Matt Smith's recent appearances (OpenAustralia.org)
Laverty, Mr Declan | Constituency Statements | House debates
One of the great privileges of this role is speaking with community and getting in and amongst your constituents. Recently, though, I had a meeting with one of my constituents, Samara Laverty. It...
One of the great privileges of this role is speaking with community and getting in and amongst your constituents. Recently, though, I had a meeting with one of my constituents, Samara Laverty. It was a meeting that I frankly wish never had to happen, but it is a speech that I now have to make. Some in this place might know the name of her son, Declan Laverty. Declan was a bright 20-year-old who was living in Darwin. He worked at the local BWS, doing his best. On the night of 19 March 2023, while at work, Declan was stabbed. He bled out within a minute, and he was gone. Samara told me in our meeting that the last act that Declan made as he lay bleeding was to text his mother one last time: 'I love you. I've been stabbed.' It was an attack the judge described as 'a random and violent attack on an innocent member of the public', both 'targeted' and 'unprovoked'. I sat with Samara for a bit over an hour. What do you say? How do you show any kind of thought or understanding for the pain that she must go through and the pain that she goes through again every day while explaining what happened? It was incredibly confronting, but it was also really appropriate. More people need to know this story. People should know how much damage can be done in 55 seconds. That's less time than I've been speaking in this chamber right now. Through her loss, Samara has become a dedicated advocate to stop knife crime. Her work helped deliver Declan's law in the Northern Territory, and now she is home in Cairns. Samara wants to speak with young people. She wants them to know what the consequences are of choosing to have a knife on you, what that might look like, what grief and anguish and pain can happen due to a split-second decision and how it can all happen in under a minute. She doesn't want young people to throw away their futures. Under her program, 55 Seconds, she wants to go into schools, meet with sporting clubs and make sure young people know that their actions have consequences. Samara isn't asking for funding but for an opportunity to speak directly to young people. The courage and love that that woman shows in reliving that moment to stop and save other people's children are truly incredible. If you want to help, the answer is simple. If you're involved in a school, sporting club or any other community group where there are teenagers, reach out to my office and we will put you in touch with Samara. Help us end knife crime. This is something that we all need to do together. I want to thank Samara for her courage and for bringing this to us all. I wish that we can all stop knife crime together. Thank you.
Cost of Living | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
We are the regions who provide your food. We have custody over the places that you go on holidays. We provide you with critical minerals. We provide your power. We are practical people. We are...
We are the regions who provide your food. We have custody over the places that you go on holidays. We provide you with critical minerals. We provide your power. We are practical people. We are the salt of the earth. We are the best parts of Australia. Not a single person in this House would disagree. Do not disrespect us. I grew up in Gippsland. An opposition member: Best member to ever come out of Gippsland! Thank you! I keep telling him! I played in Wollongong. I spent some time in Albury and the Atherton Tablelands. I played in Cairns. But I also spent a bit of time in New York City, where I picked up a phrase: studio gangster. I might be the first person to put the phrase 'studio gangster' into Hansard. I'd like that to be recognised. For those who don't know, a studio gangster is someone who yaps when there's nothing on the line. This is what we are seeing from those opposite: a lot of noise; no influence. Studio gangsters are fun. You like to hang out with them—good times, great times—but when the rubber hits the road they're nowhere to be seen. So let's speak about roads and investment in roads. Take the main artery for Queensland, the Bruce Highway. The last time the Bruce Highway had any investment in it at all, guess who did it? Then infrastructure minister, now Prime Minister, the Hon. Anthony Albanese. Oh, and he's back as Prime Minister, so guess what's getting invested in? The Bruce Highway with $7.2 billion. This will allow freight and families right the way up Queensland to see each other, to spend time with each other. We're making that road safer so that our truckies don't have to worry about it so much anymore. I go to the depots; I have a chat to the lads. They are afraid of the road, but they know the money for it is coming. They know the work is going to commence. They know they will get home at night to see their loved ones. What I'd like to hear from those opposite is more science and fewer feelings. We tend to cherrypick ideas, cherrypick stats. Portugal and Spain? That's a nice example, and it fits your narrative then fantastic. California, the fourth-largest economy on the planet, has 67 per cent renewable and clean energy—the fourth-largest economy on the planet! It's something we should be aspiring to, but, instead, we cherrypick numbers rather than trying to deliver for the people that we are paid to represent. So what is the Labor Party doing for the regions? As Minister McBain said, we don't have to put the word 'region' in front of it to make it relevant. Tax cuts. People in the regions pay taxes. Fee-free TAFE has been taken up more in the regions than anywhere else to address skill shortages. The students are building the homes that people can live in. Come to the wide open spaces that we represent, that we love so much, that we hold so dear. We want to share them; we want to show them. Bring your businesses to us. Bring your talents to the regions. Build these houses. Build these businesses. All that is going to be made possible. When you get there, there are urgent care clinics and there's cheaper medicine—there are going to be two clinics in Cairns; it's going to be awesome! Cairns is a big, big place. There are two electorates—Kennedy and Leichhardt. They've just got effective members! Fee-free TAFE is under threat from the Queensland government. It is taking our workforce away. We have an opportunity here to show the regions as they are—the place we all love—and we are taking it. We're delivering for the people that have delivered for Australia for well over 200 years. Our food, our mining and our places to holiday all belong to us. Labor knows that when we take care of the regions, we take care of the country.
Queensland: Infrastructure | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering the infrastructure and transport regional...
My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government. How is the Albanese Labor government delivering the infrastructure and transport regional Queensland needs? What approaches has the government rejected?
Bondi Beach Attack Victims | Condolences | House debates
I rise to speak on the condolence motion on behalf of the people of Leichhardt. The Far North feels a long way away from the sands of Bondi, but distance does not lessen compassion nor diminish...
I rise to speak on the condolence motion on behalf of the people of Leichhardt. The Far North feels a long way away from the sands of Bondi, but distance does not lessen compassion nor diminish grief. So I stand in this chamber today in solidarity and in sorrow with Australia's Jewish community. The heinous events of 14 December—a targeted attack on Australians of Jewish faith, an attack during a time of celebration—were a darkness that threatened to extinguish Hanukkah, the festival of the light. But, with the resilience and the compassion of Australians of every faith, that light shone through. In the days that followed, I worked closely with the Far North Jewish community. At the invite of Rabbi Ari Rubin, I attended a memorial service the next day. It was not just a memorial service but an act of defiance. The feelings of those present were of hurt, confusion, anger and grief. For too many in the room, those feelings were familiar. But, in that room, the small community hall 2,500 kilometres away from Bondi, compassion, love, resilience and defiance shone through. On the second night of Hanukkah, we celebrated together with the lighting of the menorah. In the coming days, Rabbi Ari worked his way down from the Far North to Mackay to be there for his community, to celebrate Hanukkah and to maintain his steadfast refusal to be cowed. It was only later that Ari revealed to me that he had lost close friends in the attack. Yet he held firm to his strength and resolve, which many of us could only begin to imagine. Back in Cairns, Udi David Stern worked hard to create and deliver a community event to welcome and allow the Far North to embrace the community, our community, our friends. So, when we reconvened on the national day of reflection on that eighth day of Hanukkah, there were hundreds of Far Northerners out of every creed, colour and persuasion—a community of Australians united simply by their humanity and compassion for their fellow citizens. Udi did that for us. There is an old Jewish proverb that I've thought of a lot. It goes, 'I ask not for a lighter burden but for broader shoulders.' This one proverb speaks so much to the resilience of the Jewish community. But I say to Australians of Jewish faith: your shoulders are broad enough. We have come to share and lighten these burdens, we have come to stand with you, we have come to grieve with you, and we have come to heal with you, because you are us. Earlier today, the member for Macnamara moved us all with his speech. He spoke of dehumanisation. What did those monsters see? What did they see on that day? What do they see when they look at him? When I look at the member for Macnamara, I see my friend. I see Josh. When I look at Rabbi Ari, I see a friend and a man who placed his community first. When I look at my friend Udi, I see a man who moved heaven and Earth to give us an opportunity to come together as a community to grieve and show support. Like so many others, I wish that it had not come to this. We have a responsibility now to ensure that antisemitism is stamped out and rooted out in all of its forms and that Jewish Australians feel safe, loved and welcome in this country that we are so proud to call home, which has until now been largely untouched by such horror. Fifteen people had their lives taken by two monsters who had perverted and then weaponised the teaching of a religion that quite literally means 'peace'. They did this only to justify their own hatred. Fifteen people who should be going about a normal day. They should be at work, playing with grandkids, doing the shopping and the chores that annoy people, getting ready for the school year. In the Jewish faith, saying the names of the departed ensures that their memories live on. The names have been said many times today, entered into Hansard for eternity. I take the opportunity now to do so as well—Matilda, Rabbi Eli Schlanger, Rabbi Yaakov Levitan, Alex Kleytman, Boris and Sofia Gurman, Peter Meagher, Reuven Morrison, Edith Brutman, Dan Elkayam, Marika Pogany, Adam Smyth, Boris Tetleroyd, Tania Tretiak, Tibor Weitzen. I extend my deepest condolences to their families and their friends and the Jewish community of Australia. I pay tribute to the first responders and heroes of the day. Rabbi Ari, who I spent much time with over the weeks, maintained that the light will overcome the dark, always. Let us now turn to the light together. May their memories be a blessing.
Energy | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
Making jokes—well, yes. You got your social media platform, didn't you? You got to hang out your little signs. Are you going to Masig? Will you speak to the elders? You will not. You can't...
Making jokes—well, yes. You got your social media platform, didn't you? You got to hang out your little signs. Are you going to Masig? Will you speak to the elders? You will not. You can't even spell these places. You can't locate them on a map. You care little for these people—a people who have been here for generations, for tens of thousands of years, who have protected and taken care of their country, who have fished those waters, who have loved that salt water. The octopus god, Malo, lives there. And you betray them. Every time that you let the Nationals talk down net zero and every time that you take down renewable energy you betray the Torres Strait and everything that they stand for.
The world is changing. The delivery of energy is changing. Whether you like it or not, it's changing. It's happening now. Coal-fired plants are done. Twenty-four of the 28 that closed did so...
The world is changing. The delivery of energy is changing. Whether you like it or not, it's changing. It's happening now. Coal-fired plants are done. Twenty-four of the 28 that closed did so under the watch of those opposite—finished. We understand there have been cost-of-living pressures. It has been a rough six or seven years, particularly for my electorate of Leichhardt. COVID hurt us. The inflation that jumped out the bottle afterwards hurt us more. It was at seven but is now 3.8. We are delivering on cost-of-living relief. We understand what Australians need. We also understand the opportunities that net zero presents to us: manufacturing, mining, the entrance to the world stage as a global power, a superpower for renewable energy and a leader in our region. This is a national security issue. The Pacific has never been more important, and those opposite sell them out every single day. It is disgraceful. The water shall not lap at the doors of our nearest neighbours, but let me tell you of the Torres Strait, Australia's most northern part, a beautiful place filled with beautiful people. Just this week the wakaid, or council of elders, from the island of Badu came down to talk to us about health. Uncle Bongo Sagigi, leader of the council of elders, spoke to me of climate change. When I visit Masig and Saibai, they tell me, 'We do not want to see our cemeteries inundated, the bodies of our children washed away, the bodies of the ancestors gone.' That is what net zero is about. That is the betrayal of Australia, of Australians. They deserve better. They deserve recognition. They do not deserve to have the water lapping at their doors. They do not deserve their cemeteries washed away. They do not deserve to mourn their children washed into the ocean. When you do not accept net zero, when you turn your back on them, you turn your back on Australia. If you betray one Australian, you betray them all. It is disgraceful. It was 2015 the last time any executive from the LNP went to the Torres Strait. You do not ask or seek out their advice. You don't care. You leave them alone to fend for themselves. Minister Kearney has sat with the elders on Badu. She has sat with the elders on Horn. She has sat with the elders on Thursday Island. Minister Wilson travelled to Saibai, sat with the elders and understood. Labor has committed over $74 million in seawalls. We are protecting our people, and we are working with the reef, the guardianship and the climate change excellence centre based on Thursday Island to create resilience for a world that is changing, for a world that you guys have left behind. We are getting on with it. Those walls are being built right now. They should have been built 10 years ago when Masig started to be inundated. But where was the opposition? It was nowhere—hiding.
Northern Australia | Ministerial Statements | House debates
I rise today to speak on the statement made by the Minister for Northern Australia. My electorate, Leichhardt, is the perfect embodiment of northern Australia, and, while some will point to...
I rise today to speak on the statement made by the Minister for Northern Australia. My electorate, Leichhardt, is the perfect embodiment of northern Australia, and, while some will point to Townsville as the capital of the far north, they are wrong; it is in fact Cairns. But Cairns is just the gateway to a much broader and spectacular part of the world. If you'll indulge me, Deputy Speaker Aldred, I would like to go on a little bit of a geography tour of a place I know that you know well, as I ran into you randomly one day at one of the local shopping centres as you were enjoying many of the delights that Cairns has to offer. So we'll start in Cairns. Cairns is a thriving, metropolitan city. It is multicultural. It has many different industries. It is welcoming. It is beautiful. It is home to the reef fleet and the Great Barrier Reef, the gateway to Green Island, Osprey Reef, Lizard Island and Fitzroy Island, where I believe my daughter is right now celebrating schoolies. It is a truly magnificent place. We have over 128 different cultures that are celebrated en masse. Over 10,000 people went to the recent India Day festivals. Diwali was a huge celebration. We are multicultural, we are proud of it and we pull together. We have a shipping industry. Over $250 million is run through our shipping repairs, including working on our naval boats. It is a truly beautiful place. It is also home to the far north's only national sporting team, my beloved Cairns Taipans, who we wish were going better—but we can't have everything. If you spend a few days in Cairns, you might think, 'What else is on offer?' so you'll start driving north. You'll get to the tourism hotspot, the destination, that is Port Douglas, one of the most beautiful places on the planet. The golf course there, Palmer Sea Reef golf course, has the crocodile on the first hole lurking in the water trap. You just let the ball go if it's too close to the edge. It is one of the places that people put on their bucket list. Port Douglas is amazing. I would encourage everybody to get there as soon as possible. A little bit further on we've got Mossman, home of the Mossman Gorge Cultural Centre, a world renowned Indigenous cultural area. Mossman is currently transitioning away from sugar cane. They are having discussions about what their future looks like, and, while this is a tough time for them, they are built of really strong stuff. There is a frontier attitude, a pioneering attitude, that is part of the far north that I know will serve them greatly. If you leave Mossman, you've got to head up a bit further. Now we're at the gateway to Cape York. The gateway itself positions itself as Lakeland, with its bananas—some of the best bananas on the planet!—as far as the eye can see. At Lakeland, you have a choice: continue on straight and head up to Wujal Wujal, Cooktown and Hope Vale or take a left and drift out to Coen, Kowanyama, Pormpuraaw, Weipa, Aurukun and Lockhart River. We'll stay right for the moment. Once you get to Cooktown, a historical place—it used to be that over 30,000 people lived in Cooktown during the gold rush. It is now down to about 3½ thousand, but they are proud. They have a great tourism industry, a great fishing industry and a fantastic bowls club if you need a cold beer and a good feed at the end of the day. Close to Cooktown is Wujal Wujal, a beautiful, beautiful place nestled in the rainforest—the rainforest people. Wujal Wujal obviously suffered catastrophic effects through Cyclone Jasper. Everyone had to move out, but I am pleased to say they're back. The sports hall has reopened. They're rebuilding their arts centre. That community is as strong as ever. To the other side of Cooktown is Hope Vale, home of Noel Pearson, who has brought so much positive change to Indigenous Australians. It's a town that bats well above its weight. It is strong. It is proud. Back down to Lakeland, we're going to head out to the western cape now. We'll start at Lockhart River, tucked away—well, it's actually on the eastern cape; you've got to go west first. It's a trick of the road! The PDR is one of those—look, it is a bucket-list experience. The PDR gets you all the way up to Pajinka. Lockhart River is the home of five different clans, fantastic fishing and some of the best art in the cape. It is also where the American fighter pilots were based during World War II, and the rocks in the ocean carry the scars of the 50-millimetre guns that were shot during target practice. We'll go back down onto the PDR and out to Aurukun, with fantastic art and fantastic people. I've spent many days there, running basketball clinics for kids, bringing up shoes, and spending time with Steve Norman at the PCYC as they show their children how to make good choices and as they build the leaders of tomorrow. Weipa is a mining town—there's bauxite as far as the eye can see—but it is developing. It is now a town town. There are almost more small businesses now in Weipa than there are miners. It is ready to take that next step. Just south of Weipa is Napranum, which is a beautiful little spot. They want to become the food bowl for Rio Tinto. It's a really great ambition. To the north, in Mapoon, they are getting ready for cultural tourism when the cruise ships start arriving in the western cape next year. Down further south we've got Kowanyama and Pormpuraaw, the place of many waters, with great art and great fishing. Then, finally, up top we have the NPA. The NPA is home to a truly unique culture, where Aboriginal land was gifted to the Torres Strait Islanders. It is a place where the two cultures mix, merge and create something truly unique and beautiful. As our great industry—there's possibly gas out there. People drive all the way up to Pajinka, staying in Bamaga, and then of course Zenadth Kes, the Torres Strait, home of Eddie Koiki Mabo, and the multiple different islands. It's the only regional council with an international border. Councillor Chelsea sits there and ticks people off as they drift over from PNG for cultural ceremonies and for trade. It is the most northern part of northern Australia. The thing that all of these places have in common is the limitless potential—the potential of the people, the potential of the minerals, and the potential of the tourism. It is all there at our fingertips, and it is great to hear Minister King speak of the potential and the opportunity that is presented to northern Australia—not just my part of the world, but right the way across. The world is pivoting north. All roads are leading north. We're pivoting our international focus towards the South Pacific. We are tailor made for it. We are in the right place geographically. We have the right things, we have the right space and we have the right people. I'm proud to be a part of government. I'm proud to have been put here by the people of Leichhardt to try to snatch these opportunities, to become the renewable powerhouse that I know we can be. Some of the best silica in the world is located in Leichhardt. As some might know, silica is essential in the building of solar panels. There is opportunity for manufacturing there. The Indigenous rangers know country backwards. They understand carbon capture and farming and have been doing it for tens of thousands of years. In doing so, they're showing the way for new industries to evolve—carbon capture, blue carbon, all of these storage options—using ancient knowledge. There is a lot of space up there for carbon capture. On cultural tourism, we have something unique, something nowhere else in the world can talk about: the world's oldest living culture. 60,000 years. The art decorates the rocks. The language is still spoken in many of the small communities. It breathes, and it's real. Sit with the elders. They'll tell you the stories. They'll show you the dances. Last time I was in Mapoon, I ran into a group called Indigital, who are taking the stories and putting them into a Minecraft-style game so that you can live and walk the Dreaming. The kids get to design the characters. It is a great community-building exercise, as the elders sit down with the young ones and tell them the story. It takes ancient knowledge and puts it in a 21st century context. That's what the Far North is: an ancient and wild place ready to take on the 21st century in a way that not many other places are positioned to do. I want to commend the minister for working with northern Australia, for understanding the challenges that we face, but not turning her back on us. Sometimes, when challenges present themselves, it can become too hard for people. They're not sure what to do or where to go. But through every challenge there is opportunity, and we have so much opportunity. We will carry Australia forward in the renewable transition with our critical minerals. We will show the world who we are through our cultural tourism. We will protect and promote the mighty Daintree, the Great Barrier Reef and the wildness of Cape York. We will celebrate the unique culture of Zenadth Kes, whose elders are actually in this building today meeting with us. It is my honour to represent northern Australia. It is my honour to defend northern Australia. And I am so proud to be here doing so with a government that believes in the opportunity that my region possesses. Thank you.
Mental Health Month | Statements on Significant Matters | House debates
I rise today to speak on the statement made by the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention about Mental Health Month. Unlike the days when people were derided when something...
I rise today to speak on the statement made by the Assistant Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention about Mental Health Month. Unlike the days when people were derided when something was wrong with them, I am proud that we are here today in this place speaking about mental health. Not long ago in the chamber, I read a speech from a young leader in our community in Leichhardt, Claudia, about the desperate situation facing many young people in regional areas. The situation is even more desperate in our remote and rural communities, where regular mental health services are essentially non-existent. The Mental Health Month theme this year is 'taking steps on your wellbeing journey'. It is a journey many of us know, and I'm sure we all know someone who has suffered through dark times. Hopefully, we know someone who has pulled through. Sadly, though, some don't make it out of the darkness, and I am not immune. My life from an outside perspective was fairly blessed. I was playing professional sport and had a family. Things were going well. Basketball was taken away from me. Age, talent—whatever it might have been. I was no longer required. Basketball had provided me with an identity, a structure, an understanding of my place in the world, a bubble. From 16 to 30, all I had to think about was that. People looked after my medical needs. They looked after my rent, my houses. People booked holidays for me. I had no life skills. I could not operate in the real world. When that safety net was removed from me, I crashed. I didn't know where to turn for help. The hypermasculine version of professional sport tells you to harden up, tells you to square your shoulders and take the hit, tells you to keep moving forward. No matter how hard I would try to live by that ethos, I drowned. I got further and further down. I required intervention from people that loved me—from my friends, from my former teammates, from my family. They had to find ways to bring me back. It was not a journey that I could take alone. I wasn't strong enough, and it wasn't a question of strength. It was a question of fatigue. People think that mental health and depression is sad all the time. It's not. It's numbness. It's blankness. It's fear. It's panic. It's heavy and it's exhausting. It is not something that people should try to face alone. And I am glad—thrilled, even—that we are able to take these steps as a parliament, as leaders to say to our communities: 'It is okay. Things aren't always going to be linear. Things aren't always going to go in a straight line. Things aren't always going to be great. But there are people and services out there that can help you. There are people who love you, who want to see you be your best again, and, with a bit of hard work, you can be. You might not get back to where you were. I am not the same person that I was as a basketballer. I am better, more empathetic. I understand myself more. It was a journey I don't wish on somebody else, but was a journey that I needed to take, and I wouldn't be standing here without the love and the support and the help of external forces. That's the thing that buries people: they think they have to take it on alone. That's why I'm proud to be a part of this government that is rolling out more help for mental health, because people don't have to do this alone. It can get isolating and you can feel trapped. Part of this is obviously the $1.1 billion mental health package, the single biggest investment in mental health services, delivering more support and care in communities, backed by Medicare. Speaking to GPs, we know that most presentations these days—somewhere around 70 per cent in my area—are related to mental health and mental health issues. My region was rocked. COVID was very difficult for a service and tourism based economy. The subsequent natural disasters have been difficult as well. Entire communities—Wujal Wujal was displaced, sending elders to different parts of the region, taking away that connection to community, making children go to school in places they weren't familiar. Mossman was cut off for weeks. People went stir-crazy. It was difficult. My region has suffered, and that's why we're doing things like opening the mental health urgent care clinic. We're doing the things that matter on the ground to provide the services that people need so that they know that, when things get rough, they can reach out. Sometimes it's a whole community. The free walk-in care with extended hours with no referral or appointment is a game changer. Sometimes it can be hard to get a GP. Sometimes it can be hard to take that step, to make that phone call, to have that appointment. But, if you can walk in and go, 'I need help,' and know that there's someone there that is trained, capable and empathetic to help you, that will save lives. Absolutely, it will. A multidisciplinary team, whether you need psychology, a psychiatric intervention or some social work, will be there for you in a Medicare mental health clinic. But it's not just the mental health clinics. For new and expecting parents, we're partnering with the Gidget Foundation to open 20 perinatal mental health centres. Changes in life bring struggles. Children, as I've discovered twice, change things fairly dramatically. If you are unprepared for this, you can start to struggle. You can start to drown. Birth, pregnancy, menopause and perimenopause can play games hormonally with women, sometimes making mental health more and more critical. This is why places like the Gidget Foundation exist. They offer vital care. And it's not just women. One in 10 men also experience mental health issues upon the birth of a child. I experienced less sleep; I was one of the lucky ones. For children aged nought to 12 and their families, we're opening 17 Medicare mental health kids hubs in partnership with state and territory governments. We are finding that mental health issues are impacting younger and younger children, which is why the social media ban for under-16s is so important. Let our kids be kids. Let them frolic outside, the way people my age did when we were younger. Let them have a break. If school is hard with a device, school can follow you home. Without a device, you would be safe and free. We are giving this back to the children of Australia. For young Australians aged 12 to 25, we're strengthening the headspace centres, including in my own region. When headspace was first introduced 20 years ago, one in five young people experienced mental health distress in any 12-month period. That has now doubled to two in five. We can't pretend that the advent of social media or that COVID didn't change the way our young people see the world, which is why we're opening 58 new expanded headspace services across the country. That will be 203 services understanding the unique challenges and pressures of young people. For those of us who remember that 18 to 25 range, there is a lot of potential and a lot of hope, but there's also a lot of pressure. Pressure comes from family. Pressure comes from external sources—from university or from work. You're an adult, but you're not quite there. Certain things are expected of you, but you're not quite understanding it. It's hard and you can get lost. But headspace is designed specifically to cater to the young, for their needs. Mental health is not a 'one size fits all' approach. Different stages of your life will require different types of help. Sometimes it will be peer support. Sometimes it might be a clinical intervention. These packages make sure that the full gamut is taken care of so that a broad brush is not used and we watch people slip through the cracks—because it is about people. It's wives, daughters, husbands, fathers, cousins and brothers. Every mental health illness brings a cost to those around them. By providing this support, we strengthen families, we strengthen people and we strengthen our country. I am very, very proud to be a part of this. My own struggles notwithstanding, this makes Australia better.
Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025, Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
Beer is something I'm excited to talk about. I rise today to speak on the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. Beer has a...
Beer is something I'm excited to talk about. I rise today to speak on the Excise Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025 and the Customs Tariff Amendment (Draught Beer) Bill 2025. Beer has a rich history dating back to Mesopotamia and Ancient Egypt some 5,000 years BC, where it was actually safer to drink beer than water and it was even used as a form of currency. My own father experimented with brewing and tried to make a Cherry Ripe based beer, which was not flash. You should leave that to the professionals. And, as of now, we are making it easier for the professionals. Having a beer after a week at work is an Australian tradition—heading to the local with your mates, having a chat, unwinding for the week and, particularly in Far North Queensland, bringing your own stubby holder because the schooner is going to get warm before you finish it. As I travel up and down the cape through my immense electorate, I run community offices during the day, but I know that I'm going to get most of the engagement that night at the local pub, pulling beers and chatting to the road crews, the public servants who are done for the day and the FIFO workers. Everybody congregates at the local, be it the Bamaga Tavern on the very edge of the northern Australian tip, the Wongai pub on Horn Island, the Grand on Thursday Island or the Exchange Hotel in Coen. All of them are the heart of Australia. All of them are places where Australians gather to tell stories, have a great time and, yes, have an ice-cold beer. Knowing that beer is frozen and that it is cheaper brings more people to those environments. It helps our social cohesion and keeps that great Australian tradition of the Friday afternoon beer or the Thursday afternoon beer continuing. I am very much looking forward to getting home at the end of this week and going to my local, the Trinity Beach pub, looking out over palm lined beaches to the Coral Sea. It's beautiful. My mates are going to gather around, and we are going to have a few beers to celebrate Christmas, to celebrate being together and to celebrate mateship. We've known each other forever. That has been the common denominator: we meet for beers at the pub. It has become a quintessential part of the Australian identity. But it is about more than supporting the Australian identity and more than a cost-of-living process; it is bringing support to small businesses. We know that it was hard during COVID. Cairns is a service-industry city. You remove the service industry and it makes things very difficult. We need to bring people back into our clubs and pubs, particularly those supporting independent brewers like Copperlode brewery, up my way, who have honoured the member for Kennedy with the Patriot pale ale. I am waiting for mine, but I'm told I have to have been 50 years in the House—at which point I will be 96 or dead! It's testament to what a cold beer means that we have someone like the member for Kennedy held up, placed on a beer and celebrated not just in his community but right across the country. It is a truly special thing. People went to that pub for that beer, supporting that local business. Macalister Brewing, a little bit further north, looks out over the canefields of the western arterial. It has a fantastic array of beer. People go there for the experience—the taps, the kegs and the whole thing. It is part of a North Queensland afternoon. We have so many great breweries and so many great little country pubs dotting the area. We are bringing people back to them. This is how a lot of people get their first start while at university—getting their RSA, pulling beers and making a dollar. It's their first bit of real responsibility in the workplace. It's how I hope my children will work their way through university, the same way my sister did. It says something about the Australian identity, and I couldn't be prouder to get behind it. Now I will get to the nitty-gritty of the whole thing. This is a 2025-26 budget measure to pause the automatic CPI increase which used to be every six months. So every six months there would be an increase, two per year et cetera—in February and August. That's a day not necessarily circled in anyone's calendar but a day that rolled around nonetheless. Without these excise increases occurring it will provide the stability that business needs for forward planning and for consumers. Stability is the No. 1 goal that you need to provide for any kind of economic development. People need to know what is coming and how to react accordingly. This freeze gives pub owners and club owners throughout Australia that surety. Be they small businesses, larger pubs or the little country town ones, they'll know what is coming next. This is obviously a targeted measure. It is specifically for tap beer, for draught beer. That is because that is where our people are. It is holistic approach to cost of living and to encouraging small businesses. It is to get people into the pubs again, to chat again, to make sure that we have that social cohesion, to relearn what it's like to be with each other. The kids that are coming of age now, 17 and 18 years old—like my own daughter, who is 17—will start hitting the pubs in a couple of months. She went through COVID. She missed a large part of her development socially. My youngest daughter missed more. My nephews missed more again. They will rediscover humanity in the pub with a nice cold beer. I am very, very excited for them to do so—responsibly, of course. This is a cost-of-living measure. It is supporting a lot of people at a lot of places. I know that pubs and brewers in my electorate are welcoming this with open arms. Tap beer, draught beer, is the best beer. It tastes the freshest. It gives you the most bubbles, the best head. I'm sure the consumers will love being able to go down without an excise going up. This supports jobs. It is the jobs that I want to talk about now. Because of the Albanese Labor government, people in the pubs and clubs pulling beers are now going to have more work because we're bringing more people into the pubs. Their penalty rates are now enshrined. So when they work on Saturday nights and Sundays, when the rest of us are taking our time with our family and friends, they know that they are going to get paid accordingly. They are going to get paid for the time that they are putting in and the time that they are giving up. As I said earlier, a lot of people use the pubs and clubs as a stepping stone to somewhere else. Fee-free TAFE is available. One of the local guys at the place where I drink wants to be a chippie. He's going to go to fee-free TAFE. He's pulling beers in the meantime to save up for a car. Once he's saved up for a car, you know what he can get? He can get a house. There are five per cent deposits now. We have given an actual pathway. This whole thing is a holistic approach to everything we are doing. It's targeted, but it's so much bigger than that. It's giving people hope for the future. It's giving people industry. It's giving small business surety. It's giving families a place to be. It's giving friends a chance to get together and enjoy themselves. It's something so simple and so well supported that it's still on the Liberal Party's website! That's fantastic. It is great to get bipartisan support on something as important as family and friends getting together. There are approximately 160,000 workers employed in the hospitality sector—a large chunk of them in the Far North—and I'm proud that we've got behind them. I'm proud of the small brewers that are putting beers on the table every day and of the people that run the clubs and the pubs, particularly those small country pubs that make such a difference in community, and what they mean and what they stand for. I'm super proud to be able to support them. I just say to all of the brewers out there: do not ever put Cherry Ripe into a beer. I commend these bills to the House.
Tertiary Education | Questions without Notice | House debates
My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to help Australians with a student debt and to make our education system better and fairer? What has been...
My question is to the Minister for Education. What is the Albanese Labor government doing to help Australians with a student debt and to make our education system better and fairer? What has been the response?
Medicare | Private Members' Business | House debates
by leave—I'm very happy to continue my remarks on this motion brought forward by the member for Bowman. Medicare is one of Australia's great success stories, and while we can throw numbers...
by leave—I'm very happy to continue my remarks on this motion brought forward by the member for Bowman. Medicare is one of Australia's great success stories, and while we can throw numbers about, the simple thing is that facts don't care about your feelings. In Leichhardt there are 24 fully bulk-billed practices helping families and kids. Bulk-billing rates in Queensland alone have gone up by 3.4 per cent. That is up despite what those people opposite would have us believe. Facts and figures don't lie. I'd like to talk about a little town not actually in my electorate. It's called Mission Beach and is about an hour and a half south in the electorate of Kennedy. But I'm sure the member for Kennedy won't mind—we have a passport-style arrangement going on there. Mission Beach is one of the most beautiful places in the country, outside of Leichhardt. It has palm-lined beaches, crystal-clear water and, in 2021, no GP clinic. When last I checked, in 2021, those opposite were in charge. One of the most beautiful places in the country could not hold a GP. That's incredible! But I'm pleased to report that they now have one. The people of Mission Beach—an ageing and retiring population—now have access to a GP on a regular basis. That's because of the Anthony Albanese Labor government. That's because of Medicare. That's because of the investment that Labor always puts into people's health and people's wellbeing. It's who we are. They talk about the credit card. They talk about the numbers. They talk about slogans. But $8.5 billion isn't a slogan; it's a commitment. It is the largest single investment in Medicare since its inception. It is something that we should be proud of as a nation. I have lived under the regime of the US medical system, knowing how much it can cost without that safety net. Now the safety net has grown. One thing we can all agree on is that your postcode shouldn't matter in how you get healthcare. Your income shouldn't matter in how you get healthcare. I represent some of the most remote and disadvantaged places in the nation. Things like rheumatic heart disease, which is basically eliminated in the rest of the first world, runs riot through the cape. But, because Labor invests, we can give hope, we can give opportunity, and people know that when they show up to a doctor at one of the 24 bulk-billing clinics in Leichhardt, all that they need is their Medicare card. When we go to an urgent care clinic—as I had to do to get my daughter's X-rays—we know that all we need is a Medicare card. When Minister Butler came we up, were talking to a woman who had been attacked by a dog. She'd only heard about the Medicare clinic a little bit. She rolled in and got stitched up. Her wounds were cleaned and she was home within 45 minutes—unheard of for that kind of treatment. If you go to any of the major hospitals, you can be in ED for hours and hours. But, with just her Medicare card and our investment in Medicare and the urgent care clinics, she got home, she was comfortable and she was relieved. She had no idea who Minister Butler was when she was relaying this story to him, but it was a nice thing to see how the investment works for people on a day-to-day basis. It is something I know this side is very proud of, something I know that we hang our hats on and something that I know makes a difference.
United Nations' International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women | Motions | House debates
I rise to speak in support of the motion marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. I commend the member for Forrest and the member for Bonner for contributing...
I rise to speak in support of the motion marking the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women. I commend the member for Forrest and the member for Bonner for contributing to this motion. It is an area that is sometimes devoid of male voices, and it should not be. First, a statistic—we know that one in four women and one in 14 men have experienced violence by an intimate partner since the age of 15. This is a shocking statistic, and, sadly, one that we know to be very true. My own electorate is obviously not immune. We are incredibly overrepresented in domestic violence. It is, unfortunately, something that I've been dragged into. A friend of mine, a work colleague, at the most dangerous time of her life, was preparing to leave her intimate partner, the father of her child. When it was time to go, he killed her and then he killed himself, leaving that child an orphan who has to live with that. It is a stain on our country and our community that that little girl will grow up knowing what her father was capable of and without her mother's love. This happened during the campaign, and it has driven me to reach out to the families commission and to work with the member for Hunter to find a way through and find a way to stop this, because this is a man problem. This is men—primarily men; not always, but mostly men—inflicting damage on the people that we're meant to love, the people that we should protect and the people who should feel the safest around us. And the help's not coming. The manosphere, the internet, toxic masculinity—all these things are contributing to create a world that is less safe for our women and children, and tackling that is the purview of other men. Statistically, one in 11 men will admit to committing an act of physical violence on their partner, which means, if you have a cricket team, one of your teammates—statistically—is a perpetrator. That's a very sobering reality. But it is not hopeless. I visit many women's and domestic violence shelters. I speak right across the Cape to rural and remote communities. And I know that the women are taking the lead. They want to help the men. At a recent forum of remote Indigenous domestic violence shelters, the women implored me: 'We have to help our men. They are broken. We can build them back up to be who they want to be, to be who they should be.' Nobody wants to behave like this. The perpetrators don't want to be this way. The victims certainly don't want it to be this way. So we have to find a way, together, to shine that light, to deliver that help. If you are one of those people who can't control themselves, who are having trouble with domestic violence, then seek help; find a way. Let's be worthy of the people who love us. Let's be strong enough to stand up in the pub or the locker room or at work and say: 'This isn't acceptable. This is where you go to make that change. This is what your family deserves.' I'm not going through this again. I'm not going to get that phone call. I'm not going to walk into a place where somebody I spent time with used to be. I'm not going to go and help my friends and her friends pack up her office because she's not coming back to work on Monday. That's got to end. It's not acceptable anymore. And I am so relieved that other men stood to talk on this today, and I hope more men will stand up and follow their lead and take control of this once and for all and stop this. We are better, our nation is better, our men are better and our women deserve better.
I want to thank the member for the opportunity to talk about some of the difficulties facing the aged-care system. I don't think it's any surprise that there are challenges out there. After...
I want to thank the member for the opportunity to talk about some of the difficulties facing the aged-care system. I don't think it's any surprise that there are challenges out there. After decades of neglect from those opposite, the LNP, we are working hard to rebuild a system that fell apart. I am not the one who came up with the word 'neglect'. The royal commission told us that the system was broken, neglected by the LNP, and Australians agreed. Neglect—let that word hang in the air. The greatest honour that we have is to take care of our old people. When the word 'neglect' is used, thrown around by nothing less than a royal commission, then those who are responsible should hang their heads in shame. It is a disgrace, a national disgrace. Our old people built this country. They provide the culture. They provided opportunity for all of us. Neglect! Do you know how many residential aged-care centres there are north of Cairns? One—the Star of the Sea, on Thursday Island. That's it. It is 2½ days of driving from Cairns to Bamaga. From there you hop on a boat and go to Horn Island, where you hop on another boat to get to Thursday Island. There are a lot of people between Cairns and the Torres Strait who deserve aged care, have deserved aged care and have never received it. In areas where culture breathes and lives, it is important to elders and their community that they live their ageing days on country and that they die on country. Neglect has robbed that from those communities. There is a massive amount of work to be done. It is something that we are tackling—83,000 aged-care packages into people's homes to keep them longer where they grew up. Everybody knows there has been a problem, but only one side seems interested in fixing it. If those opposite had been interested in fixing it, we wouldn't be having this conversation right now. I wouldn't be advocating for residential aged care right across the Cape. We wouldn't have to bring the elders down to the Pinangba Hollingsworth elders centre, where there are wings for each individual community. People could stay close to home, where the Songlines are, where the Dreaming is. But it's not just Indigenous communities. It's Cooktown. It's Weipa, Mossman, Mareeba—large towns of up to 10,000 or 15,000 people. The old people built these towns. I was sitting at the funeral of an elder in the Torres Strait whose family was telling me how he'd built the school, cut down the trees and then worked his way down the Cape. These are the people we owe everything to—everything—and for 10 years they were left to languish. Now, as a political pointscoring job, we're taking a swing, when work is being done right now to improve the situation and the lives of our elder Australians. We care and acknowledge what our older Australians have given to us. One day I will have the privilege of looking after my parents. I've got to convince them to move from Victoria to Cairns, but they'll get there—the weather will probably help! That is an honour that I don't shirk, it is an honour that we in this place do not shirk, and it is an honour that we on this side do not shirk. When aged care continues to be rolled out, our programs matter. The word 'neglect' will never, ever be able to be used in conjunction with the way a Labor government treats our elders.
Albanese Government | Statements by Members | House debates
This weekend, I will be back in Leichhardt. Let me tell you, the group text has already fired up and we are planning to grab beers on Sunday. I've known this group of men for decades. We all used...
This weekend, I will be back in Leichhardt. Let me tell you, the group text has already fired up and we are planning to grab beers on Sunday. I've known this group of men for decades. We all used to be basketball players, but now we're construction workers, firemen—I just realised we sound like a super-sized version of the Village People! But that's not the point. The point is I will be home. Thanks to the Albanese Labor government, home is a whole lot better this week. My daughter has just finished year 12. She's not really sure what she wants to do, but fee-free TAFE is available to her and thousands of others around the country who are just finishing their high school journey. My other daughter is recovering from a knee reconstruction. When she initially hurt herself, I was very thankful for the urgent care clinic where she could go grab a quick X-ray and get home. On the subject of Medicare, this week there are now 24 fully bulk-billing clinics right across Leichhardt. But back to Sunday with the beers and the super-sized Village People—the beers will be cheaper because of the freezing of the beer excise. My mate Schooner can shout because his HECS debt has just been reduced by 20 per cent. The bloke pulling the beers is going to get his super at the same time as his pay, his penalty rates are enshrined and he can now save for a house, thanks to five per cent deposits. That's why the Far North is going to be better this week—all thanks to this Anthony Albanese Labor government. I'm really looking forward to getting home.
I rise today to speak on Medicare, built by Labor and delivered by Labor. This extra commitment adds $8.5 billion for people to get in to see GPs and get the health care they deserve. When I was...
I rise today to speak on Medicare, built by Labor and delivered by Labor. This extra commitment adds $8.5 billion for people to get in to see GPs and get the health care they deserve. When I was playing in the United States, I took a hit to the face. My bottom lip was almost torn. The university I played for spent hundreds of thousands of dollars repairing me. A couple of years later, I blew out a shoulder—another quarter-of-a-million-dollar bill for those who were looking after me. In 2019, I had a stroke. Thanks to Medicare, I spent three days in hospital and was able to come out with a clean bill of health and no bill to pay. That is the beauty of Medicare—the equity of health care for all Australians. It is something we on this side of the House are proud of every single day. That little green card opens so many doors and gives people so much quality of life. That's why it's exciting that we've added extra urgent care clinics right across the country, including, very soon, one for the northern suburbs of Cairns. For those unfamiliar with the geography of Cairns, the northern suburbs are cut off when the floods come through almost yearly. We are isolated from any kind of medical help. An urgent care clinic will address that need. The aged, the young and the people who need a top-up of their medication will be able to get in to see a doctor, get checked out and get home where they belong without having to brave the floodwaters that come across our highways. I'm very excited that bulk-billing has been extended. I'm happy for the people of Australia and for my children, knowing they will have continued access to excellent health care.
Environment Protection Reform Bill 2025, National Environmental Protection Agency Bill 2025, Environment Information Australia Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Customs Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Excise Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (General Charges Imposition) Bill 2025, Environment Protection and Biodiversity Conservation (Restoration Charge Imposition) Bill 2025; Second Reading | Bills | House debates
The member for Kennedy agrees. Our beautiful natural wonders—all of it is critical. Seventy-seven thousand jobs are connected to the Great Barrier Reef. Over $90 billion it is worth to this...
The member for Kennedy agrees. Our beautiful natural wonders—all of it is critical. Seventy-seven thousand jobs are connected to the Great Barrier Reef. Over $90 billion it is worth to this nation. That makes it the biggest employer in the country by a not-insignificant margin. It is a great thing to have and a great thing to protect, and that's what these laws are about—making sure we can have one and the other. It is not binary. It never has to be binary, and to argue that it is is a fabrication. These reforms will deliver better protection for everyone. The Business Council of Australia accepts this. I've been meeting with mining companies. I've been meeting with environmental groups. Everyone understands the desperate, desperate need for these laws so that there is understanding and clarity moving forwards. Clarity is fine. Clarity is what anybody wants at all times: 'Give us the superstructure and we can work within it.' But, at the moment, it is higgledy-piggledy. They don't know whether they're coming or going. It makes it hard. Investors lose billions of dollars on projects that go nowhere. This will give our investors surety. Environmentalists are pushing for the protection of areas that don't require it, because they don't understand the nature of it all. The far north is wild—some of it pristine, some of it not so much. Some of it can be mined; some of it cannot. Some of it is prime agricultural land, and it needs to stay that way. We need to give that protection to our people. So this will give us, as led by the review by Professor Graeme Samuel, stronger environmental protection and more efficient and robust project assessment, with greater accountability—'accountability' being the keyword. It always has to come. The buck needs to stop somewhere. I'm sure that people have different views. We're going to hear from many of them. But this bill works for Leichhardt. It works for my area, and it will work for the rest of the nation too. Not everywhere has the same sort of balance that I have to maintain, but trust me: on some level you certainly will. If we look at the content of the bills, we see the first national EPA, a clear Labor commitment, which will bring the regulatory functions and natural environment laws into a single independent agency. That's the accountability we're talking about. It provides transparency in the decision-making. It allows people confidence. We will ensure that a new ministerial power to make national environmental standards will be inserted into the EPBC laws to give more certainty for environmental laws, and we'll deliver improvements in the offsets framework to get a net gain that ensures environmental offsets support restoration rather than just mitigating harm. Restoration is great; going further is better. As to the risks that people talk about for the food bowls, they will remain. Farmers will remain farmers because farmers want to remain farmers. If they make a commercial decision elsewhere, that's good for them; they're doing what is good for their family, the way every single Australian should, and it's their right to do so. We are giving them more options. The assessment pathway will be streamlined, with the removal of three to six existing pathways and the introduction of a new streamlined assessment pathway providing a fast approval process for proposals, which will provide better information upfront. The member for Kennedy would know—he comes from a mining area—that sometimes things get bogged down, get buried or go sideways. This is going to make it easier—track projects and get them started, get us jobs and get us minerals that are going to make us not just a power but a superpower in renewable energy. We have that potential. That one measure alone, of streamlining proposals, is estimated to save as much as $7 billion. That goes back into those companies—more R&D, more research, more product, more jobs. There will be a clear set of enforceable rules. Once you know the rules you can always play the game. The renewable energy transition is upon us. Minister Bowen gives us an update daily, much to the joy of those of us on this side of the House. Living in a unit, I was thrilled to know that I will now get three hours of free power because I don't have access to my roof. We are bringing it further even faster—69 projects generating more power, and 15 providing energy storage such as batteries. This government has given the green light to 29 projects to support the energy transition, including four hydrogen power projects that help set up Australia's renewable future. The Albanese Labor government has a clear plan to replace our ageing coal generators with cleaner, cheaper renewables and is making huge progress. This is about creating jobs and creating our future. We on this side want Australia to thrive in a modern economy in a modern world that is heading towards net zero and is embracing renewables, and we have the technology, the space, the minerals, the resources and, frankly, the people to get it done. We should be proud of what we're putting forward today. We should be proud of the clarity we're giving business and the environment, and the ability that we're giving people to move forward and move this great country forward as well. We will fight for these reforms to deliver better environment protections and more certainty for business. Nobody wants broken environmental laws, which is, by unanimous consent, what we have had for the last 20 or 30 years. We can get this done and delivered to the people of Australia. We can do what we were put here to do and guarantee our nation's future. Every day we delay, we degrade our environment and we make it harder for business to succeed. We deserve better.
My name is Matt Smith, and I'm of the Far North. The member for Kennedy is correct. The story of the north is told by farmers over generations, be it cane, bananas or cattle. It is told by the...
My name is Matt Smith, and I'm of the Far North. The member for Kennedy is correct. The story of the north is told by farmers over generations, be it cane, bananas or cattle. It is told by the songlines of 60,000 years, celebrating the country, culture, sea and air. It is told by the tourism industry that delights people from all over the world as they visit our two World Heritage areas. We support industry and mining. We have tungsten, zinc, bauxite and silica, the tools required for the energy transition. All of it is in abundance in my beautiful part of the world, which is a place I'm very proud of and a place I know the member for Kennedy is very proud of. He speaks of it passionately. Nobody loves the land like a farmer. Nobody loves the reef like the tourism operators. Nobody loves country like mob. There is no better place to demonstrate why this bill is needed than Leichhardt, because we need to give our industries, including our farmers and our tourism industry, the surety that they need to continue business, continue to bring wealth to the area and continue to drive jobs and economic development in my region, but we also need to protect the natural assets that allow us to do so. Our farmers need to be able to keep farming. Our tourism operators need a healthy and thriving reef. The reef and the Daintree are symbiotic. One cannot exist without the other. They have to be protected. We need to have regulations that work both for environmentalism and the industry. Otherwise, we hang out electorates like mine to dry. I hear multiple arguments that we're going too far or not going far enough, but the balance is critical. Without the balance, I'm losing one or the other, and I can't lose one or the other. You would destroy the far north. We cannot go without our mining. Our mining will drive the energy transition—the silicon in the solar rooftops, the tungsten in the wires and the aluminium that is powering basically everything in this building.
Regional Australia | Matters of Public Importance | House debates
I will take that interjection. Could you please return to your seat, Member for Riverina, and we can continue the conversation, or we'll have a chat later. I do agree, though: we all love the...
I will take that interjection. Could you please return to your seat, Member for Riverina, and we can continue the conversation, or we'll have a chat later. I do agree, though: we all love the regions. We wouldn't be here if we didn't. We work hard in our communities. We've gained their trust, and now we're looking to move forward with that. Yet I hear from those opposite that perhaps they believe that the regions have been neglected, when the simple fact is that the former shadow treasurer had not visited the Far North since 2019 prior to the last election. I've got to say, a fair bit changed in Cairns between 2019 and 2024. A lot changed in terms of the way our economy worked. A lot changed in the way our health system had to work. But we weren't visited. No-one came to listen. No-one cared. I hear a lot about telecommunications, yet 97 per cent of my electorate remains without any form of mobile coverage at all. That is not new. It's always been that way. But, with the low-orbit satellites proposed by this Labor government, we will bring education, safety and better health care to all of Leichhardt. And we'll bring it not just to the urban areas but to the actual regions, the places where people are getting it done. They're growing their bananas and raising their beef in places that I don't think a lot of people over the other side have ever heard of, or cared about—or pronounced! I've got the Minister for Skills and Training here. He shows great interest in the regions. He travels with me to places where most Australians will never set foot. He sits with the elders. He opens new TAFEs, providing opportunity for the people of the Torres Strait to learn valuable healthcare and early-childcare skills which will get them through in their careers and keep them on country, looking after the bubs, looking after the elders and growing the resilience of my communities. We're also adding our child care to remote areas, including Horn Island and Napranum, allowing young mothers—primarily mothers—to get back into the workforce. That's caring for the regions. That's understanding what the regions need. That's delivering for the regions. I'm proud to be part of this government. I'm proud to represent an area that you can fit most European countries into. I'm proud of the 12- to 14-hour drives on dirt roads with creek crossings. I'm proud to be trying to make a difference for my area, and I'm proud to be part of a government where I can call up ministers and say, 'Hey, this is happening in Aurukun today,' and get a response. When I need a Medicare urgent care clinic, I can speak to Minister Butler—and we're getting one. When we ask about getting more money to GPs, $8.5 billion arrives—the largest investment in the history of Medicare, delivering health care right across my electorate. As of today, an additional 22 GPs in Leichhardt are bulk-billing. That is a fantastic outcome, a great outcome. We're investing in regional airports because we know regional airlines are the lifeblood of my rural and remote communities, who are often cut off for months at a time by the wet season. If the airport goes down, people go hungry—so we've invested in that. We're investing in the road up to Port Douglas and the road up to Kuranda. There is additional floodproofing and drainage, so that when an event like Cyclone Jasper happens again—and it will happen again; climate change is upon us—we can avoid most of the damage and keep those roads open. The township of Port Douglas has suffered greatly from the closure of those roads. We are building back better to ensure that small businesses and tourism operators get their fair share of the tourism dollar that comes in to the Far North. We are delivering for the regions. We do not ignore the regions. During the campaign, ministers came through Leichhardt all the time. They heard from elders and from community leaders. They visited TAFEs and schools. They understand what rural and regional Australia needs.
I am disappointed that the member for Riverina didn't shout me out, as he shouted out just about everybody else in the chamber!