Alison Penfold (Lyne, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I appreciate the opportunity to speak on these bills, which provide for the legislative mechanism to additional measures in the government's 2025-26 budget. Commonwealth expenditure is a significant issue for the Lyne electorate and more so than ever, with a lack of funding flowing to regional Australia, including the Mid North Coast of New South Wales. Increasingly—certainly following the devastating floods of last year—constituents throughout Lyne are feeling that we, as an electorate and as a non-government seat, are having to deal with the consequences of the government's poor fiscal discipline, including high inflation and a cost-of-living crisis, and we are not getting our fair share of the funds. This is in spite of my concerted efforts for genuine engagement and collaboration with the ministers and the government, including the many proposals I put forward for funding during the election and since, where my Labor opponent—nor any other opponent—didn't match or even put forward one project for funding. I've heard many times over this last fortnight the government's claim that it is a good friend of regional Australia, and I wish it were so, but the statistics paint a very different picture.

Throughout their first term of government, Labor cancelled, cut and delayed more than $30 billion worth of infrastructure projects across the country. They abolished regional infrastructure programs, including the Building Better Regions Fund, the Community Development Grants Program, the Stronger Communities Program, the very well supported Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, Roads of National Significance, the Bridges Renewal Program, the Regional Accelerator Program, the Regionalisation Fund, and the Energy Security and Regional Development Plan. Each of these programs was a vital source of funding, particularly for regional councils, to undertake both transport and community infrastructure upgrades. Most of the regional and community infrastructure programs established by the government in its first term, such as the Growing Regions Program and the Thriving Suburbs Program, have ceased.

I'm not prepared to leave it to the government to come up with the solutions. Since I was elected, I've been working with my electorate on their priorities for funding to the extent that I have drafted and submitted a prebudget submission to Treasury, to the government, to highlight our funding priorities and opportunities for budget reform across multiple portfolios in areas of need, including health, aged care, education, housing, water security, transport infrastructure, emergency recovery and preparation, community and sporting infrastructure, and telecommunications. The submission was developed through consultation and public calls for projects, and I sincerely thank my community for its response and engagement.

Individuals, progress associations, sporting groups and councils have all been party to the document that I sent to Treasury on 29 January. In that document, I call on the Albanese government to reform its funding profile to regional Australia, to dedicate more funding to address the disadvantage and to give due consideration to the Lyne electorate's needs. I'll echo some of those needs here today. Health, as many of you well know, is one of the major concerns on my mind and on the mind of Lyne residents. I'm very concerned about the level of access to health services across the electorate. It is clear that we need more investment by both the federal and the state governments in local health services.

While successive Labor MPs get up in this chamber and speak of the urgent care clinics that have just opened in their electorates, non-government MPs cannot say the same. Of the 122 open clinics, 88—or 72 per cent—appear to be located in Labor electorates. Just two per cent are open in Nationals seats. In New South Wales, 24 exist in Labor seats. Just three are in Liberal seats, and two are in Nationals seats. The Minister for Health and Ageing and, indeed, most members in this chamber are certainly well aware of my efforts and my determination to secure an urgent care clinic for Taree. Whilst there is plenty of friendly banter at times across the chamber on this issue, its delivery is serious and urgent.

Today, I was looking at a social media post that I put up around the urgent care clinics debate earlier this week in the chamber, and the response from one of my constituents was, 'Labor seems to be having a laugh at us.' That's how the people of Lyne are feeling about the response to the call for an urgent care clinic. The only difference between members on the other side of the chamber and the Lyne electorate is that Labor did not promise an urgent care clinic in Lyne at the federal election. I was the one who promised an urgent care clinic, one that would have been delivered if we had gotten into government. It seems to the people of the Lyne electorate that, because we're not a Labor seat, we don't get one. How does that meet the Prime Minister's commitment to govern for all Australians? It doesn't, and it doesn't pass the pub test for the people in the Lyne electorate.

We have the oldest demographic in the country. The obvious negative implications of having an elderly population on the electorate's healthcare infrastructure is compounded by severe low socioeconomic markers which exist throughout large swathes of the electorate, particularly within the township of Taree and the wider Manning. Indeed, in 2016 the SEIFA Index of Relative Socioeconomic Disadvantage score for the Mid North Coast LGA was 943, well below the Australian average of 1,000. In 2021 there were 108.9 GPs per 100,000 population. Again, this is well below the New South Wales average of 123.8. Insufficient numbers of GPs coupled with the socioeconomic fabric of the region mean that an alarming and increasing number of people are either unable to source a GP or cannot afford to see one.

As a result, the area is experiencing sustained growth in ED demand. The Manning Base Hospital, the region's only public hospital, is seeing a substantial volume of semi-urgent and nonurgent triage 4 and 5 presentations that are appropriate for an urgent care pathway. For instance, between 1 October 2024 and 30 September 2025—and these are figures I have provided to the health minister—the Manning Base Hospital saw 12,429 triage 4 patients and 4,698 triage 5 patients. That's 17,127 low-acuity presentations annually. Redirecting suitable triage 4 and 5 presentations to an urgent care clinic would relieve pressure on the ED; free treatment spaces and clinician time for higher-acuity presentations; reduce overall waiting times and the proportion of patients staying greater than four hours; reduce ambulance offload delays by clearing ED capacity and reducing bottlenecks; improve patient experience with faster treatment for low-acuity problems with an urgent care clinic model and less time in ED waiting rooms; and make better use of workforce. Redirecting even just 30 to 50 per cent of those annual presentations would remove 5,000 to 8,500 presentations per year from the ED, delivering noticeable improvements in ED capacity and wait times.

I note that an urgent care clinic was committed to in Maitland and has been delivered—a commitment I also made, and a commitment that I have welcomed because it will benefit many of the constituents in the southern part of the Lyne electorate. I'm grateful, and I thank the government for delivering on this commitment. But Maitland is almost two hours away for constituents in Taree. Whilst I acknowledge that, through the New South Wales government and the determined efforts of my colleague the member for Myall Lakes, Tanya Thompson MP, the New South Wales state government has committed funding for but has yet to deliver an urgent care clinic in Forster-Tuncurry, this is not enough to adequately serve the health needs of residents in Taree, in the Manning Valley and in the Great Lakes region.

I want to take a moment, because, earlier in this debate, a member from the other side talked about how the coalition cuts funding. Indeed, I think 'cuts' is used by the other side as well and certainly by Labor, because the New South Wales state Labor government cut funding when they came into government for a public hospital in Forster. That is Labor, and that is how it cuts. Let's not forget that. I have asked the government. I have written to the minister three times. Indeed, the minister has never personally written back to me in those three letters. I've had two responses from the chief of staff. Having been a chief of staff to a cabinet minister, we never wrote to opposition members. I would have never written to opposition members as the chief of staff. It was always the minister that wrote. But, indeed, I've written three times, and I haven't yet had a response from the minister. I have to work harder for one because I'm on this side, yet Labor did not commit to an urgent care clinic. I did. I'm supporting a policy that many members from the Labor side have come up to me and spoken about, telling me about the benefits it's bringing to their communities. I'm supporting it, yet I cannot get a response from the minister. So the battle goes on.

There are many, many other issues I could speak to, but, in the time remaining, I want to talk about the floods and the flood recovery on the Mid North Coast. It has to be one of the most traumatic events I have experienced in my time, and the trauma continues. Only last week I was in a town called Wingham, which is 10 or so kays west of Taree—a community that is situated on the Manning River; a community that is living the legacy impact of the floods all these months later; a town that continues to be cut off from others like Tinonee and Krambach because there is no work being done on the Bight Bridge, which was completely smashed by the floodwaters. It's a big job to rebuild that bridge and it needs engineering expertise, but the community are frustrated that they're not seeing any action at all. There's the Tiri Bridge, which is a bit further out in a more remote part of the area. Thankfully—and I'm grateful I've seen this message this week—there will be a temporary bridge put there which will help residents out in that area.

But with the Bight Bridge in particular, the business community of Wingham is suffering significantly because, with a large population, it takes an hour and a half now—it used to be 10 minutes—for people to bring their kids to school, go to the family pharmacy and go to the local Coles. It's an hour and a half to come round to Wingham, for people that work in Wingham. A lot of the business now has shifted to Taree, to Forster and to other areas. It's a huge, significant issue, and the community are incredibly frustrated.

They're also frustrated because, as I can see under the disaster funding recovery arrangements, the Wingham pool is not considered an essential piece of public infrastructure. For the people of Wingham, I can tell you, it's an absolutely essential piece of public infrastructure, particularly in summer. The pool was impacted by the floods. The council have decided it cannot be rebuilt where it is. They're going to need to find another location, but there's no guarantee on funding—and that is an enormous issue.

The other concern I have not only in relation to Wingham but across the area is that the Mid-Coast Council, which is the council covering the Taree area, have estimated that the cost of the recovery is $226.5 million. So far they have expended $43 million in recovery. How much have they got from the disaster recovery funding arrangements? Any guess? $3 million. That is all they have been reimbursed under the disaster recovery funding arrangements. This is a huge impact. I'm on a committee that's looking at local government financial sustainability. Here's a case in point—$3 million, when they need $226.5 million. I'm disappointed in the pace of the support for my councils, and I'll be looking to the government to step up across all funding support.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm going to start with three good things. Firstly, this week we've seen new data which confirms the biggest jump in quarterly bulk-billing statistics in over 20 years. In just the last three months we've seen a recovery of the bulk-billing rate—GP visits that are bulk-billed—to 81.4 per cent. There are now more than 3,400 bulk-billing practices in Australia—and that's growing every week. The maths says that's a more than 50 per cent increase in the number of bulk-billing practices because of Labor's investments in strengthening Medicare. This growth has been seen in every state and territory right across the country, and it means that more than 96 per cent of Australians now live within a 20-minute drive of a fully bulk-billed practice. We promised at the election that we would take real action to turn around the decline in bulk-billing rates that we inherited from the former government, who froze the rebate for nearly their whole decade of dysfunction, decay and division in office, and that is the promise that we are delivering.

The second bit of good news is that free TAFE celebrates its third birthday this month. More than 725,000 enrolments in free TAFE have seen more than 210,000 course completions already. Hundreds of thousands of Australians have been trained and are now workers in essential areas, building Australia's future in nursing, in construction, in aged care, in early childhood education and in the tech sector. Don't forget that those opposite, including today's Leader of the Opposition, said it was a waste of money. If you don't pay for something, you don't value it, apparently. Well, hundreds of thousands of Australians say otherwise. They valued the opportunity to upgrade their skills, whether they're school leavers or people retraining to re-enter the workforce or make a career transition in areas of skills shortage.

The other bit of good news is that cost-of-living delivery remains the government's No. 1 focus, with tax cuts for every taxpayer, including another top-up tax cut this July, which those opposite opposed, and another top-up tax cut next year. The genius, the then shadow Treasurer, now the putative soon-to-be Leader of the Opposition, maybe, if he's got the numbers—maybe he hasn't; we'll find out in the next few days—went to the election promising to increase taxes.

There have been pay rises for minimum and award wages—because cost of living is both money in and money out—taking the total increase under Labor to over $9,000 for lower-paid workers. Paid parental leave has been expanded to 24 weeks. Super is now being paid on all government paid parental leave, something that they said could never be done.

There is more energy bill relief, with $150 off power bills for every household and around one million small businesses nationwide. There is the $10,000 bonus for housing apprentices, which is paid on top of their wages to help with those costs, and the payments are staggered now to help with retention and help support apprentices to complete and get into the construction industry. There is 30 per cent off home batteries to permanently cut power bills with Labor's Cheaper Home Batteries Program.

There is paid prac, transformative for nursing students, teaching students, social work students and midwifery students, who previously were basically pushed into poverty, being forced to complete these compulsory hours as part of their qualification but not being able to be paid for them. It's alright if you're from a wealthy family, but, for millions of Australians, that would not be an option given their economic circumstances.

There is the boost to Medicare—$1.8 billion in extra hospital funding, helping Australians get the quality, affordable health care that they deserve—and the news—I think last week—of a record increase in hospital funding to the states and territories over the next five years. We are providing more choice, lower costs and high-quality care for Australian women. The focus on women's health under this government—the first government in Australia's history in which a majority of the members are women, reflecting the population—has seen a focus on issues that matter for women and have been too long neglected.

We are expanding the five per cent deposits for all first home buyers, delivering another pay rise to aged-care nurses following the first instalment in March and freezing the draft beer excise indexation for two years—a small cost-of-living measure but particularly aimed at helping small independent breweries in the hospitality sector. We are cutting student debt by 20 per cent. Wiping that student debt means repayments are made earlier, and we are raising the income thresholds at which people are being forced to repay their student loans. The average saving is $5½ thousand. There are also more Medicare urgent care clinics. So those are three bits of good news, relating to Medicare, free TAFE and cost of living.

It's a bit of a contrast, though, and the contrast has never been sharper or starker with the collapsing coalition clown show—the chaos and the circus that those on that side of the chamber have become. The meltdown has reached new proportions. As I speak, there's a conga line of them still lining up to quit the frontbench. We haven't seen too many House members—presumably they'll do that after question time today—but the senators have been lining up to rip down the first woman elected to lead the Liberal Party in Australia's history. The truth is that she was never given a chance. From day one, when the member for Hume lost the ballot, they were split in two. She won by a couple of votes. From day one, he's been out there undermining, making sure that she could never succeed. The truth is that Liberal Party members, mainly men who mainly wear the same blue suit—sometimes it's hard to tell them apart—have never accepted the fact that a woman was elected to lead their political party.

Well, under standing order 76(c), on debating public affairs, it's very relevant to what's happening today. They are ripping down the first woman to lead the Liberal Party. They've never accepted that a woman could lead the Liberal Party. I've said, on many occasions, that the opposition leader, many days, looks utterly hopeless, but, honestly, what chance did she ever have? What chance was she given? To be fair to her, all the alternatives are worse. At least she looks somewhat normal some days, but she's always been at her worst. Her worst days in the job of less than a year have been when she's been forced to do things by the conservative men on the backbench.

The real mystery in this—watching it unfold, unedifying, over the last few weeks and months—is for what? For why? Why are they trying to rip down a centrist woman who's leading their political party? There's no policy. There are no ideas. There's no vision. There's no articulation of values, just an assertion they have some. The guy who's apparently going to challenge—he's just 'born to rule' entitlement. Apparently, it was his destiny to lead the Liberal Party from when he moved from Sydney, from his mansion, to Goulburn—was it?—to stand for the vacancy in the electorate of Hume. And it was going to be his destiny to lead the Liberal Party—just 'born to rule' entitlement.

This woman has been doing the best that she can. She's been trying to govern from the centre.

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

Order! Refer to the members by their position.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The opposition leader, who is the first woman to lead the Liberal Party, has been trying to drag them to the centre—where most Australians are—but, instead, the member for Hume says, 'No, it's my turn.' He couldn't even wait a year now. He lined up last night. The whole building was waiting—the journalists were literally starving; people were bringing them food—waiting and waiting and waiting, until out he wandered to the cameras, which had been set up there since after question time. It's getting late in the night. There was dew all over their equipment. They brushed it off, and there he was with all his friends. For those who didn't see the visuals, he was by himself. Honestly, it was like an episode of Utopia. He actually looked like Rob Stitch standing there. He had absolutely nothing to say. There was not a single shred of substance except 'oh, well, people don't like us because the polling is really bad'. Here's a clue—actually have a policy apart from defining yourself by what you're against. All Australians have heard from the opposition is all of the things they oppose. There's not a single shred of a policy that they've managed to put out, and Australians see the division. They're sick of it.

No wonder, when you ask an opinion poll, a snapshot of public opinion at that moment—it's not a predictor of how people will vote at a future election. It's a scream in the dark. It's a cry for help from Australians to say, 'Please, would you do your job as a functioning opposition?' But, if the member for Hume is the answer, it's a pretty dumb question. If the member for Hume is the answer, then God help Australia and God help the Liberal Party. He's Peter Dutton's right-hand man. He was there at every step. Seriously, ask yourselves how on earth that is going to help the predicament that you're in—electing the bloke who is further to the right than Peter Dutton.

But what do his colleagues think of him? As the Treasurer said yesterday, half of them support him and the other half have met him. The most bizarre aspect of this is his truly terrible record. Objectively, if you were interviewing for a job with a key selection criterion and you had the panel out, you would literally pick anyone else. As one of his colleagues said in the paper on the weekend, everything he touches turns to the little brown emoji—we'll say custard in here or Mr Hankey, for those who remember the screensaver back from the nineties. Everything he touches turns to custard.

As shadow Treasurer last term, he had a genius record. This was their policy. He actually went to the election with higher taxes, bigger deficits, scrapping work from home—that went well; that was very popular—sacking tens of thousands of frontline workers and contracting them out to the private sector and labour hire firms and his old mates at McKinsey and the consulting firms (there's how to blow a few billion), and the $600 billion risky nuclear reactor scheme. That was his genius contribution as shadow Treasurer. The shadow defence minister for the last nine months or so—not that anyone would know it. He's literally had nothing to say. His only contribution to public debate on Defence is 'we should spend more'. Okay, shadow minister, what should we spend more on? 'Well, I don't know; we should just spend more.' It's like the brilliant contribution the member for Hastie made at the last election. He was going to buy a squadron of F-35 fighter jets, except there were no pilots, no training, no petrol, no maintenance budget—

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

The member for Wannon?

Dan Tehan (Wannon, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No-one is called the member for Hastie. I would ask that—

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

I think you're quite right.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, a good point. I always think he's about himself, but you're right. He's the member for Canning.

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

He was on a roll, but yes.

Julian Hill (Bruce, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Citizenship, Customs and Multicultural Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was on a roll, indeed. The shadow defence minister has had nothing to say. All he's got is an idea that we should spend more on something—he doesn't know what, but that sounds good. He hasn't asked any questions over the last few weeks, despite seriously big defence policy announcements. His main achievements this term are (1) losing, (2) undermining, and (3) quitting.

But then there's his record as energy minister. He was investigated by the Australian Federal Police for presenting doctored documents to the media. Eventually he had to apologise for that. And don't forget the readers: you know, those left-wing communists who read the Australian Financial Review. In 2020, the readers poll voted the member for Hume as energy minister the worst performing minister in the Morrison government. That's almost an achievement in its own right to be the worst performing minister in the Morrison government! I mean, surely that deserves a promotion to become the opposition leader.

They weren't wrong. He was indeed, objectively—his own record says it—the worst energy minister in Australia's history. He went to the 2019 election promising that wholesale energy prices would fall per megawatt hour to $70. That was his promise. What he actually delivered, after his abject failure, was $286 per megawatt hour. But then, not content with that, before the 2022 election he actually changed the law, changed the regulations, to cover up the power price rises that were already baked in and coming down the pipe that our government inherited after we won the election and then found out the true state of the mess that he left behind. There were serious questions over his conflicts of interest in his first stint as minister, around 2016, with 'grass gate'.

Really it is a profound lesson in rock bottoms. Just when you think it can't get any worse, it can. Australians deserve better. But the problem is they just have not got there yet. I almost feel sorry for the National Party being bound to this mob, the Liberal Party. The problem is not the leader; it's the party. It's not the sales rep; the product that they're selling is rotten to the core. Changing the label on the bottle doesn't disguise the fact that the wine is sour. Their best before date is probably back somewhere in the 1950s. Their best hope, when they mutter to each other is, 'Maybe we'll end up in some kind of a three way between the Liberals and the Nationals and One Nation.' Nope. It's not going to work. One Nation will fill the hole you are leaving. Senator Hanson lives rent free in their heads now, and that is the worst aspect.

I'll finish on this point. The worst aspect of their abject failure—because of the collapse of the coalition and their literal hatred of each other—is the normalisation: the moving of the Overton window as to what's acceptable in this country. Toxic authoritarian, extremist politics that One Nation represents is allowed to kind of infiltrate and be normalised. It's not normal. It's not Australian. When Australians turn on their TV and see the chaos, hate, division and at times now the violence in parts of the Americas and Europe, they don't want that here. That's what One Nation and this extremist kind of politics represents: breaking down our social cohesion.

I'm incredibly optimistic. The member for Gellibrand gave a fabulous speech on Tuesday night in the adjournment debate, pointing out the disjuncture between the increasingly extreme rhetoric in One Nation, half of that mob opposite—whatever they call themselves—and the experience of most decent Australians in the suburbs, regional cities and across the country. The data still shows up that when there's a natural disaster, it's the hard hats, the akubras and the turbans that turn up together. Overwhelmingly migrants to this country are included. Yes, I can say the migrant word and not scream and shout and twitch. We're a nation of migrants. They do participate. They do start businesses. They do work. They do belong. They do feel included. I love our country. I love modern Australia and I love its reality. Unfortunately, where those people over there are going seems increasingly like they hate Australia—the country that we are.

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

The opposition does not, as you would expect, support all of the policies and programs in the federal budget. However, the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2025-2026, the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2025-2026 and the Appropriation (Parliamentary Departments) Bill (No. 2) 2025-2026 do provide the legislative mechanism by which the policies and programs of the government's 2025-26 budget need to be funded. Of course the opposition does not oppose or delay this. Supply needs to be given. I won't quite go as far as to say 'confidence', because there are many people across the country in metropolitan cities, in regional Australia and in remote communities who do not have confidence in this government, and for good reason.

I've just finished a meeting with Jo Marshall from Crookwell, the Chief Executive Officer of the Australian Agricultural Centre. She was telling me about the concern in Upper Lachlan Shire about the number of wind turbines, those monstrosities that are being rolled out supposedly to get Australia to net zero. They are being rolled out in a reckless way. In Upper Lachlan, the 11 wind factories support 340 wind turbines ranging from 126 metres high to 185 metres high. There is a proposal on the books to have another wind factory in that shire which won't even be connected to the grid. Why on Earth would they want to build such a piece of infrastructure when it is not going to be connected to the grid, when it is not going to supply power to the energy system?

Crookwell suffers from blackouts all the time. As extraordinary as that sounds, when it represents about 53 per cent of the total green energy projects in the state, time and again that town is cast into blackness, into darkness, because it doesn't have enough power to support itself. The proposal put the town on diesel generator back-ups. That's the folly of this system, and that's just a microcosm of the future that awaits Australia. Crookwell has an aged-care home. Crookwell has a childcare centre. Crookwell has a hospital. When it is pitched into darkness, when the power goes off, those important facilities need to have energy to continue to operate. That can lead to dramas with people being kept alive, quite frankly. It's all well and good for the leafy suburbs of the teal-voting centres of Sydney, but it's not good enough when you've got a country town supporting more than half of the green energy projects in the state getting put into blackouts all of the time.

The Australian editorial of 12 February, today, talks of the trillion-dollar-debt milestone drawing close. It reads:

As Australia's debt soars towards the $1 trillion mark in a matter of weeks, before the May budget, Wednesday was a dreadful day for the nation's economic outlook. A parliamentary hearing uncovered a previously undisclosed $54bn blowout in the government's medium-term budget position.

We hear the Treasurer in question time all the time talking about $1 trillion worth of Liberal Party debt. Fact-checked, it's a nonsense. It truly is. When the coalition government left office in May 2022, the debt was nowhere near a trillion dollars. It was not. It was high, yes, it was. We as a coalition were approaching a budget surplus—the first for many years.

Of course, then COVID hit, and COVID brought with it a number of almighty challenges this nation had not faced ever, you could say. Certainly for a hundred years we had not had a global pandemic. A virus was killing, elsewhere in the world, many, many people, such that there were open graves being dug on Manhattan Island in New York, and churches in Italy were being used as morgues to place coffins of people who had succumbed to this new disease. Italy and the United States of America have good health systems. They do, and you would know that, Deputy Speaker Freelander, from your experience in the medical field. I always acknowledge the role that you've played, particularly in paediatrics, Member for Macarthur.

I can recall the meeting where the chief health officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, described to us the situation. If we did not act, within weeks there would potentially be 50,000 to 55,000 deaths from this virus emanating from China. It was early 2020, and we closed the borders to China. We did everything that we could, as a responsible government would, to ensure that Australians were kept safe. There weren't too many in that room. There was the Chief of the Defence Force; there was the Prime Minister, of course—at the time, Scott Morrison—and there was the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, who was a fine health minister and the member for Flinders. There were others besides, but there were only a few of the executive government in that room.

Yet, despite those ominous warnings given by Dr Murphy, what we managed to do as a government was achieve a worldwide status, which the Johns Hopkins centre acknowledged, of being the second-best nation for preparedness to COVID. Through the rollout of the vaccines, we saved many, many lives—not only in Australia but also in the islands of the Pacific. We looked after our close neighbours; we looked after the regional rim of the blue Pacific. Closer to home, there was JobKeeper. Through JobKeeper, 1.1 million jobs were created in those three years since the pandemic hit—or the two-and-a-bit years from the time we lost government—and 700,000 jobs were saved.

Losing government was a bitter pill to swallow, but it was a bit like Winston Churchill losing office after doing so much to protect Great Britain from the perils of the Nazis in World War II. But that's politics. You move on and you try to do your best in the national interest, and indeed that's what we did. But I have to say it does gall me when the member for Rankin, the Treasurer, then thumbs his nose at the work that was done during those dark years. We were trying to keep the doors of businesses open. We were trying to stop people from going into Great Depression-like food queues and job queues. We saved Australians. We saved the lives of so many tens of thousands of Australians who are alive, vital and healthy today because of what we did as a government. I'm proud of what we did. It was difficult.

I acknowledge that, last week, the Prime Minister worked through National Cabinet to, he says, achieve better outcomes for the state public hospital system. I acknowledge that because health is crucially important. Working through that National Cabinet process at the start, at the outset of COVID-19, when the National Cabinet was set up, there was good cooperation too. I also acknowledge—and the member for Wannon might pick something up and throw it at me in a minute—the work that I was able to achieve in getting trucks over borders. It doesn't sound like much these days. Jacinta Allan, the then minister for transport and infrastructure in Victoria, and Mark Bailey, the then minister for transport and main roads in Queensland, as Labor ministers, in the national interest, worked with me to make sure that trucks carrying vital vaccines and, just as importantly, food were able to get over the border.

When given the task, it was taking four hours. After the cooperation I was given by those two ministers—Rita Saffioti in Western Australia was very, very good too—but also the other ministers, Liberal and Labor alike, trucks were able to get over the border in four minutes, not four hours. I acknowledge the work. I appreciate that some of us have moved on and taken other roles—Victoria is a bit of a mess at the moment, and I look forward to seeing a new government in place there—but I acknowledge the work that was done back in 2020, when things were grim. These are appropriations—it's about spending, stripping back and putting in place rules and regulations over water buybacks and water allocations.

Murray Watt, the senator for Queensland, in Goolwa just the other day talked about the stripping back of environmental protections that he alleges the coalition did. What the coalition did was ensured that the river system was protected whilst at the same time acknowledging the vital role that our irrigation farmers and towns play in producing the food and fibre that Australia and many other countries need. What worries me is that when Labor and the Greens get their hands on the Murray-Darling system what you end up with is a system that is imbalanced. It tips way too much in favour of green groups. What we do need is our farmers to be able to get the water that they pay for. Whenever the government enters the water buyback place and space, the price of water goes through the roof, and it is such a shame. It is such a shame.

The appropriation bills also need to cover national security measures. I'll tell you what, if ever we need good and tight national security and safety measures, it is right now. I was amazed this morning that on the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation vote we had eight people—the Green in this House, the member for Ryan and some independents—voting against the motion that the government put forward. It was lost, thankfully, 106 to eight. We need to be a cohesive society. I will agree with the member for Bruce on that score. At the moment, what we've seen in metropolitan protests but also in country towns is alarming and disturbing.

I have to say I support the New South Wales Police 100 per cent. They have been under more pressure than they have needed to be. Premier Chris Minns has said that New South Wales Police are not punching bags, and he is right. There should not have been those protests. The protests should not have been heading in the direction they were, and you see on the footage that is put up that in some of the actions taken by the protesters they had the mobile phones and the cameras all set up and ready to go and then they produced stunts which the police then moved them on from, and now the police are in trouble. I'll tell you what, if I got bitten on the thumb, I would probably react the same way the police did as well. These protesters are professional activists. We've got a right to demonstrate in this nation—we do. It's a free and fair and democratic society in which we live. The right to demonstrate peaceably is there, but they do not have a right to hold up our cities and our country towns over and over and over again. Paul Nicolaou from the Sydney business chamber is right when he says that Sydney business has had a gutful. Those CBD businesses which open their doors and just want to trade are being stopped at every step of the way by these annoying activist protesters, many of whom are nothing more than scum. I'm sorry, but they are. That's all they are. I don't care if you react, because they are scum. There is no other word for them. They are against Australia. The member for Bruce finished by saying some people hate Australia—well, these are people who do. They do hate our nation. They do hate what we stand for. They hate our traditions and they hate everything that we stand for. The police are right in doing what they do to protect the normal, good, everyday, ordinary citizens who've had a gutful of these scum.

Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak in support of these appropriation bills. These bills enable the Albanese Labor government to deliver on the commitments that we made to all Australians at the last election—commitments grounded in fairness, responsibility and care for one another. They fund the services Australians rely upon every single day—things like health, mental health services and aged care, and ensure this parliament has the resources it needs to function effectively. When re-elected, the Prime Minister promised to make a positive difference to all Australians each and every day, to invest in our youngest Australians, to look after our oldest and to build a society that is strong and fair and as resilient and generous as Australians themselves. These bills give effect to that promise.

Beyond the figures and line items, these bills are about real people making real decisions for real outcomes for our country. This is especially true when it comes to health care. In Bonner, I hear these stories each and every week. Deputy Speaker, if you've ever had a sick child on a Friday afternoon, which I know you most certainly have seen in your former life—

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

Indeed!

Kara Cook (Bonner, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

and current life, you know the feeling of weighing up where to go, how long it will take and what it might cost. That's exactly the decision that Medicare urgent care clinics are making easier for families.

Last Friday, I saw this firsthand when I visited the Carina-Carindale Medicare Urgent Care Clinic in my electorate of Bonner. That's where I met Audrey, a young mum from Mansfield, who was there with her almost two-year-old and her seven-week-old baby. In just one week, Audrey had used that clinic twice. Her first visit was for a gastro related illness with one of her children, and this time she was back because her little one had developed a rash. Like so many parents, all she needed was care quickly and without the added stress of not knowing what it might cost. Audrey didn't pay a cent for these visits, and all she needed was her Medicare card, not her credit card. The clinic was close to home, and the wait time was shorter than it would have been at an emergency department.

But Audrey's story is not unique. I have also heard from Angela, a local from Carindale, who attended the Carina-Carindale clinic after returning home from a long international flight. She was worried when she had some symptoms that turned out to actually be a blood clot. Angela was seen within 10 minutes and treated promptly, and she received the referral she needed for an ultrasound. She told me she had a great experience and that the speed and certainty made all the difference to her peace of mind. This is exactly how early intervention saves lives and relieves pressure on our emergency departments.

I also want to share the experience of Abdullah from Mount Gravatt. After receiving information about the urgent care clinic from our newsletter, Abdullah contacted my EO for advice after cutting his finger. My team directed him to the Carina-Carindale clinic, and, in just over an hour, he'd been triaged, seen by a nurse and treated with some stitches. He was grateful he didn't have to travel further or sit for hours in an emergency department, and that matters, particularly for people juggling work, family, transport and, of course, the added cost of health care. It's not just people who have actually already received care—residents like Myra and Carol, some of my older residents from Fairway Retirement Living, have told me just how reassuring it is, simply knowing the clinic is there, especially on the weekends.

This is exactly how the Albanese Labor government is showing up for people across my electorate of Bonner by delivering free, accessible health care that families can rely on when they need it most. Right now, 122 Medicare urgent care clinics are open right across Australia, delivering care closer to home and taking pressure off hospitals. With another 15 clinics still to be opened, affordable health care is only going to get more accessible. At a time when families are managing real cost-of-living pressures, knowing that care doesn't come with an unexpected bill makes a genuine difference.

Across Bonner, these clinics are doing more than treating cuts, rashes and injuries. They are reducing anxiety, easing pressure on our emergency departments and giving people quality health care close to home. These bills also fund 1800MEDICARE, recognising that health concerns don't wait for business hours. Australians can now call 24/7 to speak to a registered nurse and be guided to the right care. Around 250,000 Australians each year will avoid unnecessary trips to emergency departments because of this service. I commend the bill to the House.

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is interrupted, in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour, and the member will have leave to continued speaking, if required, when the debate is resumed.