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

I rise to shift the focus. I want to talk about not what the media are focused on but what the Nationals and the government are focused on. That is doing what we were elected to do: creating jobs and supporting businesses. Three years ago when I entered this place, we had seen 28 years of consecutive growth in Australia. COVID threw us a curveball, but it also gave us a unique opportunity to reset and refocus on driving productivity here in our country. That is what the Nationals are focused on doing before and after the coming election.

The key to this is grabbing the opportunities that are presented to us by our low-carbon future. Australia is already reaping the benefits of demand for more rare-earth minerals and lithium to build components of solar panels, wind turbines and solar and electric vehicle batteries. This mining adds to our already highly successful resources sector, which has underpinned our economy through COVID, along with the agricultural sector. We are also facilitating our farmers' ability to access new ways to garner carbon credits and new ways to manage their land without threat or fear. Our good commodity prices, our healthy economy despite COVID, and our government's job-ready training and apprenticeships packages have all contributed to unemployment being at an all time low: 4.2 per cent. That is our government's focus, that is the National Party's focus and that should be our nation's focus. That's what we are striving for.