David Van (Victoria, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to continue my address-in-reply to the Governor-General's speech. Before the break, I was talking about the Minister for the Environment's target to have 100 per cent of Australia's packaging re-usable, recyclable or compostable by 2025. As I said earlier, such a target is absolutely a step in the right direction, but I believe that it should be coupled with a carefully crafted program that both incentivises and pressures industry to adopt cleaner alternatives and better product stewardship, stimulating innovation where cleaner solutions are currently lacking.

If products can reasonably be replaced by current alternatives, we should promote the phasing out of single-use plastics. Where this is not immediately possible, mandatory stewardship should actively drive innovative solutions for the effective disposal of waste, whereby producers or importers work hand-in-hand with business to recycle the leftover waste of these pollutants—that is, after the consumer has dealt with them.

While the war against single-use plastics is a global one, Australia needs to play its role by confidently setting realistic standards and expectations to limit one of our major pollutants. One of the worst reflections of our global plastics problem has evolved into what has been dubbed 'the great Pacific garbage patch'. This area, with two distinct hubs—one near Japan and the other near Hawaii—is filled with garbage from activities on multiple continents. Over half the plastic in the patch comes from land-based sources, with much of the worst plastic coming from single-use items such as plastic bags, water bottles, bottle caps and foam cups. As the plastic breaks down in the sun it becomes a threat to marine food chains, as well as putting harmful chemicals into the oceans. Responsible, pragmatic actions will do more than just protect our oceans and marine life. It is only with a sense of urgency that we can ensure single-use plastics are phased out responsibly so that we can ensure a clean a future for our nation, our children and those to follow.

The work of this government will also mean that we can reduce our carbon emissions and meet our international targets in a way that won't cost people their jobs. In my own state of Victoria, the state government's reckless energy policies have driven baseload and reliable generation out of the market and replaced it with unreliable intermittent power sources. With the closing of crucial coal-fired electricity generators in Victoria, we know that unless action is taken with improved investment in networks and reliable dispatchable power, such as natural gas generation, Victorian households and small businesses will face a future of higher prices and blackouts this summer. The state government's moratorium on natural gas exploration and production is changing Victoria from an energy-rich estate to an energy-poor one. This poses an enormous threat to our manufacturing industry, including, for example, Portland's aluminium smelter in south-west Victoria. The Victorian state government is following a recipe for disaster. We have seen in South Australia what happens: record high prices and black-outs. This government will do what it can to keep the lights on in Victoria and drive prices down.

Those on this side are not against renewable energy. It is the balance with reliability and cost that concerns us. We are focused on implementing practical and real energy policies, not unworkable and economy-destroying policies. The coalition government has set down its plan for Australia. As a new senator in the 46th parliament, I support this plan. As I said in my maiden speech last week, I restate my commitment to represent all Victorians and to listen to ideas from all sides of the political divide. I look forward to serving the people in my home state and I thank the senate for its indulgence.

Nick McKim (Tasmania, Australian Greens) | Link to this | Hansard source

I listened closely to the Governor-General's speech. I had laid a wager with myself as to whether climate change would get a mention in the speech. Somewhat to my surprise, it did. It was only a short mention, and it repeated some of the deliberate errors that the government and government representatives use when talking about climate change, but it is worth acknowledging that it got a very small mention. Then I got to thinking about how that very small mention of climate change in the Governor-General's speech actually related to the reality of the situation that we're grappling with. In May this year the Secretary-General of the United Nations described climate change as an existential threat to humanity. I'll say it again: an existential threat. In other words, our survival as a species is at risk. The survival of everyone currently living on this earth, the survival of future generations who are yet to be born is at risk, according to the Secretary-General of the United Nations. But what happened then, after the Secretary-General of the UN described climate change as an existential threat to humanity? Well, in a living, breathing demonstration of cognitive dissonance, life just went on in this place. There was a flurry of media stories for a couple of days, and then journalists' attention, with a couple of honourable exceptions, went elsewhere, and the caravan moved on.

With the honourable exception of the Australian Greens, there are no senators or members of parliament in this place continually prosecuting the arguments for strong action on climate change. We're facing an existential threat, and yet the debate rolls on to the favourite and pet topics of other members, the things which journalists think are important but which actually pale into absolute and utter insignificance beside the issue of climate change. We have a situation where on ABC News, after the news and before the sport, you get a couple of minutes on the economy. Well, the economy is a wholly owned subsidiary of the environment. If you don't have a functioning ecology, if you don't have a functioning climate, you don't have an economy. Why is it that media outlets are not reporting on this with the seriousness that it deserves and demands?

Why is it that we get an update on share prices, not an update on parts per million of CO2 equivalent gases? How can it be that our major media outlets and our major political parties have so badly lost their way that they are not concentrating the overwhelming majority of their efforts to fight this existential threat to humanity? How can it be that, with our survival as a very species on the line, we are not getting wall-to-wall media coverage and we're not getting wall-to-wall debates on the issue of the breakdown of our climate?

When you look at that, when you look at the reality of the situation versus the way it's reported and the way it's treated in this parliament and in parliaments around the world, you can convince yourself that it might be because of political donations—because big fossil fuel companies pour so many millions of dollars into the coffers of the Liberal-National party and the ALP in this place. But that doesn't explain why our media is so asleep at the wheel. It doesn't explain why journalists run off on flights of fancy, concentrating on the soft-porn politics that make up so much of the media coverage in this place, when in fact there is a looming crisis and a threat to the very existence of humanity.

If we were fighting a war with another country now, we would have a war cabinet made up of people from across the political spectrum, and that war would be the subject of endless and consistent debates in this place. But when we're faced with something far more serious than a war with another country, when we're facing what the Secretary-General of the United Nations has described as 'an existential threat' to humanity, apart from the Australian Greens, it's the sound of crickets in here; and, apart from a few honourable exceptions in terms of journalists and in terms of media outlets, it's the sound of crickets in the mainstream media. It's not good enough, and I say to the major parties and the rest of the crossbench, and I say to the majority of journalists and media outlets who operate in this building or anywhere else in this country: you are failing people. You are letting people down, because you're not reporting the biggest story in humanity's history—the way we are fouling our own nest and the way that we are placing billions of lives at risk and, ultimately, the way we are threatening our own future as a species, our very existence as a species.

The one thing that gives me hope in all of this abrogation of responsibility, amidst all the venality, all the self-interest and the narrow self-absorption that rules the roost in this place, is the kids who are going to come out on Friday for their School Strike 4 Climate and say: 'Enough is enough. We're not going to be silent. We're not going to go quietly into the night. We're going to hear what the science is telling us. We're going to reflect on the view of the Secretary-General of the United Nations that we are facing "an existential threat" to humanity by breaking our climate down around us.' Those brave, courageous children are going to step out there on Friday and say, 'We will not be silent.' Well, power to their collective arms. They put to shame the majority of people who purport to represent Australians in this place. They are showing more courage, more awareness and a far greater understanding of the calamity that is looming and, in fact, of the breakdown of our climate that is happening right now, right around us, as I speak in this chamber tonight.

I say to all senators, to whatever capacity you have, when we next get a Governor-General's speech can we please have a speech that reflects the science? Can we please have a speech that reflects reality? Can we please have a speech that reflects the truth that the Secretary-General of the United Nations was telling when he said in May this year that climate change is an existential threat to humanity.

Matt O'Sullivan (WA, Liberal Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

I too rise in reply to the Governor-General's speech in this place on the opening of the 46th Parliament. In the 122 days since the election, this government has provided certainty and stability. On 18 May, the Australian people had a critical decision to make: to stay the course with tried, tested and trusted economic policies or to venture down the path of reckless and blatant socialism. As the Prime Minister has said: you've seen a plan, a plan that we took to the Australian people, a plan that we put in our budget, a plan that foresaw the challenges that Australia was going to face, and a government that's steadfastly getting on with implementing that plan.

This decision by the Australian people resulted in our nation being led by a stable, united government getting on with the job with a clear plan delivering on the promises it made versus a Labor Party now conflicted on policy and tarnished by scandal. It's about certainty versus uncertainty, stability and practicality versus chaos and confusion, on work over welfare, border protection over union power and economic policies where the only certainty and consistency are on this side of the chamber. We on this side are a united, strong and disciplined government because the Liberal Party of Australia, the party organisation responsible for our election victory, is also strong, disciplined and united.

As at April 2019 more than 1.3 million more Australians are in jobs since this government was elected. Nearly 60 per cent of those jobs have been full-time jobs. There were 413,800 more jobs created in 2017 alone. That is the highest number of jobs in any year on record. Over 100,000 more jobs for 15- to 24-year-olds were created in the 12 months to June 2018. That is the strongest result of any financial year on record. It is a record that we as a government are very, very proud of. The unemployment rate is now 5.2 per cent. When Labor left office unemployment was at 5.7 per cent and rising.

The Governor-General spoke in his speech of the plan that we have as a government. We are working to build a stronger economy. Through welfare-to-work the percentage of working-age Australians on welfare has fallen to 14.3 per cent, the lowest rate of welfare dependency in 30 years. In 2017-18 there were 90,000 fewer working-age Australians on welfare than there were in the previous year. Think about that: these are figures, but they're not just numbers on a page. These numbers represent the lives of real people, real Australians who are now able to provide for their families and for themselves to provide a better future.

We're backing small businesses as well. Tax relief is being delivered for businesses with an annual turnover to $50 million. We have record infrastructure investment, with $100 billion being invested over the next decade. The Governor-General spoke about efforts to fix the budget. Labor racked up $240 billion in deficits over six years. Without action, debt would have been on track to head towards $1 trillion—a massive handbrake on the economy. We've halved the growth in spending from four per cent per year under Labor to 1.9 per cent—the most restrained of any government in 50 years. We've delivered the first budget surplus in 12 years.

There is tax relief for working Australians. We are making taxes lower, simpler and fairer. In 2018-19 around 4.5 million Australians will get tax relief of $1,080 per year. Over 10 million taxpayers will get some tax relief. Our legislated plan means that after six years 94 per cent of taxpayers will pay no more than 30 cents in the dollar. We're boosting exports. Australia's exports increased to a record $438 billion in 2018, up from $307 billion in 2012-13. In 2018, Australia had a trade surplus of over $22 billion. We're providing more opportunities for Australian businesses with China, Japan and Korea as well as the Trans-Pacific Partnership. We've signed the Pacific Agreement on Closer Economic Relations and agreements with Indonesia, Peru and Hong Kong.

I could go on, with the work we've done with industry and defence. The previous Labor government ran down our Defence Force and failed to commission a single ship from the Australian shipyard for our Navy. We're building 54 new naval vessels, and this will boost Australia's Defence Force and create thousands of new skilled jobs. We're investing in skills, with over $525 million in the Delivering Skills for Today and Tomorrow package. This will create 80,000 new apprenticeships in areas of skill shortages. We will lay the groundwork to deliver a stronger skills sector well into the future. The government invested over $3 billion into the VET sector in 2018-19.

I also want to take this opportunity to pay tribute to the Liberal Party's campaigns across Western Australia. The results across the state were outstanding, as they were in your home state, Madam Acting Deputy President Stoker. In fact, in Western Australia, we had the strongest results in the country, seat by seat, in the face of a socialist campaign of those opposite which did little to resonate with the voters in my home state of Western Australia. In particular, I want to pay tribute to a few candidates that we had in seats that we didn't win. In the seat of Brand, we had an excellent candidate, Jack Pleiter, supported by the chair of that campaign, Mihael McCoy. They were able to achieve a swing of 4.77 per cent towards the Liberal Party in that seat. Jack was a great candidate—a local guy, a builder, a small business owner, a great representative of our party—and he did a terrific job. I want to pay tribute to him and his efforts. In the seat of Burt, we had a swing of 2.12 per cent, with a great candidate in David Goode. I was a candidate there in 2016 and I know the area very well. David was able to achieve an even better result than I was able to achieve only three years earlier. He was supported by Stephen White, the manager of that campaign. An outstanding effort was put in by David Goode. In Cowan we had Isaac Stewart, supported by Dean Smith, the chair of that campaign, and Gary MacLean, who supported him as well as being manager. We just missed out in Cowan. Isaac was an amazing candidate; he put so much work in and he took so much time off work to contest this election. I want to pay tribute to Isaac and the effort and the work that he put in. In Fremantle, we had a swing to us of 0.6 per cent. Nicole Robins was our candidate there—a local schoolteacher. She was a great candidate—someone who represents the values of the Liberal Party so well. She was supported by Paul Connolly and the chair of that campaign. Again, they did a great job right across that electorate. It's my home electorate. It's where I live, and I spent many an early morning at train stations with Nicole campaigning for that seat.

I also want to pay tribute to Jim Grayden in the seat of Perth and the chairs, Victoria Jackson and Jeremy Quinn. Jim and his wife, Tammy, are amazing people. They're true representatives that typify the spirit of the Liberal Party. They gave so much of their own time and their energy and their efforts. I single these people out because I've been given this opportunity to be here in this place because of the efforts of all of our incumbents but also those who ran in really difficult seats. I'm here, not just because of my own strength and my own efforts, but because of the support of the Liberal Party right across the state, including these wonderful candidates. I hope that this will light a fire in their hearts and in their minds, and that they will be inspired to go again and, hopefully, be victorious at a future date.

It is a great honour for all of us to be here, and we have a tremendous task ahead of us over the remainder of this term to implement all that the Governor-General spoke about in his speech. I look forward to working with the Morrison government to see the delivery of everything that was laid out.

Rex Patrick (SA, Centre Alliance) | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to respond to the Governor-General's speech, which lays out the plans of the Morrison government. I have the greatest respect for His Excellency General the Hon. David Hurley, having served in the defence forces at the same time as he did. I know his career very well. So I'm going to be very careful in saying that we all know in this place that the speech of the Governor-General was, in actual fact, the government's speech. It's where the government laid out its plans for this parliament. I've looked at the speech. In fact, I sat in the chamber and listened to the speech and I looked for the gems, and I couldn't find them. So, I went back to my office, I printed the speech and I looked through it again and again. I was just trying to find the vision in there. Unfortunately, it's lacking. There is no vision in there. There's nothing in there that would inspire Australians into thinking that the Morrison government has got its hand on the tiller, its hand on the thrusters and that it's going to drive our country to the great place it needs to go to next. It's not in there.

There are bits in the speech about tax reform. I get that tax reform was important. I went to a number of briefings from Treasury, I talked to the ACCC and I talked to the Reserve Bank governor, and it was necessary for us to have personal tax cuts. I think Australians deserve to be able to spend more of their own money, to keep more of their own money, and, indeed, it does help to stimulate the economy, but it's not vision. It's not that excitement that we want. Australians want to wake up and say, 'I feel like the government's heading in the right direction.'

There are things in there like regulatory reform and industrial relations. I'm sorry, but that's housekeeping. It's important, but it's housekeeping. The topic of jobs came up, and my ears pricked up because I know how important jobs are to Australians and how important it is that every Australian has the opportunity to have a job. I was looking for some vision in the speech. I was looking for the way the Governor-General would describe how we are going to advance our country. All I got was a story about training and apprenticeships. Once again, they're important things, but they're housekeeping. They're the obvious things that we need to be doing.

Home ownership: I also get that home ownership is important, and some measures were announced about home ownership. Infrastructure: there are some good things in the speech about infrastructure—railways, airports and highways. But do you know what, Madam Deputy President Stoker? It doesn't matter which government is in power, those things are going to happen. Health, again is important, mental health is very important and the NDIS is even more important, in some respects. But they're all very much housekeeping.

Education is the very thing that one would think is key to a forward-thinking nation and a nation that wants to get on top. I looked in there, and education was talked about but there was nothing in the speech that talked about what we were going to do with those educated people. It was missing. There were also veterans' affairs, security and foreign policy. Now, foreign policy is not about housekeeping, it's about looking at our neighbours. Once again, it's important, but there wasn't anything in there that I could grab onto.

I could go on and repeat the Governor-General's speech, but I can assure the chamber that there is no vision in there. We can pick up this speech and shake it as much as we like, but no vision will fall out from between the pages. That's my difficulty with the speech that the government has presented in respect of the 46th Parliament.

There are a number of things that could have been in there which could have excited Australians about what it is we're going to do. There could have been talk about how we are going to be manufacturers and how we are going to give incentives to companies to grow, to expand and to invent. In the recent inquiry on intellectual property—and that legislation will come before this chamber perhaps in the next sitting week—we learned that something like 1.44 Australians in 10,000 have a patent to their names. In the United States it's in the order of 10 and in China it's in the order of 22. That says something about how we want to approach our future. It says that we are not doing enough to encourage invention or to encourage the generation of intellectual property that could ground Australia moving forward.

I've been having a look at just one aspect of economics that we need to consider that wasn't in the Governor-General's speech: the resource companies around Australia, particularly in oil and gas. I've looked at them as they come to our country and take our resources. They give very little back; they pay very little back in tax. People would be surprised at how much Equinor pays back to the Norwegian government. It's a national oil and gas company. Around the globe there are many national oil companies, such as Petronas in Malaysia. I could name a whole range of different countries and I've started to have a look at what these companies contribute to their countries, and it is billions upon billions. In the case of Equinor it's tens of billions that they contribute back to their own country. What we seem to do is invite multinationals to come here and set up shop—and, I give them credit, they create jobs, but Equinor does that in Norway and around the world as well—but they don't pay any tax; they don't contribute to our society. They do pay PRRT, but we know that's broken, and the order of magnitude of what they pay is nothing like what other overseas entities with national oil and gas companies pay back into their taxpayers' consolidated revenue. So that's just an example of where the government could be thinking and exploring those sorts of things.

Another place where the government could have offered vision relates to another aspect of resources. One of the problems we have here in Australia—and this is no reflection on the very hardworking people that work in the mines around this country—is that we export rocks. We export iron ore; we export lithium and uranium, for example. We export all sorts of things. I'm being agnostic as to the resource that we export, but we don't value-add to those resources. We have large lithium reserves. Basically we have 60 per cent of the world market in lithium in a world hungry for lithium ion batteries. Every one of us in this chamber has an iPhone or a Samsung or some sort of mobile phone device that uses a lithium ion battery. All of our future cars will use lithium ion batteries. Hopefully our future submarine will have lithium ion batteries as well, although I fear that we'll end up with lead acid cells. Our homes will have wall banks with lithium ion batteries. The world is jumping onto this technology, and what are we doing? We dig the lithium out of the ground in the Pilbara and ship it offshore. There are five stages of processing in the production of lithium ion batteries. The first stage is mining and concentration, which will have a world market total in 2025 of around $12 billion. So, if we had the entire world market, we'd have $12 billion worth of exports. The next stage is refining and processing, worth $41 billion. Then we move to electrochemical processing, worth $297 billion; cell production, $424 billion; and battery assembly, $1.3 trillion. But what are we going to shoot for? We're going to shoot for something less than $12 billion as we export these rocks. The Governor-General's speech I was looking for was the one that said, 'Let's value-add. Let's take those resources that we're digging out of the ground and do something with them. Let's add the value which creates jobs and employment, generates economic activity and would make Australia a very rich country.' But no, we're going to ship it offshore.

I have the same problem with our steel. We have lots of iron ore in this country. Unfortunately, we're struggling in terms of steel manufacturing in my home town of Whyalla, which is on the cusp of going in a couple of different directions. I hope it goes big. Wollongong has certainly improved its business outcomes over the last few years. But we could be doing a lot more, except we're not even looking at that. We've got to build up our manufacturing. We've got to build up these capabilities where we add value to the economy. Right now we take the rocks and send them offshore and other countries develop the technologies. They add the value and sell it back to us at a much, much higher price. Some of those countries we're a bit concerned about. We're a bit concerned about how they're expanding their reach into the region. We're concerned about how they're exercising soft power. We're concerned about how they're growing their armed forces, but in some sense we're funding it. We're funding it because we're just exporting the rocks for them to add the value to.

I went looking in the speech for something that's going to tell me how we're going to turn Australia around. Right now we're coasting along. I can't remember the exact phrase, but there's a quote from The Lucky Country that says, 'Australia is a lucky country whose luck is shared by the very ordinary politicians that run it.' Apologies for misquoting that, but that's the general theme. We need to do a lot more. I love Australia. I love this country that I live in. I was born in New Zealand. I came here. I love this country. I want to see it prosper, and I want to see it grow. Unfortunately, when I look into this Governor-General's speech, looking at the government's plans for the future ahead, there's nothing in there that excites me, and that concerns me.

Perin Davey (NSW, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

In rising to speak, I note that this is not my first speech. But I do appreciate the opportunity to speak to the ambitious plan that the Liberal-National coalition government has for Australia over this term of parliament, and it's unfortunate that Senator Patrick's not excited, because I certainly am.

Before I speak to the coalition government's plan, I want to acknowledge those who helped the coalition to achieve its third consecutive term in government. I consider myself incredibly privileged to have joined the Senate at this year's federal election, an election in which the Nationals recorded a particularly impressive result. And I take this opportunity to single out our party's leaders, the member for Riverina and Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Michael McCormack, and Senator for Victoria the Hon. Bridget McKenzie, for their efforts in achieving this result.

Together with their team, Michael and Bridget worked tirelessly with our parliamentarians, candidates, members and volunteers across Australia to secure the Nationals' terrific result. State by state, seat by seat, they worked effectively to communicate the Nationals' plan for building the infrastructure and delivering the services that are needed to grow rural and regional Australia. And the result? The Nationals retained all of our seats in both the House of Representatives and the Senate, contrary to what many in the media and those on the opposition benches were predicting. But our celebrations have been short lived, not because we're not pleased to be here but because we are focused not on ourselves but on delivering for our communities throughout rural and regional Australia, and we get straight to work.

The coalition took a bold infrastructure plan to the election, and the voters endorsed it resoundingly. Building roads, rail links and airports—that's what we need to grow regional Australia, and that is what is at the heart of our government's agenda. I am very proud to say that the centrepiece of our government's hundred billion dollar infrastructure pipeline is Inland Rail, a once-in-a-generation project that will transform the way freight is moved around Australia.

In my home state of New South Wales, rural and regional communities are already seeing the benefit from this transformational project. Earlier this month, track work near Parkes in Central West New South Wales was completed. This link is just the start of the connections Inland Rail will forge along its 1,700-kilometre route between Melbourne and Brisbane. More than 70 Central West businesses are supplying products or services, and more than 280 local people are working on the project across a range of jobs, including engineers, tradespeople, labourers and administration staff. In total, around 700 people have already worked on the Parkes to Narromine section of the rail alone, and these figures will keep growing as the project moves into each stage of construction. The north-west connection will link Inland Rail to the interstate east-west line from Sydney to Perth, providing a vital connection for the freight industry and ensuring we have sufficient connections from regional Australia to domestic and international markets.

But the benefits of Inland Rail don't end there. This project is opening up opportunities for regional businesses, manufacturers and farmers, enabling them to grow their exports by helping them to get their produce to market when and where it is required. And there are boundless future opportunities to get industry processing and manufacturing away from the urban fringes and out to the regions, where they face lower costs, more space and less congestion. The Inland Rail project will support 16,000 jobs during construction and will provide a $16 billion boost to our national economy over the long term, helping to build resilience in our economy going forward.

But our plan for rural and regional Australia goes well beyond infrastructure. We are doing everything we can to support the continued growth of our current $60 billion agricultural industry, which we hope to grow to $100 billion by the year 2030. Agriculture, on which so many livelihoods and jobs in rural and regional New South Wales depend, is still and always will be a vital pin in our economy.

In the north of my home state the current drought is the worst on record, and in the south it is doing everything it can to beat the millennium drought. This government is not turning a blind eye to the devastation of the current drought. We've already taken action to help our drought-affected communities. We are investing over $6.3 billion in drought support. Since the introduction of the farm household allowance in 2014, nearly 12,000 farmers have received assistance through this initiative, and almost 7,000 are receiving the payment now. We've also listened to feedback from those who the farm household allowance is designed to support. We've taken action to streamline the process, reduce red tape, get more financial counsellors on the ground and increase the asset threshold to $5 million to allow more people to access the allowance. We're also going beyond the farm gate. Through the Drought Communities Program, 52 local government areas in New South Wales alone are delivering infrastructure projects and activities to boost their local economy and get money back into the local regions to support local jobs and address local community needs during this drought.

We're also looking ahead. The coalition has already legislated the establishment of the Future Drought Fund, which will provide a secure and continuous revenue stream to be used for drought resilience, preparedness and recovery, to help farmers and communities prepare for future drought. Being based in Deniliquin, between the Murray and Murrumbidgee irrigation districts, I know firsthand what our farmers, businesses and communities in rural and regional New South Wales are experiencing and just how important the establishment of a long-term drought strategy is. And that is what the Future Drought Fund is designed to be.

Our support for those in the agricultural industries doesn't end there. We're also prioritising the safety of our farmers and farm workers, who've been targeted by animal activists over recent years. With the passage of the Criminal Code Amendment (Agricultural Protection) Bill 2019 just last week, the coalition government have already delivered on our election commitment to take a tough stance against those who trespass on farms and threaten farmers and their families. These new laws send a very clear message to animal activists: if you intend to incite trespass, property damage or theft on agricultural land or associated industries, you risk imprisonment.

Also beyond the farm gate, right throughout our regional communities, improving telecommunications services remains a priority of this government. Through our Mobile Black Spot Program, the creation of which was championed by the Nationals, we continue to address black spots throughout rural and regional Australia.

We've also announced our intention to amend the Australian Broadcasting Corporation's charter to make sure that the great institution that is the ABC, which plays such an important role in the bush, remains relevant and accessible to rural and regional Australians. The ABC occupies a special place in the lives of regional communities. Over many decades and still to this day its services have informed and entertained in areas where other media options are limited. Indeed, my day continues to start, every day, listening to my local ABC rural report, although now I don't have to rely on radio and I can listen to it live streamed. Through the Australian Broadcasting Corporation Amendment (Rural and Regional Measures) Bill 2019, we will deliver a range of measures to support and cement the important role of the ABC and ensure the ABC continues to meet the diverse needs of rural and regional Australia. As a result, hopefully we will see a change in focus—a little less Ultimo and a little bit more Ulladulla or Urana.

This government is also committed to improving the health of people living outside our cities. We have 13 new cancer centres to be opened in the regions and more than 3,000 new doctors, and the same number of nurses, to be supported into regional and general practice in the coming decade. Each year one in five Australians over the age of 16 experience mental illness, and for young people that rate is even higher, affecting just over a quarter of all Australians aged between 16 and 24. As the only New South Wales senator based west of the great divide, this is an issue I care passionately about. In the rural, regional and remote communities of New South Wales, access to mental health services and professional support is limited. While there is a great commitment there by our professional allied health industries, it is difficult to sometimes get the help you need. There is so much to love about the country's lifestyle, but the reality is that each and every day people living in the bush face a range of stressors unique to living outside capital cities, and we need people to understand. That's why the government is investing in improving mental health services across Australia, including rural and regional communities. Almost $740 million will be invested into youth mental health and suicide prevention services, with 30 new headspace centres to be opened across Australia. The success of headspace cannot be understated, and this service does succeed in reducing wait times while making more counselling services that are specifically tailored to young Australians available to young Australians. The coalition government has an ambitious plan for rural and regional Australia, and over this term of parliament we will deliver that plan—indeed, we already are. We are delivering new infrastructure, we are investing in services and we are caring for those who need it most.

In closing, I want to restate my appreciation to all those who played a role in helping the coalition, and indeed the Nationals, secure the result that it did at this year's federal election, particularly the hundreds of volunteers of the New South Wales Nationals who came out to support us in the lead-up to and on election day. For many years, many have been predicting the demise of the Nationals, but instead, in just 26 days time, the New South Wales Nationals will begin its centenary year—one hundred years of delivering for rural and regional Australia. Our party's longevity is due to the efforts of our members and our volunteers. In campaigning for the Senate, I ventured far and wide across New South Wales, travelling both sides of the great divide, from country to coast; north to south. I saw firsthand our members and volunteers hard at work helping our members and candidates fighting hard to secure another term in government for the Nationals in coalition. Without their efforts, we would not have the enormous privilege of serving the government and delivering on our agenda for growing rural and regional Australia. To our members and volunteers, I say thank you.

Susan McDonald (Queensland, National Party) | Link to this | Hansard source

Never before have we had a Prime Minister, a cabinet and indeed a whole government so focused on improving life for people outside of capital cities and, more importantly, building the wealth of Australia by increasing the GDP from our productive regions. Remote, regional and rural Australians are big winners from the Morrison government's economic and expenditure plan outlined in this year's budget.

There are many obvious differences between life in the city and life in the country, but it is the things many of us take for granted that really matter in regional areas and are to determine if people, young people and families stay. The Australian federal government recognised this and has acted. We've committed $220 million for the first four rounds of the Mobile Black Spot Program and an extra $160 million for rounds 5 and 6 as part of the Stronger Regional Digital Connectivity Package. That's a total of $380 million. These four rounds are funding the delivery of 1,047 new mobile base stations. As of today, 744 new base stations have been activated and are delivering real benefits to Australian communities. There is, of course, more to do. And that is coming.

We have the telecommunications reform package legislation due to be tabled. It aims to promote competition and improve access to broadband services for everyone, especially those in regional, rural and remote areas. This package establishes a legal guarantee that all Australians can access super-fast broadband regardless of where they live or work.

The reforms also include the introduction of the Regional Broadband Scheme, which will secure a long-term funding mechanism for NBN Co's fixed wireless and satellite networks, predominantly serving regional Australia. The universal service obligation ensures that all people in Australia, regardless of where they live or carry on business, have reasonable access to voice services via standard telephones and pay phones. Telstra is funded annually by the government and the telecommunications industry levy, $170 million and $100 million respectively, to deliver the USO and will continue to do so until 2021. And, if passed, the Telecommunications Reform Package will include the introduction of the Regional Broadband Scheme, the RBS, which will secure a long-term funding mechanism for NBN Co's fixed wireless and satellite networks, again, predominantly servicing regional Australia. This will provide funding certainty for essential broadband services currently provided by NBN Co in regional parts of Australia.

Sky Muster Plus, launched on 12 August this year, addresses concerns about restrictive data limits in regional and remote locations. The $60 million Regional Connectivity Program is the other key component of the Stronger Regional Digital Connectivity Package. It includes a $53 million competitive grant program to address local telecommunications priorities in regional, rural and remote areas; $3 million for a digital tech hub to address and improve digital literacy; funding for trials of alternative voice technologies for Australians who live in the most remote parts of the country; and funding to investigate better ways to deliver the universal service guarantee, particularly for the delivery of voice services in regional Australia.

I've talked a lot about connectivity, but why is it important? Last week, the AgriFutures Australia, ably led by the Hon. Kay Hull, held its rural women's award. Jo Palmer was this year's winner, carrying on from the extraordinary work of Krista Watkins last year. Jo Palmer's award was for a really interesting project. Her business connects women who've moved into regional Australia—women with qualifications who are currently being underutilised—with businesses which are able and prepared to have remote workers. Jo estimates that with a six per cent increase in rural and regional women's engagement, it would increase productivity for the nation by $25 billion a year. Surely this is a program that we need to support, but it can't happen without terrific internet connectivity that allows these jobs and these women to hold these jobs.

Regional and remote communities will also benefit from more affordable and reliable power under the Morrison government's plan to support to installation of microgrids, which are standalone power systems that can maintain a connection to the grid or operate off-grid. The Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund will support up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid communities to investigate whether establishing a microgrid is cost effective and whether existing off-grid capabilities can be upgraded with modern technology. The $50.4 million fund will unlock private sector and community investment in new generation and storage. The fund will also guide communities towards additional support, including through the Australian Renewable Energy Agency and the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.

The Morrison government is taking action to drive down prices by increasing competition and supply in the market. Unlike Labor, who have abandoned regional Australia, we understand the importance of investing in our regional and remote communities to ensure future energy supplies. We have proven this by providing a grant of $990,150 to Daintree Renewable Energy Pty Ltd to help the Daintree community in Far North Queensland establish Australia's first solar-to-hydrogen-based microgrid. As I said, the government will also support up to 50 off-grid and fringe-of-grid communities to continue investigating these microgrids.

The Regional and Remote Communities Reliability Fund is part of the Morrison government's $2 billion plan to deliver power that is more affordable and more reliable to Australian families and businesses. This is critical. Australia has committed a huge amount to renewable energies, far more per capita than other economies. But now we have to utilise those investments and ensure that communities have reliable and affordable baseload electricity. I think it is probably hard for those of us who live in cities to understand the frustration of having the electricity go off every time you turn on the oven or turn on another air conditioner in your local community.

Other budget measures set aside especially for regional Australia include federal assistance grants to local councils. The coalition has already boosted grants to Queensland councils by $10 million in 2019-20 to more than $250 million. The grants also include a separate road-funding component of $73.4 million. This is critically important. Councils, large and small, form the core of our society, but regional, rural and remote councils are doing it particularly hard. It is crucial that the FAGs that are currently allocated have some sort of mechanism to allow remote communities to receive more. They have ageing sewerage infrastructure, they have ageing community infrastructure and they have a very small population base over which to spread that, so they will require greater support from the federal and state governments.

We also have the Northern Australia Beef Roads Program, worth $100 million, which will build prosperity in the country's interior by making it easier and safer for tourists and communities, and for cattle to get to market. This is part of a wider roads program worth more than $14.5 billion for regional Queensland roads and transport over the next four years.

I've already spoken a little bit about the importance of regional and rural economies. Just recently, the Productivity Commission handed down a draft report where it discussed whether or not the zone rebates and FBT incentives have been worthwhile for the Australian economy. I would say to you that we should support zone rebates and any other incentives that make it easier for businesses and individuals to live in regional Australia. They are an important part of encouraging and supporting families and individuals who live in communities that have higher costs of living and are further away from large communities but are great places to live and raise families, and, of course, great places to have businesses, particularly in food production.

In north-west Queensland this year, floods wreaked havoc on cattle production but more than $3.3 billion has been paid or committed to assist affected people, businesses and communities with recovery and reconstruction through the north-west LIRA program. This includes over $87 million paid to 1,632 primary producers in special disaster assistance recovery grants; $300 million for North Queensland restocking, replanting & on-farm infrastructure grants; and $121 million in assistance to be paid to the Queensland government under the Disaster Recovery Funding Arrangements.

The relief in that part of Australia, not only due to the money but also due to Scott Morrison's personal care, is still keenly felt and won't be forgotten. As I travelled around Northern Queensland recently I met with people in Mount Isa, Winton, Richmond and Hughenden who came up quietly and wanted me to personally take their thanks back to the Prime Minister. They wanted me to tell him of their gratitude, not just for the funding—which of course was important—but most importantly they wanted me to tell him how grateful they were that he had sent them a message that he and Australia still valued farmers.

It is clear that the coalition is the only government looking outside the city and seeing the worth of regional, rural and remote Australia. But we don't only talk about it; we back it up with real consultation, real spending and real action, because regional people matter.

Question agreed to.