Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—As Leader of the Nationals in the Senate, I rise to say that we'd like to associate ourselves with the comments of Minister Cormann and the great work that the federal government has been doing to actually stand out worldwide in our response to COVID-19. I also want to briefly remark on rural and regional Australia's commitment to pushing back against the pandemic and getting the national economy back on track.

We're proud of how our government and our nation have pulled together and stunned the world in our response to COVID-19 through our joint efforts at both a state and a national level. Rural and regional Australians are ready to lead our national economic recovery. As we all know, life has been tough out in the regions for many seasons now, with droughts, fires, floods and now a medical crisis. These challenges might have shaken us, but regional Australia is standing strong. We will be open for business as soon as health circumstances and premiers allow.

Mr President, as you are aware, the Nationals are working with our rural and regional communities to do everything we can to not only help those affected get through this but also get back to normal as quickly as possible. We've worked hard to ensure supply chains were kept open, and, in doing so, to keep our country's supermarket shelves stocked with fresh fruit, vegetables and meat. We've made sure our truckies remained on the road, moving produce from its source to manufacturer to consumer. We've backed our mining sector to sustain our national economy now and into the future. We are safeguarding our airfreight capacity and working hard with industry to re-establish supply chains. The Nationals, in government, are focused on ensuring our regional air services are better equipped to support the return of visitors, business opportunities and freight movement. The Remote Airstrip Upgrade Program will improve aerodromes in remote areas. It will upgrade the safety and accessibility of aerodromes in remote areas to improve the delivery of essential goods and services. It will make sure they're accessible in all conditions.

Over this period, we've also invested in agricultural shows right across the country. I think one of the aspects of life in COVID-19 isolation has been missing opportunities for communities to come together and to celebrate what they do well. We want to make sure that regional shows stay relevant and vibrant. Just last week, I had the opportunity to head up to the north-east of Victoria to thank volunteers in Corryong, in the Upper Murray, who had been struggling with bushfires through January and then with COVID-19 shutting down any hope of a quick recovery post bushfires. Corryong is the home of the Man From Snowy River Bush Festival, and for them to have to cancel that event has been a significant dampener on that community. But they were absolutely stoked that the federal government had not forgotten them. I'm confident that, once this pandemic passes, the Corryong community again will stage great events and shows and will welcome people from capital cities to celebrate rural and regional life in our communities.

Our farmers have not clocked off because of COVID-19. They've tended stock and ensured that crops are planted and harvested and that supplies are accessible. Our 85,000 agricultural businesses are ready to go because they haven't stopped, while other aspects of the economy have. The Nationals represent workers and families on rural and remote properties, and we played a crucial role in securing visa changes and flexibility to remove uncertainty around worker availability for our growers during this health and economic crisis. But that is work that will continue through the recovery phase.

We remain committed to growing our agricultural sector. It's hard to reach the goal of $100 billion by 2030 set by industry—there are challenges, and we've seen ag fall down to $58.9 billion in 2017-18—but it's more important than ever as Australia emerges from hibernation. If we want to see a strong and prosperous Australia post COVID-19, we need a vibrant, dynamic and prosperous agriculture sector. Our produce is there—way more than we need—and, as the world awakens, it will need fresh food and fibre. Regional Australia stands ready to deliver. Our barley producers, for example, operate in a competitive global market and price their products in an entirely commercial way. I'm sure beer drinkers around the world can attest to the malting quality of Australian barley.

We also stand ready to supply the world's markets. On 5 July, we will see the Indonesian free trade agreement come into effect. That will mean more export opportunities and significant benefits for Australian farmers, as well as businesses and investors. As the Minister for Trade, Tourism and Investment has said, it's the most comprehensive bilateral trade agreement Indonesia has ever seen, and it will give a competitive edge to Australian exporters, particularly at a time when many of them are doing it tough as a result of the fallout from the COVID-19 crisis across the globe. Indonesia presents a significant opportunity.

But the drought is still with us, and many of our communities are still struggling with the reconstruction post bushfires. We as a political party stand with them. We've got the Drought Resilience Funding Plan to build resilience and preparedness and also to find ways to boost farm production and profits. We're getting on with building dams, creating regional jobs and more water capacity and security. Our communities do face a major rebuild following the summer bushfires. In my home state of Victoria, the economic impact on the agriculture, tourism and forestry industries from the bushfires was $237 million, and this is repeated across other states. That's why our government has provided $448 million for a Regional Bushfire Recovery and Development Program to deliver extra funding and expertise to revive local economies.

When restrictions on movement and travel are eased under our government's three-step plan, these communities will welcome visitors back with open arms. Treasury estimates that, with the restrictions lifted under the three separate stages, 850,000 Australians will be back at work. The lifting of restrictions will see Australians move around more freely: of the $9.4 billion increasing demand, retail will contribute $2.9 billion. I urge city based senators—we all do in the National Party—to encourage your constituents to visit the regions when the restrictions are lifted. Spend a dollar or two, eat, stay; do your bit to get Australia's economy back on track.

We're entering a new era of economic potential. Australians are embracing domestic manufacturing opportunities, which is another thing that I know my Senate colleague Senator Canavan is incredibly passionate about seeing developed. The Nationals are backing small and medium-sized Australian businesses to tap into new markets around the world, supporting 10 export hubs across the nation, many of them out in the regions. Over 450,000 small and medium-sized businesses have now received over $8 billion under our cash flow boost program. Linked to the size of their payroll, this program will provide between $20,000 and $100,000 to small and medium enterprises to help them retain key staff and meet their fixed costs. We also introduced a separate 50 per cent wage subsidy for 117,000 apprentices, to see young people with a career path, helping the local apprentice baker, hairdresser in work. The focus is on industries where Australia has large growth potential, and we're incredibly excited about the potential for manufacturing and mining and, obviously, for food, fibre and agribusiness.

The resources sector is ready to lead our economic recovery. This sector drives our local economies, employing over 255,000 Australians and accounting for eight per cent of our GDP. Even now, during this once-in-100-years pandemic, the sector is powering Australia forward, with resources and energy exports increasing by two per cent to $68.9 billion during the March 2020 quarter. Our world-leading iron ore exporters are surging ahead and are forecast to export over $101 billion worth of iron ore to our trading partners in Asia. That is great news for the regions, great news for our national economy and great news for local jobs. The latest export figures have confirmed the resilience of some of Australia's key resource exports as the COVID-19 pandemic grips the world. It increased nearly 34 per cent in March compared with the previous month. This year our resource energy export sector hit $300 billion for the first time. That is up 40 per cent from five years ago. It really shows what you can do when you have a federal government that is focused on growing and promoting the mining and resource and energy sector and what a ballast that is to our economy through these very, very difficult times.

The next three months will bring some challenges, but it's clear that resources and energy exports will be a key driver of our recovery. I thank the industry and its workers who have kept the sector operating during this crisis and look forward to working with them as part of the Nationals team as we emerge from this global pandemic. I know many of the workers have had to make tough decisions for their families to not return home, often indefinitely, not knowing when they will be able to leave their mining employment and head home during their breaks, due to state boundary closures. Thank you for their efforts.

Rural and regional Australians have answered the call during the COVID-19 pandemic by embracing social distancing, by doing things differently. We hope that our lifestyle and density proves popular for those who live in capital cities to come and join us out in the region, where your neighbours aren't so close and you have a great lifestyle and a great local job as well. That is a vision that we, the National Party, want to pursue in government. Rural and regional Australians are ready, willing and able to lead our economic recovery. I thank them for their diligence.

The recovery will need to focus on building Australia's sovereign capacity. If this has taught us anything, it has taught us that we need to be able to do things here in Australia and not rely on sometimes weak, volatile global supply chains. I look forward to seeing through this recovery phase a vibrant advanced manufacturing sector, really value-adding to our food and fibre industry and our mining industry, building regional jobs for our local communities.