Milton Dick (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

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

The need for the Government to urgently resolve regional inequity and address poorer outcomes for Australians living in the regions.

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

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

Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We're hearing a lot in this budget about intergenerational inequity, but we never hear about regional inequity from the government. Australians who live in the regions are worse off under virtually every metric, whether that be health, housing, education, pension assets tests, capital gains tax or even road trauma. Regional Australians represent around 30 per cent of the nation's population and make an even greater contribution, but, whether it is health or whether it's road spending, we are short-changed, and it affects our lives.

The question is: has the budget let down regional Australia? Well, I would say yes. The government will be ending the halving of the fuel tax excise in June—because there's no indication the government is going to continue it after June even if we still have conflict in Iran. When this temporary relief ends, it is the people of my electorate, it is the people of regional Australia, who have no choice but to rely on cars, who will suffer the most. We just don't have public transport in the regions. That's something that's only ever funded for metropolitan areas.

When we look at the health gap, regional Australians experience higher costs of health care and worse health outcomes than our metro counterparts. Twice I've asked in question time about what the government's doing to address that expenditure gap, and the answer really is nothing. This budget does very little to correct it. In fact, the National Rural Health Alliance in 2021 saw that there was an $848 spend gap between a person who lives in regional Australia and a person who lives in metro Australia. For the 2023-24 year, that blew out to over $1,000 per person. What that means is that we die younger. We feed you all, but we die younger. We get less spend when it comes to health. It's a postcode lottery. Despite serious criticism, the distribution priority area changes that were made by the government still stand. The government has taken away doctors from the regions and put them in areas like Elizabeth in South Australia or leafy Mitcham and taken them away from where they're desperately needed, where that person was perhaps the only doctor.

When we look at education, a regional student is more likely to work in a regional community, but regional students need support, and there are so many barriers that it's insurmountable. For young people on Kangaroo Island in my electorate, unless they are incredibly wealthy, it is near impossible to fund a life and go to university after high school. They just don't do it. They get through high school and they stay on the property. They stay on Kangaroo Island. We have some incredibly bright young people. We need the doctors and lawyers, and we need them in regional communities as well. That means we need to ensure that those young people get supported to go to university.

This is one that hasn't been picked up by any journalists. The capital gains tax rules on rural residential properties in this budget is going to make it even more expensive for people who live as their primary place of residence on anything over two hectares, because, under the rules, if you live on more than two hectares and you sell your property—perhaps you're living on 50 hectares and you run some cattle or run some sheep, but you never actually made any real income on your property—you will pay capital gains tax on anything outside of those two hectares. With the current changes that the government's proposing in the budget, that tax is going to be even more expensive if you sell after next June. Of course, you could have a Sydney harbourside mansion worth $20 million, and if that's your principal place of residence you don't pay any capital gains tax. But, if you're on 50 acres or 50 hectares, you will. That is the kind of inequity that exists whether you live in the regions or whether you live in metropolitan Australia. That is just plainly unfair.

That also impacts you if you're an older person and you are seeking to go on the pension. The pension assets test looks at the two hectares around your home, and then outside of that is on the asset side. You could be on a 10-acre block, and the balance outside of that two hectares goes on the asset side. We find so many older Australians that are living in poverty on a 10-acre block because they only maybe get a part pension simply because of the fact that they're on that 10-acre block. Again, if they are in that $15 million harbourside mansion and that was their only asset, no problem. Here's the full pension for you.

We in regional Australia feed you three times a day. They say that you should thank a farmer three times a day. But we in this place do not do enough to support regional Australians, whether they be farmers or whether they be workers out there in the regions. I would urge this government, when you are next putting together a budget, to sit down with some farmers, sit down with some people from regional Australia and make a budget that is far more equitable for all of Australia, not just the metro people of Australia.

Rebecca White (Lyons, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to be able to speak to the matter of public importance brought on today by the honourable member, as somebody who lives in and represents a regional electorate in my home state of Tasmania. I grew up on a farm, milking cows and feeding pigs and feeding cattle. My family still have that farm. I'm very proud to come from a community called Nugent, where our primary source of income is agriculture. I understand how important it is to stand up for regional parts of our country, because that is the whole reason I put my hand up for politics in the first place. It's the reason that I'm here trying to make a difference, and it's the reason why so many of my colleagues are here, too. We represent more regional seats in this place than any other political party, and we are proud to be able to make that contribution on behalf of our communities. This budget does deliver for them.

We have seen significant investments that improve the lives of people right across our country, including in regional parts of our country. Whether it is looking at what we're doing in health—I'm very proud, in my own home state of Tasmania, to see the increase in bulk-billing rates. That is changing the lives of people who are living in our regions as well as in our cities. In my own electorate of Lyons, prior to the changes that came into effect last year, there were just six bulk-billing practices. We now have 18, and all of those 18 bulk-billing practices are in regional parts of Tasmania. That means that people in my own town, in my own home community, are finally able to go and see a bulk-billing GP and have their healthcare needs met without any out-of-pocket expenses. We have invested in Medicare urgent care clinics right across the country. There will soon be 137 of these delivering urgent and free health care for people, no matter where they live. These are making a profound difference to the lives of people living in regional parts of the country.

One of the challenges I note the member raised is about workforce. There's no doubt there can be challenges in supplying the workforce that we need to support the delivery of health care and other essential services right across the country, particularly in regional parts of our country. Our government has made a concerted effort to invest in additional supports, particularly in health, to ensure we can build that workforce, but it does take time. There's a number of investments that we've made to attract healthcare professionals to our regions.

We are also investing in GP training. In my own home state of Tasmania, we now have end-to-end training of medical professionals in Launceston, Burnie and Hobart. This has also seen an increase in the number of places. What this means—and you would know this as well as I—is that, when you can train young people in their own communities, they are more likely to stay there and work there. These are going to be the doctors of tomorrow, working in our regional communities, and that will help more Australians access the health care that they need. We have a goal of training 2,000 GPs each year by 2028. This year, the government funded 1,600 places, and we expect more than 1,750 places to be filled, which is the largest cohort ever. This includes more GP and rural generalist training through the Remote Vocational Training Scheme, which supports training in rural, remote and hard-to-fill locations. We've also waived HECS debts for doctors and nurses that work in our regions for five years, to attract them to the areas outside our big cities.

We are using incentives to try to address the workforce challenges that do exist across some of our tougher-to-staff places, including in our regions. We've provided more than $600 million to grow our health workforce, supporting hundreds more GP and rural generalist training places, as well as 100 Commonwealth supported places for medical students a year from this year and hundreds of scholarships for nurses and midwives. There are more incentives now than ever before for doctors and nurses to work in our regions, building on the hundreds of places that we've already delivered.

The other pathway for young people in particular is through vocational education and training. Our government has invested in free TAFE, and we have made that permanent. That provides opportunities for young people living in regional parts of your electorate, my electorate and electorates right around the country to be able to pursue their dreams and get a qualification that helps them remain in their local community, contributing to their families and to our economy.

We are investing in study hubs in regional parts of Australia to support young people who want to pursue a university qualification. In my electorate of Lyons, in St Helens and in Sorell—which are in the northern and southern parts of my electorate—our government has funded study hubs. I've met with the young people who are studying in these locations, and they've told me that, because they can do this in their local community and not travel two hours or more to go into the university, it's actually given them an opportunity to pursue a tertiary qualification. We are doing what we can to invest in our regional communities for our young people to provide them the education and training pathways to build our regional workforce, so we can deliver those services that support Australians who live outside the cities.

We have been investing in housing. I'm sure your community is just like mine. When you go and have conversations with people about some of the challenges—about young people being able to enter the housing market but also the challenges attracting workers to our regional communities—housing is often a key barrier. We are investing in increasing supply. The minister just spoke in question time about some of the new investments that are contained within this budget. Across the course of our government, there's been a $47 billion commitment to housing for Australians. We are making the tax system fairer, and that will help 75,000 young people put a key in the door of their own home. That is going to transform the lives of Australians not only in our cities but in our regional and rural communities too.

The honourable member spoke about some of the challenges that we see not only in her electorate but also in other parts of regional and rural Australia and mentioned, of course, the fuel supply challenges we're seeing because of the global insecurity caused by the war in the Middle East. Our government has responded swiftly. We've obviously halved the excise, and that is delivering some relief at the bowser for people who rely on a car to get around, which is very true for people who live outside the cities, where public transport may not be reliable or may not be available at all. That's also why we're doing what we can to bolster our fuel security for the future. We delivered a $10 billion Australian fuel security and resilience package to safeguard our nation's energy sovereignty because we can't just have a response for the here and the now; we have to be thinking about the medium-to-long term as well. This is a package will secure the fuel and the fertiliser supplies that Australia needs.

I understand as well as anybody else who grew up in the country how vital it is to have those critical inputs available when you need them. If we don't have fertiliser, we can't grow the food that every person here and across the country eats every single day. That's why the honourable member for Franklin, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, has worked so hard to secure those fertiliser supplies to continue to come into our country. It's also why our government has invested in these initiatives as part of this budget—because we understand how vital our farmers are for our country's prosperity, for the strength and the fabric of our community and for the health of our nation. It's not lost on me that we have a responsibility when we come to this place, as representatives of regional electorates, to make the case on their behalf, which is what we've been doing.

In addition to the initiatives across those areas I've just described I do want to touch on some other the points. I know the honourable member has an interest in aged care. This is a budget that has continued to add to the investment our government made in the last budget and that we saw through the changes to the Aged Care Act. This budget adds an additional $3.7 billion to strengthen Australia's aged care system. This will mean that more than 500,000 older Australians in regional, rural and remote areas who can currently access aged care services are supported by more than $2 billion in annual government investment. This is so important, because I know that, in my own community, there are lots of people who want to remain in their home community. They don't want to move to the city to access these services. They need to stay close to their families, and, for their own health and wellbeing, they want to stay in their local communities as they age. This budget includes measures to support the construction of up to 5,000 new aged care beds each year. This will also help more older Australians stay in their local communities, including regional communities.

These reforms are designed to support regional providers, who face higher operating costs and care for some of our country's most financially vulnerable older Australians. This budget has kept regional Australia in mind as we have worked to deliver a fair outcome for all Australians, no matter where they live. I want to assure the House that, on this side of the parliament, every day when we're having conversations with ministers and in our community, our ambition is to make sure we deliver equity and opportunity for Australians, no matter where they live.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I spent 20 years of my life in a government that believed it was our duty to make work for our people, to grow the economic cake. So, every year, we built a giant irrigation scheme; every year we opened a giant mine of some description; and we had to provide towns, and all that infrastructure, and railway lines, to make those things happen. But here, we argue that this group of people should get more money or that that group of people shouldn't have got more money. It is not about how you cut up the cake. Surely you should emphasise making the cake bigger.

Now, we can't even borrow money to build a house in regional Australia. The banks have redlined all of regional Australia—they will not lend money to build a home. There still happen to be about 20 electorates based in regional Australia. Yes, sure, we've lost about two or three every 10 or 12 years, but there's still a bloody lot of people—excuse my language—living there at the present moment. And we can't get the money to build a house.

The honourable member for Mayo talked about having no specialists in country areas. Well, alright, that might be something we have to live with, but give us some money to be able to go down and see specialists. No, that doesn't happen.

You know that, if you drive into any city in Australia, there are high-rise cranes all over the place. Well, you won't even see a contractor in regional Australia. There's nothing being built there.

You pass laws putting a tax upon people who own land, and all you could think of was the cities. In country Australia—which is like 20 per cent of the population still—we all have a bit of acreage. We're not rich people; we're ordinary people. But if you want to live in the Moranbahs, or the Charters Towers, or the Mount Isas, or the Yarakas, or wherever you want to live, you like a little bit of space around you. It's the one thing you can have that people in cities can't have. Well, now you're going to tax it. There's no tax on people owning $4 million houses in Brisbane or Sydney or Melbourne. But the ordinary poor people that live in rural Australia—you're taxing them. You just don't even realise that we exist.

And you, members of parliament that represent country electorates, should stand in shame. But don't do it on the basis that the Liberal Party are the good guys. No way! No way, Jose.

All I can say is: you could give the green light to coalmining—and both sides of this parliament have continuously opposed coalmining, though they're making a few sounds now and changing a little bit; it's just a little bit late in the game to be talking about it now—and open up the Galilee coal basin. You could build the Bradfield Scheme. He was exactly a fool; he built the Sydney Harbour Bridge; he built the water supply for Sydney; he built the underground railways, which won the world prize for engineering; and he built the University of Queensland—not exactly a fool, this bloke. Build the Bradfield Scheme. It could bring in $40,000 million or $50,000 million a year and could provide a wonderful living for some five million people in Australia that will move onto a rich farm which will give them everything that no-one else on earth can enjoy—an income of $1½ million a year, for starters.

So these things are available to us. But in this place we are so petty and so small-minded that all we talk about is whether that mob of people are getting more money than that mob of people. It's the same budget that I've heard in this place now for the last 20 years.

That was not what happened in this place previously. Whether it was the ALP or the other mob, they talked about development. That's not a word we use anymore in Australia. Our national anthem says, 'Advance Australia fair'. 'Advance'? We've been in retreat!

The biggest income earner for this country for 200 years was the wool industry. And Paul Keating—a loud-mouthed know-all, dictatorial and arrogant—abolished the wool scheme and completely destroyed the biggest source of income— (Time expired)

Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to be speaking to the member for Mayo's matter of public importance. The member for Mayo and I joined this place nearly 10 years ago in the same intake, and our communities, while in different states, have remarkable similarities. We have mixes of peri-urban, semi-rural, rural and remote areas—broadly called regional. I'm stunned in a way that she is so keen to put down what this government is doing when both of us have been here in a parliament with the Liberals in charge, seeing media release after media release about, 'Wow, you beaut, this is going to happen,' and then nothing. What I have seen and what we focus on on this side is the delivery of the commitments we make to every part of Australia.

The announcement made today about the 90,000 tonnes of agricultural-grade urea will be as welcome in my community amongst my farmers, my turf growers, my vegetable growers and my agricultural producers as it will be for all of those in our semi-rural, rural and regional areas, where we are the food producers for our communities. Of course, the Hawkesbury was always the food bowl and continues to be a major producer for many parts of the agricultural sector. That's the sort of delivery that the Albanese Labor government is doing. The announcement today is giving certainty to producers around their fertiliser needs. I have to say that I never imagined I would be up here talking about fertiliser, but it is such a privilege to represent an area that we are responding to and recognising its needs.

The difference I see is that it's not about saying, 'Here's a piece of road,' and the job is done. It's not just about infrastructure; it is about infrastructure and a whole lot of things. The assistant health minister has gone into detail about the delivery we have on improving Medicare and making Medicare stronger for every part of our country, including our regions. The key thing I have seen in my more remote areas is the benefits of the increased workforce, but that has been a benefit across the entire electorate. It means that our additional training of GPs and the ability for more people to say, 'Yes, I want to do this,' is starting to flow through to what we see on the ground.

We have a goal to train 2,000 GPs each year by 2028. Bit by bit, that is improving the access that my community has. We've done it simply by waiving HECS for doctors and nurses who work outside the regions for five years, where there's $600 million to grow the health workforce, particularly in those areas. We've also recognised that it's not quick enough and that we need an extra service. That's where 1800MEDICARE comes in—a free nationwide 24-hour health advice line that provides an after-hours GP telehealth service backed by Medicare. All of that makes our lives much easier to live further from the cities. I know my community benefits from that.

I also want to touch on an area that I know the member for Mayo also cares about, and that's the arts. The Albanese government has delivered in this area for regional and rural communities through extra funding and extra programs. There's 35 per cent more funding for the Regional Arts Fund. It's gone up from $4 million to $6 million a year. That means more great arts projects in regional Australia are being supported. There's the Sharing the National Collection program from the National Gallery of Australia. Places like the Wanneroo Regional Gallery, the Texas Regional Art Gallery in Queensland, the Tamworth Regional Gallery, the Ipswich Art Gallery and the Shepparton Art Museum are all receiving access not just for a couple of weeks but for years to incredible artworks. The National Gallery of Australia's program is getting those works away from Canberra and out into our communities.

I have also visited places like the Burnie cultural centre. That is a great example of $13 million boosting local infrastructure for the arts. I commend the member for Braddon for her work there. This is delivery.

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

If governments want support from regional Australia, then they must deliver tangible outcomes for regional Australians. For too long, regional communities have endured worse outcomes in health, education, connectivity and aged care. We're poorer, we suffer chronic diseases at higher rates and we die younger. Dying earlier shouldn't be a tax for rural Australia. We're too often the last to receive services and too often the first to lose them. Look at the banks. Look at the post offices. We are the wide brown land, but we need more houses on it. We need better roads. Our connectivity lags well behind the cities, and we lack sufficient investment in our hospitals.

In Euroa, in my electorate of Indi, persistent energy insecurity means people don't know whether the power will stay on from one day to the next. It's a small-business killer and a huge frustration, and it is basic infrastructure. Would people in Melbourne or Sydney accept endless power outages? The answer is clearly no. The lack of such basics should not ever be accepted as an inevitable part of country life, because they are not inevitable.

Regional inequity is, in fact, a policy choice. I want choices that value our regions, partner in our ambition and invest in our future. Regional Australia is not just a place of need; it's a core contributor to our nation and a source of enormous opportunity. Our regions grow the food and fibre that sustain Australia and our export markets. Agriculture, forestry and fishing leads Australia's multifactor growth, but we also have thriving manufacturing, tourism and small-business innovation. Regional Australia accounts for around 40 per cent of national economic output and employs around one-third of Australia's workforce. Regional Australia's productivity already exceeds our population per capita. So I put this to you: at a time when Australia is trying to boost stagnant productivity, investing in the regions is the smartest measure that any government could do and will deliver even greater benefit to the whole nation.

Beyond the economic contributions, regional Australia has strong, connected, networked natural beauty, enduring resilience and local leadership. It's clear the potential of regional Australia is immense, but this potential can only be realised with the fundamental infrastructure and services to support it. In my electorate of Indi, we focus on solutions. We roll up our sleeves, we do the work, we engage with communities, we develop ideas and we push for practical change. In this pursuit, I've introduced bills, amendments, petitions and policy proposals and have made some progress, like the cheaper home batteries, the mobile phone towers, the sustainable agriculture facilitators and the National Anti-Corruption Commission.

Lasting and durable change is rarely immediate. It takes steady and persistent work to make a difference. Unfortunately, this week's federal budget does not do enough to shift the dial on the key drivers of regional inequity, but there are welcome elements. I'm pleased to see further funding for the Growing Regions Program, but its sister program, the rPPP, has been axed and replaced with nothing else. The housing crisis impacts regional Australia too, and a major handbrake on that supply is the pipes, the power, the poles and the roads that make new homes possible. The enabling infrastructure gap has been my focus and why I've been pushing for a regional housing infrastructure fund, and I congratulate the government for taking my policy initiative forward and committing 25 per cent of funding to regional Australia.

Now, I recognise this as a restrained budget and that the fiscal environment is difficult, but every line in the budget is a choice, and the budget does not deliver enough to address the pain and frustration regional people are feeling. Just one example is that we need an open, competitive grants program for regional health infrastructure. The case is clear for Albury Wodonga Health in my electorate. That's why we need a building rural and regional hospitals fund to provide a solution that's good for our health. These needs can only be met by pursuing bolder reforms.

The member for Kennedy is quite right. We need to grow the revenue cake. We should be taxing gas exports. It was a missed opportunity to boost our revenue and use that revenue to do the things that we are seeking to: invest in the regions in the way that we need to grow the productivity of the nation, because regional Australia needs and deserves equity. It's why rural and regional Australians get mad. It's why they get angry. It's why we've seen that play out across the nation. We have the same ambition. We need the investments, and we need to deliver to our regions.

Marion Scrymgour (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm glad to be able to speak on our government's delivery in regional Australia. As someone who lives in one of the most remote parts of the country, I know exactly how important it is that our regional communities get the same opportunities and services as Australians living in our big cities. Under the last government, regional development was all about announcements, never about delivery. The coalition, which claim to represent the bush, failed, time after time, to bring results when they were in government.

But I'm glad to say that our government has been delivering, particularly for those in remote Australia, where employment markers are thin. We are delivering 6,000 jobs—1,700 remote jobs have already been rolled out, and 4,000 more jobs are on the way. This $299 million investment is having a real impact, especially in my electorate. Remote jobs with good wages and conditions are so much more than just jobs. They bring security, confidence and stability for people who are, in some cases, working for the first time. This is exactly what addressing regional inequity looks like—making sure that anyone, no matter where they live, is able to access stable employment.

Our government hasn't just been focusing on jobs. Anyone who lives in the regions knows that road infrastructure is not an optional extra; it is an essential of everyday life. We have doubled Roads to Recovery funding. This is a game changer for our regional roads, with 85 per cent of the $4.4 billion going to regional areas. There are so many areas in my electorate that were cut off for many weeks and months at a time. People living there do not need to be told just how important good roads are. They feel it every day.

With recent fuel issues, we know that our regions are being hit the hardest. We've halved the fuel excise and reduced the heavy vehicle road user charge to zero for three months to make sure that people who rely on our roads are given support from the Commonwealth.

In my electorate, it's small businesses that keep our rural and remote areas moving, whether they're remote stores and roadhouses or hospitality businesses, which bring jobs and opportunities out bush. The new instant asset write-off and the broader reforms to regulatory burdens will save time and money for small businesses across our regional communities.

It is the regions that face the brunt of food security issues, especially in my electorate, which includes more than 70 remote communities. Fresh, healthy food is often too hard to find or too expensive to buy. Small storage facilities and massive distances make food security a big challenge. Our food security strategy will boost the resilience of our food system, which is so important for health and life expectancy outcomes in remote communities.

When it comes to regional health, it hasn't been easy to clean up the mess, but we are now making big strides. The Northern Territory has the highest proportion of bulk-billing practices of any state or territory. Two years ago, it was one of the lowest. I hope that those opposite take note of what it looks like to deliver in regional health.

The Albanese Labor government knows that the cost of living is the No. 1 issue absolutely everywhere, and that includes in regional Australia. Our tax cuts are being rolled out, and the new Working Australians Tax Offset will save every working person another $250 each year. This is just one part of our cost-of-living relief agenda, which the Liberals have opposed every step of the way.

Regional inequity is something that this government takes very seriously. I know that, on this side of the House, we have a government that makes sure that regional Australians get their fair share. After the coalition took our regions for granted and neglected their concerns for decades, it's no wonder people are turning away from them in droves. Those opposite can continue to carry on about who they say they represent, but, when you look at the record, you can see exactly who is building the future for our regions.

Kate Chaney (Curtin, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Almost a third of Australians live in regional, rural and remote areas. On average, they die younger, have fewer GPs, earn less and watch their children leave for the city to study and rarely return. People in the most disadvantaged areas of Australia have a life expectancy seven years shorter than those in the most advantaged, and that gap is widening not closing. Regional Australians face higher rates of hospitalisation, higher rates of domestic violence, lower year-12 completion rates and food that costs more simply because of where they live. These are the results of decades of underinvestment. In my state of WA, our regions have powered this country for generations—the Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Mid West, the goldfields, iron ore, gas and gold. The wealth extracted from those communities has built cities that Australians in the regions often cannot afford to live in. But something's shifting. The global economy needs what regional WA has. This time, if we get the policy right, the regions can capture more of the value themselves.

There are three key policy opportunities. First, green energy exports—Australia has among the best solar and wind resources in the world, and countries across Asia are looking for reliable partners to supply clean hydrogen and ammonia to replace coal and gas in their industrial supply chains. Second, green iron—rather than exporting raw Pilbara ore for steel made overseas using coking coal, we have the chance to process that iron domestically using renewable energy, decarbonising one of the most emissions-intensive supply chains on the planet and capturing the value added step that has historically gone elsewhere. Third, critical minerals—the batteries, motors and turbines that underpin the global energy transition require lithium, rare earths and other minerals that regional WA holds in extraordinary abundance and that the world urgently needs.

The scale of what's already planned is remarkable. In the Pilbara, the Australian Renewable Energy Hub is a 26-gigawatt wind and solar project near Port Hedland, targeting green hydrogen and green iron production. In the Kimberley, the East Kimberley Clean Energy Project near Kununurra is a $3 billion First Nations led solar and green hydrogen venture. In the Mid West, the Murchison Green Hydrogen project north of Kalbarri has secured $814 million in federal production support. Near Kalgoorlie, the Western Green Energy Hub is progressing through approvals on Mirning traditional lands. Near Geraldton, the Oakajee Energy project is developing up to five gigawatts of renewable hydrogen capacity for Asian markets. Technology will also play a role in this transformation. AI is already being used by mining companies to improve exploration and resource extraction and may, in time, open up broader opportunities for technology enabled industries in the region. Whether that potential is fully realised remains to be seen, but it's worth planning for rather than assuming.

This is exciting, but excitement is not a plan. If we look at where transition projects have come unstuck, the same lessons keep appearing. The first is community consultation. The East Kimberley model works because traditional owners are shareholders making decisions, not bystanders being consulted. That has to become a design principle, not a risk to be managed. Genuine co-ownership and genuine benefit sharing from the beginning—that's what social licence actually looks like. Across regional Australia, community consultation must be core to all developments, not an afterthought and a box-ticking exercise.

The second is housing. In Karratha, the median weekly house rent has reached more than double the Perth median after rising 27 per cent in a single year. More than 70 per cent of businesses in the Kimberley and Pilbara say housing availability is their biggest barrier to attracting and keeping staff. BHP has committed $50 million towards worker accommodation in Port Hedland, and that contribution is welcome, but it's hardly enough. Without housing, the transition workforce cannot be housed and the opportunity collapses.

The third is digital equity. Regional WA already has mobile blackspots and unreliable internet. Virtual services cannot substitute for in-person services without that foundation. Once the internet is available, it has to be used to open up opportunities for people in the regions to access the same services as people in the cities. My private member's bill protecting doctors from criminal prosecution for using telehealth for voluntary assisted dying would contribute to this to ensure that everyone has the same access to health services, no matter where they live. The Pilbara, the Kimberley, the Mid West and the goldfields have fuelled this country. We need to get this opportunity right.

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

Let me begin by saying this: no-one in this place disputes that outcomes in regional Australian communities matter deeply. They do, and they should. It is something I care about personally. I hold a metro seat, like many people, but we are all Australians, and metro seat holders—just like the Albanese Labor government—care about regional Australia.

I also grew up in the Riverland, on the Murray River, and I understand firsthand both the opportunities and the challenges that come with living outside our capital cities. When I was a kid, catching a Greyhound bus down to Adelaide and stopping off for chips and a strawberry milkshake at the Blanchetown Roadhouse was an exciting adventure, because the city was big and it felt so far away.

I also know those challenges are being felt more acutely in the current climate. But where we disagree with this motion is its suggestion that the regions are being ignored. That is simply not the case. This government is responding to changing conditions and the real impact that they are having on regional Australians. The Regional Investment Framework continues to ensure investment works better for the regions, guided by local voices, grounded in evidence and coordinated across all levels of government.

Our regions are central to planning and building a stronger, more resilient future, and we see that clearly in the recent budget. In the member for Mayo's own electorate, this government has announced $45 million for upgrades to the South Eastern Freeway, a significant infrastructure investment that will improve safety for communities across the Adelaide Hills and beyond. The budget also provides an additional $20.6 million each year, ongoing and indexed, to support priority local road projects across regional South Australia. That funding will deliver vital upgrades to improve safety, strengthen freight routes and enhance connectivity for regional communities.

I've also long been a strong supporter of the Royal Flying Doctor Service, which is not just a healthcare provider but a lifeline. Whether it's delivering emergency care, bridging vast distances or ensuring people in remote communities can access specialist services that those in the cities take for granted, the RFDS shows what real support for the regions looks like. The federal government partners with the RFDS through multi-year contracts, and the recent federal budget included a $25 billion boost to public hospitals, directly complementing regional and remote retrieval services. This is targeted practical investment.

Just as importantly, the government is delivering broad based reforms that benefit regional Australians, because when you strengthen the fundamentals, regional communities gain the most. That being said, this government's approach is not to divide Australians into 'regional' and 'metro' but to deliver universal policies that lift outcomes for all Australians—including those in the regions—while also making the targeted investments to meet regional needs.

Take tax cuts. They are permanent structural changes that put more money back into the pockets of hardworking Australians, including families, small businesses and workers in regional communities, where cost-of-living pressures can be even more acute. The newly announced $1,000 instant tax write-off and the $250 Working Australians Tax Offset apply equally to regional Australia.

Then take the universal outdoor mobile obligation. This is a landmark reform that will extend mobile coverage across Australia not just where it is commercially viable but where it is needed. For regional Australians that means safer travel, better connectivity and improved access to emergency services. Future investment in low-Earth-orbit satellite technology for direct-to-device connection will also improve this, facilitating mobile connectivity anywhere in this country. These are not niche programs. They are designed to deliver real and lasting benefits to regional Australia.

We should also consider how the government responds in times of crisis. During the recent fuel supply disruptions, it was regional communities that felt the impacts first and most severely. The government recognised this and established a fuel taskforce, working with states and territories to prioritise supply to the regions. Regional communities were not an afterthought; they were a priority. The reality is this: improving outcomes in regional Australia is achieved through investing in infrastructure where it matters, delivering cost-of-living relief and strengthening essential services. The government is doing that. Regional Australians don't need to be told they are being left behind; they need governments like the Albanese Labor government to deliver for them.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'd like to go back a little bit. I'm going to go all the way back to the Peloponnesian War, 431 to 404 BCE. During the Peloponnesian War, there was an Athenian general of the Delian League, Thucydides. Thucydides was up against the Peloponnesian League. Athens was on the rise and Sparta was on the fall. Why would I quote that? Now I want to go to today. Today there is a meeting between President Xi and President Trump. The person who quoted Thucydides and the Thucydides Trap was President Xi. Why? It's because he sees that China is on the rise and the United States is on the fall. The concern is that the falling power pushes back and there's a war. Why is that important to us? We have to become as powerful as possible as quickly as possible. I've been saying that now in this place for well over a decade.

To become powerful, we must strengthen the natural assets on our balance sheet. These are the assets that actually underpin wealth and underpin growth, and they are in regional Australia. If you want to understand where our wealth is, then consider our terms of trade. Everything about you—your shirt, your watch, your car, your fuel, your underpants, your television set—is coming on a boat from overseas. Somebody somewhere must be sending something in the other direction to pay for it. What goes on a boat in the other direction so that thing in your pocket is not just a piece of polymer but has value? It's coal from regional areas. It's iron ore from regional areas. It's gas, overwhelmingly from regional areas. It's cotton. It's beef. It's grain. It's wool. This is what underpins the wealth of Australia. If you do not realise that, if you do not comprehend that, then you have no idea about the economics of Australia.

I want to go to the budget. In the budget I looked for a thing called the Tomago smelter. I really did. It's about to close. There's no money to prop up the Tomago smelter—none. That's going to be a big issue for about 12,000 people whose jobs are associated with the Tomago smelter. So I'm just going to say to the members for Paterson, Newcastle, Hunter and Shortland: there is a party called One Nation, and we are going to be playing incredibly hard in that space. We are coming to eat your lunch.

Government Members:

Government members interjecting—

Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They're talking now! I've got their ears now, oh yes. I'm looking forward to it. I kind of know how to do this job. I've had a little bit of practice. You saw it the other week. I'm only warming up.

Government members interjecting—

Oh no, I'm coming. You won't be laughing so much when I turn up in your electorate, mate.

So now we have to see how we can actually build up this balance sheet. There is nothing in this budget for dams. They took away the money for freight rail. They have no idea about substantiating the nation's balance sheet. They go to the profit and loss and go to expenses and give out cost-of-living measures. They don't know how to generate the wealth on the balance sheet, so they go to the revenue side and put up the taxes to pay for their promises, literally giving money with one hand and ripping it out of the same person's pocket with the other.

Let us go to the other thing that's really going to hurt people in regional areas. As was said earlier, in the town of Woolbrook we have poor people with a very meagre house on five acres. Their house is now up for the Treasurer to take his swing at it. This is a disgrace.

Government members interjecting—

You don't know because you don't know what poor people look like. You've never been around them. This is the issue. I want to say it to people out there: this is the Labor Party that's supposed to understand you. Don't you love it? Might I remind the Labor Party that your vote is around about 30 per cent—you are on ice. You don't understand them, and that's why you've rubbed their noses in the dirt. You have rubbed their noses in the dirt. You are arrogant without any foresight as to what you're doing to people. (Time expired)

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

More than one-third of Australians live outside our capital cities. It is these regional centres and rural communities that help drive our economy forward every single day. In regional electorates like mine, locals are raising families, running small businesses, producing food, powering our economy and building our future. Our government, the Albanese government, is committed to backing in regional communities just like mine, in the electorate of Corangamite. From health to housing, from education to early childhood education, from infrastructure to productivity, from energy to agriculture to cost-of-living measures, the Albanese government is investing in our regions because, no matter where Australians live, they should benefit from good government.

That means tax cuts for every taxpayer, including another cut this July. It means cheaper child care and building a universal early education system. It means expanded paid parental leave to 24 weeks. It means 30 per cent off home batteries to permanently cut household energy bills. It means cutting student debt by 20 per cent, for many a reduced debt of more than $5,500. It means the biggest reduction in the cost of PBS medicines in two decades. These are not metro policies or regional policies. They are policies for all Australians, including the millions living outside our regional cities, and, in regional communities like mine, that matters deeply.

In Corangamite, it means Medicare urgent care clinics, like the one in Torquay. They're now a permanent fixture of Medicare. They're free, accessible and close to home. It means a new headspace service in Armstrong Creek, delivering mental health support to young people and families in one of our fastest growing communities. It means a $20 million investment in Barwon Water's Black Rock Precinct through the Regional Precincts and Partnerships Program, transforming environmental waste management across the Barwon region while supporting jobs, sustainability and long-term resilience. It means delivering the $318 million Barwon Heads Road stage 2 upgrade, connecting the fast-growing communities of Armstrong Creek and the Bellarine with Geelong. This is what practical delivery looks like.

It means the largest investment in Medicare's history, expanding bulk-billing, with seven local GP clinics in my electorate now moving to bulk-billing. We're also strengthening hospitals, investing in services but also infrastructure, with a $500 million investment in the Barwon Women's and Children's hospital, and we've doubled Roads to Recovery funding to deliver more upgrades in the regions. These investments are transformational for regions like mine. Indeed, so is our work to train more GPs and waive HECS for doctors and nurses who work in regional communities and our commitment to roll out even more Medicare urgent care clinics, with dozens in regional, rural and remote Australia.

Our budget on Tuesday also included the $2 billion Local Infrastructure Fund to unlock more housing supply, including $500 million specifically for enabling infrastructure in regional communities. To make this a reality, to build the workforces we need, the Albanese government is backing in free TAFE, regional university study hubs, broadband expansions, road, rail and safer local infrastructure. We also understand the pressures regional Australians face right now, particularly around fuel, freight and supply chains. That's why this government is acting through a $10 billion fuel security and resilience package, fuel excise relief, protections for farmers and stronger safeguards for critical industries.

Of course, there is more to do, and that's why we are continuing to do the hard work to support regional Australians, because health care matters in the regions. Housing matters. Education matters. Economic resilience matters. And that's exactly what the Albanese government is doing. We are backing in our regional areas, keeping them front and centre, because we know that when we build communities in regional areas we are helping to build our nation's prosperity. It means we have free bulk-billing doctors. We can find a home, we can gain skills, we can build businesses and we can secure regional work. (Time expired)

Barnaby Joyce (New England, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

():  by leave—Whilst there is no money for Tomago, there is apparently $18.2 billion further for intermittent power rollout, the intermittent power swindle—the solar panels, the wind turbines, the transmission lines. I note that the Treasurer only mentioned the words 'climate change' once in his speech the other night, which was probably a very clever thing because it's terribly unpopular. We've the dearest electricity prices and the most unreliable electricity, basically, in the OECD.

It is also important that we secure fuel, diesel—we've all agreed on that. I've been doing my very best to work with people such as Chris Monet in San Diego and with a range of consortiums trying to bring diesel in on the spot market from Singapore. The issue is that we—some time ago, last month—passed the legislation to derisk this, because it costs about $250,000 to hire the boat and about $90,000 a day to push it through the water. You might be up for $200 million or $300 million on a punt. If it goes against you—if you go out of the money—you'll go broke. So we have to derisk it. The derisking process was done through EFA, Export Finance Australia.

I have to say I'm incredibly disappointed. It is so slow. These deals are not turning around; they're bogged down. People are coming out and asking, 'How long before you can get this through?' And they're hearing 'A month—weeks.' When you're buying on the spot market, it's bang—it's like that. We've had product at $600 a tonne, and at Platts it's at $1,100 a tonne. And we can't finalise the deal to get it through so we can land it here. It's not one deal of 100 million litres; it's deal after deal after deal that we can do. So I plead with the government: please get going on this. Go down to the department, bang some heads together and make things move, because we're losing these deals and you can't tell big players just to hang around for their money.

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

The discussion has now concluded.