 billion to expand access to child care and lift wages for early educators. Government schools will be fully and fairly funded, finally meeting the Gonski standard after almost 15 years. As a former teacher in government schools, I can say how proud I am that we have achieved this, and I'd like to thank the Minister for Education for his work in making this happen.

Across the next decade, the Commonwealth will also invest $16.5 billion, with states and territories also investing, to better support government schools. Thank you to the states, and let's get on with that. Free TAFE will be made permanent, with 100,000 places locked in each year from 2027. New university reforms will ensure that graduates with less debt have more opportunity.

This budget invests more than $3 billion in green metals, clean energy and critical minerals because Labor is committed to emissions reduction and tackling climate change head-on. It also reinvests in the Clean Energy Finance Corporation. This is a product of Labor, and it is serving a very important purpose—funding new innovation and backing industries that will make Australia indispensable in the net zero global economy. We're abolishing non-compete clauses for most workers, introducing national licensing for electricians and rewarding states that implement pro-competition reforms. The changes will help boost GDP, reduce inflation and lift wages across the economy.

These reforms are in Labor's DNA. We acknowledge the role unions play in advocating for change. This is what building for the future looks like—a stronger Medicare, more homes for more people to have a roof over their head, a better education and hope for the future, and a new generation of industries to power our prosperity. Inflation is coming down. Real wages are rising. Unemployment remains low. These outcomes have not been easy; they have required responsible choices and careful economic management. I would like to take a moment to recognise and thank our treasurer, the member for Rankin, who has driven economic reform and outcomes and passed sound decision-making policies and responsible economic management. Most importantly, these decisions reflect the resilience and determination that we have in partnership with the people of Australia. We know too many families are still doing it tough. This is why our government is delivering real help with the cost of living right now, while at the same time laying down the foundations for a stronger, fairer and more productive economy in the years ahead.

This is a responsible budget. It helps with the cost of living today. It invests in health, housing, education and our environment. It strengthens the economy for tomorrow. It does all of this while repairing the budget itself. Since coming into government, we have delivered the first back-to-back surpluses in nearly two decades. Gross debt is $177 billion lower than forecast. We have found $94 billion in savings—no small amount—banked most of the revenue upgrades and ensured payments are growing at less than half the rate of our predecessors. That is what responsible management looks like. Most importantly, this budget is about responsible nation building. It is about ensuring Australians not only survive the turbulence of today but thrive in the opportunities of tomorrow.

Australia is turning the corner. This budget helps us in the fight against inflation, it helps rebuild living standards, and it helps maximise our national advantages in a changing world. It is a budget rooted in responsibility and driven by optimism—optimism that working Australians can see their wages grow; optimism that families can afford the essentials; optimism that every child, no matter where they are born, has access to education and opportunity; and optimism that, in a world of uncertainty, Australia will be a stronger, fairer and more secure place. This is our plan to build a stronger economy, a fairer society and a future every Australian can be proud of. This is our government's approach—to invest in people, to invest in communities and to invest in the future where we are lifting living standards. This budget is a statement of values—that we value hard work, that we nurture aspiration, that we protect families and that we plan responsibly for a hopeful tomorrow.

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

I think I should start by talking about the debt. Australian government securities outstanding as we speak right now are $961.4 billion. I watch it very closely. That's $100 billion higher than it was when the coalition left government. One of the greatest myths is a trillion dollars in debt. You don't have it yet, but you're heading there at a rate of knots. It's an interesting place to start, because how do you pay back debt? In my former life as an accountant and my current life as a cattle producer in business, you've got two choices. You're going to cut your expenses, and for a lot of people that's politically unpalatable. You have to find out where you're spending way too much money. NDIS is a classic one. The money you're putting up against the wall on intermittent power, the money you're paying to billionaires domestically and foreign multinationals, is another huge saving if you want to have an epiphany and go back to what it was. If you want to cut money, they're the two you have to try and work out how to fix up. One you should get rid of, the intermittent power sector; the other you should rationalise, and you're trying to do that.

I might just segue into that. I remember when a couple of years ago, before we lost government, I contacted the member for Maribyrnong, Mr Shorten, and said, 'Look, we're going to have to straighten out the NDIS. If we work out some non-contro amendments, can you just let them through?' I get along well with Bill, but he said no; he wanted to play politics with it, and that was what happened. Later on—I remember where I was—I was outside Goonoo Goonoo station on the New England Highway driving south, and I got a call from one Mr Bill Shorten saying, 'Is that offer still open where we can have non-contro amendments?' We actually did it. We came to an agreement. We touched up one thing and let a couple of others through, because we've got to get the NDIS back under control, otherwise the whole thing is going to collapse; it's not going to be there any more, and that would be a tragedy. It was only supposed to cost $13 billion at the start; I think it's heading towards $42 billion.

The other way you can try and pay back your debt, and this goes to New England, is to try and build up your asset base. The strength of your asset base, if they're prudent assets, will drive your P and L, and if you've got an effective P and L you can repay debt. In some instances in my time as an accountant and also in banking, if you thought people's business plan was right, you did the oddest thing: you actually lent them more on the prospect that they would drive prudent assets to generate income. I'm not going to give away names, but I can think of a classic example where, against the will of the credit bureau, I did precisely that. This person got themselves out of debt and became very successful. You've got to have prudent assets. Prudent assets on your balance sheet are the ones seminal in the creation of wealth and driving tax incomes forward. I'm not being parochial or bucolic when I say one of the biggest assets you need to do that is effective internodal capacity, effective rail and effective roads. Remember, roads build cities; cities don't build roads. The wealth driven by that transport corridor drives the economy.

The other thing that's seminal is seed infrastructure such as dams. Find me one place in the world that has an economy that's effectively gone ahead without water. Dams are absolutely essential. In a place like the city of Tamworth, vastly more water is used by business than is used for domestic purposes, but if you don't have the water, the businesses can't grow. Tamworth is one of the biggest protein providers in Australia. In fact if you eat beef from Woolworths, about 60 or 70 per cent of it is killed in Tamworth, and they use huge amounts of water. The latest investment in poultry must be three million chooks a year. That's with the Camilleri boys, Baiada, but that's $600 million for the plant and another about $500 million for surrounding infrastructure in sheds, so about a $1.1 billion investment in that form of protein coming from Tamworth. Then you've got high-protein grains and mutton, sheep, from Thomas Foods. These people are expanding their operations, but we've got to have water infrastructure there.

So I'll start with this. One of the saddest things was when the current government came up with its bogus number of $1.3 billion to build Dungowan Dam, and neither Minister Rose Jackson from New South Wales nor anybody else could ever in a substantive way tabulate how they come up with that $1.3 billion. It was plucked out of thin air for the sake of saying, 'Look at that terrifying number; we can't build it.' In audit, you have to stand behind your numbers. They have a very derogatory term, which Madam Deputy Speaker would pull me up on, and it's called a 'packet of something tickets' if you walk in with rubbish. They say: 'T's garbage. Go away.' We don't have diligent numbers from the government about why they came up with the number they did on Dungowan Dam. We know it's rubbish. It's a garbage number, and it's been proven as such.

Another big disappointment is this. You've got to spread the wealth a little bit around, and there's got to be a form of decentralisation, especially in public service jobs. Now, Canberra is a beautiful city and has done exceptionally well at public service jobs. I won't tell you something you probably already know. Not many public servants vote for me, so this is not a pitch to get votes. But we need sections of departments in regional areas. You need to be effective. We started it with a section of fisheries going to Coffs Harbour and a section of the Murray Darling Basin going to Goondiwindi. We moved APVMA to Armadale because the University of New England was there, as was the rural science school and the CSIRO. It was near everything. Cotton, cattle, sheep, grain and sugarcane—it was in a good area for it. Now we've got this stupid game they're playing. 'We believe in the APVMA in Armadale.' That's a strong Labor town in a lot of areas. And they're moving it all back to Canberra. That says to regional people—and I use this against the Labor Party. I always say to Labor voters in Armadale: 'I don't know why you vote them, because all they ever do is kick you. Even when I try to get you something, they kick you. If you don't want to vote for me, I can understand that, but don't vote for them until they want to look after you.' It would be great if the Labor Party had that same vision and said: 'That's fair enough. Let's do a little bit of decentralisation.' It might just go back to one of the doyennes of the Labor Party who did have a crack at that, and his name was Edward Gough Whitlam. He did it with Albury; that was one of his plans. Things should be borrowed from that for the next step. Labor are slowly throttling the APVMA in Armadale, and what a disappointment that is, because it just goes to show that they don't even look after their own people, let alone regional people. These are the people who actually voted for you.

On inland rail—this is idiotic. We have a multibillion dollar asset. Rail is incredibly important because you have the vastly more efficient movement of produce. Trains will ultimately be up to three kilometres long travelling at 110 kilometres an hour. If you want carbon reduction, how many trucks is that taking off the road? It's massively more efficient, and it gives a huge impetus for growth to places in my electorate, like Parkes and Narrabri, right up past Inverell. It will be huge for these areas. Now it is funded and built from Melbourne. I don't know if they've finished the Stockinbingal section—it's a small section. It goes to Narromine, and then it stops. You're able to move containers from Melbourne to Narromine. I don't know what they'll do when they get to Narromine. They'll just park them on the side of the scrub. Narromine is not where it's supposed to go. It's supposed to go to Brisbane. Then we've got another one that starts in Newcastle, in Madam Deputy Speaker's area, and goes to a place called North Star. North Star has 240 people. I don't know what produce from Newcastle needs to go to North Star, but that's where the railway line stops. We've got to connect Narromine to Narrabri and North Star to at least Toowoomba. Brisbane would be better, or we could go down the hill to Gladstone. Once more, Labor came up with another fantastic number. They just plucked it out of the air. It was going to cost $30 billion or $20 billion. They just used it as an excuse to not build it. Just be frank. Just say you've got no interest in building it, because it's in regional Australia. This is definitely an asset that strengthens your balance sheet to try to deal with the $961.4 billion of Australian government securities that are outstanding tonight. It's almost a trillion dollars—not there, but getting close. These are the assets that will actually make it politically easier for any government to try to service their debt, because, if the economy's humming, then the money flows in, and, if the money flows in, you've got the tax revenue to start on an effective path of getting on top of your financial predicament.

The big one, something I've been banging on and driving people crazy about—and I apologise to my colleagues, but I can't stop—is that you've got to get your power right. If you haven't got affordable power, no industry is going to be here. We have created this catastrophe in this nation. We've lost our plastics industry. Our urea industry, which underpins our agriculture, is gone. Manufacturing glass is gone. You're down to two oil refineries, and even Ampol said the other day that the cost of energy is out of control, so they're asking whether they should stay there. Steel industries are all on their knees, saying, 'If we don't get cheaper energy, we're basically out,' or, 'Pay us subsidies.' Tomago Aluminium, your aluminium industry, is screaming for money. You've got all these heavy manufacturing industries that basically, as a whole, are going broke, clawing for subsidies or not staying. The thing is that the US is multiple times cheaper than us in energy prices, as are India and China. If you lose these heavy industries, you'll never get them back. They're just gone. It all sits on the fact that our energy prices are absurd, and we're making them worse.

If you keep on with this lemming-like, perverse desire to single-handedly—because, no, the majority of the globe's not there—go to net zero, shut down the last of our coal-fired power stations and look for no reasonable alternative in base-load power, then you're going to go out the back door. You will not have the assets to pay off your $961.4 billion worth of debt. If you do, I pose the questions: where? what industry? Where's it going to come from? The service industry does not sustain exports. The service industry is merely something that increases the GDP by churning money through the economy. I grant you that. But you'll see that money has to come in from overseas because we're a trading economy. Therefore, you have to have substantive industries to prop up your currency, to keep inflation down and to drive the efficacy of businesses to produce profits that are taxed to pay back your debt.

That then takes you to roads. We've got so many roads, whether it's the Tenterfield bypass or even small roads. The upgrade to Goonoo Goonoo Road, the Wingen realignment—these roads have got to be looked after. You've got to keep your average speed over 80 kilometres an hour for an effective transport corridor. I compliment the government; they're driving ahead now on the Singleton Bypass. That's good. That's a good thing. You've got to get cracking on the Muswellbrook Bypass. We haven't built the rail line, so the trucks have got to move at a better-than-average 80 kilometres an hour.

Australia has to realise that, on the electricity debate—I don't know who's going to win, but I'll tell you who wins in the end: physics. Physics is going to win that debate, because you get to a point where the grid doesn't work. And economics, the brutality of debt, will win the other debate, unfortunately, on what is an appropriate policy in regard to energy and other things. When economics wins it, we are in such a bad position. My father, who was pretty successful in business, had a lot of adages, but certain ones that work stick in your head, and this was one of his: as poverty walks in the door, love flies out the window, and all your great ideas disappear if you can't make a buck. In closing, I would say we have got to focus on how this nation makes a dollar.

Anne Urquhart (Braddon, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, cognate with Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026. I'm very proud to represent the people of the federal seat of Braddon in this place. As you know, Deputy Speaker Claydon, I also served as a senator for Tasmania in the other place between 2011 and 2025. I'm a strong advocate for all things Tasmanian and particularly for the north-west, the West Coast and King Island.

It's worth reminding everyone from metropolitan and regional electorates that my electorate is rural, it's remote and it's very remote. Braddon is a large electorate, and the population is geographically dispersed. Circular Head, one of eight local government areas in the electorate, boasts a location called 'the edge of the world'. At this location, looking out to the sea, the next closest piece of land in a straight line is Argentina, more than 15,000 kilometres away. I'm told it's the longest uninterrupted expanse of ocean on Earth. I'm yet to swim it! The electorate boasts extensive areas of wilderness, and it's no surprise that the West Coast was chosen not once but twice as the location for the SBS series Alone Australiaa wild place indeed.

In Braddon, people commute long distances to work, to study, to see loved ones and to access services that, for many other people, are available just around the corner. On average, the electorate has an older population and has poorer health outcomes than other parts of Australia. These are issues in the electorate that are attributed to remoteness, but, for some issues, this is a poor excuse from service agencies who should work harder—and this is not good enough. For example, there are areas of my electorate that have persistently poor digital connectivity. This is a handbrake on businesses, it disadvantages students, and it isolates people and their communities. Consumers in my electorate are signing the same standard price contracts with telcos, but they receive far poorer services than the mainland and even some other parts of Tasmania. But I'm pleased to say that the federal government is funding incentives that will bring more competition to the market and better investment on behalf of their customers.

The electorate isn't a squeaky wheel and often flies below the radar. It is home to many quiet achievers, boasts innovative industries and advanced manufacturers, is an emerging renewable-energy powerhouse and is a fantastic place to live. It is important that Braddon is not relegated to the edge of the world or left behind when it comes to federal government policy, programs and priorities. The Albanese Labor government has shown that it is a government for all Australians, including residents of Braddon.

The electorate delivered the biggest swing in the country—over 15 per cent—to elect me as its representative. And there is a reason for this. The electorate saw that the Albanese Labor government doesn't leave people behind. We don't forget small communities like our agricultural and mining communities, and we know the challenges that face people who live outside metropolitan and regional Australia. The electorate saw Labor committing more funding to public hospitals. In 2025-26, we will deliver a 14 per cent increase in funding to Tasmanian state-run hospitals. Up from $660 million last year, the state will receive $750 million in Commonwealth funding this financial year. We will also invest $120 million to establish a heart centre in Launceston, making it easier for patients with heart disease from the north and north-west to get better health care.

The people of Braddon also backed Labor's plan to strengthen Medicare, to make medicines cheaper and more accessible, to increase bulk-billing incentives for medical practices and to increase the number of doctors, nurses and midwives. The estimated savings to patients in Braddon from our cheaper medicines policy is so far almost $8.5 million, and, across Tasmania, more than $40 million has been saved. Our policy is putting money back in the pockets of patients when buying their medicines. We've also prioritised women's health, with over $790 million in funding to deliver more choice, lower costs and better health care for women, including new rebates for longer consultations.

Braddon voters have seen the great outcomes of Labor's first round of funding for Medicare urgent care centres. They supported our commitment to extending the number of urgent care clinics. A total of 87 Medicare urgent care clinics are currently operating across Australia. This number will expand to 137 clinics as part of the 2025-26 federal budget and Labor's plan. These are the things that make a difference to people in regional, rural and remote Tasmania and right across the country. The Devonport Urgent Care Clinic has delivered over 25,000 bulk-billed walk-in consultations since it opened at the end of 2023. I'm really pleased to say that a tender process is now underway to select a provider for our second urgent care clinic in Burnie. These initiatives help take numbers out of the emergency departments within our hospitals, which are always chock-a-block full. When people can go to an urgent care clinic, they can get seen within a very short period, get the treatment they need and not have to pay a cent for that. Across Tasmania, urgent care clinics have delivered over 100,000 bulk-billed appointments.

Braddon will benefit from two Medicare mental health centres. One is currently being fitted out in Devonport and will open soon, and a second clinic will be located right in Burnie. Again, these centres provide free walk-in mental health services for people of all ages. They will be an important link between hospital services and people in the community with mental health issues and will provide services at a time when and at a place where people need them—no waiting. Walk in and be seen. The centres will be staffed by social workers, nurses, peer support workers and mental health workers, and they will have access to psychiatry services.

We know that the dream of homeownership has been out of reach for many people. The Albanese Labor government is helping all first home buyers purchase their first home through the Home Guarantee Scheme. We're implementing the program early, on 1 October 2025, instead of waiting until next year. Under Labor, all first home buyers will be able to borrow for their first home with a five per cent deposit, with no caps in place and no income limits. For single parents, the deposit requirement will be just two per cent of the purchase price. Labor's scheme will save first home buyers tens of thousands of dollars in lenders mortgage insurance. In the first year alone, first home buyers are expected to avoid around $1.5 billion in mortgage insurance costs.

Since we came to government, more than 560 people in Braddon have been able to buy their first home with a five per cent deposit or less thanks to Labor's Home Guarantee Scheme. That's 560 people for whom it would otherwise have been out of reach. For renters, we've delivered a 45 per cent increase in Commonwealth rent assistance—the biggest back-to-back increase in more than 30 years—helping over one million low-income Australian households pay their rent. In Braddon, there are 9,000 people who have benefited directly from this assistance. We've made strong progress in delivering 55,000 social and affordable rental homes for the Australians who need it most. We've invested a record $1.2 billion into building new crisis and transitional accommodation to ensure that at-risk groups, including older women, younger Australians and those fleeing from family and domestic violence, will have access to safe and stable housing.

We've facilitated the training of more tradies through Labor's fee-free TAFE. More than 365 construction trade apprentices in Braddon, who are building new houses, are benefiting from $5,000 incentive payments. From 1 July this year, Labor's Key Apprenticeship Program has offered up to $10,000 in financial support to apprentices commencing or recommencing their careers in the clean energy or housing construction sectors. If you go along to a TAFE and talk to the students who are involved in that, they are absolutely stoked about it. They are coming through the door. It is helping to train those we need to build the homes.

Following tax cuts and energy bill relief in our first term, we will deliver new tax cuts for every taxpayer, and we will deliver more energy bill relief. We've wiped 20 per cent off student debt so that three million students and apprentices will save an average of $5½ thousand each. Almost 8,000 people in Braddon will benefit from this. We're making free TAFE permanent, so young Australians can get the skills that they need for the jobs that they want, and we are delivering affordable child care closer to home.

Last week, legislation passed both houses to put penalty rates into law, to protect weekend and overtime pay. Penalty rates make a big difference for many people. If you're working on a Saturday night, on a Sunday or on a public holiday, you should be compensated for what you are giving up, and that is what our legislation will ensure. There are many, many workers across this country who rely on penalty rates but also work unsavoury hours and shifts that keep them away from their families. They really deserve to have those penalty rates. We have looked after those workers, and we have now enshrined that in legislation.

Labor governs for all. That's no more apparent than in electorates like mine. We also know that there is more to do. We are playing catch-up on a long period of neglect from those opposite: inconsistent investment, lack of certainty for business and renewables, and lack of concern for the people and places in rural and remote Australia. Our priorities, policies and programs will support and include those who live outside metropolitan and regional Australia—people like the people that I represent in the electorate of Braddon, which is remote, rural and very remote. I commend the bill to the House.

Helen Haines (Indi, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Since I was first elected, in 2019, I have sought to understand the needs of communities across my electorate and to come together to craft solutions—practical solutions—that address the problems we face. It's why I am so glad to speak today on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026 and related bills, and, specifically, to address the Cheaper Home Batteries Program. These bills, in total, provide $415 million for the first year of the program. This program is, indeed, long overdue but welcomed by communities across Indi and right across Australia.

Australian households are the world's most enthusiastic generators of solar energy. With an abundance of sunshine, we've made our roofs work for us and reduced our emissions and reliance on the energy grid. Australian households have been supported to do so by the federal government through the Small-scale Renewable Energy Scheme, the SRES, which reduces the upfront cost of solar panels. This scheme was set up during the Howard years, and it was then—and continued to be, over a long period of time—a roaring success. But, of course, as we frequently hear, the sun isn't always shining, and we know feed-in tariffs are not what they used to be.

Until recently, despite the benefits, installing a household battery to complement the solar panels was financially out of reach for most Australians. This is where the $2.3 billion Cheaper Home Batteries Program comes in. The program is simple in design but powerful in its impact. It works by extending the existing SRES to include home batteries. Small-scale batteries are now eligible for an upfront discount of around 30 per cent. This is not a loan or a rebate paid later. This is a point-of-sale discount applied directly by the installer. The Clean Energy Regulator will oversee the program, issuing small-scale energy certificates just as it does with solar panels.

For a typical household battery—say, a 12-kilowatt system—the saving is around $4,000, bringing the price down from roughly $13,000 to about $9,000. Larger households, small businesses or community organisations that invest in bigger batteries could see discounts of tens of thousands of dollars. Even with this program, batteries have a big upfront cost, but this program means it will take less time for the battery to pay for itself.

Solar businesses in my electorate, like Solargain in Wangaratta and Solar Integrity in Wodonga, say demand is through the roof, but, most excitingly, they tell me it's not the usual customers coming in. They tell me that the customers walking in the door are younger. They're younger couples or they're busy families who've never considered a battery up until now. They simply couldn't afford one, but, with this program, they're lining up to take control of their energy. These are exactly the people the scheme is set up to benefit—households struggling with the cost of living and the rising cost of energy. I am so glad people in my electorate are jumping at the chance to keep more of the power they generate. In fact, I'm proud to say that Indi is leading Victoria in new battery installations, proving once again that regional communities are ready to embrace the charge towards a more resilient and cleaner energy system.

I commend the government for rolling out the Cheaper Home Batteries Program, but we know that this policy didn't actually start with government. The people of Indi know that the Cheaper Home Batteries Program is actually an Indi policy. It's the outcome of years of steady work—work that began in Indi and that I carried into this parliament on behalf of the people I represent. Major political parties like to say that independents have no power, but I think this shows the absolute contrary. When you listen to people, craft practical solutions, work with government in good faith and keep at it, you can and do shape national policy.

When I was first elected in 2019, I heard from my constituents that energy security was a top priority, as was the transition to clean energy. So I got to work with this community, and, in 2020, I launched the local power plant—a blueprint to drive investment in locally owned renewables in regional Australia. It set out how locally owned renewables could thrive when government gave communities the tools they needed to succeed, and it became clear to me that we couldn't talk about local energy if we didn't talk about home batteries. This is because rooftop solar without storage is really just half a solution. Solar might generate power, but, without a battery, households are forced to sell cheaply in the day and buy back at night at a higher price. I said then that batteries are the critical link between clean energy, cheaper bills and local energy security. That simple truth shaped the home energy bill I first introduced in 2022 and again in 2023. My proposal was simple but powerful: to extend the small-scale renewable energy scheme—the same mechanism that drove rooftop solar to include home batteries. I'm very pleased that the government has done the same through a regulatory amendment to the bill I sought to amend.

During the recent election, the cost of living was, of course, a key issue. It still is. I spoke in Indi about how a home battery could help the average household take control of their energy, not only in terms of lowering their bills but addressing the issue of power blackouts or brownouts experienced by many people. The message really cut through. This was practical, sensible reform that would deliver for families, small businesses and the broader economy. My community really backed me on this one.

Finally, in April this year, with an election looming, the government acted, and, boy, is it taking off. More home batteries were installed in the first six weeks of this program than in the first six months of 2024. Just this week, we hit 40,000 batteries since July. This is public policy that is working. Reporting from last week from the Australian Conservation Foundation found that, by 2030, the increased level of solar and batteries will lift renewable energy's share of the power supply by 4.5 per cent above that estimated in AEMO's current projections. That's pretty good. I said then, and I repeat now, that this is the missing piece of the puzzle—helping households store excess solar energy and use it during peak periods instead of buying it back from the grid.

As with any scheme of this size, we must remain alert and vigilant to emerging problems in the implementation and be prepared to amend the program to ensure households are getting the right battery for their needs and to crack down on any dodgy providers seeking to take advantage of the scheme. Reputable retailers in my electorate have already told me about a rise in unsolicited marketing calls, counterfeit batteries and cowboy retailers trying to make a quick buck selling the biggest battery possible, even if it's not a good fit. The government needs to work carefully with regulators to stop this bad behaviour wherever and whenever it occurs.

The government has also signalled that households who install a battery under this scheme will be able to take part in virtual power plants, programs where thousands of small batteries are linked together to provide clean, reliable power back to the grid in times of stress. This means that the Cheaper Home Batteries Program will benefit not only households who install a battery but the wider community as well. Batteries can store excess solar power generated during the day and release it back into the community in the evening when demand and prices are highest. This eases pressure on the grid and ensures plentiful, cheap power is available after sunset. It will be essential in the transition towards a zero-emissions electricity network.

One of the most important aspects of virtual power plants is that they enhance grid resilience and strengthen our energy security. When the grid is under stress during heatwaves, bushfires or storms, virtual power plants can keep essential infrastructure and services operating for days or possibly weeks. This is something communities in my electorate know only too well, and why regional communities, like those in my electorate of Indi, recognise the transformative potential of home and community batteries.

We are really on board with this. The Cheaper Home Batteries Program is not only a win for Indi but a win for the nation. It shows what democracy should look like. It shows that regional communities can and do lead the way, and that integrity and persistence in politics deliver real and practical outcomes for everyday people.

Before I conclude my remarks on these bills, I do want to note that these bills also make provision for a number of so-called election commitments made by the Labor Party during the 2025 election campaign. I want to be absolutely clear with the House: my issue is not with the projects themselves—I am sure they are excellent projects—but I do question the process through which they're being funded. One, supporting the construction of the first-ever Hindu school in Australia, is located in the electorate of Macquarie. The other, funding the restoration of South Melbourne Town Hall, is located in the electorate of Macnamara. Crucially, both electorates were key battlegrounds in the 2025 election, seen as fundamental to the Labor party's path to victory in what most expected to be a closely fought election.

This is millions of dollars in taxpayer money with no transparent process, no apparent value-for-money assessment and no clarity on whether the money would deliver a better outcome elsewhere. Instead, it seems the government is choosing to fund projects as line items in the budget. On anyone's measure, that's poor budget practice and, frankly, poor governance. All community infrastructure projects should be funded through open-access, competitive grant processes. This means every community in every corner of Australia has a chance to secure funding. It means only the most meritorious projects will be funded. It means money goes where it will make the greatest difference. It's decision-making based on community need, not on political expedience.

Allocating taxpayer funds on the basis of political interest is called pork-barrelling, and Australians think it is a form of corruption. I agree. I've fought long and hard to end the practice of pork-barrelling, not just with this government but with previous ones, because I, like most Australians, believe that taxpayer money should be spent fairly and transparently through an open process. It's why I twice introduced my end pork-barrelling bill to the previous parliament. I put this government on notice: I will continue to fight for fairer funding in this term of parliament, call out bad practices where I see them and do my utmost to make sure that hard-earned taxpayer dollars are spent fairly and transparently.

Claire Clutterham (Sturt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Election commitments are an important part of election campaigns because they provide incumbents and candidates the opportunity to really connect with their communities, to listen to the needs of their communities, and to learn what projects and services might best serve those communities and be sustainable for the future. The task of then reviewing those commitments, of weighing those commitments up in order to get the balance right as to what the needs of the electorate are, and of determining the most efficient, effective and fair use of funding not only to the electorate but to the Australian taxpayer is challenging—but that's the job we're here to do.

I was very proud to have been able to make several commitments to my great electorate of Sturt during the campaign. These commitments were diverse, covering culture, health care, sports and infrastructure, but all will have an enduring benefit to my community. As well as an urgent care clinic and a Medicare mental health centre for the people of Sturt, who worked with me in signing a petition to ensure the pledge regarding the urgent care clinic was made, the other commitments include a pledge to upgrade a section of Sturt's great Linear Park, located within the city of Port Adelaide Enfield, to include better lighting, fitness equipment and safer footpaths and bike tracks. Linear Park is a place comprised of multiple extensive outdoor green spaces for families and is much loved by those using the BBQ facilities, having a picnic or simply watching their children play on the many playgrounds dotted throughout the park. It is also a beautiful place for walkers, cyclists and runners like myself, and these upgrades will make it even better and safer, especially during the early mornings and evenings. Community spaces that promote mental and physical fitness and connection are important for overall community wellbeing. The Labor government is committed to building a stronger, healthier community, and I was very proud of this announcement.

Community connection will also be facilitated through the upgrade of Foxfield Oval Hall in the suburb of Athelstone in the far-eastern part of Sturt, within the city of Campbelltown. The renovation will provide a fit-for-purpose space that can keep up with the growing community demand. The project will include providing internal and accessible toilets, a larger hall floor space with better acoustics, kitchen functionality, more storage and better access overall. Foxfield Oval Hall is regularly used for events run by local sporting and community groups and has been the home of the Athelstone Table Tennis Club for more than 60 years. It's also used by the Athelstone Football Club, the Athelstone Cricket Club and a private boxing gym. But, built more than 60 years ago, this ageing facility does not meet current demand or accessibility requirements, and it's the improvement of these types of facilities which election commitments are firmly aimed at, because they are for the betterment of the community.

As a huge Norwood Redlegs fan and a big supporter of the AFLW and SANFLW, I was very proud to announce an investment at the Norwood Football Club towards the long-overdue upgrade and renovation of the old, cold, outdated and, frankly, not fit for purpose female change rooms. Women's sport is growing rapidly in Australia, including in footy and at the highest, elite levels like the SANFLW, and the players deserve facilities that reflect their status as elite athletes competing in a high-performance environment. The Redlegs are ingrained in my community's history, and these upgrades mean that the women's team can continue to kick goals in a safe, new and fit-for-purpose environment, which is exactly what they deserve. Staying with sport, I was also proud to be able to commit to upgraded lighting and a new synthetic pitch for the mighty Campbelltown City Soccer and Social Club. I can't wait until club stalwart Don Leombruno is able to realise his vision for this family-friendly, growing and successful soccer club.

The Albanese Labor government went to the 2022 election promising to lift the standard of aged care in Australia, and we are working hard to deliver on that commitment. A key part of this is ensuring that people can access the care that they deserve, whether that be in residential care or whilst still at home. Nonna's Cucina is a Sturt community based service run mostly by volunteers which provides home cooked, Italian-style meals to the aged and to people with disabilities and their carers. They predominantly service the Adelaide Italian community throughout the north, south and eastern parts of the electorate of Sturt. Quite rightly, Nonna's has been receiving support from the Commonwealth government for over two decades, and I was proud to make a further commitment to them which will go towards upgrading their new premises in Holden Hill. Nonna's Cucina is more than just a cafe; it's a community institution and it's a vital feature of South Australia's Italian heritage. I participate in monthly delivery runs with Nonna's Cucina, which is not only about meal delivery; it also provides an opportunity to conduct a welfare check on clients. This is an organisation worth volunteering for and an organisation very worthy of the commitment made towards its sustainability and its newer and larger premises.

This is what election commitments are about, and this is what the Labor government is about: investing in communities and ensuring community and volunteer led and run organisations like Nonna's Cucina can keep thriving in our communities so they can keep contributing to our communities.

I was also very proud to support Sturt's other multicultural communities and the contribution that they all make to the harmony, vibrancy and productivity of our country. The commitment I made to the Sicilia Social and Sports Club in Klemzig to install new, commercial-grade ovens and replace community dining tables means the Sicilia club, which is run by dedicated volunteers, will celebrate its 40th birthday on 25 October this year, producing even more delicious Italian food, and will ensure that it can continue its work of delivering community events, promoting culture and supporting local groups.

I was also fortunate to join my friend the federal member for Makin, Tony Zappia, earlier this year to commit funding for the annual Festa della Madonna di Montevergine celebrated at the St Francis of Assisi Church in the suburb of Newton in the electorate of Sturt. The festival will hold its 70th anniversary celebration later this year, and I am assured by the lead organiser, Mr Dominic Zollo, that it will be bigger and better than ever and that the ever-present and controversial debate over whether the sweet zeppole or the anchovy zeppole is better will continue to rage.

Further, my dear friends at the Altavilla club in Beulah Park, particularly club manager and self-appointed head chef Dom Repucci, will also be able to continue to serve delicious and well-priced meals to the elderly Italian community due to the commitment to install new, commercial-grade ovens.

With these investments, the Albanese Labor government is ensuring that the heritage and culture of the Italian community of Sturt can continue to thrive well into the future.

An additional amendment which is being brought about by virtue of these bills is for direct appropriations to two new non-corporate Commonwealth entities, as that definition is understood within the Public Governance, Performance and Accountability Act. These are the Defence and Veterans' Services Commission, which is legislated to commence on 29 September of this year, and the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator, which is legislated to commence on 1 November 2025 at the latest. They are fully offset by reductions in the Department of Defence's annual appropriation. It goes without saying that both of these new non-corporate Commonwealth entities will play a critical role in the continued growth of Australia's defence industrial base, which means, in this context, growing the workforce and developing and cementing a sovereign supply chain.

In particular, the establishment of the Australian Naval Nuclear Power Safety Regulator, which was subject to public consultation between 1 and 30 July 2025, allowed for the development of a framework that will ensure that the highest standards of nuclear safety and radiological protection are applied across the nuclear powered submarine program. Once established, the Australian naval nuclear regulator will operate within a national regulatory system that supports the safety of people, of the general public and, critically, of the environment. Establishing the Australian naval nuclear regulator will be a critical milestone occurring under the AUKUS trilateral partnership, AUKUS being a core pillar of the Albanese government's national security policy. More importantly, it is also expected to create more than 20,000 direct jobs over the next 30 years, including 4,000 jobs designing, building and equipping the facilities at the Osborne Naval Shipyard in South Australia, and a further 4,000-5,500 shipyard jobs will be created in South Australia to design, build and sustain the fleet once submarine production is underway. This is an example of the efficient and effective use of appropriated funds, because AUKUS is the biggest, most significant security partnership Australia has entered into in a century.

The 2025-26 appropriation bills seek to appropriate funding of $83.4 billion in Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026, $14.6 billion in Appropriation Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 and $195.1 million in Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 1) 2025-2026. If passed, these bills would provide appropriations of circa $98.2 billion, meaning a total annual appropriation of $195.4 billion, including supply acts. But an appropriations bill is more than just numbers on a page. It is a commitment to the people of Australia. It is a commitment to the people of our communities. For me, it's a commitment to my community of Sturt. These numbers translate election commitments into real outcomes, investing in the future of our communities and making a real difference in the lives of everyday Australians.

Mary Aldred (Monash, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm delighted to come to my first point this evening, which is on the Gippsland United basketball league men's team division 1, who were victorious in their recent premiership game by nine points. I had the absolute pleasure of attending the game a fortnight ago, and I have got a strong association with the league, having served previously as chair of the Gippsland United basketball league. It's the fastest-growing participation sport in our region, as I understand it, and it's a great team sport for young people right through to elite athletes to get involved in.

There were a number of players from my electorate of Monash that I was cheering on, including Joel Winderlich from Leongatha, who was a stand-out player for Gippsland United. He scored 21 points in that game. The men's coach is Scott McKenzie from Korumburra, and he really has taken this team with just a dream on behalf of the community to be able to play in division 1 in the Big V league. To Scott McKenzie and his assistant coaches, I give my congratulations. There were many other players from the Monash electorate who were in the men's, women's and youth league teams through that competition.

The big break that senior basketball in our region had was the re-establishment of senior Big V teams for men's and women's in 2021. Since then, the men's team have gone on to win two championships, and the women's team only narrowly lost their grand final on the same night. So I give my sincere congratulations to both teams. It's a really important opportunity, I think, to provide a regional pathway for very talented and elite junior basketball players in our community who were previously leaving our region to seek senior playing pathways elsewhere. We get to keep them in our region. We get to cheer them on, and that is just an absolutely fantastic thing for our community.

We've also got Gippsland United junior teams who compete every Friday night, with many competing in the Victorian championship division. The success of the program is in large part due to local sponsors and volunteers, who come from right across my electorate. I give a special shout-out to the volunteers and also the local businesses who, although doing it really tough right now, are still the first to put their hands up to support local sporting clubs, so I give my absolute sincere thanks and appreciation to them on that front.

There are a couple of other things I would like to touch on. I am really passionate about civics education in schools. We've got some absolutely amazing schools in the Monash electorate. I've had the privilege of visiting a number of them recently to present new Australian flags and also talk about our parliamentary system. Although I am a new member here, it's wonderful to be able to share my last couple of weeks in this sitting period with those students. I've been to Foster Primary School in South Gippsland, which only has a few students. It's a small school, but it's an incredible school, and I pay tribute to the wonderful teachers there, who are really, really dedicated in the job that they do. I visited Drouin West Primary School with some new flags as well. At the Marist-Sion Catholic college in Warragul, I spoke to their year 12 legal studies class just a couple of weeks ago. I have to say I was just blown away by the calibre of questions. Only two students seemed to nod off a little bit during my presentation, but for a moment only. But they were such insightful questions. Those students are preparing for their VCE exams later in the year, and I wish them all the very, very best in their study and preparation. I did say to them that, when I was in year 12, it was the TER score, but, no matter how you finish year 12, it doesn't determine the rest of your life. So study hard, and give it your best shot, but I know and I have no doubt that each one of those students that I engaged with is going to go on to have a really interesting, incredible career and life ahead of them.

Aged care is a very, very important issue in my electorate of Monash. We've got some wonderful aged-care facilities. We've got some incredibly dedicated staff. I know, for a lot of those not-for-profit providers, there are some really challenging issues that they need to grapple with every single day. I previously served on the board of the Woorayl Lodge community aged care centre in South Gippsland. All of the staff and carers in all of those facilities do an amazing job. I recently visited the Fairview retirement home in Warragul, where the flag-bearer is 94 years old. His name is Bill, and he is a veteran. It was wonderful to present him with a new flag and also speak at the residents' morning tea about my new role and about our magnificent Monash electorate, as well as the story behind General Sir John Monash, which I am passionate about and committed to retelling because, in my humble view, he is Australia's greatest ever citizen.

I also want to congratulate the Gippsland Community Leadership Program. They were established in 1996, and that came out of the Karpin review into leadership in regional Australia. I have to acknowledge the Hawke government for initiating that review. But there are a number of community leadership programs right across regional Victoria and regional Australia. Unfortunately, the Allan Labor government has cut funding to those regional community leadership programs, which do such a great job of identifying, fostering and developing leadership talent in our regional communities.

Over its 30 years, we've had some incredible alumni come through the Gippsland Community Leadership Program, including the former Victoria Police commissioner Ken Lay, who is a Gippslander, and Senator Bridget McKenzie, who is an alumni as well. I had the great fortune of being able to go through the program in 2011. It's a wonderful opportunity. I encourage more aspiring young Gippsland leaders to put their hands up and nominate themselves for that program. I wish the board of the Committee for Gippsland, who manage and auspice that program, and everyone involved all the very best for what I hope is another 30 successful years.

I'm very passionate about the work that men's sheds do. It has been a real privilege to be able to visit a number of men's sheds in my electorate, including Mirboo North, who do some amazing woodwork—

Debate interrupted.