Matt Smith (Leichhardt, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to talk about the importance, from the perspective of the Anthony Albanese Labor government, of our investment in rural and regional communities. I stand here today, a proud regional member of parliament—more than that, a proud regional member of government. To give you an indication of how regional my seat is, just last week I left Cairns to drive through the cane fields up to the banana farms of Lakeland, out to where the Brahman are in Coen, and then back through the mighty Daintree. I stopped at small businesses, grabbing coffee, chatting to farmers and chatting to locals.

And it's not just me. Within this Labor government there are 24 MPs who represent rural and regional communities. We've more regional MPs than the opposition. So, clearly, the people in the regional areas are starting to understand who is standing up for them. The good news is, it's not only us in government who believe this; it's also coming from opposition. The member for Gippsland, who was taught with great care and passion by country teachers in country towns—and I know this because it was my parents who taught him—has said that it's great that we've got newcomers from the opposite side of politics and it's good to see people who understand regional communities in federal parliament. I will go so far as to say that many on this side are better representatives of the regions. We haven't had any representatives on this side yet say anything about the coffee, or how slow people might speak.

In fact, I'm happy to report that, across my electorate, from Cairns right the way out to Joey Laifoo's in the Torres Strait, and throughout the cape, we have some amazing coffee. We have batch-roasted coffee at Bektopia in Cooktown, powered by White Whale—another fantastic Far North Queensland local business.

So, while the members opposite continue with their infighting, we're just getting on with the job of delivering for Australia and regional Australia. After a decade of inaction from the LNP, there is a heap of investment flowing through to regional Australia. As a local member, I can tell you that that is fantastic news for Far North Queensland. Just recently, we have announced millions of dollars of funding for airstrips in Cape York and the Torres Strait, at Boigu Island, Horn Island, the NPA, Chuulangan and the Cooktown Aerodrome, allowing the mobility that people who get cut off every wet season require. This is good for health. This is good for education. This is good for all of the transport.

And the investment doesn't stop there. We've announced $245 million toward replacing the Barron River Bridge on the Kennedy Highway leading up to Kuranda; $210 million for the Kuranda Range Road upgrade; $24 million for the Cairns Western Arterial Duplication and $38 million for the Cape York Community Access Roads project, right amongst the region. We've also invested extra funding to build back better, to make sure that the roads impacted by Cyclone Jasper will not be as badly damaged the next time we face a cyclone.

In the last election, Labor committed to delivering improved mobile coverage through the Universal Outdoor Mobile Obligation. This is especially impactful for the northern reaches of Leichhardt within the cape and for the Torres Strait, which have been left behind for too long without reliable mobile coverage. Leichhardt currently has 97 per cent black spot. This is great if you want to go driving and not be bothered for six to 10 hours; it's not so good if you have a flat tyre somewhere on the Byers range.

Cairns is already home to one of the busiest urgent care clinics, in Edmonton, and the tenders have been closed for another one to be delivered on the north side. Cairns's north side gets cut off during disasters. The floods cover the roads, and we would be unable to get to the hospital. This urgent care clinic will allow the people in the north of Cairns to have that peace of mind. The next generation of healthcare workers to staff our new UCC—radiologists, physios and other health workers—will be trained in Cairns, with $27.5 million committed to the construction of the CQU university campus, building on the $50 million already committed during the 2022 election. There was an additional $60 million of federal funding that went to the Cairns Tropical Enterprise Centre, facilitating the training of the first cohort of doctors that will go from go to whoa at JCU in Cairns, because we know that, when we train them at home, they stay at home.

As I keep fighting for the people in my community, I have no doubt we'll continue to deliver the funding and the support people need. I'm proud to have grown up in the regions. I'm proud to represent the regions, and I know my fellow regional MPs on this side of the House stand with me, in the pride and the passion that I feel for regional Australia. What I've just gone through is yet another example of how the Anthony Albanese government is improving the lives of rural and regional communities and building Australia's future.