Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about Labor's commitment to the federal electorate of Flynn. It's one of my duty electorates and a region for which I have a great passion. I was fortunate to be able to host a town hall meeting in Gladstone last week, on 20 March, with the federal Labor leader, Mr Shorten, and newly preselected candidate for Flynn, Zac Beers. The Gladstone Entertainment Convention Centre was packed with families, individuals, local workers and small-business owners. There were great questions on a broad range of topics and there was constructive political discussion. There was a lot of support for Zac's candidacy. He's a great candidate. I am a great champion of Zac. I was proud to support him in the lead up to the 2016 election, and I will be working hard to support him in the next election, whenever that is.

For the benefit of those listening to this broadcast, I want to talk a little bit about Zac. He's a Central Queenslander through and through. Growing up in Gladstone, Zac was the school captain at Tannum Sands State High School. After graduating school, Zac went on to work as a painter and a scaffolder at the local alumina refinery. Following a stint working for Chris Trevor, the now deputy mayor of Gladstone, Zac went on to work as an organiser for the Australian Workers' Union, following his passion for standing up for workers rights. Zac loves his footy; he is a life member of the Tannum Sands Seagulls, where he likes to have a run.

Zac will always stand up and fight for Central Queensland. He will fight for jobs for locals, better pay and more job security. He's helped to launch federal Labor's campaign to crack down on dodgy labour hire arrangements—an issue which is also particularly close to my heart. I note there was an article in the Gladstone Observer where Mr Shorten stood alongside Zac and identified that there are a number of labour hire companies undercutting workers wages and offering little job security. We know that labour hire strips workers of all their rights and protections. Workers who are employed through dodgy labour hire arrangements find themselves in a position where they can't speak up about anything at work because the minute they do they risk losing their job. These are the things that Zac is passionate about, and he will fight on these issues.

Zac also helped Mr Shorten and shadow health minister, Ms Catherine King, launch federal Labor's Fix Our Hospitals campaign in Gladstone on 21 March. It is concerning to me that we have a situation where there are cuts to our hospitals. In Gladstone, Mr Shorten said the federal government's funding of 45 per cent of state hospital budgets until 2020 amounted to $6.1 million less reaching Central Queensland hospitals than what would have been provided under the last agreement reached with the states.

For the benefit of any voters from the electorate of Flynn tuning in or reading this speech, I want to go through some of the choices you have at the next federal election. If Nationals member Mr O'Dowd is re-elected, we're going to get the same old coalition in-fighting, the same old talking the talk about infrastructure but still no action on the Port Access Road, $6.1 million less funding for Central Queensland hospitals and $17.1 billion less funding for Australian schools. Examples of local schools cut over the next two years include $1.35 million less for Gladstone State High School, $870,000 less for Toolooa State High School, $300,000 less for Gladstone Central State School, $220,000 less for Gladstone South State School and $570,000 less for Gladstone West State School. By contrast, if Zac Beers and Labor are elected, Flynn residents will have a united government and shared values between state and federal governments, leading to better outcomes for regional Queenslanders; $17.1 billion back into the education budget; an end to the fight on healthcare funding; $100 million for the stage 2 of the Gladstone Port Access Road, which will create around 200 jobs; and a plan for real jobs in regional Queensland, investing in infrastructure, manufacturing, mining, agriculture and energy. Zac Beers understands industry. He understands the need for jobs.

I will be up in Gladstone again next week with Zac. We will be hosting the shadow minister for communication, Ms Michelle Rowland, for a forum on the National Broadband Network. No doubt, local residents in Gladstone have concerns about the length of time the rollout has taken to come to Gladstone, but this means there's still time for the government to see sense and implement fibre-to-the-premises or at least fibre-to-the-curb across the region. Labor is committed to regional Queensland. We can prove it: we're on the ground listening and developing policies for regional Queenslanders. The contrast is clear.