I inform the House that on Thursday 28 May 2020 I issued the writ for the election of a member to serve for the electoral division of Eden-Monaro in the state of New South Wales to fill the vacancy caused by the resignation of the Hon. Michael Joseph Kelly. The dates in connection with the by-election are fixed as follows: close of rolls—Thursday 4 June 2020; close of nominations—Tuesday 9 June 2020; date of polling—Saturday 4 July 2020; return of writ—on or before Saturday 5 September 2020.
I rise to move a motion to suspend standing orders and advise the House that, pursuant to standing order 47(c)(ii), the Manager of Opposition Business and I have agreed that an absolute majority is not required. I move:
That so much of the standing orders be suspended as would prevent the following from occurring in relation to proceedings this week:
(1) in the House today, the following order of business to apply:
(a) immediately following the resolution of this motion, committee and delegation business and private Members' business, as determined by the Selection Committee, being given priority until 11.30 am;
(b) any divisions (except on a motion moved by a Minister) and quorums called for prior to 11.30 am being deferred until 11.30 am; and
(c) proceedings from 11.30 am to follow the usual order of business for a Wednesday;
(2) in the Federation Chamber today, the following order of business to apply:
(a) immediately following Members' constituency statements, committee and delegation business and private Members' business, as determined by the Selection Committee, being given priority until 1 pm; and
(b) from 4 pm the standing orders applying to the necessary extent as if it were a Tuesday;
(3) for Thursday, 11 June, the standing orders applying to the necessary extent as if it were a Wednesday;
(4) for Friday, 12 June, the standing orders applying to the necessary extent as if it were a Thursday; and
(5) any variation to this arrangement to be made only on a motion moved by a Minister with leave granted by the Manager of Opposition Business.
I want to thank the government, particularly the Leader of the House, for the way this has been negotiated in good faith and remind members that the normal pattern for the time we finish each day has changed this week. In particular, to members on my own side: don't leave at five o'clock on Thursday. If those on the opposite side choose to, that's a matter for them. As the Leader of the House said, on Thursday we will be sitting using the hours of business that would normally apply on a Wednesday, and then the earlier finish won't occur until the Friday. It's important that members note that, because it is a significant shift. There is no need for any amendments or anything like that from the opposition; it has all been negotiated in good faith, and I thank the Leader of the House for that.
Question agreed to.
I present report No. 15 of the Selection Committee relating to the consideration of committee and delegation business and private members' business for this sitting. Copies of the report have been placed on the table.
The report read as follows—
Report relating to the consideration of committee and delegation business and of private Members' business
1. The committee met in private session on Tuesday, 9 June 2020.
2. The Committee deliberated on items of committee and delegation business that had been notified and private Members' business items listed on the Notice Paper, and determined the order of precedence and times on Wednesday 10 June 2020, as follows:
Items for House of Representatives Chamber (9.30 am to 11.30 am)
PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Notices
1 Mr Perrett: To present a Bill for an Act to amend the Family Law Act 1975, and for related purposes. (Family Law Amendment (A Step Towards a Safer Family Law System) Bill 2020)
( Notice given 2 March 2020.)
Presenter may speak to the second reading for a period not exceeding 10 minutes—pursuant to standing order 41. Debate must be adjourned pursuant to standing order 142.
2 Mr Bandt: To present a Bill for an Act to establish Renew Australia and restrict activities in relation to thermal coal, and for related purposes. (Green New Deal (Quit Coal and Renew Australia) Bill 2020)
(Notice given 3 March 2020.)
Presenter may speak to the second reading for a period not exceeding 10 minutes—pursuant to standing order 41. Debate must be adjourned pursuant to standing order 142.
3 Mr Wilkie: To present a Bill for an Act to amend the Interactive Gambling Act 2001, and for related purposes. (Interactive Gambling Amendment (Banning Social Casinos and Other Measures) Bill 2020)
(Notice given 12 May 2020.)
Presenter may speak to the second reading for a period not exceeding 10 minutes—pursuant to standing order 41. Debate must be adjourned pursuant to standing order 142.
4 Ms McBride: To move:
That this House:
(1) notes that the COVID-19 health emergency will have significant and ongoing mental health impacts for Australians;
(2) recognises:
(a) that financial hardship should be no barrier to getting the health treatment people need; and
(b) the important role that mental health practitioners have played during this crisis and will continue to play in Australia's health system;
(3) acknowledges that the Productivity Commission is due to hand its report on mental health to the Government in June 2020; and
(4) calls on the Government to respond to the Productivity Commission's report into mental health as a matter of urgency, incorporating the anticipated impacts of COVID-19 in their response.
(Notice given 13 May 2020.)
Time allotted—50 minutes.
Speech time limits—
Ms McBride—5 minutes.
Other Members—5 minutes. each.
[Minimum number of proposed Members speaking = 10 x 5 mins]
The Committee determined that consideration of this should continue on a future day.
5 Mr Ramsey: To move:
That this House:
(1) recognises the long-term business investment General Motors has made in Australia over 72 years and the impact its decision to withdraw from the Australian market will have on more than 200 Holden dealerships across Australia;
(2) asks that as General Motors terminates Holden sales in Australia that it demonstrates the respect the Holden brand deserves;
(3) acknowledges General Motors has been the beneficiary of more than $2 billion of Australian taxpayers subsidies;
(4) recognises the potential job impact on Holden dealerships who employ around 9,000 people, including sales people, service technicians, finance and insurance professionals and back office functions and calls on General Motors to ensure that adequate compensation is offered to Holden dealers around the country who have invested significant capital in showroom facilities, service and repair equipment, stock and parts and ensure also that dealerships have assistance for redundancy payments;
(5) notes that when General Motors ceased vehicle and engine production in Australia in 2017, the company committed to retaining 1000 direct staff plus 6000 people across the 200 strong national dealer network; and
(6) further recognises there are 1.6 million Holdens currently on Australia's roads and customers deserve to have confidence they will have ongoing support from General Motors in servicing and spare parts for the future.
(Notice given 2 March 2020.)
Time allotted—remaining private Members' business time prior to 11.30 am
Speech time limits—
Mr Ramsey—5 minutes.
Other Members—5 minutes. each.
[Minimum number of proposed Members speaking = 6 x 5 mins]
The Committee determined that consideration of this should continue on a future day.
Items for Federation Chamber (10.30 am to 1 pm)
PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Notices
1 Ms Plibersek: To move:
That this House acknowledges that:
(1) during the COVID-19 crisis, Labor has been urging the Government to act to help universities and save jobs, while:
(a) the Prime Minister has done nothing, and now jobs are being lost; and
(b) it has been reported that hundreds of jobs will go at universities in Rockhampton, Geelong, and suburban Melbourne;
(2) without serious Government help, universities have predicted 21,000 jobs will be lost in the next six months alone, meaning:
(a) tens of thousands of livelihoods could be destroyed, including those of academics, tutors, administrative staff, library staff, catering staff, grounds staff, cleaners, security and many others—all with families, trying to make ends meet; and
(b) the impact on regional communities will be devastating (universities support 14,000 jobs in country Australia);
(3) to save university jobs, the Government must take serious action now, and that the Treasurer could have acted to solve this problem, but hasn't—instead, the Treasurer has been deliberately moving the goal posts to ensure universities are excluded from government support;
(4) the Government cannot explain why a university student working a $100 shift per week receives the full $1500 JobKeeper wage subsidy, while their full-time university tutor, with three kids to support, is not eligible; and
(5) Labor believes it is a big mistake for the Prime Minister to abandon university staff during the COVID-19 crisis.
(Notice given 13 May 2020.)
Time allotted—40 minutes.
Speech time limits—
Ms Plibersek—5 minutes.
Other Members—5 minutes. each.
[Minimum number of proposed Members speaking = 8 x 5 mins]
The Committee determined that consideration of this should continue on a future day.
2 Mrs Archer: To move:
That this House:
(1) acknowledges that Headspace was established by the Howard Government in 2006;
(2) notes that:
(a) there are currently 113 headspace services operating nationally, including 54 services located in rural and regional Australia; and
(b) in 2018-19, the Government provided $95.7 million to commission Headspace services in rural areas;
(3) further acknowledges that in the 2019-20 Budget, the Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan was outlined with funding of $509 million; and
(4) congratulates the Government for announcing a further $64 million to provide suicide prevention and mental health initiatives.
(Notice given 2 March 2020.)
Time allotted—40 minutes.
Speech time limits—
Mrs Archer—5 minutes.
Other Members—5 minutes. each.
[Minimum number of proposed Members speaking = 8 x 5 mins]
The Committee determined that consideration of this should continue on a future day.
3 Dr Leigh: To move:
That this House:
(1) notes that:
(a) charities are the most trusted sector in Australian public life; and
(b) the Government's failure to act on fundraising reform is costing Australian charities over $1 million every month;
(2) acknowledges that:
(a) Australia's current framework of fundraising regulation creates unnecessary problems for charities and organisations who rely on donations from Australian supporters;
(b) current fundraising laws no longer meet the objectives that guided the decision to regulate donations;
(c) current fundraising compliance regimes do not allow charities to cultivate donor activity and make optimal use of the resources donors provide;
(d) meeting the requirements of Australia's seven different fundraising regimes is causing needless productivity loss for thousands of Australian charities and not-for-profits;
(e) Australia's current frameworks for investigation and enforcement have failed to adapt to the contemporary fundraising environment;
(f) current fundraising laws do not meet the donor-focused expectations and requirements that should govern fundraising regulation in the 21st century; and
(g) the mechanisms that regulate third party fundraisers should ensure the culture of third party fundraisers matches community perceptions of their clients;
(3) recognises that:
(a) for several years, the charity and not-for-profit sector has been calling for reform of Australia's fundraising laws;
(b) Treasury's five year review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, delivered on 31 May 2018, identified fundraising law as the major reporting burden on charities and recommended that fundraising law be harmonised across the country;
(c) in February 2019, the Senate Select Committee into Charitable Fundraising in the 21st Century called on Parliament to harmonise fundraising law within two years;
(d) that inquiry, chaired by Labor Senator Catryna Bilyk, delivered a unanimous report, with its recommendations being supported by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, Liberal Senators Eric Abetz and Amanda Stoker, former Labor Senator David Smith, and former United Australia Party Senator Brian Burston; and
(e) postponing fundraising reform has had significant costs to the charity and not-for profit sector, with the committee estimating that the annual cost to charities and their donors is around $15 million; and
(4) calls on the Government to:
(a) support Australian charities by ending unnecessary waste of their precious resources;
(b) support the generous Australian donors who donate money to our charities, by ensuring their donations are not needlessly eroded by redundant administrative and regulatory costs;
(c) work with state and territory governments and the not-for-profit sector to deliver a consistent national model for regulating not-for-profit and charitable fundraising activities before February 2021; and
(d) immediately provide a public response to the recommendations made in the review panel's report, Strengthening for Purpose: Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Legislation Review, which was provided to the Government on 31 May 2018.
(Notice given 22 October 2019.)
Time allotted—35 minutes.
Speech time limits—
Dr Leigh—5 minutes.
Other Members—5 minutes. each.
[Minimum number of proposed Members speaking = 7 x 5 mins]
The Committee determined that consideration of this should continue on a future day.
4 Dr Webster: To move:
That this House:
(1) recognises the importance of the Country Women's Association (CWA) in the lives of rural and regional towns across Australia;
(2) notes that the mission statement of the CWA is 'to advance the rights and equity of women, families and communities in Australia through advocacy and empowerment, especially for those living in regional, rural and remote Australia';
(3) acknowledges the:
(a) CWA has over 44,000 members in 1855 branches across Australia; and
(b) vision of the founder of the CWA, Ruth Fairfax OBE; and
(4) congratulates the CWA on almost a centenary of service to rural and regional Australia.
(Notice given 2 March 2020.)
Time allotted—remaining private Members' business time prior to 1 pm
Speech time limits—
Dr Webster—5 minutes.
Other Members—5 minutes. each.
[Minimum number of proposed Members speaking = 7 x 5 mins]
The Committee determined that consideration of this should continue on a future day.
THE HON A. D. H. SMITH MP
Speaker of the House of Representatives
June 2020
I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
Quite rightly, around the country, people have dropped everything to deal with the coronavirus crisis, as we have put the protection of human life above everything else. As a result, here in Australia we have seen some results and, thankfully, a lower loss of life than in many other countries around the world. It shows what happens when the science and the health expertise are respected and made a priority.
But, while we've been doing that, the climate crisis has not gone away. It has continued to proceed apace and get worse. As we speak, scientists are worried that parts of Antarctica are melting at a rate they thought they might see in 10 or 20 years time and, if that melting proceeds and we cross the crucial tipping point, that we could be seeing three- to four-metre sea level rises by the end of the century from that bit of Antarctica alone. If we continue on the track that we are going on, and that the government's targets are consistent with, we face a world that is warmed by three to four degrees during the lifetime of today's primary school students. That means the carrying capacity of this planet will be reduced from 7½ billion people down to one billion people. That is a lifetime of war, conflict, devastation and fights over resources that our children have ahead of them, unless we act.
Also as a result of the corona crisis, we are in a recession. The burden is falling on young people and on women, and we are seeing depression-era jobless figures. We have now got not only a massive inequality crisis in this country, not only a massive climate crisis in this country, but we've got a massive jobs crisis as well. We need to tackle all of these crises at once, and we need to do it urgently. That is what the Green New Deal is about, and that is what this bill is about. It is about improving the quality of life of everyone in this country, tackling the crises that we face, and ensuring that everyone has a decent job as we tackle the climate crisis and preserve the future for our children.
We here in Australia can utilise hydrogen and bio-innovation to substitute gas as a feedstock and coking coal in our industrial processes—these advances are how we secure an increase in our living standards.
But, if this parliament keeps listening to the donors and lobbyists from the coal and gas industry, then it not only means higher energy bills, stranded infrastructure and even more devastating bushfires—it also means devastation for us and our kids.
We clearly can't stay shut down forever. That is not an acceptable path towards reducing emissions. But nor can we snap back to normal, because, if we do, then we sell out the future for our children, for today's primary school children.
The only option open to us is for a Green New Deal that puts people to work to build the infrastructure society needs to rapidly reduce pollution and to keep our families safe.
This Green New Deal (Quit Coal and Renew Australia) Bill 2020 does exactly that. It gives the government the tools that are needed to ensure a safe climate and a fair and resilient economy.
The bill establishes a new public authority, Renew Australia, to lead the transition by working with communities, energy companies and governments at all levels to plan exactly how we can build the pipeline of clean energy projects to create jobs and keep pushing down power prices for homes and businesses.
The authority will do this, as it oversees a phase-out of coal in Australia by 2030, by a mixture of owning and financing the construction of renewable energy projects—giving the industry the market certainty they have been deprived of since the Liberals came to power.
The authority will not only make sure that they support regional jobs through their construction program, but they will guarantee that transition plans are put in place so that coal-dependent communities get the funding and support that they deserve.
We don't want coal communities to collapse. So many people have invested their time and their lives into their communities. Leaving them to the whims of the market threatens their ongoing prosperity, and they deserve more respect than that. We owe these people a debt of gratitude for helping power our country and keeping the lights on, but it's just as simple as the fact that we know something now that we didn't know before. We cannot keep burning coal at the rate that we did before, and we cannot keep digging it up and exporting it at the rate that we used to do, because we know it threatens life.
But we need to support the workers and the communities as we transition. In many respects, that might involve supporting them into other mining jobs. The best job for a coalminer is another mining job, and Australia is going to continue to mine the minerals that are going to be needed to make the products we need in a zero-carbon world. So we can find secure other mining jobs for coal workers. We can find jobs making green steel in New South Wales and Queensland so that Australia doesn't just dig up its iron ore and send it off and then buy it back, more expensively, but we use our sun and our wind to make the steel here from the ore here that we then use to lay the tracks for high-speed rail or to build the wind turbines that are going to power the country with renewable energy. That is what this bill is about.
That is why the bill requires the Renew Australia authority to support the aspirations of workers affected by this inevitable transition. It will make sure that we attract the new industries and jobs that each of these local communities wants. If the private sector won't or can't deliver it, then the government should invest directly to turn those local aspirations into reality, to make sure we leave no-one behind.
The timing of these transition plans will be determined by the other main part of this bill: the prohibition of the mining, burning and the export and importation of thermal coal in Australia by 2030.
The bill specifies a gradual phase-out of thermal coal exports over the time line that the science requires. Four out of every five tonnes of thermal coal we dig up in this country are exported overseas. So, if you don't have a plan for the phasing-out of exporting of coal, then you don't have a plan for climate change.
Likewise, the importation of coal will be prohibited, but with exemptions on the grounds of heritage or research purposes.
Thermal coal is a dangerous and unnecessary product and it should be treated as such. While steam turbines have delivered our past prosperity, technology means we no longer need them in our lives.
Yet we are also one of the laggards in developed economies. We still rely far too heavily on this 20th-century technology as we try and keep up with a 21st-century world. While domestic coal use has dropped significantly in the last decade, we still have a long way to go.
That's why this bill schedules a timetable of when coal stations have to close by. This gives communities certainty, it gives government certainty in being able to ensure no worker is left behind and it means that they can walk into another well paid and secure job.
But importantly a timetable for closure also makes it clear to the energy market how much clean energy we will need where and by when. This plan will attract billions in global capital looking for a safe, clean place to invest.
Without such a plan, coal plants can shut at short notice, like Hazelwood did and like others might do next.
Germany has undertaken this approach under the slogan 'no-one left in the pits'. Thousands of workers have exited the industry so far and to date not one person has been left unemployed. The plan they made between workers, employers and government meant that every coal worker walked into a new job or transitioned safely into retirement.
We can do the exact same thing here in Australia with a bit of planning, a bit of compassion and a bit of foresight—but we need this bill to do it.
That is why I commend this bill to the House.
Is the motion seconded?
I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
I move:
That this bill be now read a second time.
This bill would make it illegal to provide social casino services to customers in Australia. The bill would create both a criminal and a civil offence, and each day the service is provided that offence would be committed. The liability provisions target the person running the illegal sites and operate as a disincentive for the provider rather than penalising the user of the casino game.
To help enforce this ban, the bill also gives the Australian Communications and Media Authority, ACMA, the power to apply for Federal Court injunctions against carriage service providers to block domain names, URLs and IP addresses of online locations which provide prohibited gambling and casino services to Australians. This would make it more difficult for Australian internet users to find and use websites which offer the illegal gambling. The injunction can also require an online search engine provider to take reasonable steps to remove a search result which refers users to the online location of the prohibited service. For example, these injunctions from ACMA could prevent Google from displaying results which lead players to prohibited social casino websites, and this would make the ban more effective. The injunction power would also protect users from unregulated offshore gambling providers and Australian-run casino sites who advertise to Australians directly through social media. While this, in fact, is currently prohibited by the Interactive Gambling Act, it would now be enforceable.
I need to explain these social casinos, because I suspect most people have never heard of them and are quite unfamiliar with the problems they cause. Social casinos are games of chance or mixed chance and skill, which are played on social media platforms, like Facebook, on websites and in downloaded apps. In these virtual casinos, players are enticed with free chips and credits, which might be reloaded periodically, but encouraged to purchase additional credits to continue to play or engage in higher stake bets. For example, this includes casino games like roulette, blackjack or even poker machine simulators, which might start free but will then require people to buy chips to continue to gamble with, and once the game is over the player cannot cash out any money, even if they've won money. In other words, you pay to play, with no prospect of any cash return.
Online casino games are, in fact, illegal in Australia, but social casinos fall into a grey area. Currently, social casino games are classed as entertainment, so they are not subject to any gambling regulations. These online games seem innocuous, but the outcomes are not. Players can lose just as much money on a social casino as in a physical casino. Social casino games can also pave the way for problematic gambling, because they normalise gambling behaviours, increase the player's confidence in winning and make gambling seem more socially acceptable and risk-free. This not only instils false confidence in players and encourages greater spending on social casinos but also primes players for movement on to more serious gambling sites. Not only that—ads for real gambling services are often embedded into the social media platform hosting the social casino, which actively encourages players to move across to other betting websites.
These kinds of games also pose a risk to children and to young adults, whether they are using a parent's credit card to purchase the chips or just playing for free. Australian research has found that gambling-like games on social media effectively prepare children for gambling with real money later in life, because they familiarise underage users with how to play casino games. Even if the underage player is not spending real currency, the simulated casino game can make young people more susceptible to gambling mechanics, to psychological tricks and to addiction. When they turn 18 and can enter a real casino, or when they have access to finances to fund more online gambling, they will be more susceptible to real gambling and psychological addiction, because they've been primed or groomed for it.
Talking more broadly, Australia has a gambling problem. Way too many Australians are gambling addicts, and far too often they are losing the lot and even losing their lives. In fact, credible research shows that at least 400 Australians suicide each and every year on account of their gambling addiction. Australians are the world's biggest gambling losers per capita, losing more than $1,200 per year. In May, the Financial Review reported a significant spike in gambling during the COVID-19 pandemic shutdown, with data from some organisations revealing a 114 per cent increase in online gambling transactions during the pandemic. Gambling counselling services say they are seeing an increase in demand, despite clubs and casinos having been closed during the coronavirus lockdown. Online gambling carries similar risks to traditional gambling services, including addiction and subsequent physical and mental health implications. It also carries heightened risks, due to ease of access to and use of mobile devices. As my friend former senator Nick Xenophon used to say, 'With online gambling, you could lose your home without ever needing to leave it.' In addition, gambling research shows that in times of great emotional or financial stress people are more likely to lose more money, making the COVID-19 pandemic a perfect storm for online gambling losses.
It beggars belief, then, that one of the first things that state and territory governments are wanting to open up is poker machine venues. Frankly, it is unconscionable of the New South Wales government, in particular, to think that poker machine venues are one of the most important things and one of the places to most urgently open up to the public in large numbers. I would remind members in this place that, on poker machines alone, Australians lose almost $1 billion each and every month. So, in the two or three months of shutdown of poker machine venues in this country, Australians have avoided losing between $2,000 million and $3,000 million.
I would remind honourable members that 40 per cent of the money that's lost is lost by gambling addicts. In other words, during the pandemic, because poker machine venues have been closed, gambling addicts have not lost about $400 million each and every month during the closure. That governments would think they should open these venues in a hurry simply beggars belief, but it just goes to show again how politicians, political parties and governments are beholden to the gambling industry, an industry which is very generous when it comes to political donations—in fact, the gambling industry has donated millions of dollars to the political parties and to candidates in recent years. Of course, no-one donates money in that order of magnitude without expecting a return on that investment, and what a return on that investment we're seeing right now, especially in New South Wales but also in other jurisdictions where politicians are falling all over each other to approve the reopening of gambling venues.
I'd just remind honourable members: when we talk about gambling reform, when we talk about ways to make gambling safer, when we talk about ideas like banning social casinos, we need to remember this isn't simply about numbers—machine numbers, gambling numbers, dollar numbers. It's about real people. This place has a moral responsibility to protect our fellow citizens, and let's not forget that the tens of thousands of gambling addicts in this country, many of whom will suicide, are our mums and our dads and our brothers and our sisters and our sons and our daughters and our work colleagues and the people we pass on the street. If there's one thing people in this place can do to make this country a better place, it is to put in place the simple mechanisms to help protect those people: harm minimisation measures like, on poker machines, $1 maximum bets, slower spins and banning addictive features; tougher penalties for venues that don't follow the law; and precommitment systems so when people hit their self-imposed limit they're cut out of that gambling system, and not just with poker machines but also with online gambling, where precommitment systems are not linked between websites when they really need to be.
I would ask the government, and I ask the minister through you, Deputy Speaker, to seriously consider this reform today: that we ban social casinos. They're effectively real casinos, which are banned. This is something a government could do and could do quickly. Thank you.
Is the motion seconded?
I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
The time allotted for this debate has expired. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
I move:
That this House:
(1) notes that the COVID-19 health emergency will have significant and ongoing mental health impacts for Australians;
(2) recognises:
(a) that financial hardship should be no barrier to getting the health treatment people need; and
(b) the important role that mental health practitioners have played during this crisis and will continue to play in Australia's health system;
(3) acknowledges that the Productivity Commission is due to hand its report on mental health to the Government in June 2020; and
(4) calls on the Government to respond to the Productivity Commission's report into mental health as a matter of urgency, incorporating the anticipated impacts of COVID-19 in their response.
The Black Dog Institute's report Mental health ramifications of COVID-19 highlighted four groups that have increased risk during a disease outbreak: people with pre-existing anxiety disorders and mental health problems, healthcare workers, people being placed in quarantine, and people who were unemployed, underemployed or in casual work. As the COVID-19 pandemic reached Australian shores, we saw an immediate spike in demand for mental health support. In March Lifeline answered almost 90,000 calls for help, an increase of 25 per cent compared with the same period last year, or one call every 30 seconds. It was the highest call frequency in Lifeline's 57-year history. Beyond Blue saw a 30 per cent spike in contacts to their support services in the last two weeks of March. On some days a third of contacts were COVID-19 related. A survey from Black Dog, released in May, found 78 per cent of respondents reported their mental health had been worse since COVID-19 and over 50 per cent of respondents were moderately to extremely worried about their financial situation.
Suicide Prevention Australia's report Turning the tide, released in March, showed, sadly, the well-established link between unemployment, financial distress and mental health crisis, which means people who are unemployed are nine times as likely to take their own life as are working people. Many people have found themselves out of work—some for the first time—as retail, hospitality, tourism and the service sectors collapsed when restrictions were introduced. This impact was felt harder in regional and remote communities built on these economies, like my electorate of Dobell. As hundreds of thousands of Australians lost their jobs and businesses folded, lives were broken.
In my former role as chief pharmacist and mental health pharmacist at Wyong Hospital, I saw what happens to at-risk people in crisis, brought in by ambulance or police and all too often after an overdose. I saw otherwise healthy individuals deteriorate rapidly as a direct result of unemployment, housing stress and debt. I felt firsthand the sense of impending failure that happens when you discharge a patient who is finally well back into the very same set of circumstances that made them sick, because experience tells you the health effects of unemployment are linked to the psychological consequences and the financial problems it brings, particularly debt, which means it won't be long before you see that person back in hospital again fighting for their life.
The people of my community have deeply felt the mental health impact of COVID-19. Kath and her husband Ken were on holiday in Europe when Australia closed its borders. Ken was diagnosed with COVID-19 and was for two months quarantined, receiving treatment and then rehabilitation in Perth, on the other side of the country, far from home. Their son, Trevor, drove for five days across two state borders to see his dad and comfort his mum. Kath and Ken are now safely home in Toukley but for months felt the strain of quarantine, isolation and a longing to be back home on the coast.
I have spoken previously of Emma Moulder and her struggles to visit her father, Graeme, in aged care through COVID-19. Emma has since been able to see her dad again but is now facing an uphill battle with the NDIS to get the support he desperately needs as he faces his terminal brain tumour. This is difficult in normal circumstances but during COVID-19 has at times felt impossible, especially as Graeme cannot understand why his family are not visiting. He only knows they are not around, and Emma's mum is working just to get by.
The Productivity Commission report into mental health is due to be released to the government later this month. The interim report noted that mental ill health costs the Australian economy between $43 billion and $51 billion each year, and that was before the outbreak of COVID-19. COVID-19 will increase the burden on individuals and the cost to the economy without further government action. Targeted prevention and treatment programs, especially for at-risk groups, particularly people looking for work and those whose businesses have folded, will help reduce the mental health and subsequent economic burden Australia faces. In the government's response to date we've seen some expansion of existing mental health services in response to the pandemic and a mental health plan along the way. We need to do more and we need to act now.
I would like to finish by recognising and thanking mental health workers across Australia for their efforts during this health emergency. To the social workers, counsellors, psychologists, psychiatrists, OTs, nurses, pharmacists, police, paramedics and cleaners: I understand this has been an extremely difficult time. Your work is helping Australians through this time and will be even more critical in the weeks and months ahead. A special shout-out to all the workers at Wyong Hospital, my former colleagues and friends: you are doing an amazing job.
Is there a seconder to the motion?
I second the motion.
I rise today to speak to the motion moved by the member for Dobell regarding the ongoing impacts of the coronavirus emergency on the mental health of Australians. As a psychologist, I understand mental health policy. I've worked on the front line. I've worked with many people across the life span in both outpatient clinics and inpatient settings. Mental health is an issue that I am particularly passionate about, and I am very proud to be part of a government that consistently makes mental health our nation's priority. The Australian people were confronted by the coronavirus pandemic when we were already vulnerable from bushfire and drought. The pandemic's isolating and anxiety-inducing effects have added to this collective stress and trauma.
The Morrison government moved swiftly to ensure that the wellbeing of all Australians was protected during the pandemic, with a focus on mental health. Since January this year, we have committed $500 million to mental health and suicide prevention, while extending a whole-of-population telehealth model of care that included mental health consultations. This has allowed mental health professionals to continue to work during the pandemic, using phone and video technology, where clinically appropriate, to ensure access and continuity of treatment. As a result, we have seen 50 per cent of mental health consultations being conducted through telehealth, with over one million telehealth mental health consultations undertaken since mid-March.
For those with chronic or pre-existing mental health conditions, the coronavirus climate meant their mental health was at greater risk. But even those without pre-existing mental health conditions were at risk too. For many, their wellbeing deteriorated because of isolation and disruption to routine, including the challenge for many working parents of working from home while juggling homeschooling. As we move through the aftermath of the financial and health crises, Australians are being encouraged to utilise their social support networks to ensure they stay socially connected and take initiative with help-seeking behaviours in order to get to the other side.
The government's digital mental health portal, Head to Health, was introduced to be a single source of information and guidance on how to maintain good mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. Simple self-care—such as eating well and exercising, maintaining good sleep hygiene behaviours, limiting access to the 24-hour news cycles and making time for recreational activities—has helped many Australians get through the strain and burn of this period.
The government should be commended for supporting the excellent work of Beyond Blue by providing $10 million of federal funding for a dedicated coronavirus wellbeing support line. This is helping people experiencing a coronavirus diagnosis or experiencing anxiety due to employment changes, financial difficulties, family pressures or other challenges. A further $14 million of federal funding has bolstered the capacity of mental health providers such as Beyond Blue and Kids Helpline, and the Black Dog Institute is now providing digital access to mental health support for our frontline health workers. Many of our health workers have worked heroically throughout this period but have also had to push themselves to their limits, and it is our priority that they have the resources they need to take care of their mental health in what has been an incredibly stressful and, at times, traumatising public health crisis.
I also want to commend the Morrison government on its choice to appoint the country's first deputy chief medical officer for mental health, and I congratulate Dr Ruth Vine on this new role. I welcome the Productivity Commission's report on mental health, which is due to be handed down in the coming weeks, and I am confident that the Morrison government will continue to put evidence based mental health policy as a priority, particularly as we move out of the coronavirus pandemic on our road to recovery.
As we move through the health crisis caused by coronavirus and we turn our attention to the recession that we are now living through, many people are talking about the economy, and that's right; we must address the economy. But we have more than an opportunity here to rebuild Australia's economy. We have an opportunity to think about the sort of community we want to be. Do we want to be a community where people are connected to each other? Do we want to be a community where, regardless of how much you earn or where you live or what your circumstances are, there are supports there for you to get through the difficult times? Do we want a community where loneliness is hardly experienced, or do we want a community that is measured in terms of how much you earn, how well the economy tracks and what your social status is?
In my community, we understand and we're working very hard to build connectedness. One thing that the social isolation of coronavirus has taught all of us is that social isolation and mental health problems go hand in hand. We've heard research by places like the Black Dog Institute talk about those people who are more vulnerable to mental health crises during coronavirus isolation being those who already had pre-existing anxiety, people who are healthcare workers on the front line of the crisis, people who are experiencing quarantine and so are more isolated, and unemployed, underemployed and casual workers—people who already have insecurity in their lives.
I would add to that that the experience in Dunkley is that young people are feeling the strain of coronavirus. For many young people—and when I say 'young people' I mean anyone from a toddler up to someone in their mid-20s—their social connectedness has been disturbed over these last few months. School-age children haven't been able to go to school. People whose world revolves around sport, and who thought it was because of the competition and the game, haven't been able to go to their club. They've learnt that their world revolves around sport in great part because of the people who are at the club when they go there.
Last week, I was at the Langwarrin Football Netball Club for their first training session and I spoke to the committee members and the players. To a person, man and woman, they talked about how amazing it was to be back with their fellow club members. They really wanted the season to start but, predominantly, they were just so happy to be back in a place where they felt secure, where they have friends, where they aren't isolated and where they aren't lonely. In Frankston North we have Project O, which works with young women who come from disadvantaged backgrounds and are vulnerable to mental health issues and domestic violence. It is all about empowering those young women and keeping them together. They've been working to have digital connectedness. But it's hard, because not everyone can afford or has access to the sort of internet that we need to have digital connectedness, or can access the sorts of services online that we've heard about—and the government has supported—such as telehealth and Beyond Blue. They're terrific, but if you don't have a computer or an iPad or the wherewithal or the means to be able to afford the data for the internet then you can't access those services. So we need to think about what sort of community we want to be as we move forward.
Headspace in Frankston currently has a waiting list of 150 young people for counselling, and the wait time is four to six months. Last week I met with headspace in Frankston because a constituent had contacted me about his young son, who he's very worried about because he has lost his social connectedness. He was told there is a six-month wait. He thought that couldn't be right. Unfortunately, it is right. We can address this in two ways, and we must. One is the funding for our services and the other is to ask ourselves: What sort of community do we want to be? Why is it that 150 young people are on a waiting list for counselling? There are many things we have to address. But, as we look at how we're going to build back better—not just snap back, not just recover, but build back better—we must ask ourselves: what sort of community do we want to be? I know that I want—and my community wants—to be more connected, to be stronger and to get through it genuinely together with community groups, not just words.
As the world watches the carnage from the COVID pandemic unfold around the world, my constituents in Higgins have told me they are pleased and glad to be in Australia. They're pleased and glad because they have felt that as Australians we have worked together to carve our own curve and to ensure we have dodged the bullet that is the coronavirus pandemic. There have been so many important things that have been done to make sure that the health of all Australians is kept front and centre as our government deliberates, in a bipartisan way by working with the national cabinet, to close our borders, to enforce strict quarantine for people visiting from overseas or arriving home from overseas and to insist that people practise social distancing. It has had a profound effect on so many Australians, whether it has been Australians who have not been able to have the wedding that they wish they could have had, whether it has been Australians who have not been able to mark the occasion of the passing of a relative or a friend, whether it has been an Australian who has lost a job or lost their business.
There are so many impacts that are broad and general and sweeping from COVID that Australia has managed to deal with quietly, but there is one impact that Australians know is having a deep and long-term impact, and that is the indirect effect of COVID on the mental health of all Australians. Many have suffered in silence. Many have dealt with tragedies that they have not been able to share, because it's not just them that is hurting but their families that are hurting, their communities that are hurting, their country that is hurting, the whole world that is hurting. But Australians can feel that there is support coming from their community and from their government because the Morrison government has committed to not only understanding and acknowledging but delivering on the two aspects of COVID: firstly, the health aspect, which we've all heard about; secondly, the mental health aspect. I'm proud to be part of a government that is putting this at the front and centre of its response to the pandemic crisis that is causing carnage around the world.
On Sunday, the Morrison government announced a further investment in mental health services across Australia: $24.5 million will reduce wait times and fast-track access to mental health services at headspace. We know that one in four young Australians are affected by mental health issues. In my electorate of Higgins, the government is delivering on its election commitment to deliver a headspace in Glen Iris to support the young people of Higgins and surrounding areas. It aims to improve access for young people aged 12 to 25 who are at risk of mental health issues. It offers early intervention services in four key areas: mental health, related physical health, social and vocational support, and alcohol and other drug use.
But headspace is just part of a large suite of commitments for mental health services and support, which is estimated this year to be $5.2 billion. This includes an additional $500 million for mental health services and support, $64 million for suicide prevention, $74 million for preventative mental health services in response to COVID and $48 million to support the pandemic response plan. The Morrison government is also investing $4 million into a range of projects to improve health outcomes for some of Australia's culturally diverse Australians. The funding, to be provided through the National Women's Health Strategy, the National Men's Health Strategy and the Child and Youth Health grants, will particularly assist Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds.
As Australians, we know that the carnage is global, but we also know that by working together and by supporting each other we will come through this. It is imperative that in our economic response we put jobs at the centre of what we do, because having a job and having the dignity of a job provides the opportunity for young Australians to have the hope of a prosperous future that hopefully is both healthy and safe. As we begin to unlock Australia, the government's national mental health plan will be the key to ensuring the economic prosperity of getting us back on track.
Thank you to the member for Dobell for this important motion. There is absolutely no question that COVID-19 has had a profound and lasting impact on the mental health of all Australians. In bushfire-hit communities like mine on the New South Wales South Coast, that impact has been devastating. Local people along the South Coast have been struggling with hit after hit. First, the drought had far-reaching impacts for so many local people, both directly and indirectly. Then came the bushfires. So many local people stayed to fight—a battle many have told me since that they would not fight again. It had simply been too traumatic. Some have been unable to return since. There were 600-odd homes lost in my electorate. Families were left with nothing, having to pick up the pieces and start again.
Our recovery had barely begun when COVID-19 hit. When your home has been burned to the ground and you don't know how you can pay to rebuild, and then you lose your job in a regional economy based on tourism, things can feel hopeless. When home has been where you need to stay but yours was lost in a fire, it can be hard to accept. Even those who did not lose everything have struggled. They struggled with the destruction of their towns and the loss of family and friends, and they struggled with the trauma of not knowing where the fire would hit next, with months of uncertainty and fear. That doesn't easily go away. When you have suffered from unprecedented crisis after unprecedented crisis, all in the space of a few months, you don't want to have to worry about how you will pay to get the help you need.
I welcomed the government's announcement of mental health assistance following the bushfires, even if it fell short in many ways. In particular, I was delighted to see funding being brought forward for a full headspace for Batemans Bay. It was a little cheeky of the government to include this $4.4 million as part of its $2 billion Bushfire Recovery Fund. This was money they had already committed to, but they masqueraded it as new funding. During the 2019 election, Labor was first to commit to the full headspace. Young people in the Batemans Bay area deserve to have improved local mental health services, and I fought hard for that commitment. I was pleased when the government matched that funding. In those early days after the bushfires, I called loudly for that to be brought forward and for interim services to be urgently made available. Thankfully, as of last week, young people in Batemans Bay are able to access the interim headspace service while plans for the full service progress. This is great news for our local community, and I have been right there with them, holding the government to account over this promise. I will keep following the progress of the full centre to make sure it is delivered on time and as promised.
What our community doesn't need is false promises—flashy announcements with no real substance, like so many tend to be. I have heard from far too many people who can't access mental health support. Jamie, a psychologist from Kiama, wants to see immediate changes to annual psychology session limits, much like what was done after the bushfires. This will be critical to ensuring local people can get the services they need when they need them. Jamie is concerned that those with pre-existing mental health conditions, frontline health workers and those who were quarantined will be the most at risk. Jamie said that many of her clients are spacing out their therapy sessions, as they know they cannot afford to pay for sessions privately after they have reached the annual 10-session limit. This is very troubling. Jamie said that, for clients who had already used up many of those rebated sessions before the impact of COVID-19 hit, the situation is even more problematic. Many of these clients have now used their annual quota of 10 sessions. Some of these people have lost their jobs or their small businesses and are under enormous stress as they adjust to the extraordinary circumstances we are all living in.
We simply have not seen a response from the government that is proportionate to the risk here, particularly in regions like ours, on the New South Wales South Coast. I don't want to see anyone falling through the cracks because they could not afford the help they needed. We need to make sure everyone who has been impacted is getting help, without fear of the cost. The government simply must do better before it is too late.
COVID-19 has had a devastating effect on many Australians, and many people are struggling, whether it be due to unemployment, social isolation or a range of other difficulties that people are currently facing because of it. Regardless of the cause, the Australian community, as always, has come together to help others through these difficult times. Mental health and suicide prevention are the government's highest health priorities, and I'm proud that it is a central feature of the Commonwealth's Long Term National Health Plan. Unfortunately, mental health is the leading cause of both disability and premature death in Australia. It is sad to know that nearly half of people aged 18 to 85 will experience a mental disorder at some point in their life.
The coalition government is doing more than any previous government to safeguard the mental health of Australians. We expect funding to reach $5.2 billion this year alone, and $736 million in additional funding was provided in the last budget. I am especially pleased to see the inclusion of more than $500 million for the largest youth mental health and suicide prevention plan in the country's history. This is an important issue and I'm glad to see it receive the funding it deserves. We are delivering more frontline services that meet the specific needs of local communities through a record $1.54 billion investment in our Primary Health Networks. We are providing secure long-term support for local psychologists, mental health nurses and social workers, ensuring that the right services are available.
Back in March this year, Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the coalition government announced $74 million to go towards the provision of mental health services for Australians who are understandably anxious and stressed about the impacts of COVID-19. This included setting up a dedicated COVID-19 wellbeing support line in partnership with Beyond Blue. Together we will get through this crisis and emerge on the other side safe and sound. In May, the Prime Minister again delivered in this area, announcing an additional $48.1 million for the National Mental Health and Wellbeing Pandemic Response Plan. This government is ensuring people who need help can get the support they need, where and when they need it.
The coalition government is doing its bit in this space, but I cannot let go by an opportunity to speak about the excellent work of some organisations in my electorate of Chisholm who are doing the hard work to assist those in need. Organisations such as St Vincent de Paul, the Salvation Army, Crossway Baptist Church, NewHope Baptist Church and UnitingCare East Burwood Centre provide numerous services to people struggling through these times, and I'm proud to work with these great organisations to ensure that everyone in Chisholm is able to get the help they need. My office has been contacted by many people in these difficult times, and it pains my heart to know so many people are struggling with the consequences of COVID-19. But I'm glad to say that help is there. These organisations have helped with food parcels, food delivery services, financial assistance for those doing it tough or counselling for people dealing with the restrictions over the last few months. The people of Chisholm can rest assured that these organisations are here for them in times of need. I will endeavour to work with these organisations to serve the people of Chisholm.
I rise in support of this important motion. Mental health is incredibly important to one's physical health, to our quality of life, to relationships and to longevity. Of course, we knew all of this before. Much progress has been made in Australia in recent decades in raising awareness of this vital issue, thanks to medical professionals like my good friend the member for Macarthur, but also so many other advocates, researchers and organisations, like the Black Dog Institute, Lifeline, Beyond Blue and so many others.
Despite our gains in destigmatising mental health, we could do a lot better in suicide prevention in particular, both in society at large and among first responders, like veterans. This is an area of policy on which we on all sides of the chamber can and should always stand together and do whatever it takes to get the right thing done. The black dog doesn't care how you vote; anxiety, depression, schizophrenia and borderline personality disorder don't come in red, blue, green or orange, or green and gold; they don't discriminate along any lines. Just like those fighting physical diseases—which, of course, mental illnesses also are—those struggling with invisible symptoms didn't have a vote on the matter.
The important thing to remember is that social isolation, which can make many of us a bit blue and has done so during these past months, is just another day in the life of those with these conditions. So the effect of the pandemic related isolation has most likely taken a great toll on many at risk—and that means those who are currently experiencing mental ill health and anyone with financial or employment fears and anxieties during this crisis. And we should also remember people in abusive relationships, those who are unemployed, the homeless, casual workers who have gone without support, and exhausted health and essential workers. That's a lot of Australians who are still doing it tough today with an uncertain future ahead. So let's all remember that, as these restrictions hopefully ease, the mental health impacts are still incalculable and largely unknown at this stage. What we do know is that a lot of the economic pain, dislocation, suffering and anxiety is likely yet to come. So it's incredibly important that we raise awareness now. Let's hope for the best and plan for the worst.
I want to acknowledge the important work that mental health practitioners have played during this crisis and will continue to play in Australia's health system. We should also celebrate, acknowledge and honour the work of our doctors, nurses, pharmacists, allied health workers, aged-care workers, disability workers and all of our frontline workers. Like our fireys only months ago, these were the heroes of 2020 who exposed themselves to danger to help others.
The Northern Territory had done its part before COVID-19 by delivering a strategic plan to the sector in August last year and with a new suicide prevention grant scheme opened last month. I would also like to acknowledge the $30 million for a new mental health inpatient facility, to be located in Darwin, that the federal government announced last Friday.
The National Health Reform Agreement will boost funding by $707 million by 2024-25. This is important. But in my electorate something else is important, and that is that the Department of Veterans' Affairs office in Darwin is currently closed. Veterans need all the support possible right now, so I ask the Minister for Veterans' Affairs: why is the Darwin DVA office still closed when the Territory is open?
I'd like to finish with some broader points on the nexus between mental health and social media, which has become even more evident during COVID-19 and isolation. We need to be very aware that social media today is magnifying social divisions, and we must do all that we can to ensure that this is mitigated.
I rise today to speak on the motion moved by my friend and colleague the member for Dobell, and I thank her for bringing it before the House today. I'd also like to commend her for her many years working as a pharmacist supporting people with mental illness. I have remarked before that the COVID-19 crisis is the greatest health challenge for many medical generations. It is the greatest health crisis that I've witnessed, and for many health practitioners long before my time.
It's true that Australia has fared fairly well, and, relative to some of our friends in other countries, we've done remarkably well, but we must remain vigilant. Our response has been well coordinated by respective health departments, frontline medical staff, politicians, bureaucrats et cetera, and I wish to place on record my gratitude to the many individuals who have contributed so much to our response. However, the real heroes of our COVID-19 response have been the ordinary Australians, the people who have done the right thing, the people who have isolated themselves where necessary, the people who have kept their kids home from school, the people who have responded to the health recommendations about hygiene and hand hygiene, the people who have worked from home, the people who have put up with the stress of this incredibly difficult situation. The everyday Australians are the real heroes of this crisis.
Our successes of course ought to be celebrated and learned from, but we must not get complacent in our resolve. I fear that society will fail to comprehend the significance of the health crisis that we are still facing, and one of the areas that need ongoing attention is mental health. JK Galbraith, the famous North American economist, called the late 20th century the age of uncertainty. I think that if he were alive today he'd be calling our time the age of even greater uncertainty. We have before us a health crisis that has caused, in many ways, an economic crisis all around the world, and none of us can predict the future. This anxiety and uncertainty are contributing to some of the quite severe mental health issues we're seeing around the country and around the world. The member for Dobell is right to note that the COVID-19 pandemic will have significant effects upon the mental health of all Australians. All of us feel some degree of anxiety—that's true—and we face times of great uncertainty. The added pressures that individuals and households face can significantly impact upon a person's mental health and wellbeing.
I'm very worried not only about the effects of the health crisis but about the economic effects on young people and children—young people who may be starting out in married life and raising families. This anxiety is contributing to the difficulties they face. We must be mindful also of the added financial strains that are facing many Australians as we navigate through such difficult health and economic conditions. These pressures and this uncertainty are being felt in households right across the nation and across the world, and their impact cannot be underestimated. We also cannot underestimate the effects on mental health of issues related to this crisis such as the effects on housing and education. I know many university students are finding it incredibly difficult to continue their courses working from home. I know that many families who were already under housing stress, either because of rents or because of mortgages, are under added stress as they have reduced incomes because of this crisis.
My community of Macarthur has unemployment and underemployment rates well above the national average and has the highest number of mortgage defaults per electorate in the country. We know all too well the negative effects that such financial insecurity and housing insecurity can have upon individuals, families and the greater community. Also, a person's financial position should not affect the quality of care that they can access, and we know that many people who are financially disadvantaged are finding it very difficult to access mental health care. There is a direct correlation between the state of people's mental health and the COVID-19 pandemic, and we need a comprehensive approach to managing this.
There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.
I move:
That this House:
(1) recognises the long-term business investment General Motors has made in Australia over 72 years and the impact its decision to withdraw from the Australian market will have on more than 200 Holden dealerships across Australia;
(2) asks that as General Motors terminates Holden sales in Australia that it demonstrates the respect the Holden brand deserves;
(3) acknowledges General Motors has been the beneficiary of more than $2 billion of Australian taxpayers subsidies;
(4) recognises the potential job impact on Holden dealerships who employ around 9,000 people, including sales people, service technicians, finance and insurance professionals and back office functions and calls on General Motors to ensure that adequate compensation is offered to Holden dealers around the country who have invested significant capital in showroom facilities, service and repair equipment, stock and parts and ensure also that dealerships have assistance for redundancy payments;
(5) notes that when General Motors ceased vehicle and engine production in Australia in 2017, the company committed to retaining 1000 direct staff plus 6000 people across the 200 strong national dealer network; and
(6) further recognises there are 1.6 million Holdens currently on Australia's roads and customers deserve to have confidence they will have ongoing support from General Motors in servicing and spare parts for the future.
The departure of General Motors-Holden from Australia is a very marked point on the calendar. I acknowledge that times change and businesses adapt and come and go, and they have a right to do so. They have a right to make decisions on their owner's behalf. But, in doing so, they need to act in a fair way. Sadly, General Motors are not.
In 2017, when they closed their engine plant, Holden assured dealerships Australia-wide that they were here for the long haul: 'Plenty of models to rebrand, and great value in the Holden name. Have faith.' Dealers took that at face value; they were right at the start of a new five-year franchise agreement. Then General Motors changed its mind, and, in February, announced it was totally withdrawing from right-hand-drive vehicles worldwide. This left our dealers in Australia high and dry. Fancy showrooms are demanded by Holden, signage is demanded by Holden and workshops with high-technology equipment in them are demanded by Holden—all to service Holden vehicles, but for these dealerships there will be no Holdens to sell.
There are six dealerships in Grey, and all are affected. I've spoken to a number of others as well, including single franchise dealers. They have an enormous cloud over their future, particularly the single franchise dealers, through no fault of their own. They are victims of a decision made in Detroit.
Holden were offering $1,500 a car on predicted sales over the next 2½ years to the end of the five-year franchising agreement, based on the sales of the previous 12 months. This is manifestly inadequate. The industry engaged KPMG to evaluate a figure, and they recommended $6,500 a vehicle. I ceded ground to GM in the beginning, saying they needed to make decisions on what was best for the company. But in Australia we believe in a fair go, and their proposal does not represent that.
Dealers have a lifetime of investment, based on the belief that this brand was here for the long haul. It is based on exactly what the company told them—guaranteed them, even. Many on my patch have made significant investments, millions of dollars, in upgrading their showrooms in the last 10 years, and they should be properly compensated for the loss in value. Flash showrooms are one thing, but they are of little value if you have nothing to put in them. One dealer on my patch, Rosewarne's in Kadina, inform me they've been Holden dealers since 1948. They are the longest-standing family owned and operated Holden dealership in Australia, spanning five generations. There is no special treatment for Rosewarne's, not even a gold watch—not much for loyalty.
There were 9,000 people employed by Holden throughout the network when they closed their manufacturing facilities. They committed at that time, just three years ago, to retaining 1,000 direct staff, plus 6,000 across the network. Things have changed, I grant you that. But they should be assisting their dealers to deal with that change—to deal with the redundancy payments that they will ultimately be facing. As recently as January, Holden were assuring their dealers that they were here for the long haul. Not only that; they were telling the public that they were here for the long haul and that they had a range of new and exciting vehicles to bring here that they would rebadge under the Holden name. All of that is not happening.
Other issues remain. General Motors want the dealerships to continue servicing their cars for the next 10 years, but they are playing hardball here as well. There is a dispute over warranty work. In the past, the company have come to the party because they have wanted these dealerships to keep selling Holden cars. But we know that they are likely to take a tougher line on those things now. There are other issues; they're actually saying to the dealerships, 'Maybe you won't get the service agreements for the long term'—certainly nothing for loyalty there.
General Motors-Holden have soaked up hundreds of millions of dollars in taxpayer funds over the years, through subsidies while they were manufacturing in Australia. The company has a market capitalisation of more than US$40 billion. This company is worth more than US$40 billion, and they are penny pinching on their exit from Australia. Maybe they will never return to the Australian market, but my experience tells me this: even when you plan not to come back, you should not slam the door on the way out. Treating dealerships in this way is simply not Australian. (Time expired)
Is the motion seconded?
A government member: I second the motion and I reserve my right to speak.
I start by thanking the member for Grey for moving this motion, but I note that this is a motion that comes at the end of the very sad demise of Holden in Australia. Like millions of Australians, I learnt to drive in a Holden. My family weren't car-obsessed people, but the Commodore station wagon that I learnt to drive in, got my Ps in, did the job. I managed to scratch that car on a number of occasions, and I'll apologise once again to my mum and dad for the damage I did to the car while driving. But I did eventually learn those lessons, just as we in this place should learn the lesson from what has happened with Holden and what has happened with our manufacturing industry here in Australia, as we recover from the crisis we face currently.
As World War II escalated, Australia's supply chain came to a halt. Prime Minister Chifley knew that an Australian manufactured car was a necessity not just for economic recovery and sustainability but for our national confidence. Ben Chifley launched the production of the Australian made FX 48-215 in 1948. It didn't have quite the same branding genius as that behind 'JobKeeper' or 'HomeBuilder'! Nonetheless, it did the job. Holden Australia made 120,402 of these cars in just six years—a huge contribution to our postwar economic recovery and, equally, to our national manufacturing capability over the coming decades.
While we think of Holdens in more recent years as being manufactured in Victoria and South Australia, the truth is that for many decades these cars were assembled across Australia. Indeed, in 1926, the Holden assembly factory was opened in Mosman Park, in the then electorate of Fremantle. Much of the history of this Australian manufacturing site is captured by the Holden Retirees Club; I want to thank them for preserving this part of our national history. During World War II, its work was reallocated from building Australian cars to building planes and boats for the war effort; and, in its last three years of operation in the 1970s, it was awarded best of the Holden assembly plants anywhere in Australia. The Canberra Times reported the closure as 'no surprise'. However, it did say that it had come 'suddenly and at the worst possible time for Western Australia', which had the highest unemployment in the country then. The site shut in 1972 and is now the home of Iona primary school, in the electorate of Curtin.
This year, for the first time in decades, many members have not come to parliament in an Australian made car. In every year that John Howard was Prime Minister, he travelled in a Holden Commodore. It was Prime Minister John Howard who said, in 2006, when he launched the expanded Holden facility in Elizabeth:
… we shouldn't lose sight of how important it is for us to maintain a manufacturing capacity and the successive policies of my government have been dedicated to that end.
Prime Minister Howard continued:
… this is no more so of course than we find in the motor manufacturing industry.
Just seven years later, that lesson had been well and truly lost when, on 9 December 2013, Treasurer Joe Hockey dared Holden to leave Australia. Sadly, that has come true. After 160 years, a company that existed before Federation ended on this government's watch. As the member for Grey's motion notes, some 9,000 jobs were lost through dealerships, 800 more jobs were lost in the shutting of the Holden operation and 950 jobs were lost when the plant at Elizabeth did close in 2017.
Sadly, there are some similarities ideologically between the demise of Holden and the snapback approach that we see to child care this week, between ripping away support from our car industry then and ripping away JobKeeper from the childcare industry now: industries with skilled workers essential to our economy and long-term careers, and sectors that have flow-on benefits to our economy. It is unbelievable that we continue to make similar mistakes in different sectors and different industries time and time again. And then we had the Prime Minister yesterday say to his party room that he would 'have to go out of his comfort zone to support manufacturing'. I don't know what it is that is so uncomfortable about supporting Australian manufacturing that it would lead the Prime Minister of the day to say it is 'out of our comfort zone'. It says it all.
I'll finish by saying that, while the West Perth City Motors Holden site in my electorate no longer sells Holden vehicles, it is now home to Dismantle, a fabulous community social enterprise that helps young people fix bikes and continue their education.
I rise to speak about the General Motors Holden decision to walk away from Australia and from Australians. I do, along with the member for Grey, acknowledge that business is business. However, it is a disappointing and an unexpected decision that has enormous ramifications for 200 dealers, potentially 9,000 employees and 1.6 million vehicle owners across Australia. It's not acceptable that this decision was made without government consultation when it affects so many jobs.
Holden has a special place in Australian history, with its own culture and its own loyal brand followers. Holden has a special place in my own heart. You see, my own family were closely linked to the Holden brand for three generations, since the beginning of its history. From the mid-forties, my grandfather Bill worked in the South Australian Woodville plant for 25 years on the line. My father, Roger, and many of his best mates also received their gold watches for 25 years of service at the Elizabeth plant. He worked first as a trimmer and later as a foreman. It was because he was an employee of Holden that he was able to access affordable South Australian trust housing for his family of six, from which we benefited greatly—including my two brothers, who also worked at GMH for a time.
Holden represented the opportunity for those who wanted to work, and it represented an iconic brand to millions of Australian households. In the seventies and eighties, you were either a Holden family or a Ford family. The day the factory closed in October 2017, plunging hundreds of workers into unemployment, was a very sad day for the people of my home town, and it saw the end of car manufacturing in this country. It was a disaster for the local economy and the end of an era for the workers of Elizabeth and their families.
Like 199 other dealerships across the country, von Bibra Motors in Southport have been severely impacted by this decision. Max Johnson, who's the general manager, said: 'It's bad when a franchise just pulls out from underneath you.' Five jobs were lost immediately and, over the long term, 20 jobs will be lost. My heart goes out to those families in my electorate who've been impacted by this decision, with no notice. At the peak of Holden Southport, von Bibra were selling 100 cars a month. Now, more than 30 per cent of their turnover has vanished. Von Bibra invested $3.5 million in November 2018 to renovate a new showroom for Holden, and they are now left with a shiny new showroom that houses second-hand vehicles. Wade von Bibra said: 'The decision to build was made based on the advice from Holden, who gave assurance for the long term, and it was very disappointing to be completely blindsided.' On behalf of Wade and the injustice to those who worked for the brand with loyalty and dedication for decades, I call on General Motors to ensure that their final act in Australia is to adequately compensate Holden dealers. Those around the country like Wade and those with single-brand franchises who have had to close their doors, who have invested significant capital in showroom facilities, service and repair equipment, stock and parts, need assistance for redundancy payments.
It's concerning that negotiations between dealers and the franchisor have been difficult, and I want to reiterate the government's expectation that they work to achieve a fair outcome for those caught out. It's time for GMH to do the right thing by these dealers who've carried their brand and to recognise that there are 1.6 million Holden automobiles currently on Australia's roads. Holden customers deserve to have confidence that there'll be ongoing support from General Motors and servicing and spare parts for their future. Wade von Bibra tells me that negotiations are back on the table for dealers, and I call on Holden to do the right thing by Australians.
The Morrison government has made regulatory reforms to automotive franchising arrangements to make the system fairer for consumers, dealers and manufacturers. The amendments to the Franchising Code of Conduct commenced on 1 June 2020, and the reforms are in three areas: end of term obligations, capital expenditure and dispute resolution. These reforms have been fast-tracked to respond to pressures such as COVID-19, declining car sales and the restructure of major brands. The government wants to help automotive franchises to continue operating and create jobs.
The Morrison government's Manufacturing Modernisation Fund is now supporting around 200 projects around Australia, worth about $215 million, including two businesses in Moncrieff. Patterson Glass in Nerang and Chemical House in Molendinar can now invest in new equipment and technologies to transform and upgrade their manufacturing operations.
As we face the coronavirus pandemic and look to come out the other side stronger, this investment in manufacturing is critical. I commend the Morrison government's determination to further strengthen Australian manufacturing, and the current pandemic gives us the opportunity as a nation to reassess and commit to the value of Australian-made goods.
Local car dealers and their employees have borne the brunt of the General Motors decision to kill off the Holden brand in Australia. Many of these dealers are small businesses that had to invest significant capital in order to buy into the renowned and iconic Holden brand. These car dealers, of whom there are about 200 across the country, are typically required to purchase millions of dollars of vehicle inventory, special tools and equipment parts, not to mention the massive outlay to invest so as to spec showrooms in order to show off their vehicles. Usually, they've invested in long-term leases and are almost always required to maintain these to the car-brand specifications, which can change from year to year.
Our national franchising laws are currently incapable of securing any true justice for these Holden dealers, as they have been at the mercy of General Motors. Part of the work I did in the last parliament as a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services was to look at how the power imbalance between car manufacturers and dealers could be better balanced. The government must act on that committee's recommendations, though it's too late now for the Holden dealers.
When General Motors announced the end of Holden manufacturing in Australia, it gave assurances to Holden dealers and drivers. When General Motors announced that it was withdrawing from Australia, it gave dealers and drivers assurances again. The over 200 Holden dealers and 1.6 million Holden drivers were relying on the Holden brand and reputation, that they would continue to be looked after properly. It is now up to General Motors to ensure that its package to support dealers is appropriate. But we certainly haven't seen that from them yet. We must stand up for the Holden dealers, who have poured their hearts and souls into this iconic Australian brand, their businesses, employees and customers.
The Liberal government has been talking up manufacturing while presiding over its decline. After all, they are the ones that goaded Ford and Holden to leave our shores. While Australians want more domestic manufacturing and self-reliance, the Morrison government is found wanting. The genesis of Holden shutting up shop and now abandoning dealers and drivers was this Liberal government. The Prime Minister's told Australians that a Labor government would take away tradies' utes—but it turns out that it's the Morrison Liberal government that is presiding over this.
This year, though understandably, they stopped football too. Suddenly, the fate of meat pies and kangaroos seems threatened under this government. Car dealers across the nation deserve a better go under this government. Over 200 Holden dealers, employing over 9,000 people, deserve to be properly compensated by General Motors. The 1.6 million Holden drivers of Australia deserve certainty for the servicing and parts of their cars. The government must ensure that this actually happens. They started this and they are responsible for the consequences.
Can I endorse the comments of the previous speaker. This motion once again exposes the coalition government's foolishness in not backing Holden in 2013, causing its closure, a decision that was made by Holden's parent company, General Motors, after former Treasurer Joe Hockey insulted GM by first cutting $500 million from the automotive transformation fund, and then saying to Holden in this place, on 10 December 2013:
… if I was running a business and I was committed to that business in Australia, I would not be saying that I have not made any decision about Australia. Either you are here or you are not.
The next day, Holden announced it would close in 2017, and with it came the closure of Toyota, who had made it clear that, if Holden closed, Toyota would also close. Toyota knew that component manufacturers in Australia could not survive by supplying to one car maker alone. It was a decision that ended 100 years of car making in Australia and resulted in the loss of tens of thousands of jobs and apprenticeships, the loss of hundreds of thousands of dollars in research and development, the loss of billions of dollars to Australia's GDP every year, and, ultimately, the closure of hundreds of small and medium-sized businesses, including many of the Holden dealers that this motion refers to. It was inevitable that Holden dealerships would collapse once Holden cars were no longer made in Australia and the Holden badge had disappeared. Some Holden dealerships have already closed down, while others have taken on new brands in order to survive. I can understand exactly why they would have to do that. Whatever the case with respect to each of those dealerships, there have been job losses, and this is a continuation of the fallout from the closure of Holden here in Australia, as alluded to in the motion we are debating.
South Australia was particularly hard hit by the Holden closure. From the day the closure was announced, business confidence in South Australia collapsed and it has never fully recovered. Business confidence in South Australia has stagnated, all because of decisions made in this place by this coalition government that have taken away the confidence that there once was in South Australia because there was a strong manufacturing base, which was underpinned by Holden at Elizabeth. Holden was an iconic South Australian company. It was a symbol of strength, a symbol of pride and a symbol of confidence in South Australia. The Holden factory was a landmark building, at the gateway to the industrial north of Adelaide, once a bustling industrial precinct but now only a shadow of its former self, a precinct that had actually been established by a Liberal state premier, in Tom Playford.
In total, around 24,000 jobs were lost in South Australia when Holden closed, and the state's economy took an estimated $3.7 billion hit. That hit is still affecting communities out there today, because, while there was some effort to redeploy many of the people who lost their jobs, the reality is that many are still unemployed or underemployed. Yet, today, in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the talk across Australia has once again come to how we can rebuild our manufacturing industries in this country. After having allowed them to wither, we have realised the significance and importance that they played in our national security and our national sovereignty. That is something I strongly support. I would like to see the rebuilding of manufacturing across Australia.
But this motion deals with the dealers. I, too, understand how the dealers have been hit particularly hard. I have also spoken to dealers in my region who, in order to survive, have had to either close down entirely or transition into other brands. They, too, had invested considerable dollars in their businesses and they, too, have been competing for years now against brands from all other countries. Their situation is a result of the consequences of this government's actions, because when the coalition government turned its back on Holden it turned its back on the Holden dealerships and their staff.
There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made in order of the day for the next day of sitting.
The Speaker has received advice from the Chief Government Whip and the Chief Opposition Whip nominating members to be members and supplementary members of certain committees.
by leave—I move:
That:
(1) Mr Zimmerman be appointed a member of the Standing Committee on Communications and the Arts;
(2) Mr Drum be appointed a member of the Committee of Privileges and Members' Interests;
(3) Mr Pearce be appointed a member of the Joint Standing Committee on Foreign Affairs, Defence and Trade;
(4) Dr Webster be appointed a member of the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities;
(5) Dr Gillespie be appointed a member of the Select Committee on Regional Australia;
(6) Ms Thwaites and Mr Watts be appointed as supplementary members of the Standing Committee on Social Policy and Legal Affairs for the purpose of the committee's inquiry into family, domestic and sexual violence.
Question agreed to.
I am in continuation from 13 May on this bill and I did move a second reading amendment. I have some doubt in my mind whether that second reading amendment was seconded and we need to formalise that before the end of my contribution to this debate. I moved:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes the Government's failure to provide a strategic plan for the agriculture industry, including fisheries and forestry, and rural and regional communities who continue to be impacted by drought, bushfires and COVID-19".
The bill we're debating, the Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020, involves an amendment to the Export Control Act which will allow a compliance certificate to be issued on goods to be exported which might fall under the category of a narcotic. In this case, the bill is being put in place in particular to facilitate the export of hemp seeds from this country to the United States, but it will have, of course, a broader application. In my contribution back on 13 May, I indicated that the opposition will be supporting the bill in both this place and the Senate, and we wish all those in the industry who will benefit from this appropriate change all the very best.
When I was interrupted by the adjournment last time, I was focusing on the triple whammy which has been experienced by rural and regional Australia in recent years: drought, bushfire and now, of course, COVID-19. I was particularly focusing on the failure of the government in its much more than six years now to implement a strategic plan for the agriculture sector. I reminded the House that we waited until 2015 for the production of the long-awaited agriculture white paper. I happen to have a copy with me now and I'll display it to members present because many will have forgotten it existed, and it's hardly surprising that they have forgotten that it existed because it hasn't been seen or heard of since. It was a failed white paper, a hotchpotch of ideas which were never implemented. Very little in this document, although it said much, has been implemented by this government. I will say that I think that the country-of-origin labelling was a feature of the report and some work has been done in that area, but other than that, just like the Productivity Commission report into red and green tape in the agriculture sector, nothing has really been acted upon. Having said that, it's pretty hard to act on this report, the ag white paper, because it didn't say very much and it certainly didn't represent a strategic plan for the agriculture sector.
I note here again that this plan—or this report, I should say, because it's not a plan, as I've pointed out—excluded the forestry and fisheries sectors. On its election in 2013, the government collapsed the title of the minister from Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry to simply Minister for Agriculture. I was proud to be this country's Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, albeit for a short time. They collapsed the title; that is the government's right. I have no particular concern about that. I thought it was disappointing but I can appreciate governments will want to stamp their own mark or brand on these areas of portfolio responsibility. But I had hoped, like the fisheries and forestry sectors, that the dropping of the name wouldn't mean they'd be forgotten. They were deliberately excluded from this report. I remind members, given that we are talking about drought, bushfire and COVID, that the marine environment is impacted by drought as well. It doesn't seem to follow plainly for many people, but of course the fisheries sector is impacted by drought—in particular, the estuaries. And the forestry sector, already facing huge challenges, particularly with respect to security of supply in this country, has now been further impacted by resource lost due to the bushfires. If ever we needed a plan for the forestry sector, we need one now. We've had plenty of pamphlets and reports over the course of the last seven years, but what we haven't had is action from this government.
In the lead-up to the last election, the Labor Party committed to the so-called hubs process to ensure that we are putting the resources needed—the plantations needed—in the right places in this country. And the government, to its credit, seems to be slowly working its way through a similar process. But the one simple thing the government could do this week, without any cost to the taxpayer, is to remove the ridiculous 'water rule', as we call it, in the forestry sector, which basically prevents those who want to plant forestry plantations from accessing the carbon market in areas where there is significant and necessary rainfall. This is just silly. When I announced on behalf of the Labor Party, pre-election, that we would remove the water rule, Mr Littleproud described it as 'recklessness and false hope'. Well, we know that many opposite understand that the water rule is an unnecessary and unhelpful part of the regulatory framework and should be removed. And it should be removed quickly because, as I said, the forestry sector needs help now, more than ever before, and we will be increasingly dependent on the importation of timber, including for the construction industry. That, of course, is going to lead to the loss of many, many jobs in this country.
The list is very long in terms of the failures. This is a government that talks a lot about agriculture—not so much about fisheries and forestry—but does nothing. The government spent $2.7 million on a report from EY into the research and development system we use in the agriculture sector, only to tell us what we already knew. And what we know is that it has been a fabulous system. It was proudly the product of a Labor government, under John Kerin. We also know that it is 30 years old. It is outdated. It is not fit for purpose in the 21st century. It is in dire need of reform. (Time expired)
Is the amendment seconded?
I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.
It is good to see that the Labor Party will be supporting the government on this bill, the Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020, to facilitate this new market. It is a new market that has a future we are finding it very difficult to put a limit on. Medicinal cannabis has a short history and a very small cohort that we were targeting to help. However, it would be fair to say that, over the last half-a-dozen years, the potential for medicinal cannabis has become far greater, and there is certainly real scope that medicinal cannabis could in fact be used in mainstream pain relief going forward, in a very strong commercial manner.
This bill is trying to solve a problem we have with the legislation whereby, under the current legislative settings, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment cannot issue government certificates to support the legitimate export of narcotic goods. At the moment, medicinal cannabis and low-THC hemp products fall into the category of narcotic goods. Without the amendment in this bill to enable government certification, the department must negotiate with trading partners for their acceptance of alternative forms of assurance. This negotiation is extremely time-consuming and expensive and can lead to a loss of opportunity for our exporters.
The department can only regulate the export of products if they are 'goods' for the purposes of the Export Control Act, and the definition of goods under the Customs Act 1901 does not include narcotic goods. This bill will amend the 1982 act to provide the department with the legislative authority to issue government certificates for narcotic goods and effectively give the opportunity for companies around Australia who have invested and are still investing in medicinal cannabis the opportunity to grow their business, grow their hothouses around Australia, get into this market and create their markets around the world.
This is something that is dear to me, because there is a significant development happening in my electorate, just on the outskirts of Shepparton, with a company by the name of Cannatrek. They have got plans in place. They have been listed on the Australian government's major project site, so they have been given 'major project' status, which effectively will facilitate them when they go through the various regulatory controls that they need to go through to take their investment and their business forward.
It's great to see the support that the Australian government is giving the companies who are investing in this technology, this new drug. It's consistent with the work that we have done previously. It's consistent with the fact that we have been there to support our farmers and our regional communities in drought. You see it with the recent drought edition of the Building Better Regions Fund, regions fund 4, where again there is a complete regional fund designed to help those communities that have been through the drought. We are there to help. We have implemented a fund that's going to generate $100 million, even in good years. We are hopeful we will have a very strong year this year, because we had a fantastic start to the season, but, irrespective of whether we have a good year or a bad year, we are still going to have $100 million coming into a drought assistance package that will be there for when it is needed.
We are also there in relation to the bushfires, to support those communities that were incredibly damaged by the bushfires. Those decisions are getting made right now. We are working in conjunction with the states to make sure that that support is ongoing. We've been there for our communities through COVID-19, to make sure that our assistance and our programs that are put in place are fit and suitable for the respective communities that we understand need our assistance. And we were there during the dairy crisis, going back to 2016, when all of a sudden the major suppliers wanted to crash the prices of our dairy farmers and effectively dropped the price and then demanded a clawback of moneys that had already been paid in advance and dragged those claims for repayments of, in many cases, hundreds of thousands of dollars. We were there to support those farmers in those times, and it's good to see us supporting those farmers here.
Medicinal cannabis is something that will be a very high production crop. It's a crop that can produce many hundreds of millions of dollars of produce using very little water, so it will be highly efficient in relation to the environment in regional Victoria and elsewhere in regional Australia. We're very, very conscious of the types of investment that we encourage into our regions in relation to the demand that they will have on our water supply.
It's interesting that the shadow minister for agriculture in his contribution, which he has just finished, spoke in not so glowing terms about the work that we are doing to support our farmers. But the Labor Party still believes in buybacks, which is the most destructive water policy that has ever been introduced into any parliament. Buybacks are effectively damaging, they are destructive and they are lazy. They fracture entire communities. Yet they are still at the forefront of the Labor Party's water policy. It's beyond me how those opposite can stand in this House and be negative and be critical of a government that is trying to find a way through to a water policy that is both suitable for our irrigators and understands that our environment has claims on water that they have and are not likely to give up. But to try and make things worse by effectively saying, as they did 12 or 13 months ago, that if they were going to come into government they would come into this place and reintroduce buybacks is the most destructive policy that any government could ever possibly have. They still have that policy right now, to take more water out of agriculture and return it to the environment than what has already been taken.
So with all of the destruction, with all of the damage and the cost and the hurt and the pain that exist with water policy at the moment and that have been heaped upon our farmers by state governments and from the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, here is the Labor Party, which wants to put more pain, more destruction and more damage on what is likely to take place right up and down the Murray-Darling Basin and right throughout our communities. We just need to understand the pain and detriment that has taken place with water leaving agriculture for the environment before we can be too critical and introduce policies that will make even that pain worse.
Medicinal cannabis is an industry that is right at its start. We're not quite sure how far this is going to go, because we are yet to see medicinal cannabis be fully introduced into the various drugs that it may end up being used in, but the upside of this industry is incredibly strong, with the plan being to employ hundreds of people just in the Shepparton location, with hundreds of millions of dollars being invested in the region, many hundreds of millions of dollars being produced annually and markets all around the world. The upside of this industry is much greater now than it was when we started talking about medicinal cannabis, five or six years ago.
It's good that we have been able to find a way to alter the legislation to enable this industry to move forward. I hope that this bill goes through seamlessly. It will enable this industry to gain further confidence so that many of the companies that are out there in this sector will be able to secure overseas markets and their supply out and make sure that, into the future, there will be more and more investment in medicinal cannabis, with all the safeguards and restrictions, obviously, in place to ensure that this is well controlled and restricted. However, with the money that we are looking at and the investment in our regions this is a very, very positive story. We hope that this legislation passes the House sooner rather than later.
Thank you to the member for Hunter for moving this amendment. I've now been the member for Gilmore for one year. I have been exceedingly proud to represent my community in this place for that year. I again thank my community for giving me the honour of being their member for Gilmore, but what a year we have had. My community on the New South Wales South Coast has had nothing short of a harrowing time. We had been suffering through a drought for years only to be hit with the most devastating bushfires we have ever seen, followed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Any one of these crises would have had devastating consequences, but I can tell you the triple threat has been indescribable. What we have needed is strong leadership and strong action from the top that is fast, effective and appropriate for local conditions. But what we have seen is failure after failure from this government to provide the help we so desperately need from one crisis to another.
The truth is I feel like I am in a time warp in this place, because here I am again going on about drought and bushfires and funding not going to where it is needed. My community is still dealing with the drought and trying to recover from the fires and the floods, except now we can throw coronavirus on top of that. But after all this time, the money is still not getting through. People are still struggling to get by and the government is still ignoring us.
We are proud of our agriculture industry. I come from a local dairy farming family and so it is no surprise that agriculture is close to my heart, so it has been difficult for me to watch the government fail to act. For years they have failed to act on the drought. In my short year as the member for Gilmore, I have risen to talk about the impact of the drought on our farmers many times. I have told the stories of local farmers like Rob, Daniel, Tim, Vince and more on many occasions, hoping that something would move the government into action.
You see, while our farmers have been suffering, the government has continued to deny we were even in a drought. Local farmers were unable to access drought loans, our council areas were excluded from the Drought Communities Program extension and the government kept insisting that farmers didn't need this support. This is evidenced perhaps by the so-called special drought round of the Building Better Regions Fund where, announced last week, only one project in my electorate received funding. It is no doubt a great project for Eurobodalla Shire Council to develop a green infrastructure and biodiversity strategy, but only $30,000 was given to the Gilmore electorate in a program targeted towards drought areas. It is absolutely appalling. Apparently the statistics told them we were not in drought—drought maps that were 18 months old; definitions that didn't consider local conditions; percentages, numbers and excuses, not people.
I have always been there for people in my electorate, like farmer Daniel, who earlier this year tried to access a drought loan through the Regional Investment Corporation. He was rejected because his property was only partially listed on the desertification maps. How one farm can partially be in drought and partially not is a mystery to me, but he was rejected. Farmers are a proud lot, and it is hard for them to reach out for help. It is even harder when they are told that they don't deserve it, but this is what the government put people through—sifting through website after website, program after program, promise after promise with no real help.
After months and months of me raising this issue with the government—speaking in parliament, writing letters and even meeting with the minister to raise these issues in person—and after years of farmers suffering in the drought and getting no help, the government finally stood up and said, 'We were wrong.' It took until March this year before that happened, but they conceded one small step. They removed the desertification ruling on the drought loans so that all local farmers could access the drought loans—a relief for many, but too little, too late. We are going to need more than words to recover from the drought, fires and COVID-19. We need the government to show us the money, but still, every day, local people tell me they aren't seeing it. They aren't getting help.
When I met farmer Gerry from Conjola in the weeks following the New Year's Eve fire that destroyed his wildflower farm, his words were powerful. I have told Gerry's story in this place before, but his words are as relevant now as they were then. Gerry said he felt he was being retraumatised by his government. Volunteers and the community had stepped in where the government should be. These were Gerry's words months ago, and that is still the case today.
Every day I have local people telling me that they have been abandoned—people like Katrina, who lost her home in Conjola. This was devastating for the family, who were underinsured and are not sure how they will rebuild. And then came COVID-19. Like many local people, Katrina worked locally, reliant on the tourism industry. So much of the South Coast economy relies on this industry. So you can imagine how devastating it was for our community when, after first telling the tourists to leave due to the fires, we were again forced to turn them away due to coronavirus. The impact of this double hit was too much for many, and Katrina was let go. The business could not afford to keep her on, and, with the time lag until the JobKeeper payment would start, Katrina was left with no income and no help from the government.
Katrina has teenage children. Before the fires, two of her daughters were due to be fitted with braces. With their thoughts and finances consumed with rebuilding, sadly, this had to be put off. An amount of $1,000 per adult and $400 per child is hardly enough when you have lost everything. Instead, what does this government do? They give $25,000 to their city friends to help them renovate their houses. How out of touch can a government be? We have people still living in caravans who couldn't even imagine having a lazy $150,000 to renovate, but there is nothing specifically targeted to them and nothing to help people impacted by the fires to get back on their feet.
This is not to mention the impact on our businesses. In the immediate wake of the fires, I spent every day out in my community talking with people about the impact of the bushfires. So many people shared their heartbreaking stories with me: their struggles to stay afloat and come to terms with what had happened. In January, I was the first to sound the alarm about the unfolding economic crisis on the New South Wales South Coast. I spoke with businesses from Kangaroo Valley to Burrill Lake, Malua Bay and beyond. I heard the same story: without a direct cash injection, they would fold, thousands of jobs would be lost and our economy would falter. This was in January—well before coronavirus and well before the government was paying attention.
So I came to this place and I told the story of people like Rob from Burrill Lake, Katrina from Kangaroo Valley, Simon from Ulladulla and Joe from Batehaven. I called for a direct cash injection to businesses suffering from the economic impact of the lost tourism season, but the government kept ignoring the problem, just as they always do when it comes to the plight of country areas. They don't understand us, and so they won't help. But I refuse to give up.
Finally, just as with the drought loans, the government eventually decided that it had better sit up and take notice. Thanks to our community and their bravery and strength in telling their stories, we pressured the government to provide that cash injection that businesses so desperately needed. It took until March. It took businesses closing and even more that struggled and felt absolute desperation and hopelessness. Even now, I still have businesses contacting me who didn't know there was help available. They have been struggling in silence, trying to get by on their own. These are just small tokens: signs that the government knows it must do more. But they are not willing to really stump up the cash. Instead, they have left businesses struggling to cope in the aftermath of what happened, including businesses like Burdett Real Estate in Batehaven who have been struggling with unreliable NBN since the fires, as well as dropouts, signal failures and slow speeds. Joe told me how, each month, he doesn't know which landlords will receive their statements, because the internet drops out halfway through processing the letters. Months after the fire, this is what they are still dealing with.
Then there's the government's much-hyped Bushfire Recovery Fund. In January, $2 billion in funding was announced to help respond to the bushfire crisis. Since then, I have been asking: where is the money? Our tourism operators haven't seen it. Our environmental organisations haven't seen it. Our local businesses haven't seen it. Only this weekend, I was in Huskisson and Bendalong talking with fire impacted businesses. They told me how, even now, nearly six months after the bushfires, they are still waiting for their disaster recovery loans. They told me about the hoops they have jumped through and the anguish and struggle they have felt. This government has left them begging for help for six months and told them money is coming, but where is it? Families who have lost everything and are living in temporary accommodation haven't seen it either. Instead, they are forced to watch the government prioritise other people's homes before theirs.
I wrote to the minister asking for additional funding for local events like the South Coast Food and Wine Festival and our local agricultural shows. I pleaded with the minister to continue funding vital mental health services in Ulladulla and Nowra through the Shoalhaven Women's Health Centre. With hundreds of burnt timber bridges, damaged local roads and other local infrastructure to rebuild, I asked the government to help our local councils with this mammoth task. Each time the answer was the same: 'No. We have provided $2 billion, and there is no more.' So why haven't we seen it? Perhaps it is like the AgShows fund, which provided $70,000 to my electorate of Gilmore—where show societies felt the full brunt of the bushfires, not to mention the drought—and $3.4 million to the minister's electorate of Maranoa—shocking.
The Bushfire Recovery Fund is nothing more than a phantom fund, a mirage that serves to make the government look like they care and are working to help our community, when the reality is that they have already forgotten us. The New South Wales South coast does not need flashy announcements. We don't need big dollar signs and endless promises. We need boots on the ground. We need a government that will truly listen to us, instead of one more focused on election funds and flashy announcements.
Our community had already experienced some of the worst this year. It brought out the best in us. That is absolutely clear. Our true community spirit was on display time and time again, but more blows were still to come. COVID-19 has impacted the whole country. I congratulate the government for taking up Labor's idea of a wage subsidy, another essential program that the government fought against until—as with the drought loans and the cash injection for businesses—they decided that perhaps we were right.
The wage subsidy has helped thousands of Australians. There is no doubt about that. But, in an economy reliant on tourism, casuals and short-term work, it is not enough. Before the impact of the bushfires and COVID-19, Nowra, Ulladulla and Batemans Bay unemployment rates were 17.5 per cent, 9.3 per cent and 9.9 per cent respectively. That was before the bushfires.
Country areas like ours are getting a raw deal. The Treasurer has the power to change that. At any moment, he could decide to help casuals who move between seasonal employment. He could decide to help businesses who have been losing income from the triple threat of drought, bushfires and COVID-19 and are falling through the cracks of the government's economic rescue package. But he chooses not to. People and businesses in bushfire impacted areas will suffer from the impacts of coronavirus more than those across the rest of the country. There is no doubt about that.
There is one common thread here: the Liberals and the Nationals don't care about country areas. We should be the economic powerhouse of the country, but our government is letting us down. We have the best businesses and workers, people with hearts of gold who would do anything to help their community. But what does this government do time and time again? It ignores country areas.
We've lost over half a billion dollars from the South Coast economy during the bushfires. We need specialised, targeted assistance that recognises the ongoing economic challenges. We need more mental health and financial counselling assistance for local people and businesses. We need focused economic stimulus that will create jobs—road projects like the Currarong Road and the Princes Highway; local infrastructure projects like the Mogo Adventure Trail Hub and the Kiama Arts Precinct; affordable housing projects like those in Bomaderry and East Nowra; and support for our councils to retain their employees and rebuild lost infrastructure. Kiama council alone estimates a $6.8 million loss in revenue. This is monumental for a small council, and, without urgent and targeted assistance, our community will be left behind. We don't want more promises, phantom funds and flashy announcements. We shouldn't have to come begging for help. The government needs to step up and take country areas like the New South Wales South Coast seriously. The government must take action, and they must take action now.
I rise to talk about the Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020. This is a very important bill because it is going to enhance our agricultural export facility and get rid of a lot of the current regulatory obstacles to facilitating the export of medicinal cannabis and also nutritional cannabis—non-hallucinogenic-variety seeds, which are a very nutritious product. Over the past 15 years we've seen significant global innovation and a lot of research into some of the therapeutic benefits of high-CBD and low-THC cannabis. These high-performance cannabis products aren't the hallucinogenic variety. It's really important to know that they are healthy and nutritious and are now included in a lot of foodstuffs. As with other beneficial oils, the seed of CBD-containing marijuana, or hemp, is actually a nutritious product. There is a huge opportunity for Australia to capture this emerging market and export overseas to areas in North America, South America, Europe and Asia. Canada has stolen a march on us, and America has stolen a march on us. We need to facilitate changes to the legislation to make it a lot easier and quicker for us to export into the North American and European markets. AgriFutures have noted that the potential future growth of the hemp market worldwide is absolutely massive. They think that by 2025 the whole market could be worth $270 million.
In the beautiful Lyne electorate, we have had industrial hemp growing for some time. When I was working in the health ministry, through the meeting of all the food ministers we facilitated change in the regulations to include industrial hempseeds—the non-hallucinogenic variety—as a safe foodstuff, and you now see it on the shelves in Australia. But to get this wonderful product overseas requires considerable changes to the legislation. There are many levels of legislation that will have to be adjusted to facilitate that. Under the current legislation, the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment can't issue government certificates to support the export legitimacy, so they have to do quite complex workarounds to get the approvals to export the product into other countries. The department can only regulate products for export if they are goods for the purposes of the Export Control Act 1982, and the definition of 'goods' in that act doesn't include narcotic goods under the Customs Act. This bill will amend the act in order to provide the department with the legislative authority to issue government certificates for narcotic goods.
The bill will also amend the Export Control Act 2020, which will replace the 1982 act, once it commences in March 2021, so that the legislative authority changeover will be quite smooth. The bill doesn't entirely deregulate the export of narcotic goods from Australia. It does provide for the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment to support and regulate this emerging market. It won't change regulatory controls in other legislation in relation to narcotic goods, including the Customs (Prohibited Exports) Regulation 1958 and the Narcotic Drugs Act 1967. So the good people of Australia should be reassured that we are controlling these goods; it's not willy-nilly free export of illicit narcotic goods. It's just that that's where industrial hemp fits in the lexicon of definitions of products. We do want to grow our agricultural production from the current $60 billion up to $100 billion. This is one of the suite of issues on which we need to clear the decks to make it easy for us to export our fine-quality goods overseas.
It's interesting how industrial hemp has come full circle. There was concern amongst many regulators, police departments and the justice system that freeing up the definition of industrial hemp for seeds for nutrition would be a surrogate for widespread deregulation and legalisation of marijuana with high THC, the hallucinogenic portion of the drug. That has not been the case, because of good regulation.
That aside, a lot of people are keen on the medicinal variety, with the CBD oils, which are great for epilepsy, refractory epilepsy and other conditions; they bring a lot of solace to people suffering a lot of conditions. But we have seen in other countries that the so-called medicinal use of cannabis, or hemp or marijuana, has been a free ticket to widespread abuse of marijuana, through smoking and consumption. I might add, as a medical practitioner who practised for 33 years: people have got to understand that THC and smoking marijuana is just as bad, in terms of your lungs and the risk of cancer, asthma and emphysema, as smoking nicotine cigarettes. This idea that it is a safe drug is absolutely bonkers, with due respect. All the things that we've done over the last 45 years to cut the smoking of nicotine, to improve the health of the nation, will literally go up in smoke if everyone thinks that smoking dope or marijuana is safe. We all know about the risk of initiating depressive and schizophrenia-like illnesses if you're consuming a lot of marijuana. That is an understated risk. But the general community is starting to become aware of the downsides of marijuana.
It all goes back to a very famous court case in the seventies where a judge in America said: 'Why are we banning this drug when it's a safe thing?' Well, I hate to disappoint the judge, but it's not safe. Sure, it's not as sinister as something like ice or heroine or cocaine abuse, but certainly all the illnesses from smoking and inhaling stuff into your lungs are just the same. In fact, smoking one self-made joint is the equivalent of putting four tailor-made filtered cigarettes in your mouth and breathing the smoke from them all at once. So go figure that. It's not safe. Trust me.
That aside, this bill is a really good bill because it will help the export of goods from Australia, grow the agricultural output of the nation and provide nutrition to many people here and overseas. The other thing that's interesting about this is that one of the reasons our nation was formed, and one of the earliest products of this nation in agriculture, was industrial hemp for the British Navy. All the ropes and sails were made out of hemp. Industrial hemp that has low hallucinogenic properties is used for clothing, as a replacement for cotton. It can be grown widely throughout Australia. So it has huge untapped potential, both for clothing and for this other end of the spectrum where it is classed as a narcotic, but it needs to be exported to be used in food and for medicinal purposes. So I commend this bill and all the amendments to the House and look forward to people in the Lyne electorate having a much bigger market to sell their products overseas.
I thank the member for Lyne for that educational experience we've all shared on the very true and real dangers of illicit substances, and the little history lesson on the importance of industrial hemp to the world and this nation.
I am speaking today on the Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020, and, while Labor will work constructively to ensure the passage of the bill, it's disappointing that it's had to be fast-tracked. There was legislation through the parliament earlier this year that dealt with export legislation to modernise and harmonise Australia's current export laws. There's been ample time to address this issue, yet it comes before this parliament in a somewhat inexplicable rush. Nonetheless, it's a good thing to support legislation that will permit the export of Australian medicinal cannabis, particularly to the United States.
I want to acknowledge and support the second reading amendment moved by the member for Hunter, which notes the government's failure to provide a strategic plan for Australia's trade exposed industries, such as agriculture, and the failure of this government to develop any kind of plan to help rural and regional communities hit hard by drought, bushfires and now the COVID-19 pandemic.
Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, as you know and as everyone in this place knows, Australia is an exporting nation, with approximately one in five jobs in this country dependent on international trade. The summer bushfires and now the restrictions because of COVID-19 have put immense pressure on Australia's trade exposed industries, with few unaffected. In particular, agricultural exports have been hit in some respects by the restraint on trade because of the pandemic. All export industries dependent on travel, such as international education and tourism, have, as everybody knows, been devastated by this crisis. The resources and energy sector, comprising over 50 per cent of Australia's exports and worth $220 billion in 2018, has had to scale back some of its operations. However, the strength and resilience of Australia's resources industry, and, in particular, our iron ore exports, have been the saving grace for our economy during these very uncertain times.
Australia's resource and energy export earnings are forecast to hit a record, nearly $300 billion in 2019-20, despite the impact of the coronavirus outbreak, indicating an increase of $18 billion on 2018-19 in the commodity export value. However, the outlook for 2020-21 is more uncertain, as $8 billion worth of future investment has been taken off the table by Australia's resources sector. Companies such as BHP, Santos, Woodside, South32 and OZ Minerals have all announced spending cuts for 2021 because of effects of the coronavirus on their operations.
It is important to recognise that, between 2009 and 2015, Australia's oil and gas industry spent $273 billion on development projects, alongside the stimulus package introduced by the Labor government to help with the GFC recovery. This was instrumental in Australia avoiding the worst of that financial crisis. Sadly, in the current economic crisis brought on by the pandemic, there will be no surge in investment to assist with Australia's recovery and there will not be any further job-creating projects such as we saw with the GFC recovery. That's not going to happen until oil prices recover, and it's uncertain when that will be.
While there has been a record higher trade surplus, and that's something Australia can be very pleased about—and it is on the back of iron ore exports—there's been a $10 billion trade surplus in March. That is still progressing, and we are lucky to see trade surpluses in this nation. However, the WTO does expect global merchandise trade to fall between 13 and 32 per cent throughout the rest of 2020. The COVID-19 crisis is ongoing. It's going to have a catastrophic impact on some of Australia's most trade exposed industries and the economy more broadly, but no more so than on tourism and higher education.
As we have seen around the world during this pandemic, COVID-19 has emboldened anti-globalism and protectionist movements, with at least 70 countries restricting exports of protective equipment, medical devices and, indeed, medicines in recent months. Of course, these restrictions serve only to harm the poorest communities in the world, who can't be part of that fight for supply.
In relation to agriculture and food security, it is imperative that global supply chains remain open. In April the World Bank called for collective action to ensure the continuation of the global food trade. At a virtual meeting, G20 agriculture ministers committed to keeping food trade flowing between countries, joined by representatives of the African Union, ASEAN countries, Latin America and the Caribbean, who all agreed on the imperative to refrain from imposing trade barriers in response to COVID-19. Now is not the time to restrain trade in food. To do so will only cause suffering to the poorest people in the world, as they cannot get the food and nutrition that they need to survive.
While we're talking about the movement of food, and food security, and the work of agriculturalists around the nation and around the world, I would like to acknowledge the really incredible and steadfast transport industry in this country, particularly our truckies, who have made sure Australians enjoy all the supplies they need—whether it be food or other supermarket supplies that get transported across the nation. They are able to get across the borders, and rightly so, with the particular and necessary permits to do so. These truckies made sure that we had food on our table and the supplies of groceries that we needed in our houses. I want to thank the Transport Workers Union for its great work in advocating for the essential workers who do this great thing ensuring supplies continue to flow across the country.
Today we see the TWU, sadly, having to advocate for the workers of dnata—a group of Australian workers that have been left behind by this government's COVID response. A catering company, dnata was owned by Qantas but is now not owned by Qantas. As it's now in foreign hands, these workers do not qualify for payments and help during the COVID crisis. It's a crying shame that these Australian workers have been left behind by this government. I wish them my very best—I know they're in the parliament today—and I also wish the TWU my very best for the work that they are doing representing these dnata workers.
There has been a lot of talk during the COVID crisis about the need for Australia to rethink its manufacturing profile. I agree that Australia should continue to advocate for increased local manufacturing capacity that builds on our comparative advantages. In particular, high-end manufacturing, through investment in research, will lead to a better future of work for Australians in all sorts of advanced manufacturing processes. However, I do know for certain that the research and development that we need to have for an advanced manufacturing sector, for new products, will hinge on a strong higher-education sector. University research is heavily subsidised by international student revenue and is likely to face significant cuts without further government intervention in the sector. Agriculturalists, farmers around this nation, know full well the critical importance of science, research and development to their business and their sustainability. Resilient crops and healthy stock, as well as modern farming techniques, are the result of decades of productive collaboration between farmers and the research community of this country. Farmers get it; they get the critical importance of science done at universities in this country. Yet the Nationals and the Liberals in this place barely lift a finger to help higher education institutions at this grievous time.
The government did establish a global reputation task force in January to respond to the impacts of the bushfire crisis and COVID-19. However, we're yet to hear anything from this process. As people here know—or should know—international education, including unis and VET and English language schools, is Australia's largest services export and our third-largest export sector. Exports from education were worth over $37 billion to the Australian economy in 2018-19. The university sector alone is anticipating revenue losses of between $10 billion and $19 billion from 2020 to 2023. ABS figures show that for every $1 universities collect in tuition fees there is another $2 of activity associated with international students, cafes, restaurants and housing rentals. This means that the economy faces wider losses of between $30 billion and $60 billion between 2020 and 2023 because of the impact of the coronavirus on international student enrolments. The scale of the losses will, of course, depend on when borders are reopened to international students. However, the sector is anticipating that reputational damage will have a lasting impact resulting from statements from the Prime Minister that international students should simply go home combined with a lack of support offered to international students compared to key competitors, including Canada and the UK.
International education, for those who aren't aware, serves a dual purpose. Clearly it educates the person paying the fees and undertaking the study, but it also has an important role of creating a cultural understanding for those students coming to Australia to learn more about us, our system of government, how things work in this country and what an open and free society is. Equally, it's for domestic students to learn from international students about their countries. This is why we had the Colombo Plan many years ago and why we have the New Colombo Plan—to start and keep that exchange going. But what we've really done here in Australia is miss a trick in this crisis. We had this opportunity to help people who were stranded here and to continue to help students who made it here—because they really wanted to study here and their parents wanted them to study here—but instead we had messages like that from the Prime Minister: 'Simply go home.' Even this morning, the finance minister told international students to rack off and go home—as if they could! There aren't many planes actually flying anywhere.
As we know, today's students are tomorrow's leaders. But what this government has overseen is the development of a cohort of international students who are hungry, alone and homeless. There are international students in this country today who do not have a roof over their heads. What a legacy this is for this government in its international standing! These students won't thank this Australian government when they go home. They won't remember this country fondly when they are in positions of influence later in their lives. They'll just remember that, although the weather wasn't too bad and they didn't get sick from COVID—which is a very good thing—they, nonetheless, were hungry, alone and, for the most part, homeless—well, not for the most part, but a lot of young students are without adequate housing at this time, and this government has done nothing to help them. State governments are doing their best, but we really dropped the ball here when this country and this government failed to help these students, who we rely on to help build other relationships.
For instance, recently we had the Prime Minister talk again about our relationship with India whilst, of course, the Varghese report—now two years old—is gathering dust on a shelf. While there's been this emphasis on trying to build better trade links with India, we know that the main plank of that relationship will be international education. Instead, all we got was the Prime Minister rustling up a few 'ScoMosas' in a patronising attempt—I don't know what that was—to somehow inveigle something with India. The truth is that there was a really full report done by Peter Varghese that lays out a blueprint for our relationship with India that goes beyond the common thoughts of cricket, curry and Commonwealth. But, again, all we got here from this Prime Minister was samosas. I think he really does the Indian diaspora a disservice by being so flippant about their contribution to this country—and to the world for that matter—and the future contribution of India to the world and its importance to Australia as a solid trading partner. That relationship will take many, many years to develop, and we really need to get serious about it immediately.
I want to thank the member for Hunter and the member for Brand for their thoughtful contributions. Seventy per cent of our agriculture is exported. It's an incredibly important industry in our nation, and it's obviously one where we can do better if we have the political will to follow the advice and make the resources available. We can have a bright future in this nation with ag if we're serious about it.
Hemp is an environmentally sustainable and versatile crop. It uses relatively low levels of water, which is incredibly important in this day and age—and, for that reason, it will be increasingly important into the future. The uses for industrial hemp range all the way from textiles to building materials and cosmetics, to name just a few. The hemp industry has great potential in regional areas, including in the north of Australia, where I'm from—the Northern Territory. This bill, the Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020, will amend the definition of 'goods' by the Export Control Act to include narcotic goods, supporting legitimate exports of narcotic goods such as medicinal cannabis and low-THC hemp products, which require government certification for the import requirements of some overseas countries. The amendments will remove unintended regulatory barriers imposed on Australia's exports, supporting trade and growth of our nation's export markets for those low-THC hemp and medicinal cannabis industries.
Hemp is an excellent crop, as I said, for northern Australia. The Northern Territory Labor government continues to open up new opportunities for our ag sector in the north with the commencement of the Hemp Industry Act (NT) last month. The Northern Territory now has the legislative framework for the regulation of low-THC cannabis species, enabling a fibre and grain industry and a viable seed industry. Establishing a hemp sector in the Territory will facilitate investment and long-term local jobs in the north and will allow us to capitalise on the emerging domestic and international market opportunities that we all know are there.
It's very exciting news, and the Territory has a competitive advantage in this industrial hemp market in Australia. In the NT, we have the potential to produce viable seed via a dry-season crop and then supply it to the rest of Australia for summer planting. The NT Farmers association, under the leadership of CEO Paul Burke, is currently working to build a consortium to trial broadacre hemp production—testing hemp varieties on different soils, the water-use element and also looking at those potential markets.
I must say the Northern Territory government is doing a fantastic job supporting NT farmers and the agriculture sector in general, which is a significant employer in the Northern Territory. What we now need is for the federal government to start investing in the Northern Territory. Now, more than ever, developing a resilient, diverse and strong northern Australian economy is critical to Australia's future security and prosperity. The Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government have had seven years but, disappointingly, are more consumed with infighting then prioritising assistance to regional and rural Australians.
Rural and regional Australia is absolutely critical to the wellbeing and economic prosperity of our nation. Federal Labor has supported the government's northern Australia agenda, and it is important that work continues to implement it. The Northern Australia Infrastructure Facility, or the NAIF, held great potential to play a key role in unlocking large-scale growth in agricultural activity. We were all excited five or so years ago to hear about the $5 billion fund that was going to boost the north. It was going to inject investment dollars into projects throughout the north, but it's fair to say that it has been quite constipated and slow in delivery since its inception.
An honourable member: It has delivered nothing.
Well, that's something that I hope changes with the new minister. We've seen a very small element of that NAIF investment in Humpty Doo Barramundi, for example. That did assist the farm to expand, and it is going from strength to strength. It's one very small example. There are still billions of dollars left, and we really hope that everything possible can be done for the NAIF to be deployed to support industries, particularly during and after the COVID crisis. Untold damage has been done to our economy. There are billions of dollars there in the NAIF, so let's get it cracking.
There have been some positive conversations with the new minister for northern Australia in terms of fuel security and fuel storage for the north, which is in the national interest. I won't go into that in detail now. It will suffice to say that the federal government should consider things like deferrals of interest on existing NAIF projects. It should consider an interest holiday, as some call it, for any project approved in the next 12 months. It should invest in the proponents out there that are taking a risk, that are really trying to grow the north, because our nation needs it.
The degree to which northern Australia's full economic potential is realised is primarily dependent on its ability to secure investment to construct that enabling economic and social infrastructure, and the federal government's role in this is absolutely crucial. I'm a member of this House's Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources. I had the pleasure of hosting the committee in Darwin earlier this year as part of the committee's inquiry into growing Australian agriculture to $100 billion by 2030. I'm grateful that the committee made the trip up to Darwin, particularly as a lot of people were getting very nervous about COVID. I think we were perhaps the last delegation or the last visit to be out there in the regions of Australia before it all closed down. It was a good visit.
It was great to hear from Paul Burke and others about the enormous potential of northern Australian agriculture and aquaculture. Of course, potential is one thing; putting real political capital and dollars behind those people in northern Australia who are trying to develop the north for the good of our nation is another thing, and we hope to more see more of it. It was great to take the committee members to the cattle yards at Berrimah. We were going to make it down to a cattle station, but, because of COVID, it was cut short. But we did visit the cattle yards at Berrimah, where the cattle are trucked in to and kept, prior to sailing to ports in Indonesia and elsewhere in the Indo-Pacific.
It is important that members of this House can see this industry at work. There is no doubt that, in terms of animal welfare, the live cattle industry has improved by miles in recent years. But what I would like to know is: why oh why would the federal government be now appealing the High Court's decision that said that those families and those companies out on the land were so badly affected by the snap ban? What do you not get?
This matter is still subject to legal proceedings, and of course the government should always pursue what's in the national interest. It is clear that at that time some form of action was necessary, but the way that it happened, the snap ban, had a massively detrimental effect on pastoral companies and families, and they deserve to be compensated.
It also caused a massively detrimental effect to our relationship with Indonesia, so I would say to the government, as a Northern Territory representative, that enough damage has been done. It does not give us in the Northern Territory, and in northern Australia in general, much assurance that the federal government really understands not only the effect that that snap ban had on the live cattle industry, for example, but also the detrimental effect that unfulfilled promises of investment have on the livelihoods of Northern Territorians and other northern Australians.
We have rocks, crops and volts: rocks, the mining industry; crops, like the hemp industry that we're talking about today; and volts of energy that are going to be taken from the sun and converted into dispatchable electrical power. The biggest solar farm in the world will be built in the Northern Territory and will provide power to the Darwin grid. We'll grow manufacturing industry out of that. We'll also help our neighbours by providing large-scale renewable energy via undersea cable to places like Indonesia and Singapore. We've got heaps of land, and apparently we've got heaps of sun. So put those things together and it's not rocket science—rocks, crops and volts. We in the Territory know that so much more is possible in agriculture, in mining and in energy, and we will develop these industries with Aboriginal Territorians, who make up 30 per cent of the population in the Northern Territory.
We will see soon in this House, when a private member's bill enters the Senate tomorrow, whether the Prime Minister shares a vision of northern Australia, and the Northern Territory in particular, being important in our country and of Territorians and their rights to representation being important. That private member's bill in the Senate simply calls for the guaranteeing of two House of Reps seats for the Northern Territory. I'm encouraged that members of the Nationals political party are supportive of us not having half of our representation taken away, because, regardless of who holds those two House of Reps seats, we in the Northern Territory shouldn't be having our representation in this place halved. So we will see if the Prime Minister and the Nationals members of this place share that belief in the Northern Territory and in the north.
This legislation is a step forward. The NT government's hemp legislation is a step forward. So I encourage us all to keep stepping forward together. Let's walk forward together. With a bit of investment, the north will continue to provide an awesome return on investment for our nation, not only for the security of our nation but for the prosperity of our nation.
I rise to speak to the Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020 and I support the amendment moved by the member for Hunter. I join with my colleagues on this side of the House in condemning the government's unseemly haste in trying to push this bill through the House in May. Labor members have been consistent in agreeing to deal with urgent and necessary legislation in a timely manner, especially during this pandemic. But the way the legislation was imposed on the House without proper justification for that urgency was outrageous. It isn't in the tradition of this House, nor should it be.
Having said that, Labor supports the bill. It will ensure that Australia can continue to export narcotic defined goods such as medicinal cannabis and low-THC hemp products. The minister's office has advised that exported narcotic goods are currently being held up at the American border because the current export legislation does not have a provision defining narcotic goods, as required by the USA and other importing countries. But it is disappointing that this matter needed to be fast-tracked considering that, only in May, parliament considered export legislation to modernise and harmonise Australia's current export laws.
The bill will make amendments for the Export Control Act 1982 and its successor, the Export Control Act 2020, which provide for controls on the export of goods. This amendment will include narcotic goods in the definition of goods that can be exported. The amendments are reasonable and necessary, and will remove unnecessary and unintended regulatory barriers imposed on Australia's exports of cannabis seed and cannabis flower. Importantly, the amendments ensure Australia can meet its obligations under international agreements.
But why this bill couldn't have complied with the usual protocols for the introduction of bills is still a mystery. The minister came into the House on 13 May and said that the urgency was to send a signal to farmers and regional communities that they were a priority in difficult times. If the government cares so much about the rural and regional sector, why, after seven years of coalition government, are we still waiting for a strategic plan for the agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector? Sadly, this government is occupied by the infighting of the minor coalition partners, the Nationals. The move against the Deputy Prime Minister in the midst of the bushfires was one example. The preselection process in the Eden-Monaro by-election is another case in point—once again, we saw the Nationals infighting. Bushfire affected communities deserve better.
Again in the sitting week in May we saw the government announce another funding package. But it shouldn't take a by-election to get the Prime Minister interested in the bushfire affected communities. They needed an answer on additional aerial firefighting support from the Commonwealth in August last year, not May this year. The Morrison government has failed to ensure that assistance to rural and regional communities has been delivered in a timely manner—whether it is for drought or for bushfires.
Rural and regional Australia is critical to the wellbeing and economic prosperity of this country. It is where our food and fibre comes from. But it is much more than that. It is where one-quarter of our population lives, it is where a majority of our resources come from and it is where a majority of our tourists visit. But where is the care and support from the government? There isn't a plan to grow the agricultural sector or regional economies. I am constantly amazed that we have complacency about the agricultural sector, as if having lots of land and sunshine is enough. We should be exporting twice the value added produce that we currently are.
Australia, for all its size, exports just under $50 billion worth of agricultural exports. Compare that with the tiny Netherlands, which exports almost $160 billion of produce. Across every state, every capital and every regional city, we should be harnessing recycled water to support intensive agriculture and value-adding to that export. We should be stopping the wasteful clearing of vegetation, and reducing crops that are marginal at best and an inefficient use of scarce resources at worst. This government has no plan for the agricultural and fishing sectors. And in dairy the only plan seems to be to drive struggling dairy farmers out of business. The government refuses to provide a floor price for milk and deal with the imbalance of power in the industry.
Regional Australia has waited patiently for a comprehensive plan—particularly after the failed Agricultural competitiveness white paper, developed by the former Deputy Prime Minister, the member for New England—and they're still waiting. The Morrison government talk big on drought support and continue to spruik their $8 billion headline figure on that support, but the Future Drought Fund has not spent one cent and it is not a $5 billion fund. This is all spin from the Prime Minister. We have seen through the recent droughts that many regional and rural communities are losing their future, their young people, as they migrate to bigger towns and state capitals. This government doesn't care enough to do anything about jobs for these people. I'll give you three examples of what they could do.
Professor Ross Garnaut has predicted that the transformation of the Australian economy over the next 50 years will occur on the back of transforming our economy from carbon to renewables. He said it is an opportunity, not a cost. In mid-May, the Grattan Institute released a report, Start with steel, which said that the development of a green hydrogen industry could make Australia a world leader in green steel production. Grabbing just a seven per cent stake in the world steel market could mean $65 billion in export revenue and up to 25,000 jobs. As with wind and solar, where are these new industries going to be? In regional Australia, of course. These are massive opportunities, but under the coalition government we've seen investment in large-scale wind and solar drop off the cliff—by 60 per cent in 2019. This is despite new-build energy and wind being much cheaper to build than coal. Yet, unbelievably, some on the other side are still pushing to build new coal-fired power stations.
Both Japan and Korea have put green hydrogen at the centre of their strategic energy plans for the next 20 years. As our Chief Scientist, Alan Finkel, said to the Press Club last year about witnessing the launch of the first Japanese bulk liquid hydrogen carrier:
We truly are at the dawn of a new, thriving industry.
… … …
In Australia, we've got the available land, the natural resources, the technology smarts, the global networks, and the industry expertise.
All of this can happen in rural and regional Australia, but the government needs to do more than say it cares. It has to have a plan and it has to invest in that plan. Massive investment also leads to new manufacturing opportunities, and many of these can be in regional Australia, especially around the gateway cities like Geelong, Wollongong, Newcastle and Maryborough. If this government cared about rural and regional families and jobs, it would invest in regional manufacturing hubs. What we've all seen from this government during the last seven years is laughter in place of supporting our car industry. We've said goodbye to thousands of jobs offshore. Regional manufacturing, especially value-adding in agricultural products, is why exports from the tiny Netherlands are more than double ours.
Regional economies aren't just about agriculture and fishing. In many regional centres, the university is a key contributor to the local economy and provides the research and development needed for rural and regional industries to thrive. Universities employ 250,000 Australians, and education is one of our biggest industries. Yet, during the COVID-19 crisis, the Morrison government have basically thrown the higher education sector to the wolves. They have abandoned international students, leaving it to individual universities, states and charities to pick up the pieces. They have denied university staff access to JobKeeper subsidies. Their lack of a plan means that the National Tertiary Education Union has been forced, quite courageously, to negotiate wage freezes and cuts in exchange for a retention of jobs. It is an amazing effort by the unions. Unfortunately, not many universities have taken up this offer. This shouldn't have happened—as if higher education, especially in regional areas, is some add-on, some luxury that can simply be abandoned.
I also note the recent spate of apparently unremarkable and unrelated actions by the Chinese government to increase tariffs on our agricultural products or suspend support for our beef industry. I can only assume there is more to come, and we saw that this week with the warnings to Chinese tourists and students. International students are our biggest earner, by the way, just behind iron ore, coal and natural gas. Why has this happened? Because of the government's inept handling of the China relationship, that's why. If the Prime Minister cared about regional Australia, why would he not have been more careful in distancing Australia from the awful rhetoric of the US administration around COVID-19 and China? Their rhetoric is clearly aimed at US domestic politics, and particularly the upcoming November presidential election.
I agree with the member for Hunter, who said in May that the Prime Minister risked causing enormous damage to our relationship with China as well as potential damage to thousands of rural producers, workers and families by not proceeding quietly and methodically to garner support from other countries for an international COVID inquiry. Instead, we blazed away, naively eager to be first with the call for an inquiry. On top of that, we have government backbenchers throwing hand grenades, making baseless allegations about the collaboration between the CSIRO and the Centre for Disease Preparedness and Chinese scientists. The CSIRO has collaborated with Chinese scientists since 1975 on numerous scientific endeavours from crops to viruses, as it should. The CSIRO is bound by multiple acts covering biosecurity and national security. The unwarranted attack on normal scientific practices certainly doesn't help regional Australia.
To say that we have an obligation to speak out on all manner of issues and not fear retribution is to say the obvious, but we need to do this consistently, calmly and without discrimination, not focus simply on one country. The reality is that 33 per cent of export dollars are now generated by trade with China. That is more than the next six biggest countries combined, including the US, which is at around seven per cent. So when and how you say these things actually does matter. With the loss of almost 10 per cent of all jobs in my electorate of Corangamite due to COVID-19 and unemployment of 15 per cent and higher in most rural and regional communities, a crude approach to our relations with China is the last thing we need. It could mean the difference between economic survival and a very bleak future, especially if bans on beef and barley turn to restrictions on international students and tourists.
On the topic of tourists, my seat of Corangamite relies heavily on tourism for jobs and revenue. In some areas, like Apollo Bay and the Otways, up to 70 per cent of tourists are international. COVID-19 has had a devastating effect, with almost 10 per cent of all jobs disappearing, ranging from 8.4 per cent in Torquay to 13.3 per cent in the Otways. Many business operators are partnerships and can't get the JobKeeper subsidy for both parents in the business. I had an email from Andrew Devlin, who runs Southern Anchorage Retreat on the Great Ocean Road. He said: 'Now, governments were quick to act on tourism with benefits that would occur for most of its COVID incentives as it would from the cost. We're also trying to find money to pay our lease. Our cost is not unique. Our next-door neighbour has a family, runs a partnership and also only qualifies for one JobKeeper. Many accommodation places along the way are in similar circumstances. There is little incentive to reopen quickly, and my wife and I are considering leaving the industry, even though we can run a very successful accommodation business. But with 70 per cent of our guests from overseas we realise there is very little chance that many accommodation and tourism businesses will remain open and survive this crisis along the Great Ocean Road.' Andrew is already receiving cancellations from international tourists for next January and February. Easing the restrictions won't help these rural businesses in the near future, as increased domestic tourism simply won't replace the lost international business. They need the current support to be improved and an assurance that a support package for hard-hit areas and industries will continue after this September. The minister for agriculture can talk long and hard about caring for regional Australia, but that is all it is: talk, without matching it with action. Labor supports this bill, but regional Australians want to see real action—action to diversify and build their agricultural sector. (Time expired)
It was interesting to hear the previous speaker. These people are new to politics and government, and they can be excused on that basis. I thought it was a very, very good point that she made, that the tiny Netherlands has $160,000 million in agricultural production and Australia has $56,000 million in agricultural production. But I need to tell her the reasons why.
Wool was the biggest export commodity we had—it was bigger than coal—when Mr Keating decided to deregulate it and completely destroy it. Our wool production is down 72 per cent. So what should have been an industry pulling in about $50,000 million a year has vanished without trace. Let's be conservative and say $40,000 million a year. That is what its value was then, and that would have been its value today. That was wool, your greatest export commodity.
I was heavily involved with the establishment of the prawn- and fish-farming aquaculture industry of Australia. We started the first commercial farm in Australia, in North Queensland, when I was minister, and it was earning $750 million a year. The greenies in the federal Liberal-National and Labor governments cut it from $750 million a year down to about $50 million a year. So if you're saying that we don't have much agricultural production relative to other countries—California is a state maybe a twentieth of the size of Australia in area, and two-thirds of it is among the most barren and hot areas on earth. In Southern California, the average rainfall is under 7½ inches, yet California is the biggest food-producing state on earth. We have infinitely more water in north-eastern Australia than California has, and our agricultural production is negligible. In fact, if you take out the little tiny strip along the east coast, all you've got left is a fifth of the Australian cattle industry, which is pretty small beer in the bigger scheme of things.
The member for Corangamite did not mention ethanol—in fact, just the opposite. She was talking about electric cars, hydrogen cars and everything else. The member for Corangamite should do just a tiny bit of research, because she represents one of the biggest wheat-growing areas in Australia, and, of course, we're the only country on earth that has no national laws on ethanol content, so a thousand people die each year in Sydney from motor vehicle emissions. Those are not my figures. They come from Professor Ray Kearney, the deputy dean of the faculty of medical science at Sydney university, the oldest and most distinguished sandstone university in Australia. They're not my words; they're the words of the officer in charge of air quality control in Australia, and they're the words of Dr Streeton, who was the leading giver of evidence in the tobacco smoking case in Australia. He's the leading thoracic surgeon and expert in that field in the country. Those are people who say there are health reasons. Every country has done it, not because they love their farmers but for health reasons. But in Australia we don't worry how many of my blackfella cousins are dying of malnutrition. Don't worry about it! The Labor Party has closed down all of the market gardens, so we get hundreds and maybe thousands of deaths each year as a result of that decision. They don't care. I mean, we have people dying of motor vehicle emissions, but the government doesn't care.
I must find great humour in this: I didn't know that marijuana was legal in Canberra, and I can now understand why the country has gone to pot. Clearly we know what's going on now. We know why the wool industry is destroyed, why the motor vehicle industry is destroyed, why we haven't gone to ethanol and why our cattle numbers are down 25 per cent, our wool is down 72 per cent, our milk is down 20 per cent, our prawn and fish farming is down 70 per cent, our sugar is down 15 per cent. But, at long last, we've found out why. I must thank the minister, because I have many good friends in North Queensland that are experts in the field of marijuana farming. Their criminal records attest to that! I'll just say that we're not growing it because of police harassment. They're harassing my friends, because in Queensland it's illegal. We've got to stop this harassment, and you've given us a way out here, so we thank you for that.
I have to say that Minister Fitzgibbon has aspirations of higher office, and I wish him well. We like ambitious people. But if you spend too much time down here, you're going to be high all right—you'll be a lot higher than you are now, I can assure you! We have a little town in North Queensland where you don't have to buy the marijuana there; you just walk down the street and take a deep breath and you're high as a kite. Minister Fitzgibbon can rise without even having to worry too much about it.
On a more serious note, we are sending this stuff up to the northern regions. Maybe they will imbibe when we export it to them and maybe they'll be as stupid as we are and close down all their industries and export the industries overseas, like we've exported the petrol industry overseas, exported the motor vehicle industry overseas, exported a massive amount of our agricultural production overseas. We've even figured out a way—and the last speaker, Ms Coker, made mention of it—to export our electricity industry. That's a pretty good achievement!
Twenty per cent of our electricity now comes from solar panels, and they're produced in China. So we closed down the coal fired power stations in Australia producing at $28 a megawatt-hour—and I know, because I was the minister in the negotiations with Comalco over the sale of then one of the 10 biggest power stations in the world, Gladstone. I know what we were producing, which was $28 a megawatt-hour. Quite frankly, since the power station has been paid off and because the price of coal, relatively speaking, hasn't risen a great deal and since there are virtually no labour costs—they're all automated, these power stations—we can still sell at $28 a megawatt-hour. There's no doubt about that.
Finkel, in his report—which I don't agree with and I don't think is correct, but I'll take his figures—said that you could sell the power for $84 a megawatt-hour. Big deal! We could've got $84 a megawatt-hour when we're producing it for $28 a megawatt-hour. If you have expensive electricity, you close down the aluminium industry, which is the fourth-biggest export item that this country has. You're not content with wrecking the milk industry. You're not content with closing down the petrol industry. You're not content with completely closing down the motor vehicle industry and all the whitegoods industries, but now you want to start up on the aluminium industry—and the steel industry also. Although it's not 'congealed electricity', like aluminium, it is still a very big user.
Don't say that our country is a mining country, because it's not a mining country. Mining is when you take ore out of the ground and you sell a metal. I know—I've been a mining man all of my life, and I still am; I'm not a cattle producer as everyone seems to think. I've had cattle all my life, but I'm a mining man. And I can tell you: we're not a mining country. Mining is when you dig ore out of the ground and you sell a metal. When you dig it out of the ground and sell the ground, that is quarrying—a very primitive, simplistic production. We have been reduced to that because we can't afford anymore to process, and one of the major problems is the cost of electricity.
So we've got everything closing down. All mineral processing in this country has closed down or is closing down. This hits home in North Queensland. They're the biggest mining province in the world. Mount Isa, that little town, produces $4½ thousand million a year of export earnings for this country. But how much longer it can do that I don't know.
Let me turn to the live cattle. Ministers in the government—and one of them, as everyone knows, is a relative of mine—have said that this will unnecessarily restrain government power. That is exactly what it is supposed to do. I don't know what's happened to our education system, but God bless the Christian Brothers—the much maligned Christian Brothers. One of the greatest advantages I had in life was an education by the Christian Brothers. They taught me about Magna Carta. I don't want to skite but I did get an A—the highest mark you can get—for history. Magna Carta said: 'Mr King, you no longer can do what you like. You do not have unlimited discretionary powers. There's none of this absolute monarchy anymore.' Two of the greatest men in history drew up that document and forced John to sign it. One of them was Archbishop Langton, who was going to send John to hell—though he was going to go there anyway, so I don't think he should have worried too much about that! The other one was William Marshal, the greatest soldier, jouster and sword-fighter of the Middle Ages—sort of like Wally Lewis or Benny Elias! There was no way the king was going to win against William Marshal. He was ordered to sign the document. From then on, the king was subject to the law, the same as any other person.
We have completely overridden that, and it is to the shame of this government, and to friends and relatives of mine, who've been publicly saying, 'This will restrain our ability to do things.' That is exactly what Magna Carta was about. You can't just go in there and destroy the licence value of every taxi owner in Australia. You can't do that. You can't destroy the livelihood of every cattleman in Australia anymore. You can't just decide, on a whim, to destroy the income of every dairy farmer in Australia anymore. No. You are subject to the law. Well, Australia has moved so far away from that concept that we have leaders in the government—very good people; I know them and I like and respect them—saying something that is against the Declaration of Independence written by Thomas Jefferson. It is against the Magna Carta, written by Archbishop Langton and William Marshal. It is against every concept of British justice. The government, the cabinet, the executive—whatever word you want to use, it is the Crown. That is the word we use as the generic term to refer to the people who have the executive power. Once upon a time it was a bloke called a king. We English-speaking people—many of my forebears amongst them—died, but we cut the heads off monarch after monarch after monarch that defied that principle. I hope the Australian people cut your head off, Mr Government, if you do not accept, as to your irresponsible behaviour, that you had no power or right to act. You are subject to the law, the same as anyone else. You are not going to use the power of government to bash and smash the cattlemen of Australia till they have no money left to fight you so you can approve a principle which overrides Magna Carta: 'I can do anything I like, because I am the government.'
In Queensland, we have easily the worst government in the state's history—maybe with one exception. That government doesn't remotely understand that you denied power. Every state did a deal with the taxi owners except Queensland, and Queensland spat on them, thinking they were above the law. Well, in the state courts that's probably true. In the federal courts you will find out it's not. (Time expired)
I acknowledge the passionate contribution from the member for Kennedy. We all enjoyed it. But, again, today this is a very important step in agricultural production and an emerging export market that will continue to allow our primary producers to be able to diversify.
The Export Control Legislation Amendment (Certification of Narcotic Exports) Bill 2020 is required to amend parts of the export control legislation. The bill will amend the definition of 'goods' contained within the Export Control Act 1982 and the Export Control Act 2020. The amendments will remove discrepancies between the treatment of narcotic goods and the treatment of other goods that pose a similar risk to Australia's trade reputation and market access. This bill addresses an issue that was originally identified in 2018. In March 2019, more than 12 months ago, we requested that the department investigate solutions to address the gap in official certification. This bill is the culmination of that work.
Markets for industrial hemp in Australia are underdeveloped by comparison to other OECD countries, especially Europe, the UK and Canada. The past 15 years have seen significant global innovation, significant levels of research in agronomy and the development of high-performance hemp products. For example, Canada's export of hemp products grew from Can$10.4 million in 2010 to over Can$90 million in the 10 months to October 2015. AgriFutures has noted the potential for further growth of the industrial hemp market worldwide, stating:
There is a great opportunity for Australian growers to capitalise on growth of current and future products derived from industrial hemp with Global Market Insights predicting the market to surpass US$270 million in size globally, by 2025.
The global medicinal cannabis market size was estimated to be more than US$11 billion in 2017 and is expected to reach an estimated US$44 billion by 2024.
Most countries currently regulate unprocessed and semiprocessed plant products against the introduction of injurious plant pests and diseases. Under the International Plant Protection Convention, exporting countries can issue phytosanitary certificates attesting to the absence of such pests and diseases on exported plant products, which is what this bill seeks to facilitate. Since 2015, in place of the phytosanitary certificates, alternative assurances have been provided for cannabis products exported to markets in Korea, the United States, Uruguay and New Zealand. Earlier this year, an exporter from Queensland sought to export a commercial quantity of seed to the United States. The United States Department of Agriculture, the USDA, indicated they would require formal phytosanitary certification from the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment for exports to be accepted. Since late 2019, exporters have expressed interest in exporting to other markets, including Thailand, Vietnam and Canada. These are all markets that require official phytosanitary certification—certification that the passage of this bill will finally allow Australian authorities to issue.
As this industry gains scale, markets will require export certification from the Australian government. The proposed amendments will allow Australian exports to meet the biosecurity import requirements for any market that requires a phytosanitary certificate. Countries that currently have strict import requirements, including phytosanitary certificates for unprocessed plant products, include China, Japan, Thailand, Vietnam, Korea, Canada and the US. In fact, the only major markets that don't have such requirements are Hong Kong and Singapore.
The bill will address the government's current inability to issue phytosanitary certificates and enable certification of a broader range of agricultural commodities, including narcotic goods within the meaning of the Customs Act 1901. The bill will ensure Australia meets its obligations under international agreements and provide assurances to trading partners that our exported agricultural goods meet their requirements. The bill provides the confidence for existing and future exporters to pursue lucrative export opportunities, particularly for those involved with new and emerging industries. Being able to access a broad range of markets creates more export opportunities and higher profits for Australian farmers, producers and export businesses.
The bill will support the initiatives of the government to bust congestion in regulation and ensure that agricultural industries come out firing after the threat of COVID-19 has passed. Without the ability for the government to provide this certification, Australian exporters are at a disadvantage when compared to global competitors. I commend the bill to the House.
The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Hunter has moved, as an amendment, that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.
Question agreed to.
Original question agreed to.
Bill read a second time.
by leave—I move:
That this bill be now read a third time.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a third time.
I move:
That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:
"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the Government:
(1) has damaged and neglected Australia's vocational education and training system, cutting over $3 billion from TAFE and training;
(2) is presiding over a disastrous decline in apprenticeships and traineeships; and
(3) is failing to work with employers, unions and TAFEs to rebuild Australia's world-class vocational education system".
The National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020 establishes a new statutory office, the National Skills Commissioner, responsible for advising government on trends in the workplace. This office was proposed by the Joyce review into vocational education and training, which was released last year. The Skills Commissioner would be supported by employees in the Department of Education, Skills and Employment and would function as the head of the National Skills Commission in that department. The Skills Commissioner would also be charged with providing public information on these matters as well as annual reports on current, emerging and future skills needs.
Of course Labor is not going to oppose this bill, so far as it goes. The Skills Commissioner will offer useful information to policymakers in an area that is very significant for our nation and where there has been significant policy failure in recent years. Of course Labor understands the importance of having evidence about skills needs and taking expert advice in education, training and skills. In fact, when Labor was last in government, we established Skills Australia in 2008. We set up Skills Australia, and in 2011 Skills Australia became the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency. That agency analysed and reported on Australia's workplace development needs, helped to forecast skills shortages and suggested ways to fill them. Some of the saddest words in political life are 'I told you so'. We actually set this agency up in 2008, essentially to do what's being expected of the new National Skills Commission. Sadly, in 2014, when Tony Abbott became Prime Minister, one of the first things the Liberal Party did was abolish the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency. When the coalition made that decision, we raised our concerns and we emphasised what important work the agency was doing. The member for Cunningham, the then shadow minister for vocational education, spoke of the 'critical, strategic significance of the work performed by AWPA'. She said that she wanted an assurance that 'the rigour and independence of this work is not lost when the tasks are taken into the department'.
As I said, some of the saddest words in public life are 'I told you so'. Labor warned against what was done in 2014, but, of course, we're happy that the government has finally seen the error of its ways and has gone back to a system where we have, hopefully, some more independent advice in this area. It's taken the coalition six years to understand this and to rebuild a small part of what it previously destroyed. Even then, this office will still be in the same department, so, basically, as far as we can tell it's the same people doing the same functions as were being done by the department. There is no real independence or a genuine partnership here with business, with state or territory governments, with unions or with education providers. Sadly, it seems that at this point—I hope I'm proved wrong on this one—this is once again a rebranding exercise, an effort to be seen to do something. But it is better than nothing and we won't oppose the bill.
This is, I suppose you would say, a minute change, given the scale of the challenge that is ahead of us. The vocational education system has seen billions cut from it and all sorts of retrograde action. It would be absolutely ripe for major change, rather than this minute change. This is even more necessary now that we have entered our first recession in a generation. It's always better to have more information rather than less. But you can't keep taking money out of the vocational education sector, year after year, and expect to see improvements. You can't systematically underfund vocational education and then ask the sector to meet the complex and evolving skills challenges that we face. But that's exactly what this government has been doing. The government has spent seven years cutting funding to TAFE and training and, on top of cutting funding to TAFE and training, even underspending the funding that it has allocated to the sector. It's spent seven years ignoring the vital role that TAFE plays in the growth of our economy and the growth of our young people.
Since coming to office in 2013, the Liberal and National parties have cut $3 billion from TAFE and training, and, as we learnt earlier this year, that $3 billion cut comes on top of nearly a billion dollars that has been budgeted for the system but was never spent—a $3 billion cut and a $1 billion underspend. These are enormous figures and the consequences for our students and for employers and industry have been dire. Every time this government cuts funding to TAFE and training, we see fewer qualified graduates and we see falling performance across the sector. In fact, even before the recession hit, we had more people dropping out of courses than completing them. We had TAFE campuses falling apart, right across the country. We had state governments closing campuses and ending courses. Then we had a federal government that had a billion dollars sitting around that they'd budgeted for the sector and nevertheless refused to spend.
Before COVID-19 hit, there was a mess in vocational education and training. It was already a serious problem holding our country back. In fact, before COVID-19 three-quarters of Australian businesses were struggling to find the skilled workers they needed to expand and grow, three-quarters of businesses wanted to be employing Australians but couldn't find the qualified workers they needed. That's when we had close to two million Australians unemployed or underemployed already. Now that we are in a recession, that problem has turned into a crisis. That mess is a genuine national crisis.
Nowhere is this more important than in the collapse in apprenticeship numbers. Even before the recent shutdowns, the recent hit on our economy, Australia had lost 140,000 apprentices and trainees since those opposite came to power. Now, according to new modelling that we've had from the National Australian Apprenticeships Association, we're set to lose another 100,000 by the end of the year. So if the Prime Minister does nothing, if he lets the training pipeline collapse without federal support, we are looking at losing a generation of apprentices and trainees.
It's already happening. Between January and April this year there was a 73 per cent drop in advertisements for apprenticeships, in apprentice job ads. We know from past recessions that a five per cent increase in unemployment results in a 30 per cent decrease in apprentice commencements. That is a disaster for young Australians and it would reverberate throughout our economy for decades. It's all very well to talk about construction projects and renovations, but you need tradies and apprentices to build them.
What's the Prime Minister's response to this crisis? We heard it at the National Press Club just last month. There was all the hype leading up to this Press Club address. It was going to be the government's opportunity to lay out their vision for apprentices and trainees. Instead, what we got was another exercise in marketing and spin. The Prime Minister's so-called JobMaker scheme involves no new funding, no detail and no time line. In fact, outside of a few perfectly pleasant-sounding statements, the speech involved nothing new, no substance at all. There's nothing there. It's a phoney response to a serious problem. It's certainly not enough to address the crisis in apprentice numbers or to revive the TAFE system.
We are happy to support sensible legislation in this area. We're happy to support this bill as far as it goes. But, truly, as a nation we need to do so much more. We need to be so much more ambitious than this tweak that we're discussing today, and we need to offer the sector much more than rhetoric. We need to offer apprentices who are facing losing their jobs so much more than the rhetoric that the government's got on offer. We are experiencing one of the most significant economic transformations in our lifetime. A response to these challenges can either reduce the pain and the depth of this recession or shape a country that will see a longer, deeper recession and more long-term unemployment. The decisions that we're making today will shape our nation for decades to come.
We've got really important choices to make as we go forward. We've got the highest level of unemployment in decades. You would think that a well-funded, functioning vocational education sector would be more important than ever. But, basically, no matter how they dress it up with measures like these today, the government's just offering more of the same. Their track record is clear. If we continue down this road, with this history of cuts and neglect, the effects will be devastating for the individuals who will miss out. Those people who should have had the chance of being trained in a trade that would have given them a secure income for years or decades to come will miss out. It's devastating for them. But it's also such a problem for our economy, for our nation, long term.
Really, if we want a strong recovery we have to invest now in giving people as individuals the tools to work their way out of unemployment. We have to give our nation the tools it needs to work its way out of recession. Unlike those opposite, we believe that investing in education and training is an investment in the future of our people and the future of our economy. It's an investment in, not a burden on, our national prosperity. We need better workplace information and some forecasting looking at where the skills gaps are going to be—of course we do. By the way, that's why we set up the agencies we set up when we were in government—the ones that Tony Abbott, as Prime Minister, got rid of. More urgently, we need the resources and the will to deliver meaningful training at this time.
This is a government without a plan for education or a plan for training and with no plan for Australia's future or for economic recovery. We won't oppose this bill, but the changes here do little to address the enormous problems facing our skills and training system. If we want to save a generation of lost apprentices, help Australians get back to work and accelerate our recovery, we need to do much, much more.
Is the amendment seconded?
I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak.
The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Sydney has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. If it suits the House, I'll state the question in the form, 'That the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question'.
We need to have a real debate in this country about how we ensure that learners in the VET system are work ready and future ready. We know that this government is not committed to having a conversation about future-ready workers, but we have to do it. We have to think about how we can build a modern, broad based economy with a serious industry policy. We have to ensure that, as we move forward from the health crisis that we've been through, we leave no-one behind. We need to prepare Australians across all industries to learn the skills of a modern, environmentally friendly economy. This bill before us today, the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020, does not do that.
As the shadow minister and the member for Sydney has said, Labor will support this bill because we guess it's better than nothing. If you read the title of this bill you would think, perhaps, that a National Skills Commissioner would be a powerful driver of skills reform in Australia, but, sadly, it's not. But that's what we need, and we need a driver of skills reform as part of the debate about how we can move forward through this recession but also how we can make sure that Australia's future generations are work-ready and future-ready. Sadly, at the moment, they're not.
This isn't a crisis that we've come to just because of COVID-19. Before COVID-19 and its impacts, three-quarters of Australian businesses were struggling to find the qualified workers they needed in order to expand and to grow. Last time I went to a meeting of the South East Melbourne Manufacturers Alliance, I was talking to members who couldn't find qualified plumbers for their businesses. They couldn't find qualified plumbers in south-east Melbourne! The lack of work-ready and skill-ready workers is not a crisis that has occurred because of COVID-19. It's something that this Liberal-National government has presided over for six years. And it has not just presided over it; it has contributed to it with its massive cuts to funding for skills, education and training. There were 140,000 apprentices lost under this government, and now we hear, from modelling from the National Australian Apprenticeships Association, that we could be set to lose another 100,000 apprentices by the end of the year.
We can't afford to have this in Australia. We can't afford to have a generation of people who should be entering the workforce missing out. We can't afford to have an older generation who have lost their jobs during this pandemic unable to get the skills and retraining they need to get another job. We can't afford it for the economy, and we can't afford it for the sort of community, the sort of country, that we want to be—one that doesn't leave anyone behind as we move forward.
What we also can't afford is to continue on with a vocational education and training system that does not put public TAFE at its heart. Public TAFE has to be rebuilt, strengthened and supported. It should be at the core of a vocational education and training system. In my electorate of Dunkley, the Chisholm Institute is a foundation of our community. It means so much more than the absolutely magnificent new building that the Andrews Labor state government has funded. It means opportunity for people, young and old. And 'apprentices, trades and skills' doesn't just mean tradies who are building buildings. Of course we need more tradies, but vocational education and training and public TAFEs are about so much more than that. At the Chisholm Institute in Frankston, my community goes to learn skills in art and design; automotive; building trades; business; community services; computer technology; early childhood and education support; employment preparation and foundation; engineering; hair, beauty and make-up; health; higher education; horticulture and conservation; and hospitality and events. There's a range of short courses in arts, computer technology and mechanics, and there's training and assessment skills, VET, VCE, VCAL and workplace safety.
Public TAFE, when you look at that list of courses that are offered, is about the fabric of my community and people having the opportunity to learn and to go to work. Because of the state Labor government, 37 of those courses at the Chisholm Institute in Frankston are free. That's what it means to not leave anyone behind and to future-plan. That's what it means to look at the skills and the workforce that are needed—early childhood education and caring is a very good example of that—and to say, 'We want all of our citizens to have access to that high-quality education and training in the areas that are needed, and it doesn't matter whether you can afford to pay, because it's a public good and a public right.'
We cannot continue with policies that leave people burdened with debt because they are trying to build a better future for themselves by getting vocational education and training, and we on this side of the House know that. Labor knows that. We have a track record. When we were last in government, Labor established Skills Australia in 2008, and it became the Australian Workforce Productivity Agency in 2011. That agency did what there is now some tokenistic talk from the government about. The agency analysed and reported on Australia's current, emerging and future workforce development needs. What happened when the Liberals and Nationals came into government in 2014? It was closed down. So is it any wonder that all of us around the country, in our communities, talk to businesses, both small manufacturing businesses and larger businesses, who say they can't find the skilled workforce that they need? Is it any surprise?
We won't oppose this bill, because it's better than nothing. But, as the shadow minister has said, taking the same people that are currently doing the work and simply giving them a new name within the department is not a real partnership. It's not a partnership between state and federal governments and unions, industry groups and educators to come up with a system that actually works for our people. It is, unfortunately, something that resembles the big announcement that the Prime Minister made about 'JobMaker', which turns out to be nothing more than words—no plan, no funding, no time line, no deliverables. You can't just talk the talk when it comes to vocational education and training; it means too much. It means too much to people who are in crisis now and it means too much for the future of Australia.
There's a lot of talk about how we're going to get through this recession. What we also need to be talking about is how we're going to build a better future as we get through this recession. Australia can't be resilient as a nation, we can't be resilient as a community, if we are not supporting our people to be able to contribute both to their own lives and to the economy, and we can't enable our people to do that unless we properly fund and support public education—public education in our schools, in our universities and, in the vocational education and training sector, in our TAFEs. We have to continue to push and push this government to stand up and do more than just talk about education and training, and actually invest in it—to acknowledge that their cuts of $3 billion and the underspend of $1 billion have had dire consequences for this vocational education and training system. We have to do more.
Labor know this. Our leader, Anthony Albanese, in his 'Jobs and the future of work' speech last year, talked about establishing Jobs and Skills Australia. I know there was scoffing on the government side: 'That's what we're going to do anyway.' No. It's not just words. It's not just putting a group of people in a department and giving it a name. Our proposal was for an independent statutory authority to provide genuine partnership with business leaders, large and small; state and territory governments; unions; education providers; and people who understand particular regions and cohorts—to have a real Jobs and Skills Australia, a collaborative and enduring structure. As we think about the way we work and our interaction with the world around us, as we go through an analysis of what we've experienced in the last few months and where we want to go in the future, that announcement Mr Albanese made in October last year has more and more resonance. It is genuinely about working together for a deliverable, not just talking about it.
More and more of our community now deeply understand that insecure work means, yes, you might have a job, but, when times get tough, if you're the last person in, the last person to be employed, the apprentice, the casual that's been there for less than 12 months, then you're the first person out. More and more Australians understand that insecure work means you might be doing quite well as an independent contractor at the moment, but, when the economic conditions change, your work dries up. More and more people understand that insecure work means needing to have a government that will back you in. That's where a government steps in and says, 'This is how we're going to deal with that insecurity going forward. It's a structural problem; it's a systemic problem. It's not something we will help you out with just for a month or two until we think we've done enough and then take it away and expect you to snap back.' Australians are awakening to what it means to be underemployed and insecure, and they're not going to accept being told, 'Just go back to the way it was,' because they now know what can happen with the click of a finger and the blink of an eye and how badly that can affect them.
As part of this bill today and this commission that the government is establishing there's talk about relying on evidence and data, and that is very welcome. We have to rely on evidence and data in education and training, and elsewhere. On display during this COVID pandemic has been a willingness to rely on scientists and medical evidence and to use data, research and experts to guide policymaking and political decision-making. That has been not only welcome but also successful. We've seen it at the state level and the federal level—a willingness to say, 'These people know what they're talking about; we need to accept what they say and base our response on it.' We can do it for COVID-19. We should be doing it for education and training. We should be doing it for climate change. We should be doing it for investing in preventative health. We should be doing it for justice reinvestment.
I call on members opposite, and the government, to take the attitude that has been shown towards experts, science and data during the COVID-19 crisis and apply it to policy more broadly, to take ideology and fighting culture wars out of how we look at the future and climate change and go back to the science and the experts and fund them to do the work that they need to do so that we can build a better future and go forward, not snap back. The worst thing that we could do coming out of this pandemic and trying to get through a recession is to say that we can snap back to where we were. That's not where we want to go. We want to go forward to a better future. For my community, a community that relies very heavily on our public TAFE system, vocational education and training has to be part of building that better future and taking everyone with us. If we don't put the public provision of vocational education and training and TAFE at the heart of our system, then we will be doing a disservice to the people we represent now and the generations to come.
Over the last few months, I've seen firsthand how important the federal government's economic support package is to the electorate of Braddon in Tasmania. Although the impact of COVID-19 has been felt hard right across the region, the federal government's decisive action on both the health crisis and the economic crisis has limited the impact of the coronavirus pandemic. The jobseeker and JobKeeper programs have formed the cornerstone of that assistance and have provided the support that many in our communities have so desperately needed.
I've received hundreds of contacts and calls from grateful recipients right across the length and breadth of the electorate testifying to these packages and what they mean. Print Domain, a local business in Burnie, expressed a typical sentiment. The owner of the business, Michael Gates, said to me that JobKeeper had been exactly the right program for the crisis. He went on to say: 'The beauty of the program is that I can retain staff with highly specialised skill sets. It allows me to scale up to full operational tempo without having to worry about retraining somebody new. The program has been a real blessing for me, and I know that others feel the same way.'
JobKeeper and jobseeker play a vital role. As we transition into the recovery phase of the coronavirus, JobMaker will continue to assist us navigate through the economic recovery. JobMaker will be pivotal in lifting productivity and laying the foundations for a prosperous future right across the region. It's also no secret that I'm passionate about education—
Order! The debate is interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. The member will have leave to continue speaking when the debate resumes.
In recent days, we've heard comments from the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts claiming that the government has been doing enough and—referring to the arts sector—claiming that the JobKeeper package is somehow comprehensive. Today anyone who looked at the papers would have seen an open letter from a series of leading musicians. A whole lot of the publicity has gone to names like Jimmy Barnes and Tina Arena, but it goes right through to artists like Thelma Plum and Alex Lahey, and they all say the same thing: for people who work gig to gig, event to event or festival to festival, whether they're the person holding the spotlight or the person in the spotlight, under this pandemic, their jobs have been shut down and they are ineligible for JobKeeper. They are workers and should be treated as such.
In the same way some 14,348 Australians have been part of the Great Australian Binge, where they put down the streaming material that they enjoy—the great Australian dramas. They have said, 'The government needs to act to support the arts and entertainment sector.' These individuals are workers. Today, on the official parliamentary webpage, we now have from Chloe Dallimore, the leader of Actors Equity, a petition calling on the government finally to act. They are workers and they need to be looked after.
Bennelong is the innovation capital of Australia. The latest innovation is a brand-new concept: a mobile drive-through COVID-19 testing station. A coalition of organisations have come together to deliver this brand-new design and way of thinking on how COVID-19 can be tested for both in Australia and overseas. I was delighted to be joined at Macquarie Park's Douglass Hanly Moir Pathology car park with the communications minister, Paul Fletcher, last Friday to inspect the site and congratulate the team that had put it together.
The beauty of this station is the incredibly short time it takes to set up and pack away—only 30 minutes. It makes it an ideal solution for hotspot responses and overseas. It is testament to what can be done in a short time when everyone is working in harmony and towards a common cause. The station is built from a converted shipping container and provides frontline workers with warmth, shelter, running water and other sanitation facilities while complying with social-distancing requirements. The testing station was designed in partnership between disaster and emergency response organisation Disaster Relief Australia, formerly Team Rubicon Australia, and architecture Professor Robert Barnstone. It was built via crowdfunding by PMG Initiatives, a company that employs and provides training for refugees and vulnerable Australians. Congratulations to everyone who has been involved in this worthwhile project. I look forward to seeing it deployed across the world to help bring an end to this awful pandemic. (Time expired)
This government is providing no assistance to Australian universities through this pandemic. Why are these jobs not worth keeping? Why are our students not worth supporting? Why are private universities eligible for assistance but not our public universities? We know that the answer is ideology. Universities are not something that this Liberal government care about or have ever cared about, but they do claim to care about our economy, and they are remiss in neglecting our third-largest export sector through this crisis. Universities Australia predicts that Australian universities will lose $16 billion over the next three years due to COVID-19. The government's response has been to exclude universities from JobKeeper, to refuse to provide a support package, to leave youth allowance students out in the cold by refusing to broaden the eligibility criteria and to leave international students to fend for themselves or go home even though borders are closed.
There are five universities in my electorate, and they are among the best in the world. Our Australian National University is facing a $250 million shortfall and the University of Canberra a $30 million shortfall. Staff at universities all around the country are looking at job losses and pay cuts, and it seems we need to remind this government that these are the very workers looking at a vaccine for COVID-19 and educating people to take on the jobs of the future. I call on the government to act now and save our universities.
Very Special Kids has a very special place in my heart. Each year Very Special Kids cares for 900 children with life-threatening conditions by providing a children's hospice and professional family support service for families from right across Victoria. It is hard to imagine the burden families shoulder when faced with a diagnosis that means their child may never reach adulthood. VSK helps shoulder that burden.
I was delighted to visit the VSK hospice in Higgins recently with the CEO, Michael Wasley, and the wonderful founder, Sister Margaret Noone, to announce they had received a volunteer grant to help them continue their vitally important work. Very Special Kids relies heavily on volunteers. There are over 1,000 volunteers who support this wonderful hospice. These volunteers are truly angels to the little angels that attend VSK. Very Special Kids has an incredibly successful training program to help ensure volunteers are fully equipped for the demanding work supporting children and families affected by life-threatening conditions. In fact, VSK was recently awarded a Volunteering Victoria Excellence Award for its training program. Congratulations again to you, VSK, for the amazing work you do for families in their hours, days, weeks and months of need.
This government loves picking winners in the aviation sector. It's showered generous untied grants on some airlines but given no support at all to Virgin Australia. It's shown indifference to thousands of aviation sector workers in firms like dnata who have been totally excluded from JobKeeper. These are workers who provide crucial ground-handling, cargo and catering services and keep Australia flying. They live here, they pay tax here and they raise their families here. But the government is denying them help when they need it most. With its mammoth $60 billion budget mistake and the revelation that JobKeeper will be provided to three million fewer workers than it had claimed, the government cannot continue to deny the 5,500 employees of dnata these benefits. These workers not only have been denied JobKeeper benefits but are now being subjected to mutual obligation requirements that are being phased in from 9 June. They are being forced to apply for jobs when their industry is on its knees.
I was proud to stand with aviation workers from across my electorate of Fraser at Melbourne Airport last month. Dnata workers are on the lawns of Parliament House right now making their case. I salute the aviation sector, their employees and TWU members from right across Australia who have travelled to Canberra today to make their voice heard while maintaining safe social distancing. Our entire aviation sector will be critical in supporting the broader economy as it recovers from COVID. The Treasurer has the power to listen and act. He must support JobKeeper and extend it to aviation workers. (Time expired)
I stand today to acknowledge those constituents of mine who received awards in the Queen's Birthday honours just this past weekend. Jan Sardi from Eltham, a filmmaker, director and screenwriter who was nominated for an Academy Award for Shine and wrote and directed Love's Brother, becomes an Officer in the Order of Australia. Vincent Tony Kelly from Donvale, for his work in business, particularly the natural resource supply industry, has been made an AM, as has Antoinette Kimmitt, also from Donvale. Bruce Parker, Robert Peak, Saara Sabbagh, Hardy Shum and Richard Thomson were all named as recipients of the Medal of the Order of Australia. In particular, I congratulate Hardy Shum, who has been the President of the Chinese Senior Citizens Club of Manningham for many, many years. He is the driving force behind this organisation, which has some hundreds of members, meets on a very regular basis and provides a real service to the seniors in the Chinese community within my electorate of Menzies.
Finally, it would be remiss of me not to also congratulate my friend and former colleague Tony Abbott on being made a Companion of the Order of Australia and my friend Bill Scott on being made a Member of the Order of Australia for his service to the pharmacy industry.
Generations of Indigenous Australians have been subjected to the immense pain of dispossession and discrimination, of destruction of culture and denial of existence. It is on us to reflect on the insidious effect of racism in Australia, acknowledge this pain and act. I have experienced racism, growing up in this country, and spent decades thinking about it; most people from migrant backgrounds do. My experience—deeply personal, hurtful—is still difficult to talk about. However, it cannot compare to the pain of dispossession from land and country, of being forcibly removed from family. Racism permeates like a poison from our nation's original stain of terra nullius. That was only recently overturned, yet Indigenous dispossession endures.
There are no easy answers, no more easy words, no more speeches made in this place that can right the wrongs of our history and of our present, yet now we share a rare moment. More Australians are opening their eyes, seeing the tragedy of Indigenous deaths in custody, seeing the persistent gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous in Australian life. We cannot allow this to be just another passing moment. We must seize it and give it momentum. We must grapple with our history long after the headlines fade. We must ask why and how, almost 30 years since of the royal commission, 437 Indigenous people have died in custody. We must do the hard work necessary for change. We must all act.
This year, 2020, has been a year of shocks, and in the midst of it all last month came another terrible shock for northern Tasmania with the sudden death of Vaughn Dell. Vaughn was a young, dynamic and visionary winemaker who was a loving husband to Linda and a devoted dad to Esme and Clementine. Vaughn grew up on Tasmania's north-west coast. He was a skilled sportsman, playing AFL for both the Tassie Mariners and Burnie Dockers, with a love of sport that he passed on to his daughters. Together with Linda, and aged just 23, he established the award-winning Sinapius vineyard, part of the Tamar Valley wine route, and after the planting of some 30,000 vines Sinapius now boasts 11 different varieties and is part of a close-knit community of vineyards and winemakers.
Those in the wine industry described Vaughn as being ahead of his time, with a meticulous attention to detail that was evident in everything he did, noting that he was brave and patient and backed himself with every decision he made. Vaughn was recognised for his efforts in 2017, when he was awarded the prestigious Dr Don Martin Sustainable Viticulture Fellowship, travelling abroad to study.
Vaughn was just 39 years of age. He was loved and respected by the hundreds of people who raised a glass to him in farewell, although COVID-19 restrictions meant that had to be done online. I send my love and best wishes to Linda, Clementine and Esme. Vaughn leaves a remarkable and enduring legacy. Vale, Vaughn Dell.
$540 million was given to the National Party to build dams in Australia. Every cent of that $540 million is gone, and we have not even got an engineering plan. To add insult to injury, they have given the $28 million that I secured for Hells Gate Dam back to an organisation called SMEC, whose competence levels would be lower than the doorstep on this Parliament House. They have completely destroyed the aspirations of this nation for the Bradfield scheme. The money has been given back to TEL, Townsville Enterprise Limited, who get $3 million for doing nothing except handing it on to SMEC, a bunch of towering incompetents whose proposal will destroy Bradfield forever. Bradfield would see the irrigation of an area from Longreach to Winton to Cloncurry and back to the coast. The whole of inland north-eastern Australia is going to be destroyed by a bunch of incompetents, and the government has got a lot to answer for. This needs to be fixed up and it needs to be fixed up now. For TEL there is going to be a big reckoning. The bloke they put in charge of it, according to the newspapers, is up on fraud charges. I don't know anything about him, because he never spoke to me. I got the first $3 million and this $28 million, and he wouldn't speak to me, nor would the engineers. Consequently, everyone else in Northern Queensland wouldn't speak to me either. (Time expired)
Of course, the health and wellbeing of Gold Coast as is paramount, and the coast will bounce back from the effects of COVID-19. However, while tens of thousands of jobs are at risk, the Queensland Labor government has damaged our local economy by refusing to provide certainty. This uncertainty is punishing small business, is risking one in the six jobs and is costing the Gold Coast $310 million per month. Waiting until the end of the month for the Premier to confirm her own date will cost $230 million in damage. The sentiment from the Gold Coast business and tourism community, led by Sarah Colgate, who owns the iconic Aquaduck and who led a recent protest against the Premier, is that Annastacia Palaszczuk has been single-handedly killing tourism in Queensland. I agree. I took the opportunity myself to ask the Premier face to face a few weeks ago, when she was in Moncrieff, when she was in Surfers Paradise. Her response was not helpful to tens of thousands of suffering family business operators, and just half an hour ago she said she will 'look at it' at the end of the month.
What has been disappointing is the deafening silence from the state Labor member for Gaven, the only Queensland government member on the Gold Coast. It is not unreasonable for the good people of Moncrieff to expect their own assistant tourism minister, who grew up in Nerang, to stand up for their businesses and their livelihoods in Australia's tourism capital—is it? I asked the Premier again on radio yesterday, this morning on Facebook and I ask her now here in this place to stick to her own plan of a 10 July reopening so our city can get back to what it does best, not— (Time expired)
I want to condemn the government's inexcusable failure to act to save tens of thousands of Australian jobs at our public universities. The only action they have been prepared to take is to try and bail out the private universities, but they have refused to act on the public universities after weeks and months waiting. All they have agreed to is to promise not to cut more money next year, as if that is going to help. Universities in Australia support 260,000 jobs, 14,000 of them in regional Australia. There are 21,000 full-time equivalent jobs at risk—that is, 30,000 human beings', including the part-timers', livelihoods at risk. Their revenue has been decimated. Projections are they could lose up to or more than $20 billion from international student revenue in the next few years. They have lost tons of commercial revenue from all sorts of sources, with campuses shut down as well as industry partnerships and grants.
The impact on research is especially worrying, with our bizarre national funding model, where universities fund research through international education and profit from domestic students. This government has forced universities to chase more international education with its recent $2.2 billion cut to public funding, and there are thousands of researchers who now face the chop. These researchers are critical to our economic recovery, and the government must act. There are simple things they could do. They could extend JobKeeper, they could uncap domestic places, they could put money into research, and they could stop being impotent on international education and actually do something to save those jobs.
Ian Ronald Symonds is a man I loved the first time I met him. He was the regional officer for region 8 for the CFA. He was liaison officer with the shire council's fire prevention committee. He was also instrumental in calming the waters in difficult times. In tough times, which Ash Wednesday was, Ian Symonds took the lead role in our community from the fire service perspective. My respect for him grew every day not only as I saw him handle the difficult fire situation we were facing and the deaths we were facing and the trauma that the community was facing but as I saw how he managed to bring people together. He was just awarded the Australian Fire Service Medal after a long, long career with the CFA. He is greatly loved. He is still working with his community in many ways.
I tabled a document in this House not long ago from an anonymous person—I think I now know who that person might have been—who had great and amazing knowledge of where the nation should be going and what we should be doing in regard to the fires that we have confronted in the past and, sadly, we will confront into the future again. There are things we can do if we follow dear Mr Ian Ronald Symonds's way. He has been a great advocate for himself and the CFA but also for the broader community. Thank you, Ian.
This week we mark Infant Mental Health Awareness Week. The theme is '2020 vision: seeing the world through babies' eyes'. It encourages us to think about the experiences of babies and how these influence their mental health and development. It is an opportunity to raise awareness of this important part of early childhood development. In the first years of life, children rapidly develop the social and emotional capabilities to prepare them for life, becoming self-confident, trusting human beings. Research has shown that early experiences within an infant's nurturing relationships play a crucial role in their social and emotional health and wellbeing.
Experience tells us that to lift the long-term mental health of our nation we must begin in early childhood, because where we are born and where we live and grow up have a profound impact on our mental health and wellbeing throughout life. This week the Australian Association for Infant Mental Health, the Parent-Infant Foundation and the First 1001 Days Movement are highlighting the needs of babies and encouraging professionals, policymakers and decision-makers to think about the experiences of babies. Each day this week will draw attention to a key topic for reflection and promotion: what babies are seeing now, how the current world is affecting babies' mental health, how the current world is affecting babies and their relationships and wellbeing, and defining infant mental health and explaining why it matters. For more information about how you can get involved, I urge you to contact the First 1001 Days Movement and the Parent-Infant Foundation. When you see the world through the eyes of a baby, what will change?
All lives matter, but, during a pandemic, mass protests breaching our public health laws could cause lives to be lost. Just days ago, tens of thousands of activists engaged in protests which turned violent, triggered by an event which occurred not here but in the USA. Behind these protests were the extremist Communist Party of Australia and Antifa, a group that engages in terror tactics. Protesters waved signs saying 'The only good cop is a dead cop'. Police officers were punched, kicked, spat on and abused, with chants of 'Eff the police'. Protesters threw bricks at, bashed and jumped on top of police cars. We don't need this anti-police, race-baiting violence and division here in our country.
What of social distancing restrictions in force to deal with the pandemic? What a slap in the face these protests were to our diggers and veterans, who couldn't attend Anzac Day ceremonies. What disrespect to those in mourning, who couldn't go to the funerals of loved ones. To think Labor and Greens politicians attended these rallies. To think state Labor governments gave wink-and-nod approvals for the protests to go ahead. I know I speak for the silent majority when I say this race baiting is not welcome here, this violence is not welcome here, and this disrespect for public health and the Australian community is most certainly not welcome here.
The early childhood sector has learnt via the media, yet again, that things are going to change. It's not just that JobKeeper will end in July but also that fees will need to be paid by parents. It's more change to come to grips with, and directors have been asked to carry the load as the government claims the glory of free child care but gives the heavy lifting to the sector. I have already had parents tell me they're not going to be able to keep the early education of their children going, because at least one parent is out of work. So the sector is in for more uncertainty, and it's not alone.
Artists, performers and musicians, as well as lighting and camera operators, costume makers and promoters in the electorate of Macquarie are all asking: Why does the Morrison government hate the arts and entertainment sector so much? Why is their sector so spectacularly impacted by COVID yet completely ignored by the government? These are the performers and crew who jump up to help raise funds for bushfire victims, yet, when they need help, the government turns its back. Individual parts of the industry are begging for help. Actors Equity is petitioning parliament, and more than a thousand artists, venues, festivals and music industry professionals have signed an open letter calling for an immediate federal government rescue package for the music sector. We're seeing local support for musicians from restaurants, like Aunty Ed's in Katoomba, with their Sunday live music streams and downloads of my own 'Macquarie Mixtape'. It's time that the Morrison government did its bit. (Time expired)
I'm a passionate advocate for veterans, including their transition back into civilian life. Today I would like to highlight a really positive story about Austal Australia, who are based out of Henderson in Western Australia. I recently met with their outgoing CEO and managing director, David Singleton, and the board of the R&R Veterans Transition Centre, based in Jarrahdale. We discussed how this important WA based defence prime contractor can invest in the veterans transition centre via the Austal Giving program. It is hoped that, once the details are ironed out, a task force of Austal employees will descend on the centre and invest their time, their funds and their energy into a project that will boost the centre's ability to support the delivery of services to veterans and to their families. This will also create a fantastic partnership where transitioning ex-defence personnel will interact with Austal employees, helping open up job opportunities.
I, along with federal colleagues, including Andrew Hastie, Ministers Linda Reynolds and Melissa Price, welcome this area in our home patch, as does state MLA Alyssa Hayden, and we look forward to seeing the potential of this future partnership really come into shape over coming weeks. I'd also like to congratulate the chief operating officer of Austal, Patrick Gregg, who will be promoted to the role of Austal's chief executive officer on 1 January 2021. I wish him all the best in the role.
This month is migraine awareness month. Some 400,000 Australians suffer from chronic migraine, and many have at least 15 migraine and headache days a month. That means 400,000 Australians spend more than half a month with a debilitating headache, with pain lasting for up to 72 hours with nausea, vomiting, sensitivity to light and noise, and many other symptoms.
Last week I met with Lyn and her son, Nick, from Orchard Hills. Lyn has suffered the agony of chronic migraine for 24 years. Unable to hold down a full-time job, she has poured every ounce of energy she has into being a good mum for her two children. But there is hope. In the last year, Lyn's life has changed and changed for the better. A new type of migraine medicine has allowed Lyn to return to work and resume a more normal life. The good news is that the independent experts at the PBAC have recommended two of those drugs be listed on the PBS: Emgality and AJOVY. The good news is that these drugs are available. But, unfortunately, they have not yet been listed on the PBS. One of them was recommended 11 months ago.
This government is yet to list either of those drugs on the PBS. The minister talks a big game on PBS listings, but the reality does not meet the hype. He simply continues to ignore the recommendation of the panel. Lyn can afford $300 a month for this life-changing drug, but many people can't. We will continue to advocate for these migraine drugs to be listed until the minister gets around to listing them on the PBS, as he must.
Today I wish to congratulate the recipients of Queen's Birthday Honours from my electorate of Nicholls. Seven wonderful people have contributed to their communities, including Mr Robert Brown OAM of Yarroweyah, for services to veterans and their families, and Mr Neville Howell OAM of Nagambie, for services to rowing. Neville is a Commonwealth Games gold medallist and Olympic bronze medallist. He has six King's titles for Victoria and many world championships titles. Mr Arthur Knee OAM was honoured for services to the community of Tatura, particularly the establishment of the Tatura and District Historical Society and the establishment of the Tatura Museum. His wife, Lurline Knee, was also honoured for her service to the community of Tatura, through services to the Rodney Arts Society and the Tatura and District Historical Society. Lurline and Arthur co-authored the book Marched In, which records the internees and the POWs held in the camps in Tatura in the Second World War. The late Mr John 'Jack' Muir OAM of Tatura was honoured for his services to the community through a range of roles. Jack, at 94, passed away recently. He was a member of the CMF, the Tatura Lions, the Freemasons, the Tatura Apex and the Tatura RSL. There's also Mrs Marjorie Porter OAM, who was honoured for her service to the community of Numurkah. She was incredible in organising Meals on Wheels, the Numurkah Annual Show, the Numurkah Pony Club, the Ladies Probus and the Girl Guides. Mrs Lena Vicary OAM was honoured for service to the community of Echuca, for her voluntary work with Meals on Wheels, Echuca Hospital and pastoral care at Southern Cross aged-care home.
Last Wednesday, the Treasurer confirmed that Australia is in a recession for the first time in 29 years. Australians are doing it tough. Millions have lost their jobs or had their hours or income cut as a result of the COVID-19 lockdown. Mortgage and rent payments have been deferred. People are surviving on JobKeeper and jobseeker. Today the government has announced it is allowing businesses to defer pay-as-you-go tax payments. Whole segments of the economy are still shut down, but the government seems to think this is the perfect time to snap back to high childcare fees. That's right—it's time to bring back some of the most expensive childcare fees in the world, fees that grew seven per cent in the last year and fees that have hiked 34 per cent under this coalition government. The Prime Minister was front and centre at the so-called 'free child care' announcement back in April, but he was nowhere to be seen on Monday. The Prime Minister sent out his education minister to deliver the news on a public holiday, not quite take-out-the-trash Friday, but not far off it. The news was: it's back to the high-fee system that Scott Morrison designed. Families will now be faced with having to pay high fees at a time they desperately want to go back to work, but they're going to have to decide whether it's worth it. The Prime Minister loves marketing slogans—JobKeeper, jobseeker, JobMaker, HomeBuilder—but the truth is: this policy to bring back high childcare fees in the middle of a recession will be a job crusher for women and a wallet smasher for families.
In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded.
I inform the House of the death, on Sunday 24 May, of the Hon. Nicholas Bruce Reid, a member of this House for the division of Bendigo from 1990 until 1998. As a mark of respect to the memory of Bruce Reid, I invite all present to rise in their places.
Honourable members having stood in their places—
I thank the House.
I inform the House that the Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education will be absent from question time today. The Minister for Education will answer questions on his behalf. The Minister for Immigration, Citizenship, Migrant Services and Multicultural Affairs will be absent from question time today and for the remainder of the week. The Minister for Population, Cities and Urban Infrastructure will answer questions on his behalf.
My question is to the Prime Minister. Can the Prime Minister confirm that, in just the three weeks since parliament last sat, the government admitted it overestimated coverage of the JobKeeper scheme by three million workers, resulting in a $60 billion blunder; the government announced $720 million will be repaid to victims of the Prime Minister's illegal robodebt scheme; and Australia entered its first recession in three decades?
I can confirm that Australia has done incredibly well in dealing with one of the biggest challenges this country has faced—if not the biggest—since the Second World War. I can confirm that the government's focus each and every day is on ensuring that we continue to meet the needs of Australians and address the needs of Australians as we work through this difficult crisis.
The Leader of the Opposition makes reference to the national accounts, and it is indeed true that we had a negative quarter in March, of 0.3 per cent, and, based on the estimates that Treasury have provided to us, the June quarter is also likely to be negative, and that of course means a technical recession. That is true. It is a recession—there is no doubt about that—and I don't think there is an Australian in this country who doesn't understand the reason why.
But only those opposite would take joy in this fact and seek to use it for political purposes, because what we've seen from this opposition is not a contribution but just constant whining, undermining the government at every turn. As the government has sought to provide the support that Australians need, what we have seen from the opposition, disappointingly, is them seeking to even undermine measures that they support. The government has been put to the test during this crisis, and the government is providing the leadership and support that Australians need. The opposition is failing.
My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is working to bring Australians together to confront the economic and health crises facing our nation so we can restore livelihoods and create jobs?
I thank the member for Robertson for her question and I thank her and all the members of this House for their leadership in their local communities during what is continuing to be a very testing time for all Australians in all parts of the country. We are living through these uncertain times, the most uncertain that most Australians have ever experienced in their lifetime and certainly that the country has experienced since the Second World War and the Great Depression. As Australians look around the world and see the events around the world, I have no doubt that Australians are both glad to be Australian and to be in Australia at this time. Despite what are the very real difficulties and the very real hardships that Australians are facing, they know that, in this country, as a result of their efforts and the combined efforts of governments around the country, including our own, we are making the best of what is a very difficult situation, and our performance bears that out. Our health performance puts Australia out as a global leader in the response to the global coronavirus pandemic. On our economic performance, despite the fact of the negative quarter, 0.3 per cent down in March, we know that developed economies around the world are experiencing far worse—five times worse; in some cases, more than 10 times worse. Australia's health response and economic response are ensuring that Australians can get through this crisis better than most, in all of the countries with similar characteristics to Australia's. They're developed economies with health systems, with sophisticated economies, with social security systems, yet ours is experiencing an impact of the coronavirus far less than those. In countries like ours, their death rate is 100 times that being experienced in Australia, in terms of COVID-19, and I've set out to you that we're not only leading in terms of the health response but we are leading in terms of the economic response, putting in place the economic lifelines that are proving so effective and so important for businesses, for employers, and for employees in particular, as they go through these uncertain times. But most of all what we are doing is bringing Australians together—suppliers and retailers, customers and small businesses, employers and employees, landlords and tenants, doctors and patients, experts and policy advisers, state and federal leaders, and state and federal governments and local governments, working together to actually bring Australians through this crisis, and that's what we will continue to do. The decisions that we will make and the economic changes that we will put in place over the next two years and five years will determine the economic success of the next 30 years, and our government is up to that task. Australians are getting through this together and we will continue to. (Time expired)
My question is again to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister apologise to Australians targeted by the illegal robodebt scheme? Can he confirm that this is a scheme that he both created and announced on 28 June 2016?
As the Leader of the Opposition would be aware, the matters that he referred to are still being pursued through legal processes. But let me say this: the matter upon which the government has made a policy decision is on the basis of income averaging—a practice that was implemented by the Labor Party in government and embraced by the Labor Party as part of their debt recovery mechanisms. It was an issue of income averaging—income averaging that could not be relied on solely in order to raise debts in relation to social security matters. That is the matter—that is the actual matter. It is a policy and it is a principle that was embraced by the Labor Party, that has been followed by this government. Where the circumstances have now presented that that income averaging is not something that could be relied upon solely, then the government has made it right. And that is what we should have done, and that is what we are doing, and that is setting that matter aright. I would simply ask, given that the Labor Party have raised this: do they now believe that they did the wrong thing when they used income averaging, a policy that they used? That was their policy. We continued that policy. This has nothing to do with the issues of technology or how technology is used to do this. It is based on the principle of income averaging—something Labor embraced and now, for political purposes, once again, seeks to reject.
Mr Dreyfus interjecting—
Just before I call the Leader of the Opposition, the member for Isaacs is now warned. The Leader of the Opposition is seeking to table a document?
I am indeed seeking leave to table a document, headed 'The Hon. Scott Morrison MP', that speaks about the coalition's plan for better management of the social welfare system 'through the smarter use of technology'. It acknowledges that that was their plan.
Leave not granted.
My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House how the Morrison-McCormack government, through the infrastructure rollout, is supporting the JobMaker program as a foundation for the recovery from COVID-19?
Opposition members interjecting—
I might actually use that interjection, when the member for Flynn got to his feet and there were the usual growls. He'd buy and sell all of you before breakfast, when it comes to business acumen; he would. But I'm going to change the tone a bit. I'm going to be a little bit magnanimous. I'm going to actually praise and acknowledge somebody from the Australian Labor Party. So here you go. Listen up!
It's Matt Burnett, mayor of Gladstone Regional Council. He's a mate of the member for Flynn, he's a mate of mine and I'm sure he's probably a mate of many of those opposite. I see the member for Whitlam nodding. His family has been in the Gladstone area for five generations. He understands business. He even started up his own newspaper. He's been in local government for 20 long years. He got elected when he was just 24. He described the Building Better Regions Fund, through one of the projects in Flynn, which I'll come to, as 'game-changing for all of Flynn'. 'Council is very excited to receive this funding,' he said. 'What this will allow us to do is have a central landfill facility and have the ability to grow our region. This funding is perfect timing for our community right now and will really help our council through our current budget process. Thank you, thank you, thank you.' I'm not being repetitive; that's exactly what Councillor Burnett said, because he understands the value of investing in regional areas, particularly in this difficult time of COVID-19 and particularly through the drought.
Of the 163 projects through the Building Better Regions Fund, the waste facility infrastructure expansion was just one, and that is the particular project which Councillor Burnett is so excited about, as well he should be. This round was a drought dedicated round, and $207 million is now going to those desperate communities. They're not out of the drought yet. Many of them will still feel the effects of the droughts for weeks and months—if not years—ahead. But the Liberals and Nationals are there for them, and certainly Councillor Burnett appreciates the support that we're providing. He appreciates the support that the member for Flynn provides, because he is a great fighter. He understands business. He understands the importance of funding these local projects. These local projects provide local procurement and they provide local jobs. As part of our JobMaker scheme going forward, this is going to create hope, opportunity and wealth for communities which are doing it really, really tough.
Mr Albanese interjecting—
You can go on all you like, Leader of the Opposition, but this is actually creating help on the ground where it's most needed. When you get a mayor who's as independent as Matt Burnett is—though he is a member of the ALP—going and praising the Building Better Regions Fund, you know it's a good thing. We are backing those local councils. We are backing those local projects through the back of COVID-19 because we know our regional communities need every bit of support— (Time expired)
My question is to the Prime Minister. When did the government become aware that its robodebt scheme was illegal?
I thank the member for his question. As the member knows, on 19 November last year I did a press conference to indicate that we were pausing all recovery for debts that had been raised by income averaging. The Attorney-General also made clear in the Insiders interview that income averaging is a longstanding practice of governments, going back decades. I went and checked, over the weekend, to see exactly how far back income averaging went. I asked the department to do a random sample of 500 debts raised—
If you could just pause for a second. Unlike the last question, this was one question, not two or three; I think there were three last time. It was a specific question. Whilst the minister is entitled to have a preamble, the preamble cannot be the answer. I ask him to direct himself to the question.
As I said, I announced to the public on 19 November that we would be pausing all recovery of debts that were raised either solely or partially by income averaging. To see how far the practice went back, to understand governments' consistent practice as to what they believed was sufficient, a random sample was undertaken, and—surprise, surprise—16 per cent of all debts in 2009 were raised through income averaging by those opposite, and 24 per cent in 2011—
I will just say to the minister: the question was very specific. I have enabled him to have a preamble. He's addressing the policy topic but he's not being directly relevant to the question that was asked. It was a very specific question. He can't seek to answer a question he wasn't asked. I ask the minister to bring himself back to the question.
I've finished.
My question is to the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts. Minister, I understand that in just 20 days time Adelaide television broadcaster Channel 44, our community television station, will be switched off when its free-to-air broadcasting licence is not renewed. The station is a training ground for South Australian television and provides valuable local content for many who do not have access to the internet, particularly older South Australians. Given that the government is yet to announce an alternative use for this broadcast spectrum, will you please allow this station to keep operating by extending its free-to-air licence?
I thank the member for her question. Since 2014 it's been the policy of this government that the radio frequency spectrum that was historically made available to community television stations in our five largest cities should be put to alternative uses, and we have supported community television to transition to delivering its content online. Community television will continue to have an important future and will continue to be a place where members of the community can make television content, but there is the capacity to generate and disseminate that content online. Already the spectrum that was being used for community television in Sydney, in Brisbane and in Perth is no longer being used for that purpose. Our government provided funding to community television in 2015 and more recently in December 2019 to support the transition online.
If we look at where some of the best Australian new talent is developing today, it's people who are producing content online and disseminating it through, for example, YouTube—people like Ozzy Man Reviews, an Australian comedian with more than 3.9 million subscribers, and Natalie Tran, who runs communitychannel and has 1.3 million subscribers. So we know that people can be very successful in generating original creative content and disseminating it online, and that's certainly where we want to see community television go. We have provided funding for that, and that's the policy the government has been committed to and has been implementing since 2014.
My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer update the House on how the Morrison government's economic support packages have been saving jobs and supporting livelihoods, including in my electorate of Fisher?
I thank the member for Fisher for his question and I acknowledge the breadth of legal and building sector experience he has brought to this place. He has been a strong advocate for small business in his community and beyond. Australia has confronted a one-in-100 year event with the global pandemic—namely, the coronavirus. The impact across the world has been devastating. In the United States, we have seen more than 100,000 deaths and 40 million jobless claims. In the United Kingdom, we have seen more than 40,000 deaths and weeks of lockdown. Just yesterday, the World Bank put out its forecast suggesting that economic growth would contract by 5.2 per cent this calendar year. To put that in context, in 2009, at the height of the GFC, the global economy contracted by 0.1 per cent.
In contrast, here in Australia we have flattened the curve, we have started to ease the restrictions and we are getting people back to work. In the March quarter, in the national accounts, as a direct product of the social-distancing requirements and the travel restrictions that were in place, we saw the economy contract by 0.3 per cent. But we compare very favourably with the rest of the world. The United States contracted by 1.3 per cent; the United Kingdom contracted by two per cent; Germany contracted by 2.2 per cent; France contracted by 5.3 per cent; and China contracted by 9.8 per cent. In this country we have performed remarkably well on both the health and the economic front.
The Morrison government continues to support business with an accelerated depreciation allowance and other measures, like the JobKeeper program, which is supporting millions of employers and employees across the country, and the instant asset write-off, which is supporting hundreds of thousands of businesses to invest, to grow and to innovate, like Walker Seafoods in Mooloolaba, who spent $60,000 on a new blast freezer for their longfin tuna. Local contractors were engaged to install the blast freezer. Heidi from Walker Seafoods said, 'Due to the instant asset write-off, the cash flow boost and the JobKeeper program, we have kept all our 50 employees fully employed and our business operational.' That is the message from the Morrison government. We will continue to keep businesses in business and people in jobs. (Time expired)
My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Australians. When will the government include justice targets in the Closing the Gap framework?
I thank the member for Barton for her question. In 2018 we did have two targets in there and they have remained within the Closing the Gap agreement. The discussions around those targets have been the focus of the work of the peak organisations, state and territory jurisdictions and my agency. When the work was done yesterday in finalising much of the detail, I was advised that there are two targets in this agreement as well. The Morrison government is committed to putting into place a partnership agreement that reflects the views of the 51 Indigenous peak bodies. NATSILS and other organisations associated with this work have come forward with that. We will continue to work with the jurisdictions, because there is broad agreement to both targets. The quantum is still being finalised, and that is occurring today.
Once that goes in, we will certainly be working very strongly to ensure that those targets are met within the context of what we have agreed to. It has been co-designed. It's been done in partnership, which is absolutely critical. At a cabinet roundtable with a number of the peaks, the Prime Minister made it very clear that the work we were doing in the partnership would be done together, and, given the continuing issue of incarceration rates, there was always a view that we should have at least one or two that would see the reduction. How we do it once it's in place is certainly a requirement for states and territories to stump up and deliver on. But we've not reconciled from that, because we recognise that that is a contributing factor to unemployment and many other issues that our people face across the socioeconomic conundrum of challenges that exist within their lives. Let me assure you that there are two targets and we will be focusing on them.
My question is to the Treasurer. Would the Treasurer inform the House how changes to the Morrison government's instant asset write-off are helping businesses in commercial areas like Cleveland, Capalaba, Victoria Point and Thorneside in my electorate of Bowman get to the other side of this pandemic?
I thank the member for Bowman for his question and I acknowledge his extensive experience in the medical sphere as a specialist before coming to this place. On 12 March we extended the instant asset write-off for acquisitions, goods, machinery and other equipment purchased from a business—which was then up to $30,000—to $150,000. We also increased the eligibility under that program from businesses with a turnover of up to $50 million to businesses with a turnover of up to $500 million.
Yesterday, I was in Eden-Monaro with our candidate, Fiona Kotvojs, and Senator Cash and Senator Molan to announce a six-month extension of that program at a cost of $300 million. There are 3½ million businesses that will be eligible for this program: over 1.1 million businesses in New South Wales, nearly a million businesses in Victoria, 690,000 businesses in the great state of Queensland, 360,000 businesses in Western Australia, 250,000 businesses in South Australia, 65,000 businesses in Tasmania, 45,000 here in the ACT and 20,000 in the Northern Territory. They will be the beneficiaries of this extended instant asset write-off.
The government's announcement yesterday was warmly welcomed by the sector. The Australian Trucking Association CEO, Ben Maguire, and the Heavy Vehicle Industry Australia CEO, Todd Hacking, who I spoke to today, said that this extension 'will enable trucking businesses to invest in safer equipment and support the industry supplier'. The Federation Chamber of Automotive Industries said this will help support their operations through continued investment in business assets. The Council of Small Business said they're pleased about the extension. The Motor Traders Association warmly welcomed it. The Australian Chamber of Commerce said it was really welcome news. What matters most is what is happening on the ground. Mick, with his Certified Roofing business in Capalaba in Brisbane, with five staff and a number of subbies on the books, said he used it for three super twin cab diesel utes. Mick said, 'The instant asset write-off has given me the confidence to turn over three vehicles immediately and get our teams back on the road.' That's what we're doing—getting the Australian economy back on the road.
My question is to the Treasurer. I refer to the HomeBuilder scheme. How many Australians does the government expect to spend more than $150,000 on a renovation before the end of this year?
Around 7,000 substantial rebuilds is our estimate.
My question is to the Minister for Health. Will the minister please update the House on the Morrison government's success in flattening the coronavirus curve, which is assisting in more Australians being able to return to work and reopen businesses?
I want to thank the member for Wentworth for his work in supporting—as all of the members of this parliament have done—the work of Australia and Australians in flattening the curve. When we look beyond our borders, we see over seven million people who have been formally diagnosed with COVID-19, over 400,000 lives lost. The WHO has acknowledged that the rate of growth is accelerating in many parts of the developing world. We see in Latin America and in the Middle East, we see in eastern Europe and South Asia, of particular concern, numbers growing. Against that background, Australia's achievement, collectively, in having kept the number of cases to 7,274, on the last information I have—sadly, 102 lives lost—compares extraordinarily against that global position. We have done that by operating as one single country through the national cabinet and through the agreement and work with the states and territories but, above all else, through the partnership with the Australian people.
There have been four fundamental pillars to our approach to reducing the number of coronavirus cases in Australia. Firstly, there is the work on our borders. In the last week, Australia has had 43 cases. Thirty-four of those have been in quarantine. In other words, almost three-quarters of those cases have come from overseas and have been contained. The number of cases in the general community is down to zero to a small number on any one day. The border controls have been an immensely important part of that. The testing regime has been incredibly important. Over 500 testing clinics—1.65 million tests carried out around Australia, which has then allowed the tracing work of our public health units to try and find each and every person who has been in contact. We have the COVIDSafe app, which now has over 6¼ million downloads. Then we have the distancing and isolation, which have been so important.
We saw a challenge to this on the weekend. As the Deputy Chief Medical Officer Dr Nick Coatsworth said, as a consequence we have to 'wait and see', as a result of the mass gatherings, what the impact will be. But, overall, the direction and action of Australians in partnership has been extraordinary. We have saved lives and protected lives as a country, and all of that has allowed us to commence the path of easing restrictions and getting people back to work and getting their lives back in order.
My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister said, on Friday:
The six months provision of JobKeeper has been set out in legislation and people can count on that.
Why did the Prime Minister break his promise three days later by cutting JobKeeper support for 120,000 early-childhood educators?
The JobKeeper legislation does remain in place until the end of September. But, where there is a better way to do things, we won't step aside from doing them in a better way. As the member would know, with the arrangement that we arrived at—
Ms O'Neil interjecting—
The member for Hotham!
when we put the new arrangements for child care in place during the worst parts of this crisis, we were very clear that that would not be a permanent arrangement, that it would be a temporary arrangement and that we would be moving back to the usual arrangements for child care—
Ms O'Neil interjecting—
The member for Hotham is warned.
that, I stress, provide an 85 per cent rebate with no caps on those rebates, and for those who are on jobseeker there's a 95 per cent rebate for child care—a program that this government reformed and ensured that people on lower incomes were getting bigger rebates. But the advice, as we worked closely with the childcare sector, was that when we move back, at their encouragement, to the usual system, to ensure that the demand can be accommodated in the childcare sector, the preference was that we move to a sustainment subsidy of 25 per cent of their fee base, rather than the continuation of the JobKeeper arrangement. That was seen as a better way of supporting more jobs and supporting the management and meeting of demand in the childcare sector. And I can only quote the Childcare Alliance, which said:
This Transition Payment is designed to deliver a more equitable outcome across all learning service providers … This Transition Payment ensures the survival of service providers as we navigate through a period of economic uncertainty … It also means that service providers can operate at their full capacity, offering the vital placement that their families need.
That is from the Australian Child Care Alliance. We have been working through the sector. We said very plainly that the temporary arrangements would not be permanent and, as we're moving back and getting the Australian economy back on its feet, moving ahead on that road forward, we will continue to provide the support that these sectors need and, where we can do better than the arrangements that we have in place, then we will certainly act in concert with the sectors to ensure we can provide that support. I'm not sure whether the Labor Party would prefer us to have a lesser arrangement, something that would provide less job security. We sought and have received an employment guarantee as a result of providing those transition payments to the childcare sector. It means that employees working across the childcare sector are supported by that employment guarantee. The service providers are supported by the transition payment and there are more places now available for those seeking child care across the country.
My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business. Will the minister outline how the Morrison government's JobMaker plan will help Australian industry and, in particular, manufacturing businesses by ensuring they have the skilled workforce to grow and create new jobs in the post-COVID economic recovery?
I thank the member for his question. I acknowledge his great advocacy for his community in Forde, particularly the work that he does on behalf of the businesses in his electorate. I know that there are many innovative businesses in the member for Forde's electorate that are investing in new technology and are upskilling. Businesses like Merino Country and ATP Science recently received funding under our Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. These projects in Forde are going to create local jobs. The good news is that there are about 200 similar projects right across the nation that are expected to create about 2,600 new jobs and that includes Croydon Industries at Marrickville in the opposition leader's electorate. They manufacture exhaust ducting, and the funding that they have received will go towards improving production processes so they can increase their business turnover, create more work for their existing employees and hire some additional workers.
We are all very much aware that for businesses to grow they need skilled workers and they need highly skilled workers. In recent weeks, in fact over the last few months in particular, I have met with many businesses, including many manufacturers. Skills are always raised as a specific issue for them. That's why we have focused on skills at the heart of our government's JobMaker plans. It builds on our immediate support through JobKeeper, which has kept many hundreds of people and businesses afloat during this particularly difficult time.
As we bring together Australians and come through this crisis together, we have a unique opportunity to truly reform the skills sector. We are in the process of working through some changes that need to be made and I'll quickly go through some of those changes. We are going to be linking funding to future skills needs so that businesses are getting the skilled workers that they need. We will be simplifying the system and we will be giving greater consistency. We will be increasing transparency and performance monitoring. We want to make sure that taxpayers, students and employers know exactly where their money is going. There will be better coordination of funding so valuable support is actually going where it needs to go. As we face the coronavirus pandemic and bring Australia out the other side, we are more determined than ever to deliver the skilled workforce our industries need.
My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister won't reveal the results of his JobKeeper review until the end of July despite receiving the review in June. Can the Prime Minister confirm he will delay the release of his plan to leave even more Australians behind until after the Eden-Monaro by-election?
The member for Rankin, in phrasing that question in that way, has demonstrated I think a great deal of immaturity.
Dr Chalmers interjecting—
The member for Rankin will not interject.
The introduction of the JobKeeper program, the single largest form of social support this country has ever seen in the most uncertain economic environment anyone of our generation could possibly imagine, and having rolled out that program in considerably rapid time, and as we have achieved a level of economic outcome well in advance of what we'd expected to achieve by this time, and having announced the fact that we would look carefully at the implementation when we announced the JobKeeper program before announcing any revisions that might be necessary—these are not things that can be done in a rushed or ill-considered matter.
Dr Chalmers interjecting—
The member for Rankin will cease interjecting.
The review is being undertaken in June. The review will make recommendations, I would imagine, to the government, as would be its purpose, and then the government would consider those recommendations. It would consider the fiscal implications of those recommendations and it will take advice on that, as cabinets work. I appreciate the member who asked the question has never served in a cabinet, let alone an Expenditure Review Committee, or had any sort of ministerial responsibility for working through such decisions of great importance, but he might be educated on this point: when you make decisions of this gravity and this seriousness in a situation like this, you are very careful about it. That is what the government will do, and we have announced—
Dr Chalmers interjecting—
Member for Rankin, I've asked you to stop interjecting a number of times now. The Leader of the Opposition on a point of order.
On a point of order on relevance: it was a very specific question. It was about the release of the review that he will get in June. Why wait until after the by-election?
The point of order was not in order. The question was certainly specific in one part, and then there was another part that certainly opened the question up. In listening to the Prime Minister, I think he has been directly relevant to the question.
As the government announced, we will make the decisions on the basis of the review that has been submitted by Treasury. That will be done in the third week or thereabouts of July, as is our anticipated time frame, to provide that further economic statement that will take into account the review that has been done of the JobKeeper program. That is the proper, responsible way to manage important financial decisions. I understand the Labor Party can only see things through a political prism, but the government is focused on the economic wellbeing of the country at a time of great crisis. That may be inconvenient for the political motives of the opposition, but that is not something that is going to factor into the government's judgement as we continue to provide the discipline and the responsible financial leadership that the government needs at this critical time. (Time expired)
My question is to the Attorney-General and the Minister for Industrial Relations. Will the Attorney please update the House on how, as part of the JobMaker plan, the Morrison government is bringing together key stakeholders to address known problems with our industrial relations system so we can create jobs and strengthen our economy?
I thank the member for his interest in this part of the Australian economy and for his question. From 24 March through to 31 March, so in seven days, the Hospitality Industry (General) Award, the Clerks—Private Sector Award and the Restaurant Industry Award were all changed in very substantive ways. Those three awards covered workers in industries with over two million employees. They were all changed in a matter of seven days for one purpose and one purpose only, and that was to save Australian jobs.
Without those changes, the rigidity in the award system would absolutely have cost tens of thousands of jobs. Rigidities in the award system at that point in time made it incredibly difficult for employees to be directed to work from home or to have their duties changed by direction. So all those cafes that transitioned from in-house service to takeaway and delivery models would have had huge problems under their relevant ward had that not been changed. And that intensive period of cooperation was of course a commonsense, good-faith approach to an unemployment crisis that has seen us lose 600,000 jobs and millions more people having decreased working hours. But those cooperative changes were of course temporary, and one thing I think is absolutely clear now is that the fastest path out to a better Australia with growing employment is not going to happen without enormous effort and a willingness from all parties in our economy to try new approaches.
Looking at the enduring nature of that challenge: Australia has seen as many jobseeker claims processes since mid-March as there were in the previous two years. The enormity of the challenge before us is such that we must cooperate in a way we have never done before. What we are looking at now is a level of fresh start and an attempt to garner that cooperation between employer groups, industries and unions as part of our broader JobMaker plan to try and retool key features of the Australian economy so we can achieve what will be the single greatest challenge of any of our political lifetimes, and that is to grow jobs.
There will be five working groups split up to look specifically at known problems in the industrial relations system: complexities and inefficiencies in enterprise agreement making; uncertainty and confusion in the employment of casuals and those with fixed term contracts; inflexibility in awards applying in key distressed industry sectors like hospitality and restaurants; compliance and enforcement; and greenfields agreement—which area may hold the key to tens of thousands of precious Australian jobs and related mining and construction investment. What's clear is that business as usual won't cut it with the enormous challenge that we are facing. But we hope that there will be a path to improvements in these key areas through consultation and the cooperation that we're about to embark on.
My question is addressed to the Prime Minister. Today I have met with dnata workers who lost their jobs because the Prime Minister excluded them from JobKeeper. Why has the Prime Minister left dnata workers behind, left local government workers behind, left arts and entertainment workers behind and left university workers behind?
I don't accept the proposition that was put by the Leader of the Opposition because the Leader of the Opposition contends that the government does not have a suite of economic support that is assisting Australians through this economic crisis. That suite of economic supports has included the additional payment we have made to those on welfare payments. That was done back in April, and there will be another one of those in July. He makes no acknowledgement of the cash-flow assistance, with up to $100,000 for businesses, that is there to support wages. He gives no acknowledgement also of the doubling of the jobseeker payments that have been provided to provide the ultimate safety net to Australians right across the Australian economy.
The instant asset write-off.
And of course there are many other measures—the Treasurer mentions the instant asset write-off—including JobKeeper. In the design of JobKeeper, we ensured that it has covered a wide spectrum of the Australian public—full-time employees, part-time employees and those who are casual equivalent in terms of having been long-term casuals working for employers.
But we said we were not going to cover the bills of state governments and their responsibilities, we were not going to cover the bills of local governments and we were not going to cover the bills of foreign governments—and that is the principle on which we established the JobKeeper program. And those workers who find themselves in need of support can access the jobseeker program. What I will not do is join with the opposition in seeking to demonise jobseeker as a program to support workers who lose their jobs.
The Leader of the Opposition has consistently come into this place and sought to pass off jobseeker as some sort of second prize for Australians who are needing economic assistance. So we have ensured that we have brought together JobKeeper and jobseeker. Some 75 per cent and more—as the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts will advise you—of those in the media and entertainment industry are being supported by JobKeeper. But, where there are those employers who can't make themselves eligible for that program, some 1.6 million Australians or thereabouts have been able to access jobseeker payments.
The extensive work done by Services Australia to process some two years worth of applications and claims for support has been done in a period of about eight weeks, which is an extraordinary response from Services Australia and the hardworking staff right across the Public Service to achieve that result. We will continue to provide those supports, but I will say this also: we're now on the road back. It's not about going further down in terms of the supports that are necessary; it's now about being on the road back. Jobseeker is in place until the end of September, and our government will continue to provide the support that is necessary across the full suite of measures we have provided. (Time expired)
My question is to the Assistant Treasurer and Minister for Housing. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government's HomeBuilder grant will support the more than one million workers whose jobs rely on the strength of the housing and construction sector?
I thank the member for Stirling for his question. Yes, there are more than a million Australians whose livelihood relies on the residential construction industry. As we've all seen, one of the consequences of COVID-19 has been, since about March, very few new home sales. As the Master Builders association has said, that jeopardises about half a million jobs in that industry in the second half of this year.
The HomeBuilder program addresses that and supports those many hundreds of thousands of new jobs. It provides a $25,000 grant for people who purchase a new home or rebuild a home. It will ensure that those people will be able to buy very typical stock—a house-and-land package, a new apartment—or to knock down and rebuild an existing home. We know that, according to the Master Builders association, it's going to fire up the industry. In fact, the Master Builders association has said:
HomeBuilder will be a lifeline for an industry facing a valley of death in the coming months. It will mean more new homes, more small businesses and jobs are protected and provide a stronger bridge to economic recovery for our country.
The jobs we're talking about are not just the jobs we think about on a typical building site—the carpenter, the plumber, the electrician. There is an entire chain of jobs that rely on the residential construction industry. In regional Australia it's the timber mills that create the frames and the trusses. In manufacturing it's the bricks, it's the glass, it's the tiles. That's why it supports such a large ecosystem. And I must say we have been very pleased with the response to the HomeBuilder program over the weekend. In fact, in Domain today it was reported:
The chance to build a brand-new home for a bargain has lured thousands of Aussie buyers into the market as developers across the nation report skyrocketing sales and inquiries mere days after the launch of the federal government's new HomeBuilder scheme.
The article goes on to say:
… with first-home buyers leading the new-build charge.
So every time members opposite criticise the HomeBuilder program, which is supporting hundreds of thousands of jobs, they are saying to those first home buyers, they are saying to those people who are upgrading their homes, that that $25,000 is not good for them but, more importantly, it is not good for the many hundreds of thousands of people who will be employed by this industry. It again shows that the Labor Party have no idea about the economic recovery ahead. (Time expired)
My question is to the Prime Minister. Why have the Prime Minister and his government used the cover of a pandemic to increase Australia Post delivery times and put the jobs of postal workers at risk?
I do thank the member for Chifley, a former union official, for that question, because the facts are that, when Australia Post came to the government and made the point—
The minister will resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition, on a point of order.
Mr Fletcher interjecting—
The minister needs to resume his seat. The Leader of the Opposition, on a point of order.
Yes, on a point of order: I thought there was a love-in now between unions and business!
The Leader of the House?
It was clearly a term of endearment!
The minister has the call.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and I do thank the member for his question. When Australia Post came to the government and made the point that, during the pandemic, they were seeing a sharp reduction in the number of letters being delivered—a continuation of an existing trend—and an explosion in the number of parcels as Australians enthusiastically ordered all kinds of goods to be delivered to their homes, and it was very important that Australia Post be able to respond to that demand and meet the community need for parcels to be delivered. The regulatory change that we introduced has allowed posties to be redeployed from delivering letters to delivering parcels—in other words, redeployed from the part of the business which is seeing a decline to the area where there is growth. Already, some 2,000 posties have been retrained to be able to work on the delivery of parcels. So, notwithstanding the claims made by the union and made by the opposition, this is about supporting Australia Post to best meet the needs of the community and to make sure that posties have secure and continuing employment.
I make one other very important point, which you will find nowhere in the materials distributed by the relevant union for postal workers or by the opposition. It's not in the claims that have been made by them, but it's a very important point. The regulatory change that has been made is time limited. It goes to 30 June next year. The changes to the delivery schedules in metropolitan areas are time limited. There is no change that the government has made beyond that point.
My question is to the Minister for Communications, Cyber Safety and the Arts. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is providing support to our media and entertainment sector during the COVID-19 pandemic?
I do thank the member for Moncrieff, who brings a very relevant personal background to that question about the entertainment sector, having worked for some 30 years as a professional musician, and a very accomplished one, too—one of the examples of the great diversity of skills and life experience that we on this side bring to the chamber.
The member is right to ask about the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the arts and entertainment sector, because the sector's been hit very hard. Venues are closed, performances have stopped, artists have lost their gigs and revenue for many organisations has fallen to zero. That's why it's been so important that JobKeeper has been there to support people in the arts and entertainment sector. From the numbers in what the Australian Bureau of Statistics calls the creative and performing arts subsector, that's around 40,000 people—actors, backstage crew and others. We now know that over 25,000 people in that subsector received the JobKeeper payment in April. In other words, almost two-thirds of people in the creative and performing arts subsector received $76 million in support in April alone—and that is as it should be, because this sector has been hit very hard and our support is going to the areas where the need is greatest. There is targeted support through measures like $10 million for regional arts; $7 million for Indigenous arts centres; and $10 million for Support Act, the respected charity which supports people in the music and performing arts sectors, to assist musicians who have been hit particularly hard by the loss of gigs, thanks to COVID-19.
I am also asked about the support that we're providing to the media sector. The media sector as well was hit very hard by the sharp drop in advertising revenue when Australians were turning to the media more than ever for information at this critical time. That is why we provided $41 million of relief from the spectrum tax which ordinarily applies to radio and television broadcasters. That's why we have committed $50 million through the Public Interest News Gathering program for regional broadcasters and newspapers. Applications have already closed on that. We have moved quickly, are currently considering applications, and the money will start to flow shortly.
So the member is right to point out that the arts and entertainment and media sectors have been hit hard by the economic impacts of COVID-19, and our government has been there to provide targeted support to these important sectors.
My question is to the Prime Minister. Has the government received advice from Virgin's administrator that bidders for the airline are expected to pull out if the government keeps its hard September deadline for JobKeeper?
I'll ask the Deputy Prime Minister to add to the answer. The government wants to see two viable airlines in Australia serving the Australian travelling public. We have taken a very consistent approach which has seen, through administration, the identification of very serious proposals that have come forward that will enable that to become possible. We will continue to engage with the administrator, throughout the course of their coverage of these issues, to achieve those ends.
But I would say one thing in particular right now, if we're concerned about Virgin employees, and that is that it is very important that we open up the domestic borders in this country. We need to get planes flying around Australia, and, if you want to see planes flying around Australia, we need to open up these domestic borders.
An honourable member interjecting—
And I agree. That applies to South Australia, Tasmania, Queensland and Western Australia. This isn't a partisan issue; this is about ensuring that our economies can open up. I have made this point consistently—that it is in Virgin's interest, it is in Qantas's interest and it is in the aviation sector's interest that we move to opening up travel within Australia as soon as possible. The three-step process is intended to be completed in July, and we look forward to that being completed in July. I would be hoping that, at the earliest possible opportunity, states will be able to indicate the date in July that that interstate travel will be open again, to be able to give that certainty. I'll ask the Deputy Prime Minister to add to that.
I do thank the shadow minister for her question and for the ability to add to the Prime Minister's response. I thank Virgin for what they have done for travellers around the country and, indeed, for those Australians wanting to get back home. I have a couple of figures. Under the Domestic Aviation Network Support program, Virgin has carried around 33,000 domestic passengers during the first four weeks of that program. Under the international aviation network support program, repatriating Australians overseas back to this country—Virgin has operated 26 flights carrying 893 passengers and 400 tonnes of freight.
Of course, Virgin is also eligible for support under economy-wide programs, and everything that we've done in the aviation sector has been sector wide—that's really important to note—such as the JobKeeper program, which Virgin has been able to access. I do want to thank Virgin. I do want to thank those people who work for Virgin, the 10,000 of them and the 6,000 contractors but particularly the 10,000 workers who proudly wear those red uniforms. We want them to continue to be part of the transport sector, going through COVID-19, and we're doing everything we can to ensure that.
My question is to the Minister for Home Affairs. Will the minister update the House on the steps that the Morrison government is taking to protect Australian children from exploitation and abuse? Has the COVID-19 pandemic impacted this effort?
I thank the honourable member for his question and recognise the fact that he has served our country in uniform for almost 20 years; he has been protecting Australians for a long time.
The work of the Australian Federal Police has continued through the COVID pandemic. We have been working with them very closely in the Home Affairs portfolio to make sure that we can protect children, and keep kids safe online in particular. It is the reality that many paedophiles have been targeting our children online as they are spending more time at home studying, talking to their friends, messaging, visiting websites et cetera. The work of the Australian Federal Police, AUSTRAC and others is quite remarkable in this regard. I want to pay tribute to the officers involved and I want to send a very clear message to those online or, indeed, in the real world thinking they can harm children in our country or elsewhere: the Australian Federal Police, working with AUSTRAC and others, are detecting more and more people online who are depraved and deserve to be caught, and they will be punished.
Our recent success in relation to Operation Arc Stone has been quite remarkable. We now know that a number of arrest warrants have been executed and that nine men in three states have been charged, and at least 14 children have been saved from further harm. Forty charges have been laid against the alleged offenders, and investigations remain ongoing. I can confirm to the House that a 57-year-old male—from The Shire, regrettably, Prime Minister—was arrested yesterday in relation to serious allegations. If people think they can act online in an anonymous way, they are sadly mistaken.
Many of these depraved individuals are on the dark web. They are communicating and they are remitting money to other parts of the world—the Philippines, Thailand et cetera. Through very sophisticated means, we are now able to understand a lot of what is going on but not all of it. If people are hiding behind the dark web and using encrypted devices, in some cases it makes it impossible for the police and the intelligence agencies to determine who these people are. The government has been determined for a long time, under the Prime Minister's leadership, to reform laws wherever needed so that our policing agencies can protect children. If we're unable to act and unable to discover the messages, the ordering of services, which is what takes place in many of these transactions, we can't save those children here and abroad. I've made it an absolute priority for this portfolio. I am determined to make sure we can protect Australian children, and I know we're supported in that task by all Australians.
on indulgence—Just briefly, before I ask my question, can I associate Labor with the comments of the minister. Child sex crime is something that is beyond comprehension, and it is something that should be stamped out. We will assist in any way possible, and we congratulate the government on those recent arrests.
My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer to the Prime Minister's plan to purchase fuel reserves for Australia and keep them in Texas. Isn't this like living in Sydney and keeping a spare key in Dallas?
We on this side of the House know that a strong recovery from the COVID-19 crisis means having a reliable, affordable supply of fuel, gas and electricity. I will remind the House that, during this pandemic, our supply has remained stable. Our liquid fuel supplies have remained strong and have remained stable. We do need to take action to ensure that we have a strategic fuel reserve in this country, to ensure that the truckies, the tradies, the farmers and the commuters have access to the fuel that they need. We have a total fuel supply in this country of around 85 days—and we need it to be higher.
We have taken the opportunity of record low prices for liquid fuels to purchase $94 million worth of stocks to ensure that we have the liquid fuel security we need to keep this country strong. Because there is almost no storage left in the world, the right place to store it, for now, is the United States, but we are committed to ensuring that there is local storage available in Australia to make sure that those truckies, those tradies, those farmers and those manufacturers have the supplies they need. It is also crucial that we have a strong refining sector in this country to support our fuel security, and we're working closely with our fuel refineries at a difficult time for them. We're working closely, as well, with the unions at a difficult time to ensure that we have those fuel stocks we need in Australia.
It might be of interest to the House to know that back in 2012, when the Leader of the Opposition was the transport minister, Australia held only 17 days of petrol, 15 days of diesel and 16 days of jet fuel. In fact, we became non-compliant with our international obligations back in 2012, when those opposite were in government. We are absolutely committed to fuel security in this country and to having control of our own destiny, and we are fixing the problems created by those opposite.
My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Will the minister outline to the House how the Morrison government is working to protect Indigenous communities during the COVID-19 pandemic—and I draw attention to the many remote Indigenous communities in Grey—and will the minister update the House on the government's ongoing work to close the gap?
I thank the member for Grey for his continued passion and commitment to the Aboriginal communities within his electorate. Our government's priority during the COVID period was to reduce COVID-19 and, in fact, prevent it occurring within Aboriginal communities. The APY Lands were the first, of their own volition, to seek a biosecurity closure around their community to protect them from any exposure at all. That land falls within your electorate, and I know that you were heavily involved.
From this situation, I then worked very closely and strongly with the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, and with all of the ministers for Aboriginal affairs across the nation to have them identify communities that they deemed were vulnerable. Once they had agreed, we then implemented the Biosecurity Act, which has led to the results that we've achieved. But the measure was supported by the strong leadership of Indigenous people—Indigenous leaders, elders and traditional owners—and key people in the health sector. They understood the problems, they knew the risk and they took the measures, and those measures had a tremendous outcome in that there were only 60 people reported as having COVID-19 after being tested. That's an incredible outcome when you consider the vulnerability of the health of Indigenous Australians.
Each day, I would work with the National Indigenous Australians Agency, gathering intel from regions and communities about where there were challenges, and food supply was a significant one. So we established a food supply committee. We worked with other key people across government and we ensured, in working with Minister Dutton, that we gave access to the outlets that provided the food and other products necessary to Indigenous communities.
Then the process that I continued was that I would ring members and would organise for them, as I did with the member for Grey, to talk to Indigenous leaders at the community level and to hear what the challenges and issues were so that the Morrison government, through the various agencies, could deal with and assist communities in that period. That ensured continuity of services. It ensured that we kept COVID out of those regions. But we also took on the model that we have. In the partnership, we've identified key areas that are gaps, and, with the Morrison government and ministers around the cabinet table, we are working with Indigenous leadership to achieve the outcomes that we need in this nation to close the gap. I want to thank everybody in every tier of government for that work that they did. It was a tremendous outcome.
Mr Speaker, I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper.
Documents are tabled in accordance with the list circulated to honourable members earlier today. Full details of the documents will be recorded in the Votes and Proceedings.
Just to add to an answer: there were 32 of 43 cases in the last week, I'm advised, that were in hotel quarantine.
Mr Speaker, briefly, something I think everyone in the chamber and those listening outside the chamber will want to know—it's great news—is that 14-year-old autistic boy William Callaghan has been found. He had been lost in Victorian bushland for two days. Ben Gibbs, an experienced bushman, found him. He's a true hero. This is something that has been followed, I know, by many members and by the general public as well. This is fantastic news for young William and for his family.
I thank the Leader of the Opposition. The Minister for Health, seeking to support the comments.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. I want to thank the Leader of the Opposition. As a Victorian, as a father, as a member of this House, I want to say to all of our searchers, our emergency workers, our police and everybody involved: thank you for finding William. It's an important day for his family and for every family.
I thank both the Leader of the Opposition and the Minister for Health.
Speaker, I have two questions for you.
Okay.
The first refers to the Practice. It was actually just observed then by the Minister for Health. Page 566 of House of Representatives Practice discusses where ministers seek to add to or to correct an answer. While the tradition the minister just followed was for an answer given today, there are in Practice, on page 566, precedents, going all the way back to 1969, of corrections being given where incorrect information has been given to the House on a previous day.
On 14 May, there were multiple statements that we now know to be incorrect, from the Prime Minister and the Treasurer, which they have taken no opportunity today in the House, at the first available opportunity, to correct. The Prime Minister told the House on 14 May:
The truth is that six million Australians are benefiting from a JobKeeper program …
He then said:
Six million Australians today are getting support through the JobKeeper program.
The Treasurer said:
The reality is that this JobKeeper program … is supporting some six million workers …
The Treasurer went again, referring to 'six million workers' that were now covered by businesses that were formally enrolled for the JobKeeper payment. And, finally he said:
… I would like the House to acknowledge some six million workers are now covered by the JobKeeper payments …
Not only were none of those statements true but, in terms of the procedures of the House, the protocol that has been in this place for a very long time about incorrect information being corrected has not occurred, and I'm asking what the appropriate processes are for the House to follow as a result of that.
I thank the Manager of Opposition Business. There's no role for me in that regard, but it is something that the House is always welcome to take up. I'd just point out to him that there's no role for me in judging the factual accuracy of answers or questions. I have to say to the Manager of Opposition Business: he did point out that they were answers to questions. So it's just a matter of fact that ministers who've answered questions can be questioned about those answers at any point. The Manager of Opposition Business had a second question.
Thanks, Speaker. I reckon there's a chance you've got a role on this one, and that is with respect to standing order 105, which requires that, where we are dealing with a minister's written reply to a question, if a reply has not been received within a reasonable time then there is a capacity for you to take action on behalf of the House. A similar situation arose on 12 May, when, in response to a question from the member for Whitlam—where the member for Whitlam asked: 'My question is to the Treasurer. How many Australians are now earning more than their normal wage because they're receiving the JobKeeper subsidy of $1,500 a fortnight?'—the Treasurer took that question on notice. Since that moment, the House has heard nothing more. Practice refers to a practice where sometimes an answer can be given in writing directly to the member, sometimes it can be given in writing to the Clerk and sometimes it can be given at the dispatch box. But we have a case here where the Treasurer has taken a question on notice, we've had a number of sitting days in question time subsequently, and nothing has come back to the House. Is there any procedure available where you would be able to take action in the way that is otherwise provided for questions on the Notice Paper?
I thank the Manager of Opposition Business. Just thinking about the matter now, again I think it would be in order for a question to be asked about that in question time if any member wanted to do that. When a question is taken on notice, the Manager of Opposition Business is correct: that can be answered in a number of ways. Not so recently, the practice of writing was certainly more common—or to lodge it with the Clerk or the rest. I think probably the approach I would take—because I haven't been asked something like this before—is to really align with the principle on questions that are asked on notice and answers to them. After a certain period has elapsed—I think it's 60 days—a member who hasn't had a reply to that question is entitled to rise after question time, as a number do, and request that I simply write to the minister, which I always do that day. But I can't compel the minister to answer the question.
I present the following Auditor General's audit reports for 2019-20: No. 37, Performance audit: procurement of garrison support and welfare services: Department of Home Affairs; No. 38, Financial statements audit: interim report on key financial controls of major entities; and No. 39, Performance audit: implementation of the Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation (CSIRO) property investment strategy: Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation.
I have received a letter from the honourable the Leader of the Opposition proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely:
The Government's response to the challenges facing Australia.
I call upon those honourable members who approve of the proposed discussion to rise in their places.
More than the number of members required by the standing orders having risen in their places—
We've heard a lot about how we're all in this together during the pandemic crisis. Indeed, Australians have been magnificent. Our nurses, our teachers, our early childhood educators, our supermarket workers, our cleaners, our truck drivers and our public transport workers have all kept this nation going. But, from those opposite, what we're seeing is a return to the old ideological positions that they hold so dear, with people being left behind—casual workers, dnata workers, arts workers, university workers and council employees all left behind. That's consistent, because during this crisis we've also learnt that of those who suffered from a previous crisis earlier this year, the bushfire victims, just four per cent have received any support from this government. They too have continued to be left behind, impacted by drought, then by bushfires and then by the pandemic.
Now, of course, the snapback has begun. There we were. On Monday, for childcare workers—essential workers—three days after an absolute guarantee from this Prime Minister that JobKeeper would be in place at least until September, it was announced that it would be ripped away from them from next week. We know that 95 per cent of childcare workers are women. So this is a reverse Titanic from this government—women and children put last by this government.
In just the three weeks since this parliament sat, we've seen the recession announced. Remember last year's budget—the 'back in black' grand statements and the mugs that were produced? Now, it's 'I see red,' from this government. This government promised the budget was back in black. Well, now it is in deep, deep red. Then we saw the $60 billion accounting bungle—$60 billion!—announced late on a Friday afternoon. It is the largest in history—one you could see from space! It's such a mess. Here they were: all of these companies apparently had exactly 1,500 employees, and no-one noticed—not 1,493, not 1,510, but precisely 1,500—a $60 billion error and a three-million-worker error from this government. Such a mess. The dollar figures are so wrong. Frankly, it's only a matter of time until Angus Taylor, in a panic, claims that it was downloaded from the City of Sydney website! It's only a matter of time before that becomes the excuse for this government, which won't accept responsibility for anything.
That was on one Friday and then the Friday after we saw robodebt, a $720 million bungle—373,000 Australians hit with illegal debt notices, notices that the government knew were illegal, and when we asked the question today they wouldn't say when they found that out. We know that there were real human consequences behind the automation that went in from this government. It's time we put humans back into Human Services. But this government would rather just contract out public services. They'd rather bring in automation. We now know that they won't even apologise. Today, again, we saw that contempt. How many people who received these notices have died? We know that it occurred. We know that there was real tragedy involved, as a direct result of the policies of this government.
But it's not just all of these mistakes, one after the other. We then had the housing package, designed so that no-one could access it—more catches than the Rex Hunt Fishing Show. All of those with a lazy $150,000 sitting around who earn under $125,000 can renovate their home—a pretty decent renovation. And today it changed from 'renovation rescue'—it's gone. It has become the slogan that dare not speak its name. If they had spent as much time designing a proper program as they did working out a slogan to describe it, perhaps it would have been better off. We know that there will be very few additional builds because of this. These would be projects that were ready to go anyway, projects that are now being subsidised by the taxpayer. Why have they gone down this track, even though the member for Blaxland and I have been out there campaigning for well over a month now, with practical suggestions for the government? Why? Because they would rather do anything than have something with 'public' associated with it. So, there is no new public housing, no renovation of public housing and not even affordable housing for essential workers, which is being undertaken by superannuation funds and by others in local government—contempt for those people.
They could have looked at the program implemented by the member for Sydney during the GFC—21,000 new homes and 70,000 renovated homes, lifting up that capital value that stays with the public sector, giving people pride in where they live by updating their homes with those renovations. If they did that, they could also have apprentices and trainees on the job, which they can't do under their scheme. The PM says that he believes in miracles. Anyone hoping to navigate their way through this maze had better believe in them too, because it's the only way that you could work that out.
And of course we have the ongoing JobKeeper debacles, with some people missing out as others, working side by side, receive multiples of their income. We have a government in denial, as we saw today, about the arts and entertainment sector. Somehow they're doing okay, according to the minister. 'Everything is just hunky-dory.' We've seen other measures brought in during this period also. Australia Post changes were snuck in under the cover of the pandemic that is out there, providing for fewer workers and fewer services, particularly in regional communities.
Throughout it all, of course, we have seen from this government no transparency whatsoever—the Friday night announcements. Three Fridays ago we had the $60 billion mistake. Two weeks ago we had the $720 million robodebt payment. Last Friday we were waiting. What was this going to be? Well, they realised it was a long weekend, so they kept it till the Monday of a long weekend before they announced that they were ripping off the JobKeeper program from the essential workers who have looked after our kids. It's bad for women and bad for children—essential workers just dismissed by this mob.
Over and over we see this government taking no responsibility for anything. We heard the questions asked by the Manager of Opposition Business. This government takes no responsibility. They never put their hand up and say, under the Westminster system, 'Yes, I got something wrong'—whether it's sports rorts, whether it's the letters that magically appeared or were downloaded from imaginary websites for the City of Sydney, whether it's the debt which they doubled, whether it's productivity going backwards and all the economic indicators that were so shocking. They're just deluded. That's why they could stand up at this dispatch box and say the budget was back in black. The only way that would happen would be if they turned off the lights. That's the only way that that would happen. The budget wasn't back in black. They picked the wrong AC/DC song. This government should be characterised by another AC/DC song, 'Dirty deeds done dirt cheap', because that defines the way that the government operates.
Thank you for the call, Deputy Speaker.
An opposition member interjecting—
I take the compliment from across the chamber: 'They've brought out the big guns for this one'!
In a person's life, and indeed in the nation's history and the globe's history, there are defining moments, and I think what's happened this year—which was obviously not foreseen by anybody for our own personal lives, for this nation's life or for the globe's life—is a defining moment for all of us. What often characterises defining moments is that they are unforeseen. Just last year, in my region, we had things that were proving to be very difficult. We had a one-in-100-years drought. We had fires. We thought that was tough. Little did we know that not only our region, not only our state, not only our nation but indeed the world was going to be facing the threat of this virus. Not only are the health consequences of the virus significant; we have also seen—and we knew it would happen—the economic costs, the economic consequences, and the threat that they pose to everyone as well. There was a lot of anxiety. I think we'll all remember this year vividly, as time goes on—the events that led to us not shutting down completely but as businesses had to shut down, as people couldn't go to work—what those few weeks were when there was a lot up in the air about how far we would have to go to fight this economic crisis.
I want to go back and acknowledge the Prime Minister. I want to acknowledge the national cabinet. I want to acknowledge a lot of people. There was a lot of pressure, you might remember, Deputy Speaker, early on with this, as countries went through the different life cycles of the virus, for us to go with a full lockdown. There was a lot of pressure from the media, a lot of pressure from different sectors of the country, that we needed to lock down and we needed to lock down big time.
One of the most important things the Prime Minister said through all this was that every job was essential and that, yes, we needed to lock down or shut down certain things but we wanted to do that to a bare minimum. First, we wanted to get the health outcomes. It was all about flattening the curve. We wanted to get the health outcomes but we wanted to do the least amount of damage we could to our economy. The Prime Minister has put that message about health being No. 1 but also that we need to manage this economic crisis.
I want to acknowledge the health ministers. I thank the health ministers across all the states. The national cabinet was a wonderful initiative that, again, the Prime Minister initiated so that all the states could be on board and on the same page as best we can in a federation. A lot of great work was done there. The Leader of the Opposition mentioned a lot of people as well. It's become very apparent, the people who are very important to the wellbeing and welfare of our country. They are people like our front-line health workers, that he mentioned, truck drivers, people who work at supermarkets, anyone involved in supply chains of getting essential goods and services to every man, woman and child across this country. While there was great stress on some of those supply chains, I think as a country we have stood up and done very well under that—because of who Australians are.
I want to thank Australians, again, on the health front. We saw situations in other countries, with the health crisis, where it got out of control. We didn't get to that level. Sure, we as governments and state premiers and others certainly set some of the parameters and goalposts around this, but we didn't hit those levels—because of Australians. I think we 'got it' as a nation, the health threat, that we really needed to change what we did. This happened the day we saw everyone on Bondi Beach. I think we all went, 'Actually, that's not okay.' With what we're facing, the real threats, including to our health, that is not okay. I felt it in my community the next day: the social distancing and the hygiene. We just got it. That changed it. When we as a nation, as Australians, got that, that changed the outcome for us and I want to thank everyone who has helped with that.
The Prime Minister spoke very early on, when the debate was happening, of how much or how little we lock down to get the health results and flatten the curve to where we want it, and he was very aware of the economic cost of doing that. There has been significant economic destruction. We have seen jobs lost. The numbers have been well documented, and we have seen assets devalued. We have seen a lot of that happen not just here but across the globe. This is scary—probably not the word I should use—stuff.
This isn't just isolated to Australia. We are seeing the globe under much stress; we are seeing many countries under much stress. If you look at economic contractions of any significant size throughout history, what it usually means is you're going into a less safe world. This is a critical time. As the Prime Minister said, the decisions that we and many countries around the globe make right now over the next three, four and five years will be significant in how we cohabit, trade and relate with each other as a community over the next 30 years.
Not only have we as a country done exceptionally well on the health front, we have done as well as we can—and we've done some great things—on the economic front to try and minimise the impact of this economically. Obviously, not everything is the same as it was. Certainly there are people who are much more economically distressed than they were. But I speak to many people across my community who are very thankful for the increase to the jobseeker payment, for the work we have done with JobKeeper and for a lot of the industry packages that we've announced over the last few months. I want to read a list—it is good to remind us about how much has happened.
If we go back to 21 January, we noted that the human coronavirus had pandemic potential. That is when it first started to come across our radar—in January. Our announcement of the pandemic potential in January was well ahead of the World Health Organization. We were on the front foot very early, which is another reason why the health consequences here haven't been as bad as in other countries. On 27 February we activated the Australian Health Sector Emergency Response Plan for Novel Coronavirus. On 5 March we established the National Coordination Mechanism.
On 11 March we announced a $2.4 billion health package that included support for vulnerable groups, primary care, aged care, hospitals, research and a national medical stockpile. We committed to funding over 50 per cent of additional hospital costs incurred by states and territories related to the diagnosis and treatment of patients with or suspected of having coronavirus. On 12 March, the day after, we announced a $17.6 billion economic response to the coronavirus, including cash flow boosts for employers, $750 stimulus payments and assistance for severely affected regions. The next day we established the national cabinet—unprecedented—and it has been a great asset to our management of this situation. On 17 March, nearly a week later, the national cabinet agreed to restrictions on gatherings and measures for the protection of those in aged care and other older Australians, and Australians travelling abroad were encouraged to return home.
On 22 March, the week after that, we announced the next stimulus package—$66.1 billion, including income support for individuals through the supplement and expanding the cash flow boosts to businesses. The week after that we announced $669 million to expand Medicare subsidised telehealth services, domestic violence support, mental health support and a community support package. On 30 March we announced the JobKeeper payment. On 2 April we announced a $1.6 billion package for early childhood education. On 12 April we announced the higher education relief package, providing funding for short courses, $18 billion for domestic students and $100 million in regulatory relief. On 16 April we announced up to $165 million in support for domestic airlines. On 29 April we announced $205 million in payments to keep senior Australians in residential care safe, and we announced another aged-care funding supplement.
On 8 May we started to talk about a road map to reopening, because we were feeling that the health issue was at least starting to be contained. On 12 May the Treasurer delivered his ministerial statement on the economy. On 4 June we announced the HomeBuilder scheme.
As can be seen from that very brief road map, we have come a long way. We have a lot to be proud of and we have a lot to be thankful to our fellow Australians for, for the way they have adhered to the health advice to make sure that we flattened the curve—and so far so good. Touch wood, we will be able to manage any outbreak from here. We still have a lot of work to do, and as a government we will do everything we can to make sure every job is restored.
Last week, the Treasurer announced that, after three decades, Australia was in recession. Three decades since the groundbreaking reforms of the Hawke-Keating Labor government, which have given rise to the longest period of uninterrupted growth in this country, Australia is now going backwards. To put that in context, there are 6.3 million Australians alive today who were not born at the time Australia was last in recession. That's almost a quarter of the population.
This government doesn't own the global coronavirus pandemic, but it certainly does own the state of the economy as it stood when COVID-19 hit. It owns the fact that, for the first time in decades, labour productivity was going backwards. It owns the fact that we were experiencing record low wage growth in our economy. It owns the fact that since 2013, as a government, it has more than doubled public debt. This government also certainly owns the package of relief that it has put forward to get Australians through the global pandemic crisis. It owns the fact that the JobKeeper program was budgeted incorrectly, by $60 billion—the single biggest budgeting error since Federation. What that means is that, for a significant period of time, this government believed that it was going to spend $60 billion—the same amount that was spent during the entire stimulus of the global financial crisis—on precisely nothing. That's what it means to be $60 billion disconnected with reality. What it also means is that there are three million fewer workers who will get access to JobKeeper than this government has claimed. Today in the parliament we've got workers from dnata. When you consider that they're not eligible for JobKeeper because of the ownership of their particular company, and when you think about the thousands of people in universities and the million short-term casuals who are all ineligible for JobKeeper, it speaks to those Australians who are being left behind.
The government own the botched relief for the childcare sector, which also involves an absolutely broken promise, by removing childcare workers from JobKeeper next month. They own the ridiculous HomeBuilder stimulus package. In a sector of a million people, five out of six who have lost their jobs will get no benefit whatsoever from this stimulus package. So, be you a home builder, a childcare worker, a person in university, a short-term casual or somebody who is working at dnata—amongst a whole lot of other Australians—you have been left behind by the relief package that this government has put together. This government will certainly own the recovery after the COVID virus is over.
When I listen to the Prime Minister talk about his road to recovery and the importance of the skills and the VET sector, which is a sector that he has cut $3 billion from and where there are 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees; when I listen to the Prime Minister talk about the importance of manufacturing, when it was this government which goaded the car industry offshore; when I hear this government talking about the importance of harmonious industrial relations, but the only IR policy they've had for the last seven years is a full frontal attack on trade unions; and when I hear the Prime Minister say that each of these is a brick in the wall that he is building in terms of recovery, well, this is a Prime Minister who has spent the last seven years smashing that wall to the ground. What it means is that this is a government that has presided over seven lost years for our nation, because if he sees all of that as the agenda for the future—an agenda, I might say, that looks a lot like a Labor agenda—it is a long way from what has characterised the way this government has operated.
This government has been about an automated debt collection scheme from our most vulnerable, which is seeing $700 million being returned to more than 370,000 Australians. But nothing will compensate for the anguish and the torment—and so much worse—that has happened to those workers. This government owns a debt which is on an upward march to a trillion dollars. So, if Scott Morrison seeks to market himself as a leader of a pale imitation of a Labor government, let me tell you that at the next election voters in this country will get the opportunity to vote for a real one.
Over the past fortnight, I've held another dozen or so mobile offices that I regularly hold around my electorate of Brisbane. From the Powerhouse markets at New Farm to the urban village at Kelvin Grove, from the shopping strips at Wilston and Paddington to the parks of Ascot, it was another perfect opportunity to listen carefully to the thoughts of a wide variety of Australians from all walks of life. While we chatted, I shouted a few of my constituents a coffee from nearby cafes, like the Little Corner Cafe in Wooloowin, so that we could simultaneously help support some of the great local small businesses as they work hard to bounce back as the social distancing restrictions are eased. I have to say that I think the constituents I spoke to at those mobile offices over the last fortnight would generally have a difficult time reconciling their experiences and their thoughts about Australia's response to COVID-19 with what we heard just moments ago from the Leader of the Opposition.
Contrary to what the Leader of the Opposition said in his contribution, most Australians feel that our response to the coronavirus in terms of the health outcomes and the economic outcomes compares pretty favourably with those that we are seeing in so many other countries around the world, including in most of the countries that Australia compares itself with. Most Australians feel positive about the cooperation that they've witnessed between governments and across party lines, particularly through the new national cabinet process that was implemented and is being led by the Prime Minister. I think most Australians would have been left cold and feeling disappointed when they heard the remarks of the Leader of the Opposition earlier, because by about one minute into his speech he was reverting to type, ramping up the politics and the partisanship. I think Australians would have felt that the Leader of the Opposition was trying to make this more about him and more about politics than maintaining the critical focus on the urgent needs of Australians.
By contrast, this government and our Prime Minister and our Treasurer have been both responsive and innovative in our policy responses and have maintained a laser-like focus on the national interest during these unprecedented times. As the member for Page mentioned, it was on 21 January that the government added the human coronavirus with pandemic potential as a listed human disease, well ahead of the World Health Organization, it should be recalled. Before the end of February, as the rest of the world finally began to comprehend the gravity of this global threat, we'd already developed and activated our emergency response plan. Two weeks after that, the national cabinet was established, and not two weeks after that this government announced the JobKeeper payment, a policy measure of unprecedented size and scope to give Australian workers and businesses, not-for-profits and other organisations a vital lifeline to weather the economic storm.
It was the Prime Minister who said in this place at the outset of the pandemic that Australia would have to prove to its critics that open, liberal democracies were up to the challenge of facing a crisis like this. In the weeks that have followed, Australians have proved themselves up to the challenge. This crisis has taught us many things about who we are as a country and where we need to be to continue to secure our prosperity. One of the themes emerging is how now, more than ever, we need policies that strengthen Australia's self-reliance and self-sufficiency, so I am very pleased to say that, amongst many sectors and areas on which the government is working right now, our work in the area of sustainability, recycling and waste is going to deliver Australia a much stronger and larger domestic recycling sector, here onshore, making us less reliant on solutions that may or may not remain available offshore. That is going to create value, prosperity and jobs in this country, especially in the parts of this country where we need them the most.
We know that difficult days and difficult decisions lie ahead. These are uncharted waters, and there's much that remains uncertain. But our government's focus is clear: we will fight the virus and we will slow its spread, we will deliver the economic lifeline Australian businesses and families need to weather the global storm and emerge strong and resilient from this global pandemic crisis, and we will rebuild confidence in our economy and deliver the reforms we need to grow into the years ahead. That will remain our focus as a government. Even if the opposition leader tries to move the focus to himself and to politics, we will continue to focus on the national interest for all Australians.
There is not a single part of this country that is untouched by the pandemic, but there are many Australians who have been left behind by this government. For millions of Australians, this is the first recession in their lifetime. Gone are our remarkable three decades of growth, and it's happened on this government's watch. Of course, we did not enter this crisis from a position of strength. Under this government, Australians were already living with the worst wages and productivity growth on record. That was and remains the record of this government. In its response to this crisis and the challenges that it poses, the government has left out countless hundreds—thousands—of Australian workers, leaving them behind. In my contribution, I will focus on aviation workers in particular.
Just yesterday, it was revealed through question time and through the media that the independent administrators of Virgin wrote to the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister, the Treasurer and the Minister for Finance laying out very clearly how the government's inaction threatens the very future survival of Virgin Australia and the 16,000 workers who rely on it. Unless the Morrison government steps up to the plate, the administration process is in serious jeopardy, and I want to quote from that advice to government: 'We are concerned that any delay in obtaining clarity on these matters may jeopardise a successful conclusion to the sale process and risk liquidation of the airline, as occurred in the case of Ansett in 2001.' This is what the administrators are saying to the government, and it is not the first time that they have raised this in writing to the government. They have written almost every single week, and so far we've had very little response.
Australia's second major airline is in serious jeopardy because of the inaction of this government—because the Morrison government has absolutely no plan for our economy and no plan for the aviation industry in this country. Instead the government has taken its hands off the wheel, let this airline fall into administration and is now putting the future of 16,000 workers in jeopardy. Every single job lost and every single route in this country that is lost will be because of the inaction of this government. This is what they will wear, this is what they will own and this will be their legacy to the economy and to the aviation industry and to all of those workers who rely on it. If Australia emerges from this crisis with just one major airline, it will be because this government has made it so. When it comes to Virgin Australia, our priority has always been to protect the workers and to make sure that we continue to have two strong, competitive airlines in this country that help grow our economy and that those 16,000 workers who rely on Virgin are given the support that they need to get through this crisis.
Through this crisis, of course this government has repeatedly said that it will take a sector-wide view to aviation, when we know that is absolutely not the case, that that is not what they've done. They've also not supported all of our aviation workers. Today the Leader of the Opposition and I and many of my colleagues went out to the lawns of Parliament House to meet with dnata workers. These are workers who clean our planes, who prepare food services for our airlines, who make sure that our bags arrive, who make sure that there are customer service officers in our airports who are able to help people navigate through international terminals. These are workers who we often don't see but who we absolutely rely on every single day to get to our destinations. They're not rich workers. They don't get paid a lot. They live in communities right the way across this country. What they've asked for from this government is support so that they can keep their connection with their workforce, so that they can keep their connection with their employer and so that, out of this crisis, we will still have a strong aviation industry and aviation workforce to be able to restart this sector.
This government has taken an active decision. It has introduced rules—an active decision—to deliberately exclude 5½ thousand workers from JobKeeper. It has made this decision and it could change that with the stroke of a pen. Those workers deserve better. This government has failed them. It has let them down and continues to do so every single time the Prime Minister gets up to the despatch box and tries to pretend, somehow or another, that everything is absolutely perfect and everything the government has done with JobKeeper doesn't need any fixing at all. These workers do deserve the government's support and they deserve the support of this parliament. (Time expired)
When I think about the coronavirus pandemic, like many of the people in this chamber—at least on this side of the chamber—I think of the communities that have been affected. I think of those people across Australia who, through no fault of their own, have faced risks because they're exposed to health risks. It may be because they have immune conditions. It might be because they've been travelling and were caught overseas and exposed to the virus. We think about the families who've lost loved ones and those who have gone into hospital and needed life support to be able to get through the night and the day and to be able to see the other side of the virus.
But we also think about the people who are economically impacted by COVID-19. Those people, through no fault of their own and because of the restrictions and the measures that have been imposed by both the Commonwealth and the states, have seen their jobs disappear overnight. The small businesses that usually flourish, survive and thrive to provide goods and services to consumers suddenly find themselves without a customer base and are trying to support and assist both those people who work for them and sometimes their customers, if they can, through this difficult period.
They face a very real challenge, which is why the Morrison government has implemented such strong measures, both to protect public health—the most significant measure that was taken to protect public health was closing the international border and stopping people from overseas coming to Australia, unless they were Australian residents, in which case they faced challenges and then went into quarantine for two weeks—and through the JobKeeper and the jobseeker programs, to help people economically get through this challenge and so people could support themselves during this time. We implemented a series of measures to make sure that people could stand up and support themselves, like early access to superannuation. Despite the howls and the heckles from those on the other side of this chamber, when Australians were faced with a difficult choice and needed access to their own money to pay off their mortgages, to support their families and to honour their obligations, we stood by them and said, 'We understand the challenges that you face now, and we're going to help you help yourself.'
Opposition members interjecting—
And it's critical that we do so, because, when it comes down to it, the alternative from the other side of this chamber—we've heard this through the heckling through my speech just now—and the only response from the opposition has been to reheat old, tired, ideological debates designed to achieve their own political objectives rather than to build the future of this great country.
We, the people on this side of the chamber, know that we are not at the end of this period of difficulty. We know that small businesses and workers will continue to face challenges in the weeks and the months coming. We know that we're not just going to face this challenge here. There is going to be a race towards competitiveness globally, and we have to make sure we build businesses that can support workers and produce goods and services that people demand, sustainably and into the future. Part of that's going to be having a discussion around how we build a tax system that's competitive for the 21st century and how to bring people together to have an industrial relations conversation that breaks down the ideological divide that so many on the opposition benches are wedded to, not just because of their own political interests, though they are, and not just because it empowers them, though it does, but because it comes at the disempowerment of Australians.
We want Australians to be able to stand on their own two feet. It's about having an energy conversation, led by the minister for energy, about how we can have a competitive energy sector to make sure we can support a manufacturing base to match, to meet and to support our geopolitical strategic challenges as well as job creation. At every point, this government has looked to the challenge today and said, 'What do we need to do to support Australians now?' but also, 'What do we need to do to build the future competitiveness of Australians so they can continue to be successful and so we can be successful as a country?' And we make no apology for it. (Time expired)
I think it is fair to say that Australians have done a remarkable job since the onset of the COVID-19 virus, and that means the government, in part, with its health response; the opposition with its constructive response; state governments; business; and our frontline medical staff. Everyone's had a pretty good response to our health situation. I think, for many days of the virus, Australians realised how lucky we are to be Australian.
But I think there is now an emerging concern that, as we move from the public health emergency to the economic challenge, not all Australians are being included in the economic recovery. Too many people are being forgotten. In parliament, we've heard my colleagues in the opposition refer to the staff of universities, many of whom are going to feel the impact of the virus economically. We've heard about the arts sector, which if you ask them—despite the protests of the government—feel largely ignored. We've heard about the disgusting and appalling treatment of dnata workers, who, merely because the company that employs them is based overseas, even though they're Australians paying taxes in Australia, are being abandoned.
Mr Tim Wilson interjecting—
The member for Goldstein, who's no doubt never seen a foreign equity investment he didn't like, says it is because the company's foreign owned. Well, the Australian workers don't get treated specially or preferentially. They don't get to pass on paying Australian taxes, paying the wages of the member for Goldstein, merely because their company's foreign owned. We talk about local government workers. We talk about accommodation industry people. We talk about the travel industry. There are a lot of people doing it very hard: casuals; people who work in the deregulated employment market; the recipients of childcare support; disability day services, who have now not been funded; and people with disability on their NDIS packages, who are coping with increased costs. Of course, heaven forbid we should ever mention the Centrelink recipients who were unlawfully ripped off by the government over the years! But the Prime Minister says that we're on the road back. Labor's concerned that not everyone is included in his big tent or in his vehicle as they drive on the road back, and that's what Labor wants to do: to make sure that no-one gets left behind.
I'd like to talk about an even larger group of unsung heroes who face the government's policies with some anxiety and trepidation. The unsung heroes I would like to finish on are the three million people who have lost their jobs, the small businesses who closed and the people who have been relying on either JobKeeper or other government payments. What happens to them when the hammer of this government's policy drops in September? These are the unsung heroes. I say 'unsung heroes' because a small business which has had to close its doors, a shop in the high street, a dnata worker, a casual worker or an arts worker—one of those people I listed before—has done nothing wrong. They actually have taken one for the team. Australians have accepted losing their jobs or losing their income because there was a public health emergency. They have understood, without rancour. They have largely taken on the chin that the things which have happened to them economically have happened because the nation needed to close its borders and because we needed to have social distancing, so we couldn't go to the show, assemble in crowds, watch the footy or see the cinema. These unsung heroes—there are millions of them who are on JobKeeper or jobseeker—are anxious about what happens in September, and I think a lot more Australians are anxious about the pace of economic recovery, the mortgage defaults and the pressure on their jobs. Will their employer take the opportunity to lay them off? There are millions of Australians who have tightened their belts and gone through this difficulty—small business people and pay-as-you-go employees. They are anxious about what happens in September.
So, when the Prime Minister says we're on the road back, what is he really saying will happen in September to all of these people who have lost their jobs through no lack of effort and through no fault of their own but because this government couldn't stop the virus at the borders? We're not saying it could. You could argue they should have shut the borders earlier, but we get that it's happened. But there are millions of our fellow Australians, unsung heroes, who have taken one for the team. We put this government on notice: you're not going to be able to drop the hammer on them without coming through us first.
In this House we are all acutely aware of the myriad challenges which Australians have faced and are currently facing, from the drought and bushfires to the global coronavirus pandemic and to the devastating financial repercussions it has caused. We're in the midst of a once-in-a-generation health challenge and an associated economic downturn. We invested more than $8 billion to protect the health of Australians, including sourcing additional ventilators and personal protective equipment and making plans for our hospitals to respond to a surge in cases.
To deal with the economic impacts of coronavirus, the government has also rolled out a range of programs to keep Australians in jobs, businesses open and the economy resilient. A total of $260 billion, equivalent to an astounding 13.3 per cent of GDP, is being injected into the economy by the Morrison government and by the Reserve Bank. Our economic support package includes assistance for households and individuals, including casuals, sole traders, retirees and those on income support; and assistance for businesses to keep people in jobs, and regulatory protection and financial support to stay in business. Payments are rolling out for the $70 billion JobKeeper program, and it includes a $1,500 fortnightly wage subsidies for 3.5 million Australians.
Over recent weeks, I've been visiting businesses in my local community in Reid to speak to them about how they have been able to adapt to operating under the COVID safe workplace guidelines. Many business owners have said that the JobKeeper payment has allowed them to keep their doors open. As restrictions have eased, it has meant that they do not need to re-engage or retrain staff to serve their customers. Businesses such as Watergrill restaurant at the Sydney Rowing Club, in Abbotsford, have been able to continue to employ their casual and part-time employees; and, when the club reopened on 1 June, they were ready to serve customers. SASS Hair & Body in Concord received JobKeeper payments for their team and stayed open during the peak of restrictions. Ken Petrino, the owner, has told me that business has picked up over recent weeks as customers have gained more confidence, but he was grateful that JobKeeper was available when things were very quiet.
JobKeeper has provided financial relief not only for business owners but also for workers in vulnerable industries such as tourism, hospitality, entertainment and the arts. It remains the case that, in the absence of the JobKeeper program, Treasury expected the unemployment rate would be around five percentage points higher.
We've expanded the instant asset write-off scheme and increased the threshold to $150,000. We've backed in new capital loans for small and medium enterprises by guaranteeing up to 50 per cent of new loans for eligible lenders. We've subsidised wages for apprentices and trainees in small businesses to keep them connected to their employers—to continue building our workforce. The government has also provided a cash flow boost to businesses and not-for-profit organisations to help them continue to operate. Employers are receiving a payment equal to 100 per cent of their salary and wages withheld, up to a total of $50,000, to help them pay their bills. In Reid, the Children's Tumour Foundation, which is based in Five Dock, have told me that they've been hit hard by reduced donations and limitations on fundraising events. This payment has allowed them to retain their staff and pay their bills.
As restrictions ease, we're focused on generating more jobs across the economy, from bringing forward major infrastructure investments through to small constructions and renovations of homes. In my electorate of Reid, the local road and community infrastructure program will see more than $3 million invested in smaller scale community infrastructure across six councils, including Burwood Council, City of Canada Bay council, City of Parramatta Council, Cumberland council, Inner West Council and Strathfield council. I'm looking forward to seeing these projects rolled out for our community but also for the creation of local construction and planning jobs and for the local businesses supplying materials for these works.
The opposition has given us a great opportunity today to outline the many ways that the Morrison government are supporting Australian workers and businesses, and how we have cushioned the economic blow of the global coronavirus pandemic. The Prime Minister demonstrated last week that, despite being in recession, we are faring significantly better than many countries around the world. While our road to recovery will not be easy, our government is renewing confidence in our economy and has set a solid foundation for our post-pandemic rebuild, and I congratulate the Prime Minister and the Treasurer for their strong leadership during this extremely challenging time.
There is no doubt that this has been a difficult time for Australians—and it's been a difficult time, I have no doubt, for the government. And I will give credit where credit is due: the government has responded well, on medical advice, and has done well in the health crisis. But what I'm concerned about, and I think many on this side of the House are concerned about, are the people that are being left behind—those that are not being acknowledged by this government and not being appreciated by this government. They are being left behind, and it's just not good enough. We on this side of the House make no apologies for coming in here and standing up for them and making sure their voices are heard. Some of the diatribes I've heard from the other side of the House—some of the comments about ideology, going back to the debating style of old—are ridiculous.
I will get up and talk about all those essential workers who have been there during this pandemic. Many of them are such low-paid workers, but they turned up every day—the retail workers; the transport workers; the teachers; all those who helped in the health crisis; the nurses; and those cleaners who have cleaned surfaces across this whole country, putting themselves in harm's way to look after the rest of our community. But one group that hasn't been sung about enough, in my opinion, in the community is our early educators. There was a lot of debate about some of the difficult circumstances that many of our workers found themselves in. Early childhood educators were not often mentioned but they turned up day after day to an environment where you can't actually socially distance. How can you possibly socially distance in an early education setting when you have got to give comfort and care to our youngest Australians? But they turned up and they did it. They understood it was important because other essential workers relied on them. That care and support were critically important, and families relied on that care.
When the childcare industry and the childcare sector were in dire straits, we on this side did call on the government to actually intervene and do something about it. Unfortunately, what we had was a half-baked policy which announced free child care but didn't fund it. But instead of actually rectifying the problems of that system, instead of actually looking at how it could improve it, what the government has done is snap back to the old system that was in place before the pandemic. What the government has done is insult every early childhood educator by ripping JobKeeper away from them without any guarantee for their job and without any guarantee that they will continue to have an income as we move forward. It is just not good enough when we look at the attitude this government takes.
I also want to touch on families because families are doing it tough. Many families have had their incomes, their hours or their jobs slashed yet they still want to try to look for work, they still want to try to build their business and they still want to try to reinvent what they do and how they can participate in the economy. To do that, they do need to send their children to early education and care. In addition to that, they may want their children to actually get the benefits of early education and care. But what this government has said is that, despite being at the depths of a recession, it is going to rip that support away and is going to make sure that parents are going to be charged some of the highest fees in the world for child care. Well, talk about not getting your priorities right.
This government is saying that it wants to stimulate by funding home renovations. Why isn't this government supporting families? Families right around this country are sitting around their kitchen tables, scratching their heads, doing the calculations to see if it's worth taking on an extra shift if they're offered it. They're trying to work out whether or not they can go for a job and whether it will be worth it because of the high childcare fees they will have to pay. This is not the right time to snap back to one of the highest-costing childcare systems in the world. This is not right for families, and what it will do is it will put a handbrake on female participation in the workforce in this country. When women are often already taking the brunt of this crisis, what we have is a government that will not put them first, will not support them and will actually put a barrier that isn't a health pandemic in the way to them gaining employment.
I rise to speak on this matter of public importance today—the government's response to the challenges facing Australia. Let me begin, as some of those opposite have as well, by making the very clear observation that there are Australians out there doing it tough. This has been very difficult for businesses, for families, for community groups, and we all acknowledge that in this place. So where do we go from here? Well, things, we should acknowledge, could have been a lot worse, and I will stand here and defend absolutely the Morrison government's response through this coronavirus crisis. What I won't cop, as colleagues on this side of the chamber won't either, are accusations from those opposite that the Morrison government's response has been flawed.
Let me start where we should always start—with the notion of leadership. Through my own experience in the military then through business and volunteering and now in parliament, I have had an opportunity to see some pretty good leaders and some pretty bad leaders. I've seen formal theory and I've put theory into practice. I've made mistakes along the way and I've learned from them. But let me start with this notion of leadership. I'll give you one example. From the very start there was the formation of the national cabinet. Rather than our Prime Minister simply saying, 'I'll call the shots; me and my cabinet will tell you how it's going to be,' there was a consultative process established. This was the first time in Australia's history that we've seen a national cabinet formed. And I have tell you that all of the feedback I have received in my electorate has been incredibly positive. I've had people say to me: 'Vince, why don't we continue this? Why don't we replace COAG with this form of national cabinet?' Of course, that's what we've now seen.
I've talked about receiving positive feedback. Let me now quantify that. Yes, I've been stopped and advised, 'We think the government's doing a good job.' Let me firstly make the point that that doesn't go to our heads. The very first thing that Scott Morrison said to us—and my colleagues will remember this—in the party room at the start of this term was: 'We will govern humbly for all Australians, and part of how we will do that is through solid leadership.' So I wanted to test that a little bit. We had a tele-town-hall meeting. I dialled thousands of people in my electorate. The minister for small and family business, Michaelia Cash, joined me, and we answered questions. We said: 'We're not pretending to be perfect. We want to hear if something's working, and, if it's not, let us know.'
I can tell you that all ministers and the Treasurer and the PM have been responsive to those in my electorate whenever I've raised issues. So we said, 'Tell us what's going on.' We got some great questions, and in the middle of it we asked for a little bit of feedback. We posed the question to those who were on the line during this tele-town-hall meeting: 'Do you generally (1) agree or (2) disagree with the Morrison government's COVID-19 response?' People were able to anonymously push either 1 or 2 accordingly. Ninety-three per cent of the people who responded on that call pressed 1; they generally agreed with the Morrison government's COVID-19 response. So this is why I stand here and say: I'm not just running on my perception or on what I hear anecdotally; I've done a bit of analysis around this, and I encourage those on my team and those opposite to do the same. So I will stand here and defend the leadership structures which were set up.
That also branched into decisions that were taken, decisions like stopping travel from China and then from Italy and other regions. That absolutely got us onto a positive footing from the very start. These decisions were not easy, but they were absolutely necessary and they demonstrate that strong leadership. We then saw Australia lead calls for an inquiry: where did this pandemic come from? This is extremely important, and now we're seeing moves towards answering that question.
I want to finish not with the detail—though I could certainly provide a lot—but with the values and principles that underpin my party, the Liberal Party, and which our coalition partners in the Nationals are also passionate about. Three stand out for me: lower taxes, the central importance of families, and small government. Lower taxes—thank god we didn't come into this with the additional impost of $387 billion of taxes on the Australian people. We can all understand how crippling that would've been as a starting point. Family—this is why we've had a mature response to child care and a support package which will see $2 billion this quarter go to eligible families. Small government—well, small businesses are at the centre of this response, not government. We will fight for those values always. (Time expired)
The discussion has concluded.
On behalf of the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works, I present Report 3 2020: referrals made November 2019 and February 2020.
Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).
by leave—Report 3 considers three projects referred to the committee in November 2019 and February 2020. The total value of the proposed works for the projects was $455 million, with the projects to be undertaken across Australia. The Department of Defence sought approval to proceed with two projects: the Land 121 Stage 5B Facilities Project, valued at $183 million, and the Armoured Fighting Vehicles Facilities Program Stage 1, valued at $235 million. Additionally, the Great Barrier Reef Marine Park Authority sought approval to proceed with the critical safety works for the continued safe operation of the National Education Centre for the Great Barrier Reef's Reef HQ project, valued at $26.9 million.
As part of its statutory role under the Public Works Committee Act 1969, the committee scrutinised each project, considering the purpose of the work and its suitability; the need for the work; whether the money expended is cost-effective; whether any revenue is generated; and the present and prospective value of the works. Under the current circumstances, the committee was of course unable to travel to each of these locations and inspect the proposed works in person, so it undertook detailed scrutiny via presentations from the proponent entities. In each case, the committee recommended that it is expedient that the works are carried out.
I would like to acknowledge that during the last couple of months the public works committee has, as I've outlined, continued its important scrutiny, at a higher-than-usual level. I would like to thank committee members for prioritising the work of the committee over this time, ensuring that projects were able to be considered and commenced without little impact. The committee recognised the importance of public works projects in communities right across Australia and wanted to have a role in assisting contractors and local subcontractors to continue to plan for ongoing work.
I'd also like to thank the departments who worked with the committee for responding so quickly to conducting these hearings remotely. The committee appreciated the presentation of virtual inspections employing all sorts of technology, which gave the committee a clear understanding of the proposed works and their scope. While the committee will continue to undertake its work in this manner for now, it does look forward to, and hopes to get back to, conducting inspections and hearings onsite as soon as is feasible, therefore making direct contact with proponent entities. As always, on behalf of the committee I express its sincere appreciation to the secretariat for their sterling efforts in arranging our programs and hearings in this manner over recent months.
So far in 2020 the committee has scrutinised and recommended parliamentary approval of more than $1.9 billion in expenditure on major public works projects. This figure represents a significant investment in the Australian community, as, ultimately, expenditure on public works projects will flow to contractors and subcontractors right across the nation, keeping Australians in much-needed jobs during this extraordinary time. I commend the report to the House.
On behalf of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth, I present the committee's report, incorporating a dissenting report, entitled Trade transformation: supporting Australia's export and investment opportunities.
Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).
by leave—I move:
That the House take note of the report.
Can I say that trade and investment are essential to the economy of the nation. Tens of thousands of Australian businesses, from sole traders to large enterprises, export both goods and services right around the world. Investment has underpinned the growth of many Australian industries and has enabled businesses to expand, diversify, hire new staff and enter new markets. This inquiry considered opportunities for Australian businesses to increase their exports and to attract further investment. In particular, the committee examined what role the Australian government had in boosting exports. The committee considered what challenges businesses face when exporting, such as non-tariff barriers and also unnecessary and burdensome regulation, both federal and state. The committee's report makes some 20 recommendations that are all aimed at supporting businesses, including in new and emerging industries, to increase their trade and to attract investment. There is one very important reason for that, and that is jobs—the growth of local jobs on the back of exporting.
The committee recommended in particular an assessment of the regulatory arrangements that we have at state and federal levels for the agricultural sector. This includes a recommendation for an examination of red tape and green tape, and whether the regulatory costs and the regulation itself in the different jurisdictions we have around the country are impacting on our nation's competitiveness internationally when it comes to agriculture. This is very important because this government has a very strong target for the growth of agriculture. We want to see it boom. We want to see it lead the way for jobs growth in this nation by 2030. Some of the submissions we received to the inquiry cause me to believe that, in particular, there are state regulations that are inhibiting the growth of agriculture. We certainly received some feedback from the sugar industry to that effect. I come from a sugar area, and I know quite well that there are the so-called reef regulations that are inhibiting the growth of the industry. We received feedback from the seafood industry as well—concerns around restrictions on wild catch quotas which seem to be based on 'non-scientific evidence'. This is all restricting the growth of agriculture as the country wants it to grow. It's also restricting jobs in agriculture.
Another focus of the committee's recommendations was supporting innovation in new and emerging industries, including the space sector, defence exports, international health and video game design—an interesting one. The committee also looked to the future of Australian trade and investment, including the government's goal of having 90 per cent of all of our two-way trade covered by trade agreements by 2022. That's a significant and ambitious target. Achieving that goal will be something of a milestone. It raises the question: what opportunities will there be to drive further growth in new markets in Australian exports? Certainly diversification was one of the key factors that emerged from this inquiry—not putting all of our eggs in the one basket. We have seen quite recently what can happen when you do that.
One of the recommendations which I know has caused some dissent—and certainly the deputy chair will speak to it—is around business tax arrangements. We as a committee resolved that we support the continuation of the government's agenda on driving down business tax breaks. That's important because it's an inhibitor on growth. We live in a global world. We live in a world where there is competition. When you have lower business tax rates around the world, you are hampering Australian businesses. That costs jobs and wages. We have one of the highest business tax rates in the world, at 30 per cent. The global average is under 24 per cent. The OECD average is just over 23 per cent. In Europe it is under 20 per cent. In Asia it is around 21 per cent. In China it is 25 per cent. Through data they have collected, Treasury has shown us that business tax cuts would lead to more employment and wage increases. That's certainly something that was reflected by submitters to the inquiry and people who came before the inquiry, including the Business Council of Australia and the Australian Investment Council.
As this inquiry was coming to a close, the world was confronted with the coronavirus pandemic. This has had already devastating consequences for individuals, for families, for businesses and for economies, not just here in Australia but right around the world. The long-term economic impact of COVID-19 is not yet known, but the government is putting measures in place to support businesses after this crisis has been overcome.
As the majority of the evidence to this inquiry was received before the pandemic, before the outbreak, the report actually does not reflect the emerging challenges that businesses around the globe will face as a consequence. However, the recommendations of the report, which focus on creating more opportunities to export and invest, remain relevant and necessary as the economy looks towards recovery in the coming months.
On behalf of the committee, I would like to acknowledge the difficult times that many businesses around Australia and workers are experiencing as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. It's our hope that the work of the Australian parliament, through this committee, will help businesses recover from the effects of this pandemic.
I would like to thank not only the other committee members, some of whom are present in the chamber, and the secretariat, who did a lot of hard work in helping us come to the report that we've tabled today, but also those who submitted—the individuals, the businesses, the organisations, the government departments and agencies who participated in this inquiry and provided the committee with an insight into the trade and investment challenges and opportunities for Australian businesses. I would also like to thank my committee colleagues once again for the significant contribution that they made to this inquiry and the ongoing work of the committee more broadly.
by leave—I rise to make a statement on the report of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth just tabled by the member for Dawson. Labor have long recognised the importance of trade and investment as essential components for growing Australia's economy, and we broadly support the final report from the Joint Standing Committee on Trade and Investment Growth on supporting Australia's exports and attracting investment. I thank the chair, the member for Dawson, and the committee members for their hard work during this inquiry and for their collegiality in finalising the report.
However, the Labor members have tabled a dissenting report. We do not support recommendation 2, which calls for a reduction in the company tax rate to be a priority. The recommendation is based more on ideology than on any sound economic basis, and the committee did not find any compelling evidence that reducing the corporate tax rate would result in an investment boom or higher wages. The Labor members would also like to note that, while this inquiry was coming to a close when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, it has highlighted the need for the Australian government to examine the possibility of diversifying Australian export markets and supply chains, as well as diversifying our own products for use domestically and for export.
As I said, Labor members did not endorse recommendation 2, which calls for a reduction in the company tax rate to be a priority. The hearings undertaken and submissions received by the inquiry did not make a case for an urgent reduction. No compelling evidence was provided to the committee that a reduction in the corporate tax rate would result in increased investment in Australia or any benefits for working Australians through higher wages or conditions. Australia already has low levels of average and effective corporate taxation. While statutory corporate tax rates are the most obvious measure of corporate taxation, they are often misleading. In many countries, seemingly low statutory rates are offset by a broader definition of taxable income that results in an effective corporate tax rate far higher than the statutory level would imply. Conversely, Australia's statutory corporate tax rate, currently 30 per cent, is offset by a range of concessions, allowances and rebates that translate into significantly lower effective and average rates of taxation for companies operating in Australia.
A recent assessment of corporate tax rates across the G20, undertaken by the US Congressional Budget Office, found that Australia's top statutory corporate tax rate is close to the median rather than being an outlier that disincentivises investment in our economy. The authoritative analysis also found that Australia's average corporate tax rate is far lower than the statutory rate, as is the effective corporate tax rate paid by Australian companies. For any company considering foreign expansion and investment, comparing effective tax rates is the best way to assess real levels of corporate tax in destination markets and their impact on investment returns. Therefore, Australia's low average and effective corporate tax rate are important dimensions in our attractiveness as a market for overseas investment and in total flows of foreign investment.
While tax is an important factor in corporations' investment decisions, the OECD has found that it is not the main determinant. Capital flows are attracted to countries which offer equitable and efficient access to markets, stable conditions and profit opportunities, low levels of sovereign risk and a predictable non-discriminatory legal and regulatory framework. Not only does Australia already have highly competitive rates of average and effective corporate tax compared to our G20 peers but these are matched by our rule of law, well-developed infrastructure, strong institutions and public services, advanced levels of human capital and a raft of other fundamental attributes that are highly attractive to businesses, including those based in jurisdictions with lower corporate tax rates than Australia's. Given that the decision-making of foreign investors is most strongly swayed by these macroeconomic fundamentals, it's not clear that slashing statutory corporate tax rates is required to attract foreign capital.
The committee did not find compelling evidence that reducing the corporate tax rate would result in an investment boom or higher wages. The economics underpinning proposals to reduce the tax rate applied to the largest businesses operating in Australia are not compelling. Reducing Australia's corporate tax rate for large businesses will not unleash higher levels of investment or a job creation boom. Instead, it's more likely to accentuate the share of economic output flowing towards shareholders and capital at the expense of labour.
Since the 1970s, Australia's corporate tax rate has fallen from nearly 50 per cent to 30 per cent. This contributed to corporate profits reaching all-time highs at the end of 2019, with the windfall being directed towards shareholders rather than being reinvested back into productive assets and deepening the capital base of the Australian economy, which is ultimately the key driver of improved living standards. Across a similar period, labour compensation as a share of GDP fell from 58 per cent in the mid-seventies to just 47 per cent by 2017, the lowest level since 1960. Rather than enabling capital deepening, as promised by advocates of corporate tax cuts, falling tax rates and rising company profits have been accompanied by capital shallowing. That is a reduction in the capital-labour ratio that has contributed to Australia's declining labour productivity.
Workers' declining share of Australian GDP has equated to the redirection of over $200 billion in income per year from Australian workers to other groups in society, mainly corporations. Prioritising further corporate tax cuts in the name of obtaining higher levels of foreign investment would accelerate this trend and give precedence to the bottom line of large corporations over Australian workers' living standards. The idea that lower-taxed firms create more jobs is not supported by the evidence. An examination of the relationship between Australian companies' job creation rates and tax rates demonstrates that output and employment growth in the Australian economy has not been driven by those with lower effective tax rates. In fact, firms which use existing deductions and rebates to obtain an effective corporate tax rate lower than 25 per cent shed more jobs than they create. By contrast, Australian firms with an effective tax rate above 20 per cent grew employment at an annual rate of two per cent.
Finally, Australian government debt more than doubled during the period 2013 to 2019. Even before the COVID-19 response, net debt stood at over $403 billion, an all-time high. The government's response to COVID-19 will result in an unprecedented and rapid additional increase in public debt, so this is not the time to slash company tax rates, with the large corporations being given a free kick at the expense of working Australians. We would be better placed to ensure multinational corporations actually paid their fair share of tax, because, as we know, so many manage to avoid paying tax at all.
I would like to finish by thanking my fellow ALP members of this committee, Senators Marielle Smith and Ayres and the member for Fraser, for their contribution to the final report and this dissenting report. Thank you.
In accordance with standing order 39, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
I move:
That the order of the day be referred to the Federation Chamber for debate.
Question agreed to.
The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Sydney has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. If it suits the House, I will state the question as: that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.
As a former apprentice, I know firsthand about education and the vocational education system and just how important it is to young people. It serves a vital part of our overall education system. I'm on the record as saying that not everybody, particularly in my electorate, needs an arts degree to get a job. In fact, the most successful people I know are self-made entrepreneurs who have come through the VET system. During this critical period of unprecedented disruption in the labour market, a vibrant VET sector will further improve our capacity to grow, to compete and to thrive in a global community.
The National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020 will establish a new statutory position, the National Skills Commissioner, and specify the functions for that commissioner. The commissioner will provide independent expert advice and national leadership on the Australian labour market. Further, the position will review current and future skills needs and workforce development issues. This role could not be more timely as we address the critical challenges of managing the economic impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Prior to the outbreak, Tasmania was bucking the trend when it came to the VET sector. Our state had 5,525 apprentices and trainees commence work in the 12 months ending 30 June 2019, up 9.7 per cent from the same point last year. Importantly, we've seen a continued increase in the number of females taking up a trade or an apprenticeship, with a 10.4 per cent increase on the year before.
Only last week, I caught up with a group of young people from the region. They are at different places in their careers and at different stages in their lives in the vocational sector, but they are all benefiting from the federal government's assistance and the importance that we are placing on the VET sector. I met with four young wonderful people—Zen, Daniel, Amalia and Tyler—from Hellyer College and I listened to them. They are from Brumby Hill Aboriginal Corporation. These four are part of a great program that links Indigenous students with a trade that suits them best. I also met with two scholarship holders from the regional youth VET scholarship program, Daniel and Conor, who were unemployed but are now receiving federal government assistance to undertake a VET course. And I met with two wonderful young women who were working on a building site in Wivenhoe, just outside Burnie. Young Kate is an apprentice with Vos Construction and Joinery, and Nicola is an apprentice with Brad's Painting Service. They told me stories, and they were all positive. They were excited. They'd found their first rung on the ladder of success. No doubt they will be wonderful role models for our future young people looking at working in a trade or in the construction sector. These on-the-ground examples of the Morrison government's commitment to driving improvements in the quality, relevance and accessibility of the VET system, along with the National Skills Commissioner and the National Skills Commission, will underpin Australia's economic recovery. I commend the bill to the House.
I rise today to speak on the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020. As the member for Sydney has said, we will not oppose this bill. The bill will establish a new statutory office, the National Skills Commissioner, to provide the minister and the secretary of the department with advice on skills demand, the labour market and workforce development issues. The commissioner will provide advice in relation to Australia's current, emerging and future workforce needs; efficient pricing for VET courses; the public and private return on government investment in VET qualifications; the performance of Australia's system for providing VET; and issues affecting Australian and international labour markets.
Labor will always ensure that we act on strong expert policy evidence and advice, and it is no different with our skills and workforce development needs. Labor has the track record. In government Labor established Skills Australia in 2008, which became the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency in 2011—a body that I was proud to be a member of under both names. That agency analysed and reported on Australia's current, emerging and future workforce development needs. In contrast, one of the first actions taken by the Abbott Liberal government on taking office was to close it down, in April 2014. It's taken another seven years for the Liberals to understand that, to create a quality vocational education system that is fit for purpose, at the very least we need reliable and independent analysis of our labour market and skills needs.
It is a crucial time for the government to be establishing an agency that advises on skills and workforce development issues. Off the back of an already weakening economy, COVID-19 has exacerbated the double-whammy crisis of skills shortages and high youth unemployment. One of these is bad enough, but to be faced with both at the same time is hard to imagine. And yet here we are confronted with both. Before COVID there was already a nearly 10 per cent increase in the number of occupations facing skills shortages. While businesses are struggling to fill skilled positions, we have young people desperate for work who can't fill those positions because they haven't been given the chance to gain the skills that the roles require. The most recent figures show a 73 per cent drop in the number of apprenticeships advertised. I've spoken to small businesses and medium-sized businesses who say they've been struggling to keep their apprentices on.
So why isn't the Prime Minister ensuring there is training for these people for jobs in industries where there is a shortage of workers? Well, because the government has spent seven years neglecting our training system. It has spent seven years ignoring the vital role that TAFE plays in the development of our young people and the vital role it plays in the growth of our economy. It has spent seven years cutting funding while also underspending the meagre amount it promised the sector. The consequences of this failure are being felt right throughout Australia, from Bathurst to Bendigo, from Joondalup to Junee. The Prime Minister has abandoned our TAFEs, and the Liberals have no plan of action for good jobs and quality skills development. This is a travesty. This government has neglected the VET sector and has neglected our young people.
Now the Prime Minister says it's his greatest goal to reform the skills sector with the JobMaker program, as he's calling it. Well, excuse me for being a little cynical, but how can we trust him? His announcement was a hollow one with no extra funding, no time frames and basically no detail. He thinks he can fix this with a marketing campaign rather than actually investing in training and educating our young people. The Prime Minister, it seems, would rather spin, deflect and bring in celebrity ambassadors than really tackle the issues before us. But this will bear out, I'm sure, when young people are finding themselves deserted, victims of empty broken promises, as today we are finding with aged-care workers, who are missing out on payments that the Prime Minister promised would be tax free but are now to be taxed, or our childcare workers, who now find that JobKeeper will be cut short for them. And then it will be our young people. As the Leader of the Opposition said, it seems to be women and children first.
We know that as part of the reform process those who sit opposite will want to deregulate and fragment, to put course designs in the hands of companies and the private sector, to bring more flexibility into the sector. We can't let this happen. I come from the trade union movement, and whenever we heard the word 'flexibility' we coined it to be the new F-word. It always meant that workers were about to be done over, that wages were about to be cut, that jobs were about to disappear.
Short courses aren't of themselves poor for the sector. There may be good reasons for workers with a qualification to want to upgrade skills in a niche area. However, the fact is that subjects not delivered as part of an accredited national program and those with no discernible qualification happen to be the primary areas of significant enrolment growth for VET. This is of significant concern for the consideration of youth pathways. They don't equip anyone with a job for life. We've seen the growth in low-quality, privately delivered courses putting pressure on TAFE providers and other quality providers trying to keep standards high, resulting in a race to the bottom. As a result, across the VET system we've seen a decline in outcomes for students, with dropping enrolments and low completion rates. Costs have shifted to students, who have been hit with fee increases and growing limitations on access, particularly students in our regions, and less government support. The cost of many courses is now perceived to be prohibitive for many working-class teenagers. Many aren't convinced that paying $10,000 for a VET course and being paid an apprentice or trainee wage is a good deal. Free TAFE courses in states like my home state of Victoria have demonstrated that there is demand for vocational education if it is accessible and affordable.
COVID-19 has changed the world. It is now clear that the market cannot deliver our education system. From early education to schools and skills training, our public sector institutions are crucial to our communities and our economy. Government has a role in ensuring that children come to school ready to learn, that families can participate in the workforce, that vulnerable Australians are safe and that everyone has access to skills development for a productive lifelong career in areas of the economy that are a priority, too, and not just in areas where the market finds it easiest or wealthiest to place students.
We are about to enter a time where it is likely we will see a rapid increase in unemployment and massive underemployment, especially amongst young people. Rebuilding our skills and training sector will be crucial to getting the economy going again and ensuring that people can access and remain in decent secure jobs. The Liberal government wants to do more of the same in vocational education. No matter how they dress it up, the emperor has no clothes when it comes to the Prime Minister's skills policy. If we continue down the road being laid by this government, with its track record of cuts and neglect of vocational education, TAFE, and apprenticeships, the effects will be devastating.
Labor has a vision for a future with good jobs that are made using quality skills, setting working people up for satisfying and prosperous careers and lives. Unlike the National Skills Commission proposed in the bill, Labor's Jobs and Skills Australia would be an independent statutory authority, providing a genuine partnership with business leaders, both large and small; state and territory governments; unions; education providers; and those who understand particular regions and cohorts. In government, Labor would enhance the National Skills Commission, which would become Jobs and Skills Australia, to establish a more collaborative and enduring structure. My question to those opposite is: do you really have a plan for vocational education and training? There is no substitute for proper funding in this sector and there is no substitute for leadership, and currently it seems you are lacking in both.
It's my pleasure to speak to the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020. This legislation, these laws, we are about to pass here couldn't be more timely as we all seek to address the critical challenge that will come about, economically, in this country from the Wuhan coronavirus pandemic. The National Skills Commissioner office to be established will help prepare our labour market, our workers, in this country for recovery. They will be establishing a robust, new, fact based system that will strengthen our education and training networks.
The varied roles of this commission demonstrate a huge potential for it to quickly become a vital hub in supporting and enhancing the operation and analysis of the workforce we need, which is important for those people entering the workforce—to know where the gaps are, where to get training. Australia's economic recovery will be very reliant on its workers, working Australians, being skilled, resilient and adaptable. The skills needed for the new economy, for the new Australian society, are likely to evolve, and jobs that will be made as we come out of the crisis may not be the same as the ones that perhaps have been lost.
The government identified, in the recently announced JobMaker plan, that skills and training are a priority. We have outlined a reform agenda that will look at making vocational education and training actually work for Australians once again. It will do so by providing a trusted system of training that can deliver workers with high-quality and relevant skills and supports. It'll include rapid upskilling. It'll include reskilling in growth areas. It'll ensure that a new generation of Australian workers can participate in the economic success of this nation and guarantee the essentials that our nation relies upon.
The commission will do market analysis. It will look for areas in which we are short of workers in Australia, where skills are needed, where training is needed. That's important, because that information will go from this commission to the National Careers Institute. It will provide young Australians, those who are entering our workforce, with key information—accurate and up to date—on where the jobs are and what skills and qualifications they need to go out and get hold of in order to obtain those jobs of the future.
It will help show that trades and skilled jobs are ones to aspire to as the first and best option, not to be looked down upon as the second-best option, which is a pervasive view that really does need to be knocked completely and utterly on the head. The National Skills Commissioner, established with this legislation, will also have the task of driving down and getting rid of the costs involved in our vocational education training system, and developing and maintaining a set of efficient prices, the best and lowest cost prices on courses that are on offer to Australian workers and budding workers. That will improve transparency, consistency and accessibility and, most importantly, affordability—affordability for workers and affordability for students wanting to get into the workforce.
Currently, around the nation, if you have a look at vocational education and training prices, and the subsidies on offer for vocational education and training, you see this completely patchwork system. It is terrible. We've got a difference of nearly $12,000 in subsidies between Western Australia and the eastern seaboard of Queensland for students that are studying a Diploma of Nursing. It's just absolutely not clear why there is such a differential or why there is such a big difference.
If you were a budding building designer and you wanted to study a Diploma of Building Design, there's actually a difference of nearly $7,000 between the subsidies available for students studying at TAFE NSW and TAFE Queensland. And, actually, the Queenslander faces the higher cost. It's very sad, as a Queenslander, to know that the student who wants to go into that job is going to pay more. And it's not just a little bit more. In New South Wales, a student going into a Diploma of Building Design would pay only $3,600, while in Queensland they would face a cost of $10,455. It's absolutely ridiculous that we would have two different costs, and I've got to say it's very disheartening to hear that the cost burden on Queenslanders is so much more.
We can look into those that are wanting into blinds, awnings and security screens. This is a growth industry, particularly as the new HomeBuilder program rolls out. We've got the Certificate III in Blinds, Awnings, Security Screens and Grilles, where they receive a subsidy of only $3,726 in Queensland but a subsidy of $9,630 in New South Wales. There is a complete and utter differential there, with the Queenslander losing out in comparison to what the New South Wales student or apprentice receives. It is completely and utterly crazy that we have a system where there is a difference of that magnitude. So that's going to be looked at and hopefully fixed up so that we have one single system, with the lowest cost possible for everyone in the nation, including those in Queensland.
One of the big things that this commission is going to do is look at outcomes. We come up with all these different schemes from this place called Canberra. They seem great on paper, but, no matter what it is, the one thing that nearly always goes missing is outcomes—to work out whether these programs are actually working and whether they're doing the job that we set them out to do. That's why I'm really very grateful that this part of the puzzle is in here. The commissioner is going to do an analysis of the effectiveness of the VET system and advise on what the return on investment actually is for the government—whether we are getting people into jobs that are needed or whether we just have people going on training merry-go-rounds.
This is going to mean understanding vocational education student outcomes. It's going to mean understanding whether that apprentice or student actually got a job and what they're now earning as part of that job, as well as the public benefits of the stronger workforce, particularly in areas that are needed, like health care, aged care and disability care. It's going to enable governments, once we have this data, to actually look towards where we can target investment—direct investment towards high-quality courses that give students, apprentices and budding jobseekers the best chance of scoring a job in the future and strengthening our nation, strengthening our society and strengthening our economy.
That is all extremely welcome, but I have to say it's on the back of some very good things that have happened in concert with this pandemic. The $1.3 billion program, the initiative supporting apprentices and trainees, has been most welcome. That support is being provided to small businesses right now to retain their apprentices through a 50 per cent wage subsidy, and that's going to continue up to 30 September. As at 5 June—so, very recent data—a total of 55,400 apprentices and trainees and 31,500 employers have been assisted through the Supporting Apprentices and Trainees wage subsidy. That's about $252 million in payments, but it has kept those young apprentices working. It has kept them in their apprenticeship and not just kicked out onto the street because of this pandemic and the economic challenge that has presented many, many businesses. That is something that this government has done and something that should be welcomed by just about everyone in the chamber.
We are the government that actually introduced the Australian apprentice wage subsidy. That created 3,200 new apprentices in rural and regional Australia, even though those on the opposite side called it a 'political fiasco'. Can I say, just to pre-empt what I know is coming, there will be criticism that regional Australia isn't mentioned in the bill. Well, the fact is that skills go all around the nation, including in regional Australia, and this national skills commissioner is going to be looking right around the nation, particularly in regions, where we need skills. We are already doing that with programs like the Australian apprentice wage subsidy. I could refer locally to where the commissioner will be able to build upon some of the good work happening.
In Mackay, we have young Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander Australians attending a local business called Global Product Search that has been funded by the Morrison Liberal-National government to the tune of $1.4 million to provide direct training in truck driving for the resources sector. This is a high-paying job and it is one that is very much-needed throughout Central and North Queensland. About 150 people are going through a holistic program that is not just simply learning how to drive a truck; it is learning how to manage the big bucks that you get into if you have never been on them before. It is to learn all of the skills that are needed—interpersonal skills and other skills—in the workplace. For Global Product Search manager Warren McGraw, and the Indigenous people who are rolling out that program, it is to be applauded that we have local businesses upskilling people like this in a direct way, in a holistic way.
In the Whitsundays, we are going to have a big problem with the loss of a lot of staff who have just gone because of the closure in tourism, which is going to continue on for some time. A lot of those people engaged in that industry are pretty much itinerate workers anyway, but we will still need to see a great deal of upskilling after we come out of this pandemic. It has been a pleasure to have led the charge to invest $2.5 million in a new Whitsunday maritime training centre in Airlie Beach that is going to be operating and running quite a number of courses. It is going to be doing more than it has done before. It has got a very small training room at the moment in the sailing club but this investment is going to allow a full-blown college that will provide training for more skippers, more shipping engineers, more crew to work on all of the boats and more tour operator crew and that is going to be a big benefit for local tourism businesses. This will mean more job opportunities in the Whitsundays. There will be 100 jobs created during construction.
In 2019, at a small level, this training college had about 274 enrolments. This college is looking at getting close to 400 enrolments when it actually opens. This is the work that is being done on the ground in places like Airlie Beach, an ideal location for maritime training.
During normal circumstances there are up to 300 skippers working in the Whitsunday tourism industry and that demand is set to increase as we come out of this pandemic. These are the skills that we need to focus on, these are the areas that we have built a very solid base for right across Australia, including regional Australia, and these are areas that the national skills commissioner will be looking at. The commissioner will be ensuring that right across Australia, including regional Australia, it is noted where the skill gaps are, where we need to focus new expenditure, where we need to get students and apprentices to so that they, the workers of the future, have the best opportunity to make the most out of the Australian economy, which, no doubt, is going to power ahead as we come out of this pandemic.
As a former rural health researcher, I know how crucial it is for policy to be rooted in sound logic and evidence. The establishment of a National Skills Commission is a first step towards ensuring future initiatives and reforms in the VET sector across Australia are based on the best available data and labour market analysis. It's on that basis that I welcome the introduction of the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020.
As a former rural health researcher, I also know how often regional Australians are left out of the picture when it comes to data collection and analysis, and I'm afraid to say this bill has the same blind spot. I was pleased to hear the member for Dawson talking about outcomes, because it's outcomes that we are so interested in. It's why we're here, really. I guess it's important to say that, when we talk about outcomes, it mustn't be just in a speech. It's important that outcomes are set out in legislation.
The government has decided not to mention regional Australia in this bill, and, ultimately, that can leave regional Australia behind. This is despite specific recommendations in the Joyce review, which delivered its final report to the government last March, that this new National Skills Commission have a particular focus on regional skill and workforce development. The Joyce review confirmed what I see and hear every day across my electorate of Indi. The Joyce review found that VET providers in regional Australia 'have significant difficulty recruiting experienced trainers with relevant experience when compared to non-regional areas'. It found that regional employers and RTOs felt their local skill needs were being ignored in national qualifications and curricula and that their calls to make qualifications more region-friendly fell on deaf ears. It found that we need regional-level demand forecasts with direct inputs from local industries and local government to give regional Australia the best chance at ushering in new industries and growth.
Regional Australia cannot afford to start behind the eight ball once again. We already know VET enrolments are increasing faster in metro areas than in regional areas. The unemployment rate for people with a cert III or above is 3.9 per cent compared to 7.9 per cent for those without. With more skills and training we could start to tackle pockets of high unemployment right across regional Australia. The government's own analysis indicates that, if we halve the skills gap between metro and rural populations, it would increase GDP by 0.6 per cent or $11 billion per year. There is massive opportunity in regional skills that could be unlocked if we had the right data to back stronger policies.
The Napthine review found that the most important thing was increasing access to training for regional Australia. We need to create training opportunities in regional areas for regional areas, and we cannot do this without robust, targeted and reliable data. For example, the government estimates that the planned expansion of the NDIS will require another 90,000 disability workers—about double the size of the current workforce. Most of this will be in regional areas. The 2019 national mental health report tells us there is a critical shortage of qualified mental health workers in regional areas. For those of us who live in the regions, that is abundantly clear. As Australia inevitably shifts to renewable power stations across regional Australia, we'll need thousands of skilled technicians, electricians and construction workers to drive a multibillion dollar industry. We will fail those relying on us to meet this demand and seize these opportunities if we do not specifically task the National Skills Commission with collecting and analysing region-specific data.
While I'll acknowledge the willingness of the government and Minister Cash to speak with me about the importance of regional workforce development, I was disappointed to learn that the government will not include them in this bill, as recommended by the Joyce review. I will still call on those present to support a short amendment that has the potential to do so much for an electorate such as mine in Indi but also for regional electorates right across the nation, such as those represented by the member for Dawson and so many others here.
The purpose of this amendment will be very simple—to ensure this new National Skills Commission does not leave regional Australians behind.
The obvious issue here is that we, as a nation, need to move towards a process that gives us the capacity to get out of the current issues pertinent to the coronavirus. This has been something that we've seen, and I believe our capacity to get out of this is going to be more determined by the skill sets of the people that we have than by the debt we take on board. Right now we are seeing the skills that will be required if we are going to utilise the most recent iteration of the government's stimulus package. I support stimulus as a mechanism to get things going, but I must say I do have concerns right now about the extent of the debt that Australia is taking on board. I note that today the amount of Australian government securities issued stands at $666.3 billion—obviously it's never been that high before—and we haven't managed to pay back any of our gross debt since about 2008, which was pertinent to the sale of Telstra at that time.
We have to be careful of this, because obviously this debt is going to be incumbent upon those who come after us. We have a responsibility to those people to make sure that we do what is necessary but absolutely no more than is required. However, on this component, we have to see that the establishment of the National Skills Commissioner is a critical new piece of Australia's economic infrastructure and a vital element of the Prime Minister's recently announced JobMaker plan. This, I believe, also goes to the Prime Minister's sentiment, which is something I agree with, about the innate capacity of the Australian economy to rebuild itself rather than being reliant on stimulus actions, especially in areas where you can't really see it adding to the general capacity and growth of the economic platform of Australia.
The growth of the economic platform would be better suited to the construction of such things as dams, railway lines, roads and power stations, especially power stations that produce affordable power, such as coal-fired power. Those are the sorts of things that would give us the capacity to find people who have the pertinent skills and give them a job. Obviously, cheap power is one of the ultimate food stocks for having a manufacturing centre and having the capacity for people, especially those in blue-collar jobs, to have a job.
It is timely that we address the critical challenges of managing the health and economic impacts, especially after COVID-19. The COVID-19 issue has brought things such as this into clear focus. As Sir Leo Hielscher so aptly put it, an economy that has taken us years and decades to build up was put at risk in merely a few weeks of a pandemic that, to be frank, no-one really foresaw. It gave us a very strong lesson of where the strengths and weaknesses of our domestic economy lie. Our domestic economy has to be broadened and has to be strengthened away from the pre-eminence of the service sector. The belief that all economies will work freely and will be able to cover the holes of their own inadequacies with imports has been stringently tested and has left us wanting in so many areas. It was best explained with the requirements for personal protective equipment.
The National Skills Commissioner will help ensure the skills and training systems support all Australians, including vulnerable cohorts, in facing the challenge of working out how to live, work and retrain in a way that creates a sustainable COVID-safe economy. A COVID-safe economy is one that obviously has the capacity to build on the requirements that are needed in an issue such as a pandemic. Together with the National Vocational Education and Training Regulator Amendment (Governance and Other Matters) Bill 2020, this bill delivers the same key elements of the 2019 expert review of the Australian VET system, led by the Hon. Steven Joyce. With a name like that, one would have to say that he would be an eminent person and obviously supremely qualified to do his job—and, like all Joyces, he is to be found at the centre of all controversies!
The commissioner will examine the cost drivers and develop and maintain a set of efficient prices for VET courses to improve transparency, consistency and accessibility for students. But more and more we have to be absolutely certain that a person's future is not reliant on them just being able to go to university. More and more, especially in the age of the internet, the services that are the most resilient are the ones that actually require a person to be there to do them. As I've said so many times, if you can do it at a keyboard, you can do it from any corner of the globe; it doesn't have to be done from Australia. We're seeing that now more and more with back-office work. Whether it's for accountants, whether it's for engineers or whether it's for any form of drafting, or even where there's a common-law principle, these jobs can be done overseas. In many instances, they are done overseas much, much more cheaply than they can be done in Australia.
To get further resilience into jobs that can only be performed in Australia by Australians, we obviously have to focus on trades, which takes me back to the point: if you're going to have an economy that has a future in trades and a future in manufacturing, it has to have one of the primary sources of delivering that, which is cheap power—because the alternative to cheap power is cheap wages, and people don't want cheap wages. They want a certain standard of living, so we have to find our competitive advantage in something that we can deliver, which in the past was the cheapest power in the world. Now, unfortunately, we have the dearest power in the world.
I commend the so-called 'big stick' legislation, which was something that we discussed with Prime Minister Turnbull at the time, especially in our dealings with AGL. We want to make sure that we understand that one of the fundamental reasons that you'll have an economy and people working at such places as the Gladstone smelter is if we have cheap power. If you have dear power, that smelter closes down and those jobs go.
I will leave it there. I'd like to commend the wider aspects of the bill. I believe that you can see it in no better form than what's in this chamber at present and the way this chamber has been operating. I must say that, for me, parliament during the COVID time is like parliament in a fog. It's hard to actually get the proper grasp of what we're doing. I think we're becoming more and more attached to what we do in our electorates, which is fine, but Canberra as an article of parliament is becoming more and more distant—or it certainly is for me. I've noted that in recent times I've managed to lose a lot of weight as I go back to doing things such as fencing and cattle work and mustering. The longer you do that, the less relevant this place seems to become in your life.
What a disaster this government has been for vocational training and skills development in Australia! The record says it all. They've slashed $3 billion from TAFE over the six years they've been in government. They cancelled the Trade Training Centres in Schools Program that was working so well within our schools and providing a pathway into trades for students to begin their apprenticeship in years 11 and 12 and get a foothold in a trade in this country. This government cancelled that program within our schools. There are 140,000 fewer apprenticeships, and 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees, in this country since this government got elected. They massively increased TAFE fees, in concert with Liberal governments at the state level throughout the country. Some of these increases in TAFE fees were in the vicinity of 400 to 500 per cent, making it completely unaffordable for many young Australians to look to go into a trade into the future. They've cut courses at local TAFEs. Most TAFE colleges now specialise in particular areas and have cut out a lot of their courses, so a lot of young people looking for an apprenticeship in a particular trade will have to travel literally hundreds of kilometres to another region or across to the other end of a city to actually look at getting into a TAFE course because of the cuts that have been made to particular courses in TAFE colleges throughout the country. And, of course, we all know that they cut a number of teaching positions in those TAFE colleges as a result. That's the result of a massive underspend on skills and vocational education and training in this country.
The results speak for themselves. We've got massive skills shortages in Australia at the moment, where a number of employers in particular industries simply can't find the workers that they want to put on to perform roles in their businesses because the skilled workers simply aren't there in Australia. They're not there because they weren't trained. They weren't given the opportunity to take on a particular trade under this government, to the tune of 140,000 fewer apprenticeships.
But that's alright. This government's answer is: 'Don't worry about that. Don't worry about the fact that we have skills shortages. Don't worry about the fact that employers can't find skilled workers. We'll just bring them in. We'll import them from overseas.' That's exactly what they have been doing. They've been importing workers on temporary visas to fill the skills shortages that they've created by underinvesting in vocational training and education in this country. That's the reason, or one of the reasons, why the Australian economy, pre COVID, had been growing under this government. It was not because of business investment, which has fallen through the floor, not because of improvements in productivity, which is actually going backwards under this government, and not because of innovation, which has been stifled by this government as well, but because the Australian population was increasing on the back of this government importing workers to fill the skills shortages that its policies have created. That's the sort of economy that has developed under this LNP government, and it's now showing during this crisis, because many of those employers now face the prospect of not being able to import those workers anymore because of COVID restrictions. They're seeing the handbrake that's going to be brought to their businesses by this government's inadequate policies when it comes to vocational education and training.
All this will have a dramatic effect on our economy, and it has been doing so to date. As I said earlier, we've had skills shortages, which has resulted in the importation of workers, and all of that has been a handbrake on productivity. For the first time since records were kept about labour productivity in this country, we've had a fall in labour productivity. Under this government, labour productivity in Australia, for the first time, has actually fallen; it's gone backwards. That means the amount of income being produced per worker in Australia under this government pre-COVID was actually less then it was a year ago. That says everything about this government. They claim to be good for the economy. Well, they've been the exact opposite. Labour productivity has actually fallen, and that's been a handbrake on economic growth. That's why we've had this underperformance of economic growth. That's why we've had below-trend economic growth in Australia—and that has resulted in no real wage increases for workers in this country for many, many years and in many of them struggling to make ends meet with some of the highest levels of household debt in the world.
That's the sort of economy that has developed under this LNP government. There is no investment and no vision for the development of skills in Australia, because there's no investment in vocational education and training to deliver those skills to ensure employers have the skills necessary to make Australia an innovative nation, one that continues to grow and one that continues to be more productive. The opposite has occurred under this government. That's their record. And now there's been a push from industry about the economic cliff they see coming because they can't import workers anymore. They have pushed this government to look at the issue of skills. If this government thinks that by establishing a Skills Commissioner they can fix all of the problems in vocational training and skill shortages in this country that they and their policies have produced, they are kidding themselves and it demonstrates how out of touch this government really is.
Labor will not oppose this bill. We won't oppose a bill that establishes a statutory body that looks at the demand for skills in this country and workforce development. This bill will establish the office of the National Skills Commissioner to provide to the minister and the secretary of the department advice on skills demand, the labour market and workforce development issues. We'll always ensure that we are working for strong expert policy evidence and advice, but the creation of a National Skills Commissioner is another bandaid from this government for a vocational education and training system that is fundamentally flawed and broken. It is fundamentally broken, and this ain't gonna fix it. We need much more than the development of a Skills Commissioner, nestled within a government department, to fix what is wrong with vocational education and skills development in this country.
Our TAFE system and the vocational education system are under enormous pressure as a result of this Liberal government's poor and incoherent policies and massive cuts. As I said, we've already seen $3 billion worth of cuts to expenditure. We've seen 140,000 fewer apprentices and trainees in this country. And now we've got more modelling, from the National Australian Apprenticeships Association, warning that 100,000 more apprentices and trainees will go by December unless this government does something serious about vocational education and training in this country. This is a situation that's going to be much worse than the global financial crisis. As I mentioned earlier, at least the borders were still open during the GFC and workers could still come to this country where there were skill shortages. But for the foreseeable future that's not going to be the case, and that's going to be a big handbrake on activity and economic growth and getting our economy going again and rebooting it and getting people back into work.
But this government doesn't seem to care about that. Its philosophy is to leave vocational education and training to the private market and they will sort it out. Well, we've seen what happens with that in the vocational training sector in Australia. We've had some horrific stories of people being coaxed into taking on courses they could never complete. They have been offered inducements to take on those courses, and then the provider picks up the government payment and the student falls out of the course and never completes it.
We need a coherent set of policies in Australia that really focuses on the needs of industry around skills development, working with a fully funded TAFE sector and other providers to make sure that the courses are tailored to the needs of the employers, provide the skills for the workforce of the future and ensure that people who want to go into the traditional trades of carpentry, bricklaying, plumbing, hairdressing and others get the opportunity to do so at a reasonable price and within their local vicinity so that they can access that training. Well, this government has no plan for that. This government has no plan to provide those opportunities for young Australians.
The situation with apprenticeships and trainees in Australia has gone from bad to worse. The Australian Industry Group is now warning that youth unemployment will skyrocket if there isn't a substantial increase in government support for vocational training in this country. We know that between January and April this year there had already been a 73 per cent fall in apprenticeship job ads in Australia as a result of the COVID crisis. Because of the cuts that have been undertaken by this government, it's no wonder that we now have a shortage of those traditional trades that many Australians could have relied upon in the past as being good, secure jobs for a lifetime. Those jobs are now disappearing. I'm talking about a shortage of bricklayers, plumbers, hairdressers, panel beaters and other critical trades that basically keep an economy going and keep it growing, provide housing and provide manufacturing jobs for this country. Those trades are all under pressure and their industries are all having skills shortages because of this government's approach.
Australia now has fewer apprentices and trainees than when this government came to office. Despite the fact that we have a growing population and a growing need from industry and business for more apprentices, we've actually got fewer than when this government came to office. That statistic alone says everything about this government's commitment to vocational education and training, to providing that option for young Australians, to growing our economy and to creating a manufacturing base into the future. The commitment from this government is simply not there.
At the moment there are more people dropping out of vocational education and training than there are people who finish it. Again, that's an indictment of and a blight on this government's record. By locking Australians out of vocational education and training, the Liberals are locking Australians out of jobs, and that is inexcusable in this type of distressed economic environment. We're experiencing one of the greatest economic transformations of our lifetime and we're forced to make choices about how we go forward, but this Liberal government wants to do more of the same when it comes to vocational education and training, and that's simply not good enough.
Labor are offering an alternative. We went into the last election with a series of policies to invest more in TAFE, to invest more in vocational education and training and to boost the number of apprentices and trainees. The Labor leader, in his 'Jobs and the Future of Work' speech in October last year, announced Labor's intention, if we were elected, to establish Jobs and Skills Australia. Unlike the government's National Skills Commission, proposed in this bill, Labor's Jobs and Skills Australia would be an independent statutory authority providing a genuine partnership with business, both large and small; state and territory governments; unions; education providers; and, most importantly, those that understand the regions, ensuring that there was a dialogue between business, governments and unions in Australia about where skills shortages are and about developing the training mechanisms and the investment in those industries to ensure that there is skills development in the future through vocational education and training. It would not simply be leaving it up to the private sector and the market to work it out but would be actively ensuring that you have policies that promote vocational education and training and skills development in this country. That will be Labor's approach, unlike this government's, if we are elected at the next election.
I am very pleased to be able to make a contribution this evening to the debate on the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020. I should say at the outset that Labor will, of course, support the creation of the National Skills Commissioner, because we know that critical national decisions should be based on expert advice and evidence rather than on the hunches, biases and ideology that so often drive the thinking and practice of conservative governments.
Really, this is another case of too little, too late, from a government that has been waging a campaign of starvation and unrelenting attacks on our skills and training sector for seven years. Seven years and $3.2 billion worth of cuts: it is actually unthinkable, but, sadly, it is true. When I set up a community petition against these cuts, close to 1,500 people signed it. Many told me of their white-hot fury about this intentional neglect. As a result of that neglect, 140,000 apprenticeships have disappeared nationally, more than 1,000 of them from my electorate of Newcastle. Now we have a critical shortage of skills, something we've been warning the government about for years and years. There is a shortage of trade skills in bricklaying, plumbing, hairdressing and baking and of electricians, mechanics, panelbeaters and so many other vital trades. All of this has taken place at a time when, tragically, we have millions of Australians looking for work.
What is most heartbreaking is what the Liberals have done to our once very proud training icon, TAFE. Make no mistake, this once proud public institution of vocational education and training is in a diabolical state, and unless urgent remedial action is taken our economy, indeed our nation—our people—will pay the price. New analysis reveals that without urgent action a further 100,000 apprentice and trainee positions will be lost this year. That is an astonishing figure for anyone to contemplate. TAFE should be at the absolute centre of the government's thinking and of the skills and training system in Australia, but, instead, the Prime Minister and his fellow vandals have ripped $3 billion out of this system: in New South Wales we've seen over 6,000 TAFE jobs and 175,000 enrolments disappear as a direct result. This is a false economy. The small mindedness of this is too astonishing and too shocking for words. Any savings made come at the direct expense of our national capability, our economic resilience and our ability to ensure that we have the skills we need to prosper into the future. By locking Australians out of education and training the Liberals are locking Australians out of jobs.
There could be nothing more shameful in an environment where we're confronted with a global pandemic and now record unemployment numbers than that we go into that chaos not well placed at all in terms of the kinds of training that we have been providing young people in the lead-up to this crisis. I don't think we should pretend for one minute that Australia entered this crisis with our vocational education and training system in good shape, and any suggestion otherwise would be complete pretence and, indeed, folly. The government are now really forced to put this forward—despite having had industry tell them for so long just how badly prepared this nation is for providing the skills basis that is required for not only the jobs of today but also the jobs of the future—because they're facing record levels of unemployment. And, in regions like mine, that hits really hard.
Nobody in this chamber would forget those long lines out the front of their Centrelink offices. The last time I saw that in Newcastle was when there was mass retrenchment from BHP, back in the mid-eighties. It brought a chill down everyone's spine. Those of us that have lived in Newcastle long enough to recall the days before BHP, before they pulled the plug and left town, know full well of what mass unemployment looks like and feels like in your city.
The government were put on notice about skills shortages, not just by Labor opposition members here in this chamber but also by industry groups around the nation. Ai Group has long warned about the shocking skills shortages and the challenges that are confronting industry in terms of not being able to find the skilled workers that they need to undertake jobs in Australia. For too long, through our immigration programs and skilled worker visa programs, this nation has relied upon being able to bring in skilled workers from overseas. Well, that option no longer exists. With COVID-19, you don't have an open border anymore. Industry players don't have the option of recruiting labour from offshore. That's when the brutal reality really hits you in the face. This nation is so ill prepared for the training of a strong workforce equipped with the sorts of skills that it requires in an ever-evolving industrial landscape. Our manufacturers in Australia have done extraordinarily well in being able to pivot through the COVID-19 pandemic to be able to produce other sorts of goods and services that were required in our community and that we would previously just have imported. They did a terrific job in trying to very quickly turn around what was a very diabolical situation for them. But they are also looking at the future and what the next generation of work looks like for them. They have for a long time been putting us on alert about the need for increased numbers of skilled workers in Australia.
So it's of some relief, I guess it is true to say, that this National Skills Commissioner Bill is before us, because at least there's some inkling now that the government is giving serious consideration to these issues. As I said at the outset, regretfully it really is a matter of too little, too late, but Labor will support this bill because any efforts, quite frankly, have to be better than the seven years of utter neglect so far.
When it comes to thinking seriously about these issues, Labor went into the last election with a terrific set of policies around ensuring that TAFE could regain its position as a strong, central, public institution of vocational education and training excellence. We wanted to see TAFE positioned at the very centre of our decision-making around options for young—but not always young—Australians in terms of their tertiary education options in Australia. Not everybody wants to go to university; we know that. In my part of the world, Hunter TAFE has long enjoyed a very strong reputation for producing highly skilled workers. We've had a very strong industrial base in my part of the world, over many decades, and we've always required a good steady pipeline of trades, apprentices and traineeships coming through. But, as I said, in the last seven years that pipeline has really dried up. Even before this pandemic, small and medium-sized enterprises and manufacturing businesses were not engaging apprentices and traineeships. There is a real problem when your industry is no longer training up the numbers of apprentices and trainees that it did once upon a time. When we're not investing in the pipeline and not insisting that there be good, strong public institutions of vocational education and training, we then become part of the problem too.
The reason I emphasise the importance of public institutions is that we saw the diabolical effects of privatising vocational education and training schemes. Some of the shonkiest cowboy operators out there were just skimming cream from the public purse and providing absolutely zero in return—or, even worse, entrapping people who didn't understand the documents that they were signing in order to gain an iPad and who found themselves thousands and thousands of dollars in debt after signing up for courses that were completely inappropriate. There were some seriously dodgy private RTOs operating out there, and this government has had to confront that brutal reality. It beggars belief that there isn't a much stronger level of support for insisting that TAFE—an institution that we know can be accountable to government—be the government's preferred provider.
Anyway, as I said, Labor is happy that the government is finally starting to think about these issues again and bringing some legislation before the Australian parliament. I can assure you that Labor has never forgotten about these issues and the importance of training the next generation of Australian workers. Indeed, I pay tribute to the Labor leader, who, in his most recent 'Jobs and the future of work' speech, which was delivered last October, outlined Labor's intention in government to establish Jobs and Skills Australia. Unlike the National Skills Commissioner, which is before the House today, Labor's Jobs and Skills Australia would be an independent statutory authority, providing a very genuine partnership with business leaders both large and small; state and territory governments; unions; education providers; and all of the people that you need present at a table to make this work, including those who understand regions and specific cohorts that are often hard to reach. Making sure that those people are part of the national conversation is important.
In government, Labor would enhance the National Skills Commissioner so that it could become this independent statutory authority that we would prefer—Jobs and Skills Australia. It's a much more collaborative and enduring structure. It's a shame the government hasn't seen fit to really just pick up Labor's policy and run with it. We would have happily gifted it to the government. It's an excellent proposal and, given that the government has really struggled for seven years—and 'struggled' is a polite way of putting it—to get its head around vocational education and training, it could do worse than to actually adopt Labor's policy positions right now.
I rise to enter the debate and to speak on the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020 and I will be speaking also in support of the second reading amendment. As we have heard from previous speakers, including the member for Newcastle before me, we will be supporting the bill, which will establish a new statutory office of the National Skills Commissioner, to provide the minister and the secretary of the department with advice on skills demand, the labour market and workforce development issues. This proposal is to legislate an important role, which Labor will endorse the need for, which of course is to ensure all Australians are looked after and respected. Labor will not be opposing the changes put forward by the government, but I want to spend some time in my remarks tonight highlighting a few things—in particular, with the second reading amendment moved by the member for Sydney, about the neglect and damage to Australia's vocational education and training sector and also the appalling record of apprenticeships and traineeships under this government—in particular, in the context of Queensland, the state that I proudly come from.
Going through the bill and reading through the provisions, a lot of speakers tonight have also said that this is too little too late. When you look at the record of the government, particularly when it comes to skills and supporting trade industries, this really is just a drop in the bucket. According to the National Australian Apprenticeships Association, as we've already heard, we're set for a massive 35 per cent drop in new apprentices. That figure is 100,000, to be precise. When you put that into perspective in my home state of Queensland, that's a decrease of 20,000 apprentices here in my home state.
It's vital that this sector is under more scrutiny, for the sake of the future of Australians, particularly in light of COVID-19, and I'll speak a little bit about that in my remarks tonight, and particularly about where Australia's economy is headed. The coalition government have, time and again, as we know, become professionals at making commitments and then walking them back. We remember, in 2014, when the Abbott Liberal government closed down the established Skills Australia, which the previous government had established and which had been running since 2008 and later became the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency in 2011, which the member for Cooper spoke about in her remarks. Since shutting it down, it has taken the Liberal government another six years to understand that to create a quality vocational education system at the very least we need reliable and independent analysis of our labour market and skills needs. The vocational education system does not need just a national skills commissioner. In my opinion, it needs a complete and comprehensive overhaul to see meaningful reform.
On a practical example of what this means: earlier this year, on the eve of the pandemic, and before we saw our economy move into shutdown mode, the shadow minister for education and training, the member for Sydney, Tanya Plibersek, came to my Oxley electorate, and to what was announced as one of the worst-hit suburbs in Australia for apprenticeships and skills and training opportunities. We visited a fantastic local business in my electorate, Amore Fine Foods and products, run by a local couple, Doug Everard and Michelle Mieth. They do a fantastic job. They've got some amazing young female apprentices. They were all simply told they could not put on skills based training programs anymore, and that the administration behind the systems were incredibly hard to use and difficult to apply for. So here is a business that is doing really well but simply is not getting the support from this government to see it expand and improve. Fiddling around the edges is not going to fix this problem but will just reveal more of the profound problems undermining our vocational education and training system, which have a direct impact on the productivity, performance and international competitiveness of our economy.
There's no denying from anyone in this building that our TAFE and vocational system has been suffering under the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government's poor and incoherent policies and, of course, their massive cuts. Remember, these cuts are not just about programs; they are affecting the future of Australians who want to provide a better future for themselves and for their families. I'm not sure how the government can get up in this place tonight and go on about how great they are in the area of skills and training when they've let apprentice numbers fall by 140,000 and presided over a national shortage of trades, apprentices and trainees. Their mistakes in handling vocational education are having roll-on effects on an economy that is really struggling under the Morrison government. We know that, time and time again, the government fails to meet the needs of working Australians who are committed to growing our economy and to providing for their families. These Australians deserve better, and our TAFE and vocational sector deserves much better as well. They deserve better than what the Liberal government has provided.
Our track record in this area, as many know, has been to make sure our skills industry is looked after. We established Skills Australia in 2008, and that was replaced by the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency in 2011. This agency worked to every detail to ensure that the current opportunities were filled, that more skills programs were created and that demand was analysed and reported as it evolved. Rather than making desperately needed reform, the coalition prefer to simply adjust the window dressing of our struggling vocational education system, and this National Skills Commission is just the latest example of this. We need much more than another commission nestled in a government department to fix what is wrong.
Australians need and deserve a quality vocational education system. With 2.6 million Australians either unemployed or underemployed, the government should not be ignoring the vital role TAFE plays in the growth of our communities and young people. Too many Australians have been locked out of TAFE or lost confidence in the promise of vocational education. The consequences of this failure aren't just being felt in our cities. Some of the hardest-hit regions on record include Bathurst, Bendigo, Joondalup and Junee. The government has no regard for these people. We know that in times like this, when people are out of work and looking for work, skill development breaks down. Because of this race to the bottom that the Liberals have encouraged in our tertiary training sector, we've seen a decline in outcomes for students, with dropping enrolments and low completion rates. Our young people are not just losing skills; they are losing opportunities to get them back as well.
I noted during the Prime Minister's National Press Club address that he's finally realised this after seven years. After watching students, particularly in the regions, be gouged, exploited and defrauded by unscrupulous providers just for trying to get ahead in the jobs market, all of a sudden he's found the words 'vocational education'. The Prime Minister also talked up his JobMaker proposal, or, as I call it, the 'JobFaker' proposal. What he hasn't mentioned yet is that it is to be a skills taker. In the last seven years, we've seen cuts to vocational education and training. You only need to look at what has happened around the nation. As I've said, in my home state we've seen a drop of 32.8 per cent in the number of apprentices and trainees. We've seen in Western Australia a drop of 29.8 per cent, in New South Wales 30.5, in Victoria 34.9 and in South Australia 50.5.
Unlike this government, we've got a vision to ensure that the future of work in this country is secure. I was really pleased last year that Labor leader Anthony Albanese promised the establishment of Jobs and Skills Australia, an independent statutory authority offering genuine partnerships with business, governments and unions. Unlike the government's National Skills Commission, this would provide a more collaborative and enduring structure to provide Australians with robust and transferable skills for the future. In preparing for today's debate, I noticed some of the reports that came forward earlier this year. Back in February 2020, we saw new reports and new data that showed apprenticeships dropping, as I said, by up to 50 per cent.
I want to highlight a local business in my own electorate that has done some fantastic work, and that is the business of PFi, located in the Wacol area, which is a defence and aerospace manufacturing facility. I visited that a number of times and it really is at the cutting edge of manufacturing. When these figures, which showed a collapse in the number of apprenticeships and traineeships across Australia, were released in February, the general manager of PFi, Nick Green, said in relation to the figures: 'The only limitation to growth in our business is the skilled labour. We have calculated that we would be about 40 to 42 per cent growth based on jobs we've had to turn down because we haven't had the capacity.' Mr Green said they were flooded with university graduates but struggled to find tradies. He said: 'We are letting our kids down. In our company, we have 20 engineers and over 110 tradesmen, and what that means is there a massive skew in society. Trades are seen as second class and they should be first. They are an amazing first step for a successful career.' I agree with him 100 per cent.
Under this government, kids who want to do a trade are treated as second-class citizens. They are not given the support that they need to reach their full potential. The Australian Education Union federal president, Correna Haythorpe, said the issue is compounded with the number of TAFEs being slashed from 57 in 2004 to 35 from 2014 to 2018. Not only do we have cuts but money has been redirected toward private providers. In my home state of Queensland, the TAFE and training sector was absolutely gutted by the failed experiment which was the Newman government from 2012 to 2015. Among the horrific cuts that we saw under that hopeless government, we saw cuts to TAFE, with TAFE teachers being sacked and exorbitant fees being placed on students. I have my disagreements with the LNP in Queensland. Time and time again, they show that they simply cannot be trusted. The Newman government absolutely decimated TAFE in my home state.
Thanks to the leadership of Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk and the skills minister, the Hon. Shannon Fentiman, we have seen TAFE rebuilt in my home state. We have seen skilling for Queenslanders. The member for Goldstein might want to listen to this: there was a fantastic jobs program to skill people, to get them fast-tracked into work, and one of the very first actions of the Newman government was to get rid of that program. So what did the Newman government do? It absolutely gutted that system and redirected those funds. Since that program has been reinstituted, I have attended the graduations and I have met with some of the recipients, so I know how important it is to get people back into work. Time and time again, when we have looked at these issues, we have seen a massive decrease in the number of apprenticeships and traineeships under this government, and now we are expected to believe that, after seven years in government, all of a sudden this government is showing an interest.
As the shadow Treasurer, Jim Chalmers, mentioned last week, we have had the hollowing out of TAFE, with fewer training places at the end of this seven-year period than at the beginning. As we head towards a post-COVID environment, what is that going to mean when we don't have an adequate training and vocational education system in place? I refer to media comments regarding this issue about how COVID 19 could wipe out a generation of apprenticeships. An article earlier this month said:
The skills shortage crisis is predicted to be six times worse than the GFC, according to new industry data. The dire new numbers come on top of—
as we know—
the 140,000 apprentices and trainees that have been lost in the past seven years and will hamper the anticipated Federal Government's stimulus …
So we have got disagreement about how the stimulus package has been delivered by this government, with whole sectors missing out and a one-size-fits-all that simply hasn't worked.
I want to quote the National Australian Apprenticeship Association, which said, of its new real-time modelling, that the data shows the 'recession could be up to six times worse than the GFC when it comes to the falling numbers of apprentices meant to start their careers, quickly to be followed by an enormous drop in the numbers of apprentices in training'. Their modelling shows a 44,360 reduction in apprentices who were set to start their jobs. If we do not arrest this, if we do not take action to ensure that we do have skills and training in place, our country will be the poorer for it. So, whilst we'll be supporting this bill tonight, this government has a lot to do to earn the trust of Australians when it comes to vocational education and training. (Time expired)
Vocational education and training in this country is in a mess. And it's not the fault of the teachers and educators at TAFE, who are doing their best and doing amazing work to ensure that students and apprentices across the country get the skills that they need. It's in a mess because, for years and years and years, Liberal and Labor decided to treat education as a commodity—not as something that would be good for the population and good for the people receiving it but as a commodity where everything had to be subject to the laws of the market, where you sink or swim and some people make a lot of money at the expense of other people.
As a result, what we've seen over many, many years is the central role of TAFE as the main provider of world-standard technical and further education in this country go down and down and down, and we've seen the rise of dodgy private providers, who are in it for the money and who sign up people as quick as they can, deliver something that is a substandard education, may well go bust a year or two later, and make a lot of money out of the public purse along the way. You see this happening right across the board, in the privatisation of everything from electricity and essential services to universities and the technical and further education sector. Whereas governments once saw a clear role for themselves, to oversee and fund vocational education and training, in recent decades they've taken their hands off the wheel, invited in private operators and set up this crazy funding system that encourages and rewards people to get money from the government for providing so-called education and skills to students as cheaply as they can. And it has brought in the shonks, as it would.
Over time, I've seen that in my electorate, all over the place. Some of these operators set themselves up next to the public housing flats and offer qualifications, certificates and diplomas in courses that people go and enrol in in good faith, because there's someone with a big marketing budget coming in and saying, 'Come and do this course,' and they do it. And then, at the end of it, they get a qualification that it turns out, in the real world, isn't looked on very highly—it is looked on nowhere near as well as a TAFE course or a TAFE qualification—but the private provider has got the money, they've put it in their pocket and they might disappear a year later. They might have enticed people with a free iPad or some deals along the way. But who gets hurt? Well, the student gets hurt because they end up with a piece of paper that doesn't help them find a job, and the taxpayer gets slugged because we've handed out money to a private operator when we could have just given it to the public sector to do a world-standard job.
Over the years, vocational education and training has suffered death by a thousand cuts, and privatisation by stealth. It has taken this government six or seven years to wake up and do something about it. They have overseen cuts to the TAFE system and to the vocational education system, and now, during the coronavirus crisis, we're all waking up as a country, and they're realising, 'Oh, perhaps placing our faith in free trade agreements and just assuming we can buy everything in from overseas isn't the way to go; perhaps we should have spent the last seven years building up capacities and skills in this country instead of attacking our TAFE system.' But they're not the only ones who are responsible. It happened before that as well, because this idea of starting to treat education like a commodity, where everything is subject to the laws of the market instead of just doing it on the basis of public good, was actually something supported by the Labor government. They brought in a scheme that gave private operators an incentive to lure in as many students as possible in order to get government subsidies but without there being a commensurate obligation to provide students something close to useful training. As I've said, it was one of the biggest rorts in the nation's history that resulted in billions of taxpayer dollars wasted, left thousands of students without qualifications and saddled with debt, and did little to build the capacity of the Australian workforce.
The answer, though, can't be to just paper over it by rebranding it with the new National Skills Commissioner; I'll come back to this in a moment. There are some useful steps in this bill, but those who've been around here for a while will have a sense of deja vu, which I will go through in a moment. We've got to do more. Imagine if we treated our primary schools the way the government treats TAFE and we said: 'Oh, well, no, we don't think it's the government's responsibility to ensure that every child can have a place in public schools if they want. Everyone should have to go out and compete, and look to private providers with big marketing budgets coming in. Perhaps we'll just give out vouchers for school systems. We won't see it as the government's core responsibility to provide a public school education for everyone.' There would be an outcry. There would be an outcry if people weren't guaranteed a place in good, world-standard public schools.
But both Labor and the Liberals decided over many years that something apparently is different about tertiary education, just as something, according to Labor and the Liberals, is apparently different about university education. They've turned it all into one big market, but the thing about markets is that there are winners and losers. It's what happens in markets. Markets have their place, but turning education into a market is not the place of a market. Governments over many, many years have gone out of their way to take one of these things that we all have in common—like our utilities, like our education system—and then break them apart and sell them off to the highest bidder. Who ends up getting hurt? The taxpayer, and, in this case, the student.
If you are serious about reforming the vocational education training sector, you would put TAFE back on a pedestal and make it the primary provider. You would not have this scheme that says, 'Perhaps we'll give some taxpayer money to some private operators so that they can go and make a profit out of educating people.' No. We treat education as a public good and we treat the creation of skills in this country as a public good. For years and years now, whether it's by the decimation of TAFE, the corporatisation and marketisation of our universities or Labor and the Liberals signing up to free trade agreements that have undermined our manufacturing capacity, one of the things that has been highlighted by the coronavirus crisis is that we have lost a lot of abilities and skills in this country. We've lost a lot of the capacity to make things here, because under Labor and the Liberals we were told the answer is: 'Don't worry. Just sign up to free trade agreements, even if they make it impossible to do things that would promote local industry.'
Let's take an example of some of the things we could think about doing if we want to tackle the crises that we're facing at the moment. We could say, 'Let's make Australia a world leader in green steel,' which is steel that's produced from renewable energy. Let's say that we've got some projects, like high-speed rail or renewable energy projects, that we want to get built. Let's say that we'll put in place some local content rules that say, 'You've got to buy Australian green steel to put on those.' Let's say that we're going to give preference to Australian companies that employ apprentices to do it. And let's say we're going to use government money to subsidise it. A lot of people would think: 'That sounds like a good use of government money. Let's use it to skill up people and to get Australia to the point where we've rebuilt our manufacturing capacity, where we've got things to sell to the rest of the world that they want from a zero-carbon economy.' Most people would think that is a sensible use of government, of education and of public money.
But it would probably fall foul of a host of free trade agreements, because you're not allowed to give that kind of support and preference to your local industries—or certainly many of our competitors have the capacity to argue that. Under the free trade agreements that the Liberals and Labor have signed us up to, state owned companies in China would have the ability to take the Australian government to court and sue them and get them to change the law, because they have said, 'You have passed laws that benefit the Australian people.' So, we have found ourselves in a situation where we have lost a lot of the skills that we need, because of the systematic attacks on TAFE and the deprioritising of TAFE by Labor and the Liberals and because of the deprioritising of developing Australia's manufacturing capacity, and now that the coronavirus has hit everyone is running around pretending, 'It wasn't me, it wasn't me.' Well, Labor and Liberals, you have been caught with your pants down. This is what three decades of neoliberalism gets you and it won't be fixed just by renaming it as a skills commissioner.
We need to go back to basics and say that the purpose of government is to ensure that education is free and available to everyone who wants it and that it is going to provide the skills that this country needs to ensure that we can have a manufacturing renaissance in this country, that we can have a construction-led recovery where we build half a million public and social housing units over the next 15 years, which would generate 40,000 construction jobs and 4,000 apprenticeships and help to house the homeless. That is the direction that we need to go, so a bit of rebranding isn't going to do it. For those who wonder why we are cynical about this bit of rebranding, back in 2008 the Rudd government established Skills Australia as an independent statutory body to provide 'expert and independent advice in relation to Australia’s workforce skills needs and workforce development needs', which included advice on skills shortages, training priorities, workforce participation and productivity and competitiveness. In 2012, the Gillard government rebranded Skills Australia into the Australian Workforce and Productivity Agency, basically the same independent body, with responsibility for advice. Then, in 2014, the wrecking ball that was the Abbott government abolished the AWPA. Labor, as is often the case, opposed the abolition of the AWPA but voted for the bill.
So, in the last 12 years, the parliament has established, renamed and abolished an independent skills authority, and now we are establishing one all over again. We will support this bill, because it is taking some positive steps, but establishing, then reimposing and then rebranding and renaming a body is not the answer. The answer is to say that TAFE is important, that VET is important, when delivered by our public teachers and lecturers, who know what they are doing. We should not turn this into a business or a market. There are many things that of course should be businesses and markets, but government provided vocational education is not one of them.
With the skills crisis and jobs crisis in this country we see nearly four in 10 young people at the moment either without a job or without enough hours of work. It is a national crisis, and it is only going to get worse. It has been bad for a long time—since the GFC. Young people have basically been in recession since the GFC and it is going to get worse, because we have lost a lot of entry-level jobs. If we want to deal with the jobs crisis, the skills crisis, the economic crisis we are facing and the climate crisis, then government needs to get its hand back on the steering wheel and say, 'We are going to do things that are in the country's interest to rebuild our skills and rebuild our capacity here.' That is why we have been advancing a Green New Deal that has at its core a skills and jobs guarantee for young people, where they will be guaranteed a free place at TAFE or university, a guaranteed income that they could live on and a guaranteed job, if they want it, working on some nation-building, planet-saving projects to ensure that we tackle all of those crises and get this country back on track.
We have so many things that we need to do in this country. We have a manufacturing sector to rebuild, which was decimated not only by free trade agreements that Labor and the Liberals signed up to but also by the mining boom, which decimated manufacturing in non-mining states. Everyone thought we could just keep digging things up and selling them off and that it wouldn't come with consequences, no matter how high the dollar was. Well, it decimated manufacturing in places like Victoria. We have to rebuild that. We have to get to 100 per cent renewable energy in this country, as quickly as we can. We have to house the more than 100,000 people who are homeless every day. We have to find jobs for people working in the construction industry. We can do all of this with a green new deal. With a government led plan of investment and action we can meet the challenges we face, we can find decent, well-paying jobs for people and we can restore the skills base in this country.
I'll conclude by saying we're not going to stand in the way of this bill, but if you want to get skills back in this country, which the Greens do, you've got to restore funding to TAFE and you've got to make TAFE the central provider of vocational and technical education in this country.
Labor is not going to oppose this bill, the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020. We agree with the bill, which would establish a new statutory office of National Skills Commissioner to provide the minister and the secretary of the department with advice on skills demands, the labour market and workforce development; and advice in relation to Australia's current, emerging and future workforce needs; the pricing of vocational education and training courses; public and private return on government investment in vocational education and training qualifications; the performance of Australia's system in VET; and issues affecting the Australian and international labour markets.
It seems a bit of a no-brainer that we would support a bill like this that seeks to improve the quality of the vocational education and training sector. Indeed, you'd be hard pressed to find a reason why we wouldn't want improvements to the vocational education and training sector, and it's good to see that this government has finally come to the party on wanting to ensure quality in vocational education and training.
I want to talk about some of the research I've done in the past on vocational education and training. In 2000, I undertook a study looking at women in particular and at how much they value the VET sector. The findings of that study suggested that vocational education and training was highly valued among women, particularly among women who were seeking to return to the workforce after being a stay-at-home parent for a period of time and also by migrant women who were coming in and looking for ways in which they could contribute to the economy through entering the workforce. Shortly after that, in fact a few years after that, I joined a different research team, and we looked at tradies and training for tradies. One of the findings from that particular study was that we were losing quality training for tradespeople—it was during a construction boom and there was a high demand for tradespeople—and we found that fewer and fewer people were going into the trades. Not long after that, in a different role, I travelled with a delegation to the Gulf nations, where we talked a lot about Australia's world-class training system. Those nations were looking to Australia and to the Australian model of vocational education and training to model their own vocational education and training systems within their own countries. They were looking to Australia as a prime example of a successful training and skills industry.
Sadly, that is no longer the case. Sadly, under this government our vocational education and training system has taken a hammering. They have gutted what was once held up as a world renowned model for vocational education and training. As an educator myself and somebody who comes from the background of being at one point a teacher at TAFE and then later on at university, I always have said and will continue to say that not everybody could, should or needs to go to university. We definitely need to have a strong training sector that is not just there as a second choice for those who can't get into university but is a sector—and an industry and an area—that young people aspire to be a part of to get the skills that they need through vocational education and training, whether it be in trades or other skills.
Labor has always supported a strong vocational education and training sector. In 2008 we established Skills Australia. Skills Australia provided the same kind of advice that the proposed National Skills Commissioner would provide, but it was a more robust body. I think that's a fair enough assessment to make—that Labor's previous iteration of an advisory body was essentially a lot more robust than what is being proposed under this particular bill. In 2011 Skills Australia was rebranded as the Australian Workplace Productivity Agency. The functions continued as before; it was a rebranding. But then in 2014 the Abbott government decided that it didn't need expert advice—the kind of expert advice, mind you, that we have come to rely on through this recent period of pandemic. They decided they didn't need expert advice on vocational education and training, workforce productivity and skills, and they abolished the AWPA. This particular bill, as I've mentioned, is some way from reclaiming some of that former glory that Australia had with a strong and robust vocational education and training system as a mechanism for providing advice.
I'd like to take a minute here, because good, quality training is actually a passion of mine. In particular, training around cybersecurity is something that I'm very interested in and very passionate about. In the last parliament, the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Law Enforcement undertook an inquiry into law enforcement capabilities around cybersecurity. One of the recommendations of that inquiry was that there needed to be substantial measures taken to address some skills gaps in our law enforcement capabilities around cybersecurity, particularly because law enforcement attracts people, young people in particular, who have the kinds of skills that are needed. They stay for a little while and then they move on to a better paid position in law enforcement.
One of the ideas that I've looked at is using our vocational education and training system to upskill and train law enforcement officers, sworn officers, in some of the skills they need to move into the cybersecurity roles. But we can't do that if we don't have quality vocational education and training. We can't do that if our TAFEs are closing. We can't do that if TAFE teachers are losing their jobs. We can't do that if TAFE courses are no longer being made available to students, because there's no funding. We cannot build on the skills that we need to move forward as a nation if we don't recognise that we are responsible for ensuring that young people, people who are returning to work and people who need to change their work have access to quality training in order to acquire those skills.
Labor has a plan for this. We're not standing up here just to criticise this bill or criticise the government; we're standing here with an alternative. We're standing here with a solution. We're standing here with a proposal. Unlike the National Skills Commissioner that's proposed in this bill, our Jobs and Skills Australia would operate as an independent statutory authority, with a genuine partnership between business leaders of large and small businesses, state and territory governments, unions and education providers—those at the grassroots level, at the coalface, who understand the regions, the cohorts, the demographics and the needs of all the stakeholders. You cannot design a robust, responsive and effective vocational and educational training system if you do not include all the stakeholders. You can't do it if you don't include industry. You can't do it if you don't know your demographics. You can't do it if you don't include businesses. You can't do it if you don't include state and territory governments. And you can't do it if you don't include education providers.
This is one of the flaws of this proposal before us. It really doesn't provide as comprehensive a mechanism as it could for addressing what I would say is a fairly substantive and urgent issue, particularly given the current situation and particularly as we move into the next few months, with unemployment levels being what they are. There are people who will have no jobs to go back to. We talk about unemployment, but a lot of those jobs that people were in have gone. People won't be going back into those jobs. They're going to need to be reskilled into areas where there is a demand for employment. You cannot be serious about having an effective mechanism for developing a program or an industry if you don't have a mechanism by which all the key stakeholders and all the experts can come together and design a comprehensive way forward.
In government, Labor would enhance this National Skills Commissioner, as it stands before us, and turn it into the vision that we have for Jobs and Skills Australia. It would be a collaborative and comprehensive framework and it would also be an enduring structure that would look at designing not just for the near future but for the middle and far future as well. We're at a time in history—and I hate to use the word 'unprecedented', because I think it's been a little bit overdone, right? But we certainly are at a time in history where—
An unprecedented statement!
Yes, indeed, Member for Goldstein! We have an opportunity to stop and pause. I think it's a good thing to see this as an opportunity to stop and pause—to look at the way in which we think about ourselves, to look at where we're going, to look at where we've been and to look at where we could be better. I would really love, whenever it is that I end up leaving this place—and inevitably I will return to the education sector, which is where I've spent the last two decades—to return to a sector that has been restored to its former glory. I would love for that to happen. For as long as I'm here, I will continue to work towards that. I know that I'm in the right party to do that, because I know that Labor stands for a strong vocational education and training sector and for a sector that is responsive to the needs of industry but also to the needs of the population. This isn't just about filling gaps in industry; this is about giving opportunity. This is about fulfilling aspirations for young people.
I'll end by referring to my electorate of Cowan, where the predominant profession is in the trades. Over the past seven years or so, we've seen an attrition in the number of tradespeople in Cowan, and that is not due to natural forces—that is not natural attrition. I know that because every week I get parents contacting me because they cannot find a traineeship or an apprenticeship for their child who seeks to become skilled in a trade. I know it's not because of natural attrition; I know it is directly as a result of this government's lack of commitment to a strong vocational education and training sector. I hope that we can change that.
As has been said by previous speakers, Labor will not oppose the National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020. One of the reasons we won't oppose it is that it sounds an awful lot like Skills Australia, which we established in 2008 and which then became the Australian Workplace and Productivity Agency in 2011. That agency analysed and reported on Australia's current, emerging and future workforce development needs. But, sadly, on taking office one of the first decisions by the Abbott Liberal government was to shut it down, because apparently we didn't need it anymore. Six years on we see the consequences of that decision. That wasn't the only decision that was made, but certainly that took away the ability to get reliable and independent analysis of our labour market and skills needs.
Labor won't oppose this bill. We do think there needs to be a body that provides advice about workforce needs, now and into the future, about pricing for VET courses, about the performance of the system for providing vocational education, about the issues that affect Australian and international labour markets. We look forward to the new National Skills Commissioner providing to the minister and the department advice on skills demand and all of those labour force and market issues. We on this side of the House believe in strong expert evidence and advice that informs our policy. Our skills and workforce development needs are no different than any other policy area that this parliament needs to make decisions about. But, unfortunately, what we've got here tonight is just a little adjustment. It's not really going very far to reform the vocational education system, and right now we all know that that system is absolutely vital if we are to recover from the economic shock that we've faced. If the COVID recovery is going to be one that doesn't just snap back to the problems we had before but takes us into a space where we deal with and address some of those issues, then the TAFE system, the vocational education system, is absolutely fundamental. There will be so many people looking to reskill and retrain as we move through this recession. TAFE is going to have to have a key role, so I hope this isn't the last piece of legislation or the last policy on vocational education that we see from those on the other side.
In the few months of the pandemic, we've already seen how important TAFE is as a support to many people, and it was terrific to see the fee-free short courses that were offered in New South Wales to help people who had lost their positions, through absolutely no fault of their own, and who already wanted to start reskilling so that they would be in a better position to get a job when the crisis finally eases. It was terrific to see a range of things offered, from administration skills, health and medical courses, leadership, business and, importantly, digital skills.
I just want to give some perspective about why a strong vocational education system is so important in areas like mine, on the outskirts of Sydney—peri-urban areas. Technicians and trade workers were the second most common occupations in the 2016 census for the electorate of Macquarie, and that represents about 15.6 per cent of employed people aged 15 and over. Another seven per cent of the population was attending technical or further education at the time of the census. This represents not just tradies; it represents businesses. These are people who are self-employed and have skilled themselves up. They have a skill that others don't have. They use that skill not just to benefit their clients, fix problems, create fantastic houses, create wonderful landscapes and help the horse racing industry in my area; they use it because they are building a business for their family. So we have a strong belief in the value of taking trade skills—and I'm glad that the member opposite does too.
Many of the young people I speak with, including during this COVID crisis, aren't aspiring to go to university. They want to do an apprenticeship or a traineeship. That's what they want. It's what their parents have done; it might not be what their parents have done, but they can see that it's a fantastic option for the skills that they have. But we know that getting an apprenticeship is harder than it has ever been, with 140,000 apprenticeships and traineeships having been lost in recent years. It's really concerning to see the modelling from the Mitchell Institute which suggests that one in every three Australians who had been planning to take on an apprenticeship could miss out as a result of the pandemic. That means the future generation of skilled trades men and women—and that means the building industry and so many industries—is really up in the air.
Sadly, the HomeBuilder program, based on the feedback I am getting and what the analysis is showing, is not going to be anything that fixes that problem. Unless there is significant policy development by those opposite, unless they have a plan—and we haven't seen it yet—the prediction is that the number of new apprenticeships and traineeships will fall by at least 30 per cent over the next two years. That is shameful. That would mean roughly 45,000 fewer apprentices a year for the end of the financial years of 2021 and 2022. If I'm an HSC student or a year 11 student hoping to do an apprenticeship, it's a really dim future that I'm looking at without some action by those opposite. In New South Wales alone we have lost close to 31,000 apprenticeships. With COVID-19 and losing apprenticeships at a rate of knots, I think those opposite need to be offering us much more than a National Skills Commissioner.
I hope those opposite will stand up and take note when they hear this piece of information: Australia has fewer apprentices and trainees now than when this government came to office. So you haven't added to the numbers; they've gone backwards. That's not something to be proud of. Under the last Labor government the number of apprentices and trainees never dropped below about 400,000. Remember, that was during a global financial crisis. Under this government, prior to COVID, they'd been hovering at around 260,000 or 270,000. The Prime Minister might think he looks good in his hard hat and high-vis vest, but he is overseeing a Liberal government that spent seven years creating a tradie crisis in Australia. And the $3 billion cut from TAFE and training has led to so many other shortages. The shortage of workers has been plugged by temporary visa workers. That is not a solution; it is a stopgap. The solution is to train up our young people and make it easier for older people to retrain.
I read with interest the comments recently by Gary Workman, the CEO of Global Apprenticeship Network, which collects the apprenticeship vacancy numbers. He says they have never fully recovered after the GST as employers turn to casual workers, subcontracting and 457 visas to make up the skills shortfall. So the data is showing what we all know, and that is that there has been no real solution put in place.
We've seen the growth in low-quality privately delivered courses under this government. That's put pressure on TAFE and providers who offer quality courses, and that's really put pressure on standards. It has real consequences for quality. Across the VET system we've seen a decline in outcomes for students, with dropping enrolments and low completion rates. I think what horrifies me most is the cost shifting. It's shifted totally to students, as they've been hit with fee increases and growing limitations on access, particularly for students in areas like mine. It's a disincentive for people to do extra training. We should be incentivising people to go towards vocational education, not making it harder for them. We want them to learn how to build a brick wall; we don't want to put one in front of them. But that is what is happening.
This government has also overseen what is the very nastiest of behaviour in the trade training sector, with so many people defrauded of funds they wanted to use to educate themselves and improve their lives. They were exploited, and it took those opposite far too long to act. The current government has spent the last seven years watching it all unfold and has done absolutely nothing about it. So when we see these little things coming back, yes, we welcome it, but I question their commitment. After seven years, this is just a very small piece of the puzzle.
I have to say, I listened really eagerly to the JobMaker announcement, thinking that the Prime Minister had really discovered TAFE and vocational education, but it turned out to be a fake. There is no new funding, no time line and no details. Honestly, go to Google and look for yourself. All you can find is the foreshadowing of the announcement. It is impossible to find any sliver of detail about what was actually announced. It really was just all froth and bubble.
By contrast, we have a really solid vision of how we improve peoples' lives by giving them access to the TAFE and vocational education system. In the 'jobs and future of work' speech delivered by Labor leader Anthony Albanese, last year, we stated very clearly our intention in government to establish Jobs and Skills Australia. We see that this independent statutory authority could work to provide a genuine partnership with business leaders, the big ones and the small ones—the small manufacturers, the small construction businesses in my community, the bakers and the hairdressers who really want to draw on TAFE for their apprentices.
We also need to be able to give employers the support they need to do just that. It takes time to share your knowledge and your skills. I know as an employer that it's sometimes easier to do it yourself, but I pay real tribute to the employers who take the time to have apprentices. I was speaking with Nick Schwarz, from Wentworth Falls, who has high praise for the TAFE teacher who trains the apprentices who work in Nick's bakery. He said they're responsive to his needs, the demands of his business and the realities of what it's like to be a baker in Wentworth Falls making some of the most amazing and fattening doughnuts. TAFE is made up of incredible people who pass on their skills to the next generation, skills they've acquired over a lifetime in their sector, whether it's as an electrician, a roof builder, a concreter or a hairdresser. If it's Wentworth Falls TAFE, it can be in the disability sector, in outdoor education or as a pastry chef. If it's Richmond, it's caring for animals or horticulture or working in the horse industry. I think we need to see our local TAFEs offering more courses in their local areas. Certainly, the specialties have centralised and concentrated. While that can work really well in some sectors of the industry, there are a lot of subjects you can't study within cooee of my electorate.
We are now experiencing one of the greatest economic challenges and transformations of our lives. We're facing choices about how to go forward, and in Western Sydney there are huge opportunities. There are big construction projects underway, which need to be worked on by local workers not by imports from other states or beyond. We have a wonderful opportunity at Richmond TAFE and Western Sydney University, side by side—the opportunity to really see those two sectors work collaboratively. There is a wonderful proposal that is currently being put forward to build on the existing greenhouse, which does protected cropping. The university is looking at upscaling that and creating a logistics hub. This would provide jobs, globally competitive production and logistics research. It would allow us to really revolutionise what we're doing in Western Sydney around food distribution, building the supply chain capacity and closing the gaps that we have. These are really practical things that would have huge benefits for local manufacturers, and I would urge the government to get behind those proposals. If we continue down the road being laid by the Liberal government, with their track record of cuts rather than investment, the impact on TAFEs and apprenticeships—and, therefore, the economy—is going to be devastating.
I want to finish with a quote from Maxine Sharkey from the Australian Education Union:
Right now TAFE is the only institution ready to meet the challenge of rebuilding Australia's workforce. TAFE must be the government's preferred solution …
I hope the government hears that message.
I thank all members for their contributions to this debate. The vocational education training system is the engine room of Australia's future growth. It is the place where over four million Australians go every year to learn new skills, gain nationally recognised qualifications and springboard on to their first or next job. It is the place that employers turn to in order to ensure that their employees receive high-quality training to enable them to do their existing jobs better and to perform new roles. Now more than ever before Australia needs this training system to be the best it has ever been. Australia's economy is changing rapidly, and millions of Australians need to reskill and upskill in growth areas.
The National Skills Commissioner Bill 2020 establishes a new independent statutory office, the National Skills Commissioner, and sets out the commissioner's functions. The commissioner will lead thinking on Australia's skills and workforce needs and provide a critical new piece of Australia's economic infrastructure. The commissioner will consolidate and strengthen labour-market and skills-needs analysis and be an independent and trusted source of information about what is happening in the Australian labour market now and into the future. This research and analysis will draw on emerging data sources and cutting-edge analytic techniques to ensure that Australia's labour market analysis capability is world-leading.
The commissioner will examine the cost drivers in delivering quality training and will develop and maintain a set of efficient prices for VET on a course-by-course basis to improve transparency, consistency and accessibility for students. Currently, VET prices and subsidies vary considerably around Australia, with students paying different prices for the same course and varying levels of quality. An efficient price does not mean the lowest price but one that provides value for money. Central to the commissioner's work will be a focus on quality to determine the price that delivers the skills that employers need and that sets up students for a valuable career.
The commissioner will also lead research and analysis to examine the effectiveness of the VET system and advise on the public and private returns on government investment. This means having a better understanding of VET student outcomes such as whether a student got a job and what they are now earning, as well as public benefits such as building a strong care workforce. This analysis will enable governments to direct investments towards high-quality courses that give students the best chance of getting a job.
The Liberals and Nationals in government have a strong, long record of investing in vocational education and skills in rural and regional Australia. It was the Liberals and Nationals in government who introduced the Australian apprentice wage subsidy, which has created 3,200 new apprenticeships in rural and regional Australia. Through this scheme, apprentices are receiving training and are helping to grow small businesses. Those opposite in the Labor Party opposed this scheme, calling it a political fiasco. We have established the first two of 10 industry training hubs: in Burnie in Tasmania and in Townsville in Queensland. The hubs will help improve opportunities for young people in areas of high youth unemployment, creating better linkages between schools and local industry, and repositioning vocational education and training as a first-choice option.
We're also investing $9.9 million to deliver the remote community pilots, which are to be located in the Northern Territory, in Western Australia, in South Australia and in northern Queensland. In the design of the NSC, the government undertook a co-designed program in partnership with state and territory governments, industry and other key VET stakeholders. This included workshops in all capital cities and five regional locations: Bendigo, Cairns, Orange, Karratha and Mount Isa. Consultation in these regional centres helped ensure that the unique views and issues faced in these areas were captured.
The NSC will provide detailed labour market analysis, including an annual report each year setting out the skills Australia needs. Regions will be able to leverage analysis undertaken by the National Skills Commissioner on the performance of VET. Data from the NSC will power the National Careers Institute, providing students, including in regional Australia, with the most accurate and comprehensive data on where jobs are and will be, and what skills they'll need to get them, moving them quickly from learning to earning. The National Skills Commissioner will produce information with the flexibility to respond to local needs and demands. I note the work that the National Party have done not only in ensuring that vocational education and training is supported in rural and regional Australia but also in ensuring that the unique needs and challenges that these areas face will be considered by the National Skills Commission, which the minister for employment and skills is ensuring.
The COVID-19 pandemic has raised the importance and the increased urgency of this work, re-enforcing the importance of our existing commitment to the reform of the VET system. This bill is part of the Morrison government's $585 million Delivering Skills for Today and Tomorrow Skills Package and builds on our vision for VET to be a responsive, dynamic and trusted sector. The role of the National Skills Commissioner is underpinned by the principles of independence, transparency and accountability. It will support a stronger and more agile VET system, enabling us to navigate economic recovery, lift productivity and lay the foundations for a prosperous future. One again, I thank all members for their engagement on this bill, and I commend this bill to the House.
The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Sydney has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That' be omitted with a view to substituting other words. The immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.
by leave—I move amendments (1) to (3) as circulated in my name together:
(1) Clause 5, page 4 (line 11), after "investment in VET", insert ", issues specific to VET and workforce development in regional Australia".
(2) Clause 7, page 5 (line 4), omit "; and", substitute ";".
(3) Clause 7, page 5 (after line 4), at the end of paragraph 7(1)(a), add:
(iv) issues specific to VET and workforce development in regional Australia; and
The purpose of these amendments is simple: to insert one more bullet point in section 7(1)(a) to ensure the National Skills Commission does not leave regional Australians behind. The establishment of the National Skills Commission is a first step towards ensuring future initiatives and reforms in the VET sector are based on the best available data. We must be certain that this includes deliberately regional Australian data. The Joyce review, which called for the National Skills Commission to be established, specifically recommended that it have a particular focus on regional skill and workforce development. There are massive opportunities in regional Australia that could be unlocked if we had the right data to back robust VET and workforce development policies. The government has decided to omit regional Australia in this legislation. If we accept the bill as it is, we risk leaving regional Australia behind. These amendments will fix that blind spot.
We have to do more than talk about regional Australia in this House. We need to include regional Australia in our legislation. That's what this amendment will do. Colleagues, I ask you to support this important but small amendment.
The question is that the amendments be disagreed to.
by leave—I move:
That this bill be now read a third time.
Question agreed to.
Bill read a third time.
All of us want to stimulate and help the construction industry at the moment. We all want to see more homes built. We want to see more apprentices being taken on. We want to see more tradies keeping their jobs. We want more people to have a secure roof over their heads. This is particularly important as we enter the first recession in a generation, but none of this will be easy.
Only last week we saw new modelling that projected that without serious help we will lose 100,000 additional apprentices by December. We're losing them at a rate of 2,000 a week. A collapse of this size would be calamitous for the building industry. It'll add to the depth and the pain of this recession. If the Prime Minister is serious about really wanting to avert this crisis and stimulate the construction sector out of recession, he needs to do much more than what we saw with the announcement of HomeBuilder last week with great fanfare on the grass in Eden-Monaro.
There is $688 million to encourage home renovations—$25,000 for each grant. The only problem, when you read the fine print, is: who is going to be able to make use of this program? You've got to have between $150,000 and $750,000 to spend, but you've got to be earning less than $125,000. So, really, who is it that's going to borrow more than they earn? Well, there might be a few people, but they would have had this work in the planning stages already. The scheme is designed to lock out the vast majority of Australians. You've got a lot of people who'd like to get projects done, but they don't have $150,000 lying around.
What's more, I think that at a time like this, when unemployment is on the doorstep and a recession is looming, the idea that people who are earning $125,000 or less are going to take a chance with something like that really misses the reality of most people's lives. We know that there are better ways of promoting construction. We know because we did it during the global financial crisis. We didn't go into recession; we kept Australia out of recession, and one of the ways we did it was by investing in social housing with $6 billion, resulting in 21,600 new homes and 92,000 dwellings upgraded or improved. We established the National Rental Affordability Scheme to build 50,000 new affordable rental homes. We invested for first home buyers to help them into a home of their own. We began the National Partnership Agreement on Remote Indigenous Housing, with $5.5 billion over 10 years to deal with the massive issues of overcrowding and poor-quality accommodation in remote Indigenous communities. One of the reasons we were so worried about COVID-19 getting into remote Indigenous communities is that overcrowding and poor-quality housing still plague many communities. We released the homelessness white paper during the global financial crisis and set aside $550 million for new homelessness services.
I draw the Prime Minister's attention to the fact that states and territories have managed to house thousands of rough sleepers during this period, mostly in hotel accommodation and student accommodation and so on. What a fantastic contribution to the lives of those people. What an improvement for them. But, also, what a great way of keeping the rest of us safe, making sure that COVID-19 wasn't spreading amongst vulnerable communities. It is unthinkable that we will turn the tap off and send those people back out to sleep rough on the streets when this crisis is over, but where will they go? Those opposite could have invested in extra support to build emergency accommodation for the thousands of people that are being turned away every night. Every night in Australia, thousands are being turned away, most of them women and children fleeing domestic violence. It is possible to invest in construction, to help people buy a home of their own, to help with affordable rental accommodation in the private sector, to invest in social housing and also to invest in new emergency accommodation to help those most vulnerable in our society and to support tradies and apprentices. What a shame the government has gone for such a pale imitation of a housing policy.
Each generation should have their own opportunity to pursue their life, their opportunity and their enterprise. Australia's social fabric rests on a generational contract—an unspoken agreement between the young and the old, bound together by responsibility and sacrifice, in pursuit of the greatness of a country, through the advancement of people's own interests, to build the foundations of a life and to be able to stand on their own two feet to support themselves and their families. On the first occasion on which I spoke in this chamber, I argued liberalism creates an opportunity for society, where social mobility for the next generation is preserved through equality of opportunity. Our interdependence, mutualism and sense of social justice is that everybody has their fair go. Young Australians get the opportunity to choose their future, that takes advantage of the compounded effort of those that came before them, but are unshackled from the obligations or the burdens of decisions made prior to them. So they're in a position to be free to take responsibility and build their own lives.
Older Australians get their security from the earnings of a working life and, of course, respect for that sacrifice and saving in their retirement with dignity. As Australians move between the opportunity stages of their lives through to security, the tests they face can be overcome through their own efforts, and at all stages we respect our role as stewards of a united nation, a respectful society, a prosperous economy and a sustainable environment.
In the past few months, the world has faced a significant health crisis. COVID-19 has infected every part of our country—and that of many others as well—and suffocated our shared progress. While we are a long way on the journey to cleansing the virus, the reality of the economic crisis that will follow is only just starting to be unmasked. It's resolutely true that while the health impact of COVID-19 has predominantly fallen onto older Australians, the economic impact will fall onto younger Australians disproportionately: job losses, public debt and lost opportunity into the future. This is an enormous burden for a generation to bear, and we do not want a lost generation.
The task of those members who sit in this House is to decide what it is they're going to do about it. Will their focus be, like the Morrison government, to keep people in jobs and build opportunities for the future so that young Australians get their fair go too? The reality is that we are going to need to embark on an ambitious wave of reform to do so. We have unnecessary rigidity in industrial relations that has slowed productivity and limited the creation of new jobs, and if you want to be competitive in a global market place you need to make sure you're an attractive destination for investment. We're familiar with the scarring effect of recessions. Lower employment means young workers lose vital life experience. They lose their time and the opportunity that goes with it, which damages their future bargaining power and contribution. Lower wage growth harms them worst.
As Liberals we want the next generation to be able to turn to their human capital and turn it into economic success. We want to speak to people's aspirations throughout the whole of the stages of improving their lives. And the great deception promoted by members from the Australian Labor Party is that the state can solve these problems—rather than looking at what the role of the state is, which is to help support an environment for people to prosper and to be able to achieve their full individual potential.
Labor wants to extend government stimulus and subsidies into the never-never, without any honest discussion about the fact that the same people they claim to be benefiting will be lumped with the bill. But, as Menzies said, social welfare and state ownership is not creative of real things; it creates an illusion of prosperity. This reduces the incentive to effort, so production lags and living standards actually fall. You borrow from the future to pretend you can do something today. That's why this government is being so prudent, so responsible, in comparison with the alternative vision out there.
I rise to bring to this parliament a statement in support of unity over fear—a petition signed by over 80,000 Australians—and to associate myself with its call to say no to racism against Asian Australians, to say no to racism and to encourage all members and senators to join me. I pay tribute to the organisers: Jason Yat-sen Li, Dr John Yu AC, Benjamin Law, Su-Ming Wong, Tony Ayres, Annette Shun Wah, Albert Tse, Albert Wong AM, Adam Liaw, Benjamin Chow AO, Wesa Chau, William Yang, Brad Chan, Jieh-Yung Lo, Claudia Chan Shaw and Dr Cindy Pan. Thank you. Your leadership matters. It has brought people together, shone a light and delivered a powerful call to action. Tonight, I bring this to Australia's parliament for those of us who have the privilege to represent our fellow Australians to respond to. I also thank everyone who signed the petition and demonstrated their solidarity with this just and pressing cause. I acknowledge, in particular, those who shared their stories, bravely and generously, and made clear what racism is and what it does. Racism hurts people, damages lives and diminishes us all. Its effects are both obvious and insidious. We need to stop the physical and verbal abuse but also recognise that the continued existence of racism shapes how people live their lives, denies opportunities and confines even the places people feel safe in visiting. I seek leave to table a copy of the document containing the petition.
Has the petition been approved by the Petitions Committee?
It has not.
Is leave granted for the document to be presented?
Leave is not granted. The member knows full well this is not the appropriate opportunity to be tabling such a document.
That is disappointing. I hope that the document will be tabled in the Senate by Senator Bragg. I thank him for seeking to do so and for taking a stand against racism. It is critical that we strive for bipartisanship when it comes to confronting the scourge that is racism. It is critical that our parliament unites in standing up for multiculturalism and for every Australian, that we recognise that Chinese Australians have been subjected to awful and shocking racism through the pandemic, and that we respond to this without equivocation. I hope that the way in which the petition is presented to the parliament can go some way towards this. This evening we can start the process of recognising as a national parliament that ending racism is a national responsibility and that, when we say we're all in this together, we mean it. Australia is a successful multicultural society and the vast majority of Australians abhor racism, but we can't take this for granted.
As the petition states, in the course of the pandemic we have seen racism on the rise, violent assaults on Asian Australians, abuse in the streets and on public transport, offensive graffiti and more. The data we have from the Human Rights Commission and Anti-Discrimination New South Wales—we should have better data—shows that COVID-19 has driven a spike in complaints. This is echoed in the work of Being Asian Australian and the Asian Australian Alliance, whose survey has identified nearly 400 incidents since April targeting Chinese Australians. Disturbingly, this also found that the vast majority of these were not reported to the police. I recognise the role of my friend Osmond Chiu in this survey.
This is a threat to our social cohesion and our national unity. It demands an unambiguous response: that all of us in leadership positions make clear our opposition to racism and our solidarity with Asian Australians. Working towards bipartisanship means supporting a common goal: confronting and defeating racism and striving in good faith, as we are, to achieve it. How we do so will no doubt involve some disagreements along the way. Let me be clear: I won't rest until we have committed to a national strategy to tackle racism.
I'm proud to serve as Labor's multicultural affairs spokesperson and to have the chance to contribute to debate on modern Australia's greatest achievement, our multiculturalism, to highlight the enormous benefits our diversity has brought to us and to work to ensure that this diversity is reflected fairly in all the places that matter, including this place, of course, which needs to look much more like our society today. We can't ignore racism or its consequences. The Unity Over Fear petition is a powerful statement. It demands an equally powerful response. As the events of the weekend have demonstrated, fighting racism is everyone's business. Where we see it, we must call it out. We must recognise the damage it does and recognise our collective responsibility to end this. Racism stops with us.
Illegal drugs are a scourge on our community and drug addiction will tear families apart and shatter lives. Chances are we all know someone who is currently struggling with an addiction to drugs and alcohol, or a family in our community who has lost a loved one to drugs. People who are struggling with addiction may not have the support they need to be able to break away from what is a vicious cycle. Anyone who has struggled will know that you cannot do it alone. Some people have grown up in an environment where drug dependency was a way of life. For others, the lure of drugs at some point in their lives has been too strong. Some people may never have had a choice. Drug dependency is not a life we want for Australians. We need to help users and addicts to turn their lives around and we need to crack down on the supply of illegal drugs.
When I was elected as the federal member for Longman last year, I made the decision to make tackling drugs and crime a key priority to achieve for the community I have lived in and loved for many years. Along with law enforcement measures and improving employment pathways, I believe investing in rehabilitation and recovery support services can provide the path away from drugs. In my electorate of Longman, we recently opened a new live-in alcohol and drug recovery centre called Wunya, in the heart of Caboolture, operated by the not-for-profit organisation Lives Lived Well. The new centre is playing a big part in helping people in Longman and the Moreton Bay region to combat drug and alcohol addiction.
This new 20-bed recovery centre was made possible thanks to the $11 million in federal government funding provided to Lives Lived Well, which was allocated in response to the strong demand for drug and alcohol support services in the Longman area, particularly in Morayfield and Caboolture. This centre will offer a six-week structured and research backed residential program with a focus on education, wellness and life skills for people aged 18 years and over. Taking a harm reduction and holistic approach, the centre has a dedicated onsite team of psychologists, social workers, counsellors and a nurse.
When I visited the centre just weeks after it began operations, I was delighted to speak with one of the participants in the program, who informed me he was doing the program again as it had changed his life and he wanted to make sure he didn't fall back into old habits. Wunya gives people battling addictions a second, third or 10th chance at a better life. Investing in our community services is vital if we are to deliver on our commitment to help those who need it most.
Another wonderful support service helping people and their families across Australia affected by drug addiction is Family Drug Support Australia. FDS was founded by public health advocate Tony Trimingham OAM after the tragic death of his son Damien many years ago from a drug overdose. His dedication and commitment in establishing FDS to help others and prevent others from reaching the same tragic fate as his son is truly heroic. I was honoured to attend an FDS event this year, where, I was pleased to say, the Morrison government pledged $900,000 to Family Drug Support Australia so that it can continue providing a free 24-hour support line for families dealing with drug issues. This funding will allow FDS to continue their national toll-free telephone support line for families. It will also help to enhance Family Drug Support's mobile and online systems and support the training of the organisation's dedicated volunteers. The national number, 1300368186, currently receives over 25,000 calls each year from families dealing with drug and alcohol issues who need advice, information or assistance.
Along with advocating for increased investment in community services, I've also been working to tackle drugs and crime by promoting more jobs in our region. The federal government's Moreton Bay jobs fair in my electorate of Longman was held earlier this year and was a great success. Thousands of people attended to learn more about the job opportunities in our region. I spoke to many people to hear their personal stories and aspirations for work. It showed me that people in Longman want to work. Providing more jobs in Longman is critical if we are to prevent and reduce drug and alcohol misuse.
Nationally the government has committed more than $720 million over four years to reduce the impact of drug and alcohol misuse, which includes more than $544 million for treatment services. To tackle the scourge of ice, we have invested $450 million in our National Ice Action Strategy. This includes funding for over 240 local drug action teams, which help with prevention strategies including education in schools and support for young people. We've also delivered an extra 471 local drug and alcohol services since 2016 based on community need. Our education and treatment initiatives are co-coordinated with our law enforcement efforts, which are focused on reducing the supply of illegal drugs by cracking down on importers, manufacturers and dealers. As part of the government's enforcement strategy, $152 million over four years has been provided to disrupt and reduce the supply of illicit drugs such as ice.
Thanks to the efforts and sacrifices of Australians, our country has avoided a potentially devastating and widespread health crisis faced by so many other countries. However, we are now faced with economic and other mental health challenges that have the potential to have a deep and long-lasting effect on our nation. In particular, I want to highlight that it's our young Australians who are bearing the economic brunt of this crisis. They are bearing the brunt of the jobs crisis, facing overwhelming unemployment and underemployment. They are bearing the brunt of the mental health crisis, as social isolation and missing significant life events begin to take their toll. These things make it a very difficult time. I think it is important to recognise that, while many people have been having a difficult time, young people came into this crisis already on the back foot, and they are now suffering as a result.
The health crisis has tipped into an already bleak unemployment outlook for younger Australians. And of course 280,000 young Australians are now unemployed. On top of this, young Australians have been experiencing the largest proportion of job losses in this crisis. This crisis has exposed how this generation of young Australians is caught in the trap of insecure and inconsistent employment prospects. Many young Australians have been employed casually or in the sectors hardest hit, such as hospitality and the arts. They are some of the least secure jobs and some of the jobs that were first to go.
But the figures also hide a deeper persistent issue of underemployment. We know that there are some people who may have lost their second job, or even their third job, which they've relied on to make ends meet. These losses aren't represented in the figures. Young people were already facing a youth unemployment crisis before this pandemic, and the events of the last few months have only made it worse. At the start of this year, youth unemployment was already more than double the national average, but you wouldn't know that if you spoke to our Prime Minister, who only last month flatly denied in a press conference that youth unemployment was an issue before the pandemic. When asked about the pre-existing problem of youth unemployment, the Prime Minister said:
… the premise of the facts of your question are just simply not right.
This comment was a slap in the face to many young Australians who had been battling unemployment and underemployment.
This comment is consistent with the government's indifference and inaction on the issue of youth unemployment. We actually heard the member for Goldstein before saying: 'Pick yourself up by your bootstraps; do your best. There's no role for government in supporting people into employment.' Well, I simply disagree with that. In the face of consistently high youth unemployment figures, the government has never offered a meaningful plan to address this issue. What faith can young people possibly have in this government to lead them out of this unprecedented jobs crisis, when the government wouldn't even admit there was a problem in the first place?
The government must have young people at the forefront of their minds and take all necessary steps to support them during this crisis. The Treasurer has conceded we are in recession and it's a very serious economic position for our country. So it is also the time, rightly, that the government are working to provide support and stimulus measures to offer support to our economy. Yet our young people are being left behind by this government. They are being left behind when it comes to JobKeeper; many of them are unable to access the JobKeeper program. It's also clear that many of them are being encouraged to dip into their superannuation, rather than get adequate support from the government. This will have a long-term impact on their retirement savings. They have been doing the right thing, working and putting money away in their superannuation, and this government is encouraging them, at the worst time, to take their money out so they will have nothing left for their retirement. It's irresponsible, and I have to say it's making it very difficult for young people.
The mental health impact has also had a toll. We are not just facing a physical and economic crisis but a mental health crisis as well. The University of Sydney Brain and Mind Centre recently forecast anywhere between a 25 to 50 per cent rise in suicide. We must have young people on our mind. We must focus on young people and resolve— (Time expired)
Tuesday 2 June was a day of great highs and great lows for Western Australian farmers, particularly those in my electorate and those across the member for Durack's electorate who rely on the live export trade. In the morning, we had Justice Steven Rares of the Federal Court hand down his findings in Brett Cattle Company Pty Ltd v Minister for Agriculture. I want to emphasise here: this is not the current minister for agriculture; it was a former minister for agriculture in a Labor administration, Joe Ludwig. The case related to the 25-day shutdown of our cattle trade to Indonesia in 2011. Justice Rares found that former Minister Ludwig had 'acted in misfeasance', which is abuse of public office.
Those of us who lived through those days will remember very well the devastation that was wreaked upon many farming and pastoral operations across the north of the state and the damage that it did. It did long-term damage, not just to the farmers but to the supply chain, the truckies, the feedlots, the shippers and others.
But one thing that many people forget is the damage that it did to our relationship with Indonesia. The then agriculture minister for Indonesia, Suswono, said: 'I'm really annoyed by the lack of courtesy shown to Indonesia by Australia in this matter.' In diplomatic terms, that's very, very strong language.
Some of the impacts were that the price of meat within Indonesia rose 80 per cent, which put enormous pressure on the Indonesian people and their ability to buy protein. Our sales of cattle to Indonesia dropped from 520,000 in 2010 to 278,000 in 2012. That was because the Indonesian government introduced a quota of $280,000. But it didn't just impact the live cattle trade; it impacted our boned meat trade, which fell from 48,000 tonnes in 2010 to 34,000 tonnes in 2011. So the damage that was done to the industry was ongoing and very severe.
Then, on Tuesday evening, unfortunately, we heard the decision on the application by the Rural Export & Trading (WA) company to ship sheep on the Al Messilah inside of the quarantine period. The application was for the Al Messilah to leave Fremantle on 7 June, and that was seven days after the new moratorium that was introduced by the government this year. I've got to say that I'm very disappointed by that decision, and I just want to quote a couple of lines from the decision as it was handed down by the department's secretary or his delegate. It says: 'I accept that, if the contingent, which comprises some 56,000 sheep, is diverted into the domestic market, it is likely to depress prices and impact farm-gate sales.' Well, that is absolutely true. That is very true, because these 56,000 sheep in the feedlot will have to be absorbed into the local processing market, which means that those processors will not be at the saleyards buying sheep. But there is another important aspect, which is also noted by the departmental secretary's delegate, as follows: 'I have regard to the possibility that my decision may adversely impact trading partners' confidence in the Australian government's regulatory oversight of exported goods, which may adversely impact the interests and long-term viability of the live animal export industry.' Well, that is correct. However, it goes much broader than that.
Kuwait and the Middle East generally are great importers of Australian grain, and last year they imported $160 million of Western Australian wheat, to name just one product. So, in light of the decision a fortnight ago of the Chinese government to impose an 80 per cent tariff on malt barley—which, over the last three years, has been almost exclusively produced out of Western Australia—this is a second hit to Western Australian farmers, and I am very disappointed, on behalf of those farmers and my constituents, that it has come to this. I have seen and heard communications between the Kuwaiti government and our own government here. The minister for trade has received communications from the Kuwaiti government, and there is more on the way. They are very disappointed because, at the moment, the Kuwaiti people are more than ever reliant on receiving those live sheep from the Australian market. So I want to put on the record tonight my disappointment in the decision that was handed down by the department last Tuesday.
House adjourned at 19 : 59
Good morning. Before we commence this morning, I'll just remind members of my previous statements in relation to the procedures in the Federation Chamber in relation to social distancing and to bear those in mind as we go forward.
The past months have been a challenging time for all Australians, but I think we all in this place can acknowledge the extraordinary contribution that the community has demonstrated. I'd like to highlight that which I have witnessed in my electorate of Scullin: people looking after themselves, respecting social distancing and, importantly, understanding the needs of looking after vulnerable members of our community at this most challenging of times. I'm here to acknowledge that generally but also to reflect on some particular contributions in the community that I think deserve some attention. I refer, in particular, to the work of the group that's come together to form the Whittlesea Food Collective, a consortium brought together by Whittlesea Community Connections. Whittlesea Community Connections, which is probably the most significant local community service organisation, has brought together a range of people, organisations and volunteers to a very worthy enterprise.
It's a tragedy that, even in good times, emergency relief is a challenge that we face in a society as rich as ours, but it's been a particularly acute challenge through the pandemic with all the restrictions that have been imposed upon us and the challenges of job losses, hours-of-work loss, and other restrictions imposed upon individuals in the community. So, I was very pleased to be able to visit the food collective site at Epping and speak to some of the organisers and volunteers to express my deep appreciation for the work they've done and to listen to them about the challenges that they have been facing and seeking to overcome, to reflect on what they have been doing, and the lessons for me and, perhaps, also for all of us on how we can better come together through this to emerge stronger as communities and as a society.
I'd like to acknowledge Alex Haynes, the CEO of Whittlesea Community Connections, for her vision in bringing this consortium together, and the contribution of local organisations, particularly Alex from Infinity Church and Gianna from Encompass Care, for the enormous contribution they have made in keeping isolated and vulnerable people fed through this time—and engaged, at a time when we know that loneliness has been a pandemic every bit as much as the virus itself. I acknowledge the many local businesses that have contributed too and thank them in this place for their contribution to building a stronger society.
I was concerned and interested to hear from all of those involved that the nature of the people being supported by emergency relief has changed dramatically. They are seeing many, many more asylum seekers and, in particular, international students, presenting as vulnerable, at a loss, without support, without connection, needing to be fed. This is something I've reflected on. We need to work harder to secure a safety net that catches everyone through this and to recognise that we all are indeed in this together. We need to think in this place about how we can make sure that everyone can look after themselves so that they can also look after all of us and that we can, indeed, all be in this together.
A close friend and a former colleague of mine, Mark Maxim, called me this week. He's let me know that he's launching a GoFundMe page, and he shared with me, for the first time, that when he was 14, two adult men who were in charge of his care on a soccer camp sexually abused him. Mark hadn't shared this with anyone until just two years ago. Mark's goals, through his online campaign, are threefold: firstly, to demystify reporting around child sexual abuse; secondly, to improve understanding about these predators; and, thirdly, to remove one of the most powerful weapons from child molesters, which is their ability to socially and psychologically isolate victims from their support networks. Mark shared with me that, in his view, current sentencing arrangements are inadequate to serve as a deterrence, and Mark is right. We can do better, we must do better and, through new laws which are entering the Senate this week, we will do better. In the last financial year, just 28 per cent of those convicted of a child sex offence under Commonwealth legislation spent a single day in jail. Too often, child sex offenders spend insufficient time in prison to undergo treatment programs and to receive any rehabilitation before re-entering society. Upon release, many are not subject to parole or any other form of supervision and, therefore, pose an ongoing risk. Such outcomes offend community values and expectations of how such crimes should be dealt with. They compound the pain and trauma of victims and they endanger the safety of the Australian community.
As a father of three teenagers, I take the issues surrounding child sex offences incredibly seriously. The bill which will go before the Senate this week will introduce mandatory minimum sentences and toughen up sentences for those depraved individuals who prey on the most vulnerable for their own gratification and/or financial gain. We are doing this because sexual crimes against children destroy lives. The bill will vastly improve justice outcomes and community safety, including through mandatory minimum sentences for the most serious child sex offences, through increased maximum penalties, including up to life imprisonment, and by ensuring that all sex offenders upon release from custody are adequately supervised and subject to appropriate rehabilitative conditions. I encourage the Senate to support these new laws in full. I also encourage those who might be listening to engage with Mark's GoFundMe page and YouTube channel, which I will provide the link for when I share this speech on my social media.
It's time to kickstart the Macarthur economy. Over the coming weeks, Macarthur residents will receive correspondence from me regarding the state of our local economy. Macarthur's community has been hit hard through 2020, and even before that. Families and local businesses are struggling to stay afloat, and the added economic pressures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic are only making things much worse. Our local economy has been struggling for some time. Members of this House will be well aware of some of the issues plaguing my community, as I have raised these issues many times before in this place.
Macarthur's local economy was struggling well before the COVID-19 pandemic. Unemployment and underemployment figures in Macarthur have been well above the national average since long before this economic crisis. Underemployment has been rife, particularly for young people. Macarthur residents lack adequate access to ongoing adequate and stable work in the local community. Far too many local residents face lengthy commutes, often over three hours every day, and this eats into quality family time and adds to the stress that they're under. Many good local businesses are struggling. As someone who had owned and operated a local business in Macarthur for decades, I know only too well the pressures facing our local employers. Small and family businesses want to retain and look after their local employees. The state of our local economy is making it difficult for them to stay afloat. The reality is that, if more people living in Macarthur were able to work locally, they would spend more money and time in our local economy. Instead, many are spending many hours each day on public transport or in bumper-to-bumper traffic, waiting to get to work.
Like many communities across Australia, the Macarthur community is struggling in the wake of COVID-19. The recent announcements about early childhood education are only going to make things worse. Our community is growing exponentially, yet this government and the Liberal state government are spending very little on infrastructure in my electorate. In particular, they're not funding the rail link from south-west Sydney to the western Sydney airport—a huge shame and very detrimental to our local people and our local economy. Macarthur residents need local jobs and we were hopeful the airport would provide that. However, the government has done nothing to provide infrastructure to the local airport from Macarthur. Our economic recovery depends on a bipartisan approach to this crisis and it's time the government provided funding for vital projects outside of Liberal and National Party electorates. The time for pork-barrelling has gone. Our rapidly growing community in Macarthur and south-west Sydney ought to receive the support from the government that it deserves. Funding is being afforded to other electorates with less need. It's time to kick-start the local economy. It's time for the Morrison government to do something about infrastructure in south-west Sydney. (Time expired)
It seems as though the Victorian state Labor government are close to announcing the model of their preferred Melbourne airport rail link project. This project was initially costed between $10 billion and $13 billion, and the federal government initially put $5 billion on the table to help drive this project forward. They also wanted to make sure that this project was done properly. To build the link to the airport from Melbourne's CBD in a way that would enhance passenger services in Victoria will always require a designated tunnel from the CBD out to West Footscray and, once at West Footscray, a new above-ground track can easily be made on the way out to Tullamarine and beyond. With a designated tunnel, regional services to Bendigo, Ballarat, Shepparton, Wangaratta and Albury-Wodonga will also have the opportunity to benefit from the lines heading straight into the centre of Melbourne without having to deal with the metro stopping-at-all-stations trains. But state Labor don't want to build a designated tunnel. This is where the problem really gets messy. We can expect Sunbury-Melton to grow bigger than Geelong at the moment by 2036. In 16 years, we can expect enormous cities in the west. Werribee will grow to the size of Canberra. To service these lines will effectively use the full capacity of the MM1 tunnels that are currently being built. By the time the MM1 is complete, it will be overcapacity by simply servicing the western suburbs and the new mega-cities. If the MM1 also has to deliver six to eight services per hour to the airport as part of the airport rail link, it will mean that all services to the western suburbs and beyond will be completely and significantly restricted, plus any services to the north-east, the north and the north-west of Victoria will be denied yet again.
We are used to seeing the state Labor government in Victoria building projects that ignore regional Victorian cities, towns and communities, but what we are not used to seeing is state Labor—in particular Jacinta Allan, the transport minister, and Premier Daniel Andrews—putting in place a major project that will not only rule out regional Victorians but will also seriously damage the ability of those living in the western suburbs to actually use their train systems, in particular Werribee, Sunbury and Melton. Also, the inner west will be significantly damaged by this project. The councils across Melbourne, western Melbourne, northern Victoria and western Victoria have written. They are desperate that we try and stop the Victorian government from going ahead with this project without a designated tunnel. When you see so many councils and so many committees that are desperately opposed to this Victorian project, I think it's only right that the federal government do everything we can to stop it. (Time expired)
Due to a lack of planes, I drove to parliament for this sitting. My road trip took me from the end of the River Murray in my electorate and I crisscrossed the river across the Hay Plains. The landscape is greener than the last time I made the trip, and my questions about the management of the Murray-Darling river system remain. The same questions are raised time and again by the people of Mayo and all South Australians.
Today, I would like to table for the parliament a book of questions put together by a school in my electorate whose year 6-7 class spent a whole year doing an in-depth study on the Murray-Darling Basin. Last month, Fletcher Griffin, representing Stirling East Primary School, came to my office and officially presented me with Murray-Darling Basin calling: questions unanswered. I visited the class last year while they were conducting their inquiry and I believe that these students would know more about the Murray and the problems of this system than many adult Australians. Even with that knowledge, they really struggled to understand how, as adults, we cannot learn to share when sharing is a lesson you have to master in order to grow up. These young people want to know where the water is going and why we cannot manage such a critical system for everyone. I want to know the answers. I have the same questions.
We know from Mick Keelty's inquiry that the amount of water flowing into the Murray River over the past 20 years has, indeed, halved, showing that, even with the best of management, the impact of climate change cannot be ignored. So, when I drive along the Hay Plains and see the balls of cotton drifting on the roadside and the open channels and the mega storage stands, I find myself asking the very same questions that Fletcher and his classmates ask: how do you run a country with no water; what happens to the farmers once the river dries up; how will our towns and our cities survive; and how will our environment survive? As the northern states continue their pressure for the relaxation of environmental water allocations, I and my Centre Alliance colleagues in the Senate are determined to keep the parliament focused on the sound management of the Murray-Darling Plan. I seek leave to table Murray-Darling Basin calling: questions unanswered.
Leave granted.
As our community prepares for the economic recovery phase following the coronavirus crisis, we recognise the importance to our local economy of international trade in both goods and services. My state of Western Australia is heavily reliant on the export of minerals from our mining industry and liquefied natural gas from our energy industry as well as agricultural products. In my suburban electorate of Moore, international education is our largest source of export income, with some 6,000 international students studying at Edith Cowan University and many more at the various vocational education and training providers based around Joondalup. Tourism also accounts for a sizeable part of our local economy, with visitors to our marina, golf course and retail centres dependent on international spending. The coronavirus crisis has seen a drastic reduction in consumer activity as a result of travel restrictions and border closures. Many local businesses are experiencing a downturn as a result of reduced numbers of international students and tourists. Domestic demand alone is not sufficient to sustain thriving local businesses.
It is concerning to learn of emerging friction with our largest international trading partner of agricultural exports and, more recently, international education. Every diplomatic effort must be made to adopt a conciliatory approach to relations. I am, of course, referring to China. Our countries share a long and important relationship which has become strained by conspiracy theories surrounding the outbreak of the coronavirus. Any international review must be independent, objective and based on evidence. It should contain constructive recommendations as to whether improving access to sanitation such as potable water and sewerage, refrigeration, better regulating food safety standards and food markets, and education could have prevented the outbreak of the disease. It should recommend constructive protocols for improving international cooperation in the event of emerging pandemics in the future. This is not about apportioning blame; it is about being constructive in securing international cooperation in managing future crises.
Early during the crisis, I had the opportunity to meet with Consul General Madam Dong Zhihua to express support for strong bilateral relations. Through diplomacy, our nations can restore a more cooperative international relationship for the mutual benefit of our citizens and facilitate the economic recovery in both our respective nations. At times, our nations may differ on issues; however, it is the shared desire for the advancement of the welfare of our citizens which unites us to a common purpose.
During these unprecedented times, I want to take the opportunity to thank our health service workers, including our dedicated doctors, our nurses, cleaners, lab techs, medical waste handlers, support staff and, of course, our paramedics, for the essential work they are undertaking during these tough times. I also want to acknowledge the tireless efforts of our aged-care workers, teachers, childcare and early childhood educators and shop assistants, who are all doing vital work on the front line under extraordinary circumstances during this pandemic. Now, more than ever, we should show our appreciation and gratitude for the immense contribution of our frontline workers, putting themselves at significant personal risk to ensure the safety and wellbeing of our families and our communities.
Despite being a devastating time for our nation, unfortunately we've also heard horrifying stories of the mistreatment of many of our frontline workers, whether it be our shop assistants, health workers or other frontline workers. We've heard of them being shunned and abused simply because they are working on the front line in this pandemic. These are extraordinarily difficult and trying conditions—conditions that no-one should have to put up with by virtue of their occupation—and they have been placed in a position where they have had to bear the brunt of this health and economic crisis. Their great efforts, on behalf of all Australians, have no doubt taken a significant physical and emotional toll on our frontline workers and their families. As a parliament, we should be indebted to them and must never forget their contributions and the sacrifices they have made for our communities, which we have been entrusted to represent.
On that note, I'd like to thank the Liverpool City Council and the Fairfield City Council, which operate in my electorate, for their initiatives during these times. They have extended support to local businesses and individuals in my community to ensure that they are getting the necessary assistance they need to help get them through this pandemic. On behalf of a very grateful community, I'd like to thank all our frontline workers for their invaluable contribution during these challenging times. It must be difficult for many of them to accept the public debate which is now occurring in New South Wales as to whether they should be subject to a wage freeze or not. The truth of the matter is that our frontline workers are really the unsung heroes during this pandemic. They have made and continue to make a significant difference for the better in our community.
I'd like to lend my support to the comments from the member for Fowler. Truly, the frontline healthcare workers, both in pharmacies and in hospitals, are the true heroes of this pandemic and deserve all the praise this parliament can give them.
I rise today to speak of Lucinda Brogden, who is undoubtedly a well-deserving recipient of the Order of Australia medal, which was awarded as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours List 2019. Lucinda—or Lucy, as she is better known to her friends—was recognised for her outstanding service to mental health and wellbeing. She has committed herself to preventing suicide and improving mental health on the Northern Beaches and across the country. During Lucy's tenure as the chair of the National Mental Health Commission, her work has seen mental health become a national priority. Lucy has made it her life mission to help others, all the while building a stronger community and empowering many. Lucy's most outstanding contribution to mental health is seen in her work for The Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance. Mrs Brogden's aim was to put a halt to an increasing trend of suicide, and then reduce it by providing evidence based advice on suicide and self-harm issues to the government and community. Lucy has also established the Partners in Depression program, providing support for families of those suffering from mental illness. It is unsurprising that across the country Lucy is recognised as a strong-willed individual advocating for mental health. This was formally recognised in 2015 when she was named one of the 100 women of influence in Australia.
Locally, Lucy does a plethora of work with mental health programs. One of the many contributions is her work with the Sydney Women's Fund, which holds a focus on supporting women and girls in Sydney. Here, Lucy has established a workplace whereby women are given the opportunity to thrive. Through the Sydney Women's Fund, Lucy's goal has been to address the resource gap in social investment for women in Sydney. Lucy commented that it has been particularly wonderful to see the incredible bipartisan support for improving mental health.
There is no doubt in my mind that Lucy has improved the lives of many who are living with mental illness, struggling with mental health as well as working to support their families. Lucy is an active member of our community, participating in activities such as lifesaving, tutoring and surfboat rowing. Lucy's mission is to remove the stigma that is too often associated with mental illness by establishing a community where a person's private life remains private and one is able to enjoy their work life without facing discrimination due to mental illness.
I just wanted to share with the House a few of the life-changing stories about what has happened to people in my community who are now receiving the jobseeker and supplement payment. I actually want to acknowledge and congratulate the government for what they've done with this payment and urge them to keep it. Don't snap these people back into poverty.
The higher rate has meant for someone like Sharon that she's no longer living in a caravan park. After she lost her husband in 2012, she had to stop working. She was struggling, couch surfing. She couldn't get a job because she didn't have a home. She had no stability. She spoke out about the debilitating effect of living on Newstart. She was brave to share her story. She was at the stage where she was looking at pitching a tent and facing a winter in Castlemaine living in a tent when her rate increased. The jobseeker rate came in and with the supplement. She is now renting. She has now got the security of a home. She's started working; she got a job as a COVID patient screener. Her employment agency is so happy with her work they've found her more work. She is confident and optimistic.
Jane, a postgraduate IT professional, has also had a life-changing experience. She can now afford her rent as well. It is no longer a choice between food or rent. She's looking to complete further study and re-enter the workforce.
Gavin, who because of his disability, PTSD, and having diabetes, was also couch surfing. He was on Newstart and couldn't afford rent. The jobseeker new payment and supplement meant that Gavin is no longer making the choice between lifesaving medicines and rent. He's able to afford both. His diabetes is now stable. His diet has improved. And he's now looking to regain work in the building industry. He has said that the increase in the payment has been life changing.
These are three people who were struggling on the old rate of Newstart. These are three people whose lives have been changed. They now have the dignity, they now have the respect and they are now all actively working. If the jobseeker payment is about helping people into work, here are three examples of how the current rate is doing that. If the government wants to see this success continue they cannot snap people back to the old rate. They must keep the higher rate going if we want more success stories like Gavin, Jane and Sharon.
I'd like to recognise Lyn Larsen, who was named on this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List. Lyn was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for her significant service to cricket as a player, selector, manager and coach. Lyn played 15 tests and 49 one-day internationals for Australia. She proudly captained our country between 1986 and 1993, and led Australia to victory in the 1988 World Cup. Lyn was a genuine all-rounder who averaged 41 with the bat and, as a leg spinner, took 26 wickets. Lyn is a Lismore local, growing up in Tuntable Creek on the family farm with her parents, George and Beth, and brother, Peter, who too were wonderful community people.
There was a strong women's cricket competition played in Lismore in the 1980s, with up to five teams in the comp. Lyn captained and played for Norths, which, may I say, a few of the Webber girls played in as well. Karen, my wife, says Lyn was a standout from the start and a great captain even back then. She was destined for greatness. Lyn was able to represent New South Wales and Australia whilst still living at home. After playing a game of cricket locally, Lyn would catch the bus from Lismore on a Saturday night, arrive in Sydney Sunday morning, play another game, then jump back on the bus and be ready for school on Monday morning. Congratulations, and well-deserved, Lyn. We are all very proud of you.
I'd like to recognise Dr Austin Curtin Sr, who was named on this year's Queen's Birthday Honours List. Austin was appointed a Member of the Order of Australia for his significant service to medicine and to health outcomes in regional communities.
Austin moved from Sydney to the Northern Rivers in 1985 to focus on regional health. There were only five surgeons in our area at that time. Since then, he has become a highly popular and respected surgeon in our community. Austin has also worked on many health boards, including ministerial advisory committees and rural task forces. He joined the Army Reserve following 9/11 and was deployed to Afghanistan and Iraq. Austin is passionate about teaching the next generation of rural surgeons and has continued to mentor students since his retirement from the public system in 2018. Congratulations, Austin, and thank you for your service to our community.
In accordance with standing order 193 the time for constituency statements has concluded.
by leave—On behalf of the member for Sydney, I move:
That this House acknowledges that:
(1) during the COVID-19 crisis, Labor has been urging the Government to act to help universities and save jobs, while:
(a) the Prime Minister has done nothing, and now jobs are being lost; and
(b) it has been reported that hundreds of jobs will go at universities in Rockhampton, Geelong, and suburban Melbourne;
(2) without serious Government help, universities have predicted 21,000 jobs will be lost in the next six months alone, meaning:
(a) tens of thousands of livelihoods could be destroyed, including those of academics, tutors, administrative staff, library staff, catering staff, grounds staff, cleaners, security and many others—all with families, trying to make ends meet; and
(b) the impact on regional communities will be devastating (universities support 14,000 jobs in country Australia);
(3) to save university jobs, the Government must take serious action now, and that the Treasurer could have acted to solve this problem, but hasn't—instead, the Treasurer has been deliberately moving the goal posts to ensure universities are excluded from government support;
(4) the Government cannot explain why a university student working a $100 shift per week receives the full $1500 JobKeeper wage subsidy, while their full-time university tutor, with three kids to support, is not eligible; and
(5) Labor believes it is a big mistake for the Prime Minister to abandon university staff during the COVID-19 crisis.
I thank the member for Sydney for her motion highlighting both the challenges faced by our universities as they work through the coronavirus and the continuing role that our tertiary sector plays not only in education and research but in the transformation of our respective communities.
Extra support for our universities is essential. University education is one of the largest enterprises in our country and certainly one of our biggest employers. Universities support around 260,000 jobs, including 14,000 jobs in regional areas. The government must take serious action to help universities to save these jobs. If the government fails to deliver on this now, the prediction is that 21,000 jobs will be lost in this sector over the next six months. To put this into context, there are thousands of livelihoods that could be in jeopardy, including those of academics, tutors, administrative staff, library staff, catering staff, ground staff, security officers and many others, all of whom, together with their families, are trying to make ends meet. We know the Treasurer could have fixed this issue but, rather, has been deliberately working to ensure that universities are excluded from the government's support, including through his ongoing refusal to extend JobKeeper eligibility to our tertiary sector.
For electorates such as mine in Western Sydney, the economic impact of the coronavirus has been devastating. The region is experiencing wide-scale job losses related to social and economic hardship, heightened levels of youth unemployment and significant supply chain disruptions, and this is as employers and businesses seek to secure their financial viability. Denying support to our universities at a time when they have been hit so hard by the coronavirus not only is disappointing; it is absolutely irresponsible. It fails to take into account the multifaceted role our universities play in promoting the development and growth of our communities.
Professor Barney Glover, the Vice Chancellor of Western Sydney University, succinctly put this issue in perspective when he said:
For Western Sydney, the University is part of its fabric. Alongside one another, the community, business and the University have transformed the region. This has changed the narrative from one of disadvantage, to one of promise. That regional compact is vitally important, but the work is far from done. The current financial position of the University—
now puts that progress at risk. Far from being just a major institution, Western Sydney University, and its success, is integrally related to the sustainable development of Western Sydney itself.
This ongoing commitment is not just an investment in bricks and mortar, the expansion of campuses; it is also the provision of pathways for many of our young people to be ready for the jobs of the future. Whether through its association with the development of the Badgerys Creek airport, the aerotropolis and the Ingham Institute for Applied Medical Research or through serving the growing needs of our health and hospital sector, it is clear that Western Sydney University has a significant role to play in our region. Through its industry-partnered programs of educational infrastructure, the university has provided positive changes in key centres like Parramatta, Liverpool, Westmead, Campbelltown and Bankstown. In 2018, I had the privilege of attending the opening of the Liverpool campus of Western Sydney University. This facility is now providing many of the graduate nurses who are choosing to stay to live and work in our region. In fact, this university is now hosting the largest nursing education program in the country. We are putting at risk not only programs but also the regional transformation itself if the university's financial position is left in doubt.
In order to address the pressures facing our communities and ensure regional growth, there is an urgent need to lift the cap on Commonwealth funding for domestic students. As Professor Glover notes, this would allow the university to work hand in hand with our TAFE sector and industry partners to rapidly strengthen the skills within our region and enhance productivity at a time when it is most needed. On behalf of our tertiary education sector and, indeed, the Western Sydney community as a whole—we are grappling with the economic impact of COVID-19—I call on this government to take urgent and serious action to support our universities. In turn, that will secure not only the future of Western Sydney but our future as a whole.
Is the motion seconded?
I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
I rise to speak to the motion put forward by the member for Sydney, and I'd like to take the opportunity to formally acknowledge the member for Sydney's continued and longstanding advocacy for education in Australia.
Our university sector in Australia is large. It employs over 200,000 people, and in 2018 over 1.4 million students were enrolled in courses. In 2018, the combined revenue of universities in Australia was $33.7 billion, their net assets were worth over $59 billion, and the average revenue for a university in that year was $865 million. As a sector and individually, universities are in charge of large amounts of money, assets and resources. They are also a significant export industry. They also have an enormous amount of independence and autonomy, and, because of this, they are rightly subject to a high level of financial responsibility and accountability.
Universities are being hit; there's no denying that. There will be job losses. There should be no downplaying of the impact that these job losses will have on each person individually and on their family. It is, and will be, a devastating time for all those who are directly or indirectly impacted. What I would note is that this pain being felt in the university sector is being felt across the country in a variety of different sectors. It would be far easier and quicker to identify those areas which are not being hit by this virus than it would be to list those that are. The difference between universities and many other sectors is that across the university sector more than 50 per cent of the annual operating revenue for universities comes from the government. This funding is provided so that universities can undertake their core activities of teaching, scholarship and research. This year, through a variety of different programs, this sum comes close to $18 billion.
In normal times, a significant amount of that funding is tied to the number of domestic students who enrol within a particular university. If a university doesn't enrol its estimated numbers, the amount of funding it receives will decrease. In recognition of the impact the coronavirus is having on universities, earlier this year the government guaranteed that funding for 2020. This means the universities will continue to get this money for the year for their estimated enrolments even if they enrol less than that number of domestic students. This is a significant support for the sector. Aside from anything else, it ensures a level of certainty for the year—a certainty that, quite frankly, is not felt in many other sectors across the country. This guarantee in domestic funding support has also been underpinned by the government's extension of a number of arrangements for research funding, once again to ensure that level of financial certainty.
There are other things that the government has done to reduce direct and indirect costs: waiving some of the regulatory requirements, decreasing some of the reporting obligations and creating an entire new funding source of $7 million to support the delivery of new six-month online courses. Yes, universities are taking a sizable financial hit, and that means that individuals are getting hit. Yes, the support being given to universities is different to that which is being given to other sectors. But there is significant support. The government will continue to support universities and, importantly, continue to work with them so that they can work through, both now and in the future, the impact of the COVID pandemic.
It is in this context that we all have an opportunity to refocus on why post-secondary education in all its forms is vital to us as a country and why it is funded by the Australian taxpayers through the government. Universities exist to serve our community, locally, nationally and internationally. They do this by providing higher education opportunities to Australians and those from other countries who want to study what we are offering. They engage in research that expands our knowledge and understanding. We should use this opportunity that is presented by COVID to consider if universities are delivering what we need them to deliver for our country and for our students; to look at the plethora of regulations and reporting requirements which are often duplicated, if not triplicated, for no ultimate benefit to anybody; to look at incentives to see if they are tailored to deliver what we want; to look at the measures we use to assess them; and to see if we can build a better connection between higher ed and vocational ed so that we can provide better opportunities and choice for all Australians.
With strong economic growth overall in the last 30 years, the coming of the digital age and the opportunity that the Higher Education Contribution Scheme provides, now more than ever, Australians are not just ending formal education after year 12 but striving to continue their education to a bachelor or postgraduate level. In Australia we have some of the best universities in the world, with a world-class lifestyle to match. I should know. I taught as a professor at universities both here in Australia and overseas. Australian universities provide some of the best environments in the world for education and for research. Our quality of teaching and our ability to provide support for those from other countries through a harmonious and multicultural and supportive environment are well regarded internationally. Students choose Australian universities for many reasons, not just because they are or are not in the top 50 rankings internationally.
It is little wonder that, as the world opened up with the advent of the internet and with Asia's growing middle class and low-cost airlines, Australia has become a top choice for those wishing to study abroad. The university sector, like Australia's healthcare sector, works across the board. Full-fee-paying placements allow for international students who want the quality and lifestyle an Australian degree can offer, and then domestic places subsidised by the federal government and the deferred payment scheme of HECS enable our kids to achieve educational success and go on to be a strong economic base to support this nation. For domestic students the Morrison government recognises that HECS should be accessible to all Australians. Funding to universities is at a record high, with Commonwealth expenditure estimated to be more than $18 billion in 2018, increasing to $19 billion in 2023. This is a subsidised sector.
This year, following the COVID shutdown, universities moved quickly to support Australians by closing universities and holding lectures and tutorials online. The success of this was made easier by the universities' overall movement to putting more resources online and e-submissions for assignments. Overall, the Morrison government's first priority has been to keep Australians safe, and that has included Australian students. The global pandemic of COVID, however, has highlighted universities' reliance on international students and their revenue stream. International students contribute $8.8 billion each year, accounting for 26 per cent of revenue.
Now, with this COVID crisis, the Minister for Education, Dan Tehan, has worked closely with the universities to understand the current situation and the way forward because we wanted to continue to help them meet the demand of the domestic market and to ensure that universities give the best-quality degree to their students. In 2018, total Australian government funding amounted to $17.6 billion, or 52 per cent of the universities' total revenue. This comes with a safety net. The Morrison government's early action in the pandemic assured that the Commonwealth Grant Scheme payments for Commonwealth supported places will still be forthcoming, enabling cash flow through this crisis.
It is true that we are looking at a changed international student education environment. But what this makes clear is that the university business plan needs to think about a diversified mindset. We know that international students are and will continue to be an important part of our university sector. But universities do more than just teach international students. They have a responsibility to provide quality education to our domestic students. And, as we all know, they have an amazing research record. We should be grateful as Australians that the medical research sector, in particular, supported by the university sector, has delivered outcomes for all Australians to keep us healthy and safe. As one example, the Peter Doherty Institute was the first outside Wuhan to grow the COVID virus, and it was the first to develop a test so we could be on the front foot with regard to our COVID response.
Throughout this time and moving into the future it is important that universities work to remain flexible and adapt to the changing times, as they so often have. They need to prepare for a potential shift in the way they conduct business, and they need to work closely with government in a subsidised sector to ensure this occurs.
I want to agree with the member for Higgins about the importance of research at our universities. The sad part of this story, of course, is that it is often the revenue from overseas students that funds that very research that we are so proud of here in Australia. She spoke about how government funding has been maintained for Australian students. Of course it has been, because Australian students are still going to university. We've seen very little drop-off in Australian student numbers. The big drop is in revenue from international students. We're talking about many, many billions of dollars cut from our university sector because, quite sensibly of course, our borders are closed to international students at the moment. For months Labor has been urging the government to intervene to help universities, to help Australian jobs in those universities. For months we have watched as universities have shed jobs, closed campuses and cut back on courses and degrees. From the beginning of this crisis the university sector predicted that without serious federal government support 21,000 jobs would be lost over the coming six months. We have seen the beginning of those job losses already.
Despite these warnings, the Prime Minister has done nothing to help our fourth biggest export industry—one of Australia's largest employers. In fact, the government's gone out of its way to exclude universities from receiving support. The government has repeatedly moved the goalposts to block staff at our public universities from wage subsidies, putting thousands of jobs at risk, while allowing staff at private universities to access support. We have started to see the effect of the job losses caused by this approach, especially in regional areas. We have seen hundreds of jobs lost already. Deakin University has lost 400 jobs. If you take 400 jobs out of Geelong, it makes a big difference. In Rockhampton, Central Queensland University has cut 180 jobs and closed three campuses, Sunshine Coast, Yeppoon and Biloela. Across Melbourne and Bendigo we've seen job cuts at La Trobe University.
This is just the very beginning of what will become a rolling crisis. The impact of these job losses on regional communities will be devastating. Universities support 14,000 jobs in regional Australia, and they help underpin the local economy in countless regional cities. Many of these institutions also serve as the local TAFE campus, like, for example, Central Queensland University. It's a double blow for those towns where campuses are closing, because they haven't just lost their university campus; they have lost their TAFE campus too.
Across the board we're looking at tens of thousands of livelihoods being destroyed. We're talking about academics, tutors, admin staff, library staff, catering staff, ground staff, cleaners, security guards and many, many others; all with families, all with bills to pay, all with commitments to meet. I recently spoke to Laura, who was an admin worker from the University of Sydney, a mum of two kids. She tells me she feels 'anxious and worried about her future'. She is wondering, 'Where is the job security for us?'
Why has the government gone out of its way to keep changing the rules to exclude women like Laura from receiving assistance? What is it about university staff that makes them so very undeserving of help? In fact, the rules keep being changed to make sure that these universities don't qualify in the way that any other business in Australia would qualify. The federal government can't explain why a university student who has been working a shift a week at the bakery on $100 a week gets access to the full $750 a week JobKeeper; but their tutor, with a mortgage to pay and two kids to feed, doesn't get the same help.
We are relying on our brilliant researchers right now to help us through this crisis, to discover a vaccine for COVID-19, but we're not prepared to back them with the same support that any other worker in any other Australian business would be entitled to. The Prime Minister's $60 billion stuff-up on JobKeeper means there is no excuse to exclude university workers from the same support that other Australian workers would receive at this difficult time.
I'm very pleased to support the motion today. My seat of Cooper takes in La Trobe University's Bundoora campus. It is a powerhouse of employment, academia and community in the northern suburbs. Yet because of this government's pig-headedness the uni is under severe financial distress and thousands of jobs are at risk. Let me be clear: the government has deliberately shifted the goalposts to exclude universities from accessing JobKeeper. JobKeeper is the crucial wage subsidy which would allow unis to keep staff employed while they worked through the disastrous effect that coronavirus is having through no fault of their own. According to La Trobe, JobKeeper payments would have provided them with $50 million to mitigate the impact of the current crisis on the jobs and livelihoods of their staff. The government's response? 'You lot work it out. You're getting nothing from us.' As a result, La Trobe has already started a voluntary redundancy program, and now staff are being asked to choose between pay cuts or further redundancies. These redundancies are due to the Morrison government's inaction. This makes me furious! Workers should not have to take all the responsibility of saving the sector. The government can and should step in. It has an extra $60 billion sitting in the bank because of its JobKeeper bungle. While the government continues to withhold support, people are losing their livelihoods: academics, tutors, administration staff, library staff, catering staff, groundspeople, cleaners, and many others—all with families, all trying to make ends meet. I've heard from so many workers at La Trobe who are incredibly anxious about what the future holds for them. All the indicators are bleak, and they are hearing nothing from this government. Nothing at all. They have left the sector and its workers to fend for themselves.
I want to say to those at La Trobe University: I am so sorry that you are going through this. I see your anger and your anxiety, and I will keep fighting for your jobs, your livelihoods and your community. Honestly, if I was one of those hundreds of people who have already lost their jobs, I would be saying: 'Why doesn't my job matter? Why doesn't my livelihood matter? Why doesn't my family matter? Why doesn't my community matter? And why don't I rate the sort of help that everybody else is getting from this government?'
These job losses will have a terrible impact on Melbourne's northern suburbs, and in regional cities like Bendigo, where La Trobe is a key employer. The flow-on effect of large-scale job losses will be huge. Think of the small businesses that are supported by having a university nearby: landlords who house university students and workers; cafes, bars and restaurants who are filled by La Trobe workers and students. You must wonder how a government, who so recently were touting innovation as the path ahead for Australia, and who were more than happy to see international education support Australia's economic growth for the past decade, could stomach the loss of tens of thousands of jobs.
Education, including universities, is Australia's third-biggest export industry. What is the government thinking to risk an industry that size? Universities and the industries that surround them are the source of 260,000 full-time jobs. What university workers are telling me is that this government likes to portray them as out of touch, as elitist and even as overpaid. I can tell this government that when you attack university workers, you attack workers in one of the most casualised and vulnerable industries in the country. You're attacking people who often have to fight for secure workplace arrangements, who all too often are struggling to get enough hours to cover their bills and who often have to pick up additional work to make ends meet. And when you attack a university like La Trobe, you attack the rural and regional communities that some on that side of the House have claimed are the heart and soul of their voter base.
Universities support 14,000 jobs in regional Australia, all at risk due to incompetence and government inaction—and I haven't even touched on the educational impacts of these decisions. With fewer staff at our universities, we will undoubtedly see reductions in the quality of teaching and learning outcomes. We'll see fewer courses offered at campuses and we'll see fewer students able to take up places at universities, and this will absolutely have an impact on a greater proportion of regional and rural students. I say this to the government: take a long, hard look at your decisions here and think of the far-reaching consequences they will have. Think of the tens of thousands of people you will put out of work and the communities you will destabilise. Think of the educational outcomes you will diminish and the research outputs you will destroy. And think of the staff and families who will go along with that. You can fix that. Do it now.
It's estimated that, due to COVID-19, university sector revenue in Australia will be down between $3.1 billion and $4.8 billion this year, and $16 billion over the next four years. In my home state of South Australia, the University of Adelaide is estimating a $250 million budget shortfall over the next two years; the University of South Australia, $120 million; and Flinders University, down $54 million in this year alone. We simply cannot pretend that this won't have a significant impact on the quality of the tertiary education of our young people, or on our local economies. And to put this economic impact into perspective, 650 Australian businesses earn more than $50,000 of their annual revenue as a supplier or contractor to Flinders University alone. Imagine the economic impact on every business and contractor providing products and services to universities across Australia as a result of drastic cost-cutting measures being implemented across the industry to ensure the ongoing survival of universities.
Much has been said in the media about universities relying on revenue raised from international students; however, as the system stands now, there is no incentive for Australian universities to take on more domestic students. In the 2017-18 year, the federal government imposed caps on funding of domestic students, creating an upper ceiling on domestic student intake. The funding system is based on the number of domestic students who were enrolled in university education several years ago, but times have changed and we must look at this outdated cap system.
Since first being elected in 2016, I've been passionately advocating for more tertiary educational opportunities for young people from the regions like my electorate of Mayo. Roughly 22 per cent of South Australians live in the regions, yet regional students only account for 16 per cent of domestic students enrolling in South Australian universities, meaning our regions are underrepresented at university. Lifting the cap on regional student intake would give universities a much-needed revenue boost during such difficult financial times and create a more equitable representation of the regions at university. A lifting of the cap on Commonwealth university places for domestic students in rural, regional and remote areas would help to ensure the regions continue to have the skilled professional workforce they need to continue to drive local industries, such as agriculture. Those kids are the ones most likely to go back and live in regional Australia, whether they be doctors, whether they be nurses or whether they take their ag skills back home.
As a means of supporting Australia's universities further, stimulating the construction industry and creating much-needed jobs, I would also encourage the government to look at providing universities with low-interest loans for capital infrastructure projects. I know, for instance, Flinders University has budgeted to invest around $80 million this year in their capital works asset renewal and maintenance of infrastructure. However, due to COVID-19, and the resulting impact on the sector, Flinders has no option but to defer around half of this year's investment indefinitely, with a similar deferral each year until at least 2023, by which time $115 million would have been cut from capital spending in the local economy. Think about how many jobs that $115 million would equate to. Charles Darwin University recently received a $150 million concessional rate loan from the federal government's Northern Australia Infrastructure Fund. South Australian universities have no access to such a fund, and yet the need is well and truly there. Minister Tehan recently announced a rollout of short online courses in order to help Australians upskill or retrain at heavily discounted rates. I congratulate the minister on such an initiative, as it offers universities a flexible avenue to generate alternative revenue streams while at the same time providing options for Australians who may have found themselves jobless due to COVID. However, I would ask the government to consider expanding the initiative to more available places for a longer period of time. Universities will be suffering financially from COVID for at least the next four years. We know our whole economy will. We need to ensure that some form of government support is there in that period in between.
Australia is a nation that's able to boast world-class universities. In fact, 15 of our Australian universities make the top 200 of world university rankings. It is imperative that we offer our universities the financial support they so desperately need in order to ensure we remain world-class players in university education and to further educational opportunities for young people. Particularly, young people from regional Australia must be a priority of the government.
It is shameful that during this COVID-19 crisis the government has deliberately ignored the plight of our universities. Universities employ 250,000 people, including tens of thousands in regional areas. They educate 40 per cent more domestic students than they did in 2008, with very little additional funding. Education is our fourth-biggest export earner, with around $26 billion earned by universities out of $37 billion earned by all education. Forty-three per cent of all applied R&D in Australia is done in universities. In a post-COVID world we will need our research more than ever to make the scientific breakthroughs and build a stronger economy. The massive decline in international students will cost universities up to $4 billion this year and around $16 billion up to 2023. My own regional area of Corangamite, home to Deakin University, has been hit hard by the crisis, with Deakin announcing they will shed 400 jobs. About 22 per cent of their students were international until COVID. Like most other universities, Deakin has ignored the deal made between the Tertiary Education Union and Universities Australia to save jobs through wage cuts and freezes. A big shout-out to the NTEU for its sense of responsibility and leadership in a crisis, something this government could do well to emulate in higher education.
These are important jobs and real people. I have over 1,200 Deakin University staff living in my electorate, and I will continue to fight for you. It isn't just the direct workers that matter. Many people have bought investment properties to house the 440,000 international students who attend our universities. Many businesses rely on students as workers and to shop locally.
So where is the government's helping hand on this? Nowhere. The government's total disregard for universities isn't new and it shouldn't surprise us. The government has pushed universities to build their international student base. Their success means that international students are funding an increased share of university budgets. The coalition has let this increase in fees—over $7 billion last year—hide their own lacklustre contribution to both education and teaching of Australian students. Commonwealth funding for university R&D was around $3.1 billion in 2008. It was only $3.6 billion a decade later. The universities' own contribution has almost doubled from $3.6 billion to $6.8 billion over the same period. Around $1.8 billion in research funding is at risk this year alone as a result of the COVID crisis, and over $3 billion a year in the medium-term. Chief Scientist Alan Finkel estimates that this impacts around 7,000 research jobs. It's a disaster.
General Commonwealth contributions to higher education have stagnated in real terms. The figures show a real-price contribution of around $9.1 billion in 2009 and an estimated $9.4 billion in 2019. A key reason is that the coalition froze the Commonwealth Grants Scheme for domestic student places in 2018 and 2019. For this year, a share of the CGS payments is tied to a performance based system. Increases in that performance component are tied to the growth in the 18-64 age group nationally—only 1.4 per cent at most. That won't cover increased costs, let alone the increased demand that will come from the Costello baby bonus kids coming of age in the next seven years.
And then along came the coronavirus, which has knocked the stuffing out of the international student market. And given this government's inept handling of the China relationship, it seems now probable that this fall in students will be longer and more pronounced than we imagined four months ago.
This coalition government has done nothing to help, apart from guaranteeing CGS funding through to the end of the year and some money for short courses. There is not even a guarantee to maintain the Commonwealth funding for the next year. They've excluded universities from JobKeeper, even altering guidelines when it looked like La Trobe University had found a loophole. So a casual tutor with a young family has to go on Jobseeker. Meanwhile, her student earning $400 a week at a pub is entitled to $750 a week on JobKeeper. Go figure!
Last week the coalition launched yet another flawed rescue package, this time for private residential construction. Yet they remain silent about the plight of one of Australia's biggest and most important industries. It is disgraceful, and they should fix it now.
There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting.
I move:
That this House:
(1) acknowledges that Headspace was established by the Howard Government in 2006;
(2) notes that:
(a) there are currently 113 Headspace services operating nationally, including 54 services located in rural and regional Australia; and
(b) in 2018-19, the Government provided $95.7 million to commission Headspace services in rural areas;
(3) further acknowledges that in the 2019-20 Budget, the Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan was outlined with funding of $509 million; and
(4) congratulates the Government for announcing a further $64 million to provide suicide prevention and mental health initiatives.
More than 75 per cent of mental health issues develop before the age of 25. However, many traditional services aren't equipped to address the unique barriers that young people face in accessing mental health support. Headspace began in 2006 to address this critical gap by providing tailored and holistic mental health support for 12- to 25-year-olds. We know that youth mental health is especially important and that early intervention is the key to minimising lifelong impact. Most ongoing health conditions begin before the age of 25, and there are also many life pressures for young people as they make the transition to adulthood. Today, more than ever, these formative years can be confusing and difficult, and many young people find it hard to cope. Though mental health challenges do not always progress to suicidal thoughts or suicide, Tasmania has one of the highest rates of youth suicide in the country. That is something that so many in our community across public, private and community sectors are working hard to address.
In northern Tasmania, headspace in Launceston has been a constant and extremely necessary service since it opened its doors. I am a long-time advocate for increased mental health services for our region, and I'm proud of the government's record in supporting this much-needed service. With a focus on early intervention, headspace works with young people to provide health care and advice at a crucial time in their lives to help get them back on track and to build resilience for the future. At the heart of headspace centres is ensuring that young people can access expert health workers in a safe, confidential and youth-friendly environment.
Like all headspace centres across the country, my local headspace offers young northern Tasmanians support for mental health, with clinical professionals that provide support and treatment plans for a variety of mental health concerns, physical and sexual health. Many centres have on-site GPs who provide judgement-free medical advice and treatment. Headspace has alcohol and drug counsellors who work to address the complexities of alcohol and drug issues. Counsellors and vocational workers are also available to assist with a range of life skills such as managing workloads, dealing with stress, preparing job applications and career planning. Many of these services are funded via Medicare. In addition, headspace also offers eheadspace services; work and study programs; and headspace schools, a national workforce that supports, engages, and partners with education and health sectors across Australia to build mental health literacy.
Over the last decade, the federal government has provided significant funding for headspace Launceston to assist with the facilities and staff needed to meet the ever-increasing demand for mental health services. I appreciate the government's willingness to listen to the needs on the ground in my electorate and to respond accordingly. Just last year, we committed $630,000 to headspace Launceston to meet that growing demand from young people through the provision of extra clinical services such as structured psychological interventions, group interventions, family counselling and clinics. Specifically, the funding allowed for an additional clinical psychologist and a project officer—much-needed roles within the organisation. Just yesterday, Minister Hunt and Minister Colbeck announced that headspace Launceston will receive $1.567 million to undertake major refurbishments and expansion of the current site. This will create five additional consulting rooms, two family rooms, a group room, a lift for improved access to the second floor, increased group therapy and brief intervention clinic services, as well as extra student and GP registrar places.
From my regular discussions with headspace, I know this funding is needed more than ever. Between 1 April last year and 31 May this year, headspace Launceston provided services for over 1,100 young Tasmanians. For 485 of these visitors, it was their first time engaging with the organisation. As mentioned previously, the demand for services is ever-increasing, and I understand the pre-COVID wait times were lengthy. While there has been a drop, headspace Launceston is predicting its waitlist will increase again. I am committed to working with them and our government to continue to provide the funding needed to ensure our young people have access to the support that they need.
Is the motion seconded?
The motion is seconded. You can't talk about headspace and its role without considering the impact of COVID-19 on young people. I speak for an electorate where we already had high levels of anxiety which are disproportionate to the average levels in Western Sydney. We have young people already in pain, and that was before bushfires. Now we have COVID.
Now we have youth unemployment unlike anything we have seen, and we are likely to see more. For those aged 15 to 25, unemployment rose 13.8 per cent in the last statistics, up from 11.5 per cent. The figure is more than double that of national unemployment, which was at 6.2. Those figures don't take into account the hundreds of thousands of people who've given up on looking for work and therefore aren't included in the unemployment figures. Of course, that's the case in the Blue Mountains and the Hawkesbury, where small businesses were ravaged by fire. Whether it was their business or their property, there were impacts that have led to fewer jobs in small businesses already prior to COVID. These new figures demonstrate that young people are disproportionately affected by COVID restrictions, with many working in sectors like hospitality and tourism, which have been completely shut down. That would be the economy of the Blue Mountains and some of the Hawkesbury.
The figures also come as young people are experiencing, even without all these things, working conditions that are so precarious that society seems to deem them a rite of passage, like insecure hours that simply don't cover living expenses. So they're finding themselves at or below the poverty line, and possibly in a debt trap. We know that job losses and financial hardship generally hit young casual workers hardest during an economic downturn, and that is certainly what we're seeing. According to the Grattan Institute, 15- to 19-year-olds are most likely to lose their job in the shutdowns of non-essential services, and 20- to 29-year-olds are in the category next most likely to be affected. Three of the six industries that have had reduced staff hours most due to COVID are hospitality, retail, and the arts and recreation. Again that expands the economic impact on places like the Blue Mountains. You're looking at a region that relies very heavily on international visitors, as do the mountainous sections of the Hawkesbury. While those international borders are closed, we know we can't recover. We can't return to normal until that happens.
For all those reasons, we can't talk about mental health without talking about the realities of unemployment. Countless young Australians are falling through the welfare cracks, and I've had many students contact me, like Laura from Springwood, who has fallen through the eligibility criteria for jobseeker and JobKeeper. Like Laura, young people are more likely to work casually so that they can maintain study commitments. More than one-quarter of these young workers have been with their current employer less than 12 months, which makes them ineligible for the federal government's JobKeeper payment. For Laura, it was even more galling. She'd just negotiated to move to part-time, but she just missed out on doing that. So this negatively impacts their financial situation and reduces their chances of being able to return to work soon. It also increases the risk of depression, anxiety, and suicide. That's where headspace will hopefully come in in the Blue Mountains.
When you add to all of these conditions the bushfires, you probably start to understand my eagerness to see the first headspace in my electorate open—now, hopefully, in July. Parramatta Mission, working with Wentworth Healthcare, will lead the establishment of it in Katoomba—a satellite site; not a full-service site. Even when I made the commitment of a full-service headspace for the Mountains over a year ago, I didn't imagine coronavirus and the social and economic impact that it would have, so I think we all need to be mindful that, given this is just a satellite headspace, demand may well outstrip supply in coming months and we need to watch that very closely. I appreciate that the headspace team, whom I've had very good discussions with, have worked closely with existing youth mental health and youth support services, but the links between mental health services, training and job opportunities will be more important than ever for our region. This headspace could be a lifesaver for our young Upper Blue Mountains people. The question has to be asked: why isn't there one in the Hawkesbury?
I'm sure all in this place can agree on the importance and need to ensure that capacity for mental health services is there to assist the young people in our community who are struggling with that. I speak on this from a firsthand basis, seeing the effect of poor mental health on my nieces and nephews. We know that it is critical for their personal wellbeing—and, as I said, I've seen that firsthand—and we see the effects on their education, their employment, their relationships, their families and even their physical health. That is why, going back to 2006, the Howard government first established headspace, and it's why this government is investing even more in mental health and, importantly, headspace services, right across Australia.
I'm pleased to say that, locally, we're delivering over $1.6 million to establish a new headspace service in Upper Coomera, which is set to open in July this year. This was a commitment that I made to the people of Forde during the 2019 election after speaking with many young people and families who call the northern Gold Coast home. This region is one of the fastest-growing communities in Australia, and I know this new headspace service will be a welcome addition to the area. The new centre will be a one-stop shop for young people who need help with mental health, physical health, alcohol and other drug addictions, and work or study support.
This addition to the national headspace network comes at a critical junction in our nation's history as we respond to and recover from the coronavirus pandemic. The disruption caused and the increasing isolation felt by many have, no doubt, led to more Australians requiring mental health support. I'd like to share the experience of an existing local headspace in my electorate, at Meadowbrook, and how they have continued to support young people in Forde during this challenging time. Headspace Meadowbrook has supported over 700 young people and provided over 1,600 occasions of service since the beginning of March. This represents a 10 per cent increase in the number of young people accessing services and a five per cent increase in occasions of service over the same period last year. While they've seen an increasing number of walk-ins or young people with complex issues coming in without a prearranged appointment, the main presentation at their service in recent months has been anxiety which has been compounded by the impact of coronavirus on their lives.
Fortunately, headspace services were able to continue online as young people moved from face-to-face services to telehealth appointments, which have been well-received by the community. Johanna, the operations manager at headspace Meadowbrook told me that the new MBS telehealth codes have enabled headspace to continue to provide a safe service for their staff and young people during what has been a difficult time for everyone. In fact, moving to telehealth has actually resulted in increased attendance, especially for the young people who previously might have had difficulties in getting to the centre for face-to-face appointments.
This is why we're building more headspace services across Australia. We're investing some $375 million to strengthen the headspace network and establish an additional 30 new services across the country to bring services closer to those who need them most. We're also delivering more funding to expand and extend the very successful programs that support young people to overcome their mental health challenges—programs like the individual placement and support trial and the Youth Early Psychosis Program at headspace Meadowbrook. We're delivering over $2.2 million to deliver these early-intervention programs that are critical to ending the systemic welfare dependency issues in my electorate of Forde that result from the mental health issues that many, sadly, face. Again, we do this because we want these young people to be healthy and be engaged in education and employment. That will enable them to be the best that they can be, lead the best lives they can lead and be positive contributors to our community, which I know they can be.
I want to thank all of the wonderful counsellors, psychologists, social workers and many others in the sector for the amazing support they provide to the youth in Forde. Your work now is more important than ever. Thank you.
Youth mental health and suicide are critically important to all of us. They're not partisan issues. Every life lost to suicide is a tragedy for the person who dies and for all who loved that person. Suicide reverberates over years and a lifetime. The motion talks to the money allocated, which is well and good, but it's not the point; it's the outcomes that matter. The fact is that, despite more than a decade of focus, youth suicide rates in Australia are still rising. The outcome that really matters is going in the wrong direction. In the decade to 2018, Australian per-capita suicide rates for people aged nought to 24 years have increased approximately 49 per cent, from 279 lives lost in 2009 to 458 lives lost in 2018.
The causes of suicide are complex, but, in considering what we should do as a society, there can be no sacred cows or practices that can't be challenged. In that spirit, I draw to the House's attention an important peer reviewed academic paper by Whitely, Raven and Jureidini, published this Monday. The paper finds that, over the same decade that suicide rates for young Australians have steadily increased, the prescribing rates of antidepressants for child adolescents and young adults have also increased, by 66 per cent. From 2008-09 to 2018-19, the proportion of Australians aged nought to 27 years using antidepressants grew from 2.9 per cent to 4.8 per cent. Especially concerning is the fact that not one antidepressant has been approved by the TGA for use by children in Australia to treat depression, yet in 2017-18 at least 101,000 Australian children—that is, 1.8 per cent of all Australian children—were dispensed an antidepressant. The overwhelming majority are prescribed by GPs, not by psychiatrists. All the while, youth suicide rates are rising.
As of 2015, the explosion in the prescribing of antidepressants has made Australians the second-highest users of antidepressants of any country, behind only Iceland. Correlation is not causation, but, with 10 years of data going in the wrong direction, we can't ignore this issue. The paper states:
These results do not support claims that increased antidepressant use reduces youth suicide risk. They are more consistent with the FDA warning and the hypothesis that antidepressant use increases the risk of suicide and self-harm by young people.
That is in aggregate, obviously. The FDA reference refers to the action by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2004 and 2007, when it controversially issued a 'black box' warning—its highest warning level—that antidepressants were associated with the increased risk of suicidal thoughts and behaviours in young people. The Australian TGA, though, is taking a far softer approach.
Raising this, saying this, is controversial. It seriously questions the whole of Australia's mental health establishment. People like Professors McGorry and Ian Hickie, and organisations like headspace, Beyond Blue, Suicide Prevention Australia and Orygen are no doubt good people and organisations genuinely striving to improve the situation, but they must never be beyond challenge or question. It is time to ask some confronting questions. Have Australia's leading suicide prevention organisations, experts and psychiatric thought leaders got it horribly wrong? Despite their good intentions, could the current prescribing epidemic have contributed to the avoidable deaths of young Australians?
I'm not an expert, and I don't pretend to know the right answers, but this peer-reviewed paper published this week should ring alarm bells. It contains numerous specific examples which raise serious concerns that the elite of Australia's mental health establishment have, for years, made up their minds that antidepressants reduce suicidality risks. They refuse to even discuss mounting evidence that challenges their longstanding view. I'm told that it's taboo to even talk about it in the sector. We cannot draw conclusions based on this new data, but the established wisdom must be re-examined by open minds through an inquiry that is not led or comprised solely by the current elite and vested interests. It's to his credit that the Prime Minister told his first meeting of his new cabinet in June last year that this government would be the curse-breakers of youth suicide. But rather than congratulating themselves for spending money, government MPs should focus our debates on why the rates of youth suicide are increasing.
In closing, I want to touch briefly on the fact that no antidepressants are approved for use to treat depression in children—of course, it's difficult to get ethical approval for clinical trials on children, so off-label prescribing is widespread—and appropriately so. I believe we need an urgent re-examination of the real-world evidence, which, in discussions with the experts, will require better systems to collect the relevant data. You can have a look over the last 10 years and effectively do something approximating a clinical trial in retrospect. Off-label prescribing is a much broader problem, which requires its own examination.
It's a pleasure to rise in the chamber today to talk about an issue that I'm personally passionate about, and that is the mental health of all Australians but particularly those in my electorate of Ryan. It could not be more important as we face the COVID-19 pandemic. One of the things I've done over the last couple of months is reach out to all the residents in my electorate of Ryan to talk to them about some of the services that are available if they are facing mental health challenges or if they just feel that sense of loneliness and anxiety that we all get from time to time, particularly at times like this. It is a great pleasure to support my good colleague the member for Bass on this excellent motion and to pay testament to the wonderful workers who work as part of the headspace staff. We know almost one in five Australians will face a mental health challenge every year. Youth mental health is particularly important. More than three-quarters of ongoing mental health conditions develop before the age of 25, so that is the period, between 18 and 25, when direct intervention is so, so important. Headspace fills that particular role. Established in 2006, under the Howard government, it addresses this critical period by supporting children, young people, aged 12 to 25, with their needs. There are currently over 114 headspace services operating nationally. They've supported more than 500,000 young Australians with, or at risk of, mild to moderate mental illness to help them strengthen their wellbeing and mental health.
The Morrison government is a strong supporter of this service, as I am. On 9 January 2019, the Minister for Health, Greg Hunt, announced an additional funding of $47 million for our headspace services nationally, including, importantly, $2 million over five years to deliver the young ambassadors for mental health program—young people reaching out to other young people and encouraging them to seek assistance if they need it. There's a $509 million youth mental health and suicide prevention plan outlined in the 2019-20 federal budget from this government, including $375 million for headspace and, importantly, $152 million to reduce wait times and enhance the quality of services at headspace sites. Some headspace centres are experiencing high demand and have long wait times for young people to access services, including in my own electorate—the service at Taringa has that wait time—and this incredibly important funding will help us reduce those wait times.
Headspace is well recognised and well respected as a support network around Australia and particularly in my electorate of Ryan, where we have a tremendously hardworking service located at Taringa. The Taringa headspace vision is to improve young people's mental, social and emotional wellbeing through the provision of high-quality integrated services and support that young people need, and every day they work their guts out to deliver that vision. Prior to COVID-19, I had the opportunity to visit the centre as they celebrated their fifth birthday, their fifth year in operation. Several past patients of the service told their stories, talked about their journeys from day one, the incredibly difficult act of reaching out and seeking help, what it felt like to be listened to by the headspace staff, and how their lives and their confidence changed because of the work and the interactions that they received at headspace. It was incredibly powerful to listen to.
Over the past five years, headspace Taringa in my electorate have supported over 3,415 young people. That's over 21,120 service visits, which is well above the national average for headspace centres. In fact, in the latest 12-month period alone, headspace Taringa supported more than 1,380 local young people—such is the terrific work that they're doing. That's 1,380 people who all share that story of reaching out, receiving help and having their lives changed by this one centre. They speak about the uncertainty they have in their lives and the anxiety of not knowing the future or the next step. It is something that we all experience from time to time. I'm so proud that the staff of headspace in my electorate are there to support young people locally.
At a time, with COVID-19, when we are facing so much uncertainty—more uncertainty than normal—it is more important than ever for young people who feel like they need that support and assistance to reach out. There are services available, particularly at headspace at Taringa. I would like to pay testament and tribute to, and thank, all of the workers at headspace Taringa for the wonderful work they do. Please keep it up. If you need support, please reach out.
I commend the government for its focus on mental health and suicide prevention. Appointing Dr Ruth Vine as Deputy Chief Medical Officer shows its dedication to tackling this condition that affects almost half of all Australians. 'Black summer' and now COVID-19 have seen rising levels of anxiety across the community. There is no better time to talk about mental health, and I thank the member for Bass for her motion today.
There are 54 headspaces across rural Australia, each providing a welcoming and safe place for 12- to 25-year-olds to access holistic support. The Albury Wodonga headspace opened in 2015 after a 10-month community campaign following the tragic suicide of several young people. Annette and Stuart Baker were among the leaders of the campaign. They lost their beautiful and much-loved daughter Mary after a long battle with an eating disorder—the mental illness with the highest mortality rate of all.
This groundswell of action continues to have a profound impact across my electorate. For the last seven years we've gathered on the winter solstice to shine a light on the darkest night and address the stigma of suicide. Thousands of people come together to share music, poems and speeches. It's always freezing cold in QEII Square in Albury—symbolic of the pain and grief of families and friends of those we have lost. It is a moving and collective response to this devastating illness. This year, we will gather online for the event, with speeches by Commissioner Shane Fitzsimmons and Lauren Jackson, and performances from Angie McMahon and the Northern Folk. I have the great honour of reciting a poem by Bruce Dawe. I thank the many sponsors for making this event possible, including Wodonga Senior Secondary College, Hume Bank, Smart Hospitality, EBA Hire and Kwik Kopy Albury.
The Winter Solstice came about after the suicide of a young woman suffering from an eating disorder. This heartbreaking and isolating condition is the one of the most difficult to treat, and in rural Australia we simply don't have the services and support to adequately respond. Meryl Wilcox, founder of the North East Eating Disorders Support Group, wrote to me yesterday to share the reality of those in our region. She wrote:
Ongoing challenges include access, affordability, equity, lack of trained health professionals, minimal services, no specialist care, and lack of outpatients or day programs. In our rural region, access to care is seriously low. Having to travel outside your home town is a significant barrier, and our nearest in-patient care is at minimum four hours away. This provides both suffers and carers with increased financial, emotional and social costs. Once discharged from in-patient care, the sufferer is left to return locally to an almost non-existent system, and then obligated to navigate recovery alone at such a vulnerable time and critical time. Invariably this often results in relapse.
With her lived knowledge of local needs, Meryl has called for the creation of a local eating disorder coordinator for day services and programs based locally and peer-mentoring services. These initiatives will increase access and support, and help individuals recover in their home environment. I strongly support them and call on the government to ensure access and equity for rural and regional sufferers of eating disorders.
Headspace is a fantastic initiative, but the waiting time to access services has been a serious concern. The waiting time after first seeking help is one of the most high-risk times for young people. Last year, 90 per cent of headspace centres reported major challenges in meeting demand for services, with the main reason being workforce availability of mental health clinicians, GPs and private practitioners. Rural health workforce shortage is a perennial issue which successive governments have failed to solve. We see the real consequences of this each and every day. What works is training local practitioners from local areas to live in and work for their community. Charles Sturt and La Trobe universities in my electorate have a health focus, but are facing an uncertain future. Losing them would be disastrous for our region.
I'm thrilled that Albury Wodonga headspace will share in the $24.2 million allocated to reduce these wait times. But if we don't have a workforce ready to meet the need, this well-intentioned funding might be needless. This need extends to places where headspace does not exist, including Myrtleford, where mental health services are provided to students at school. I call on the government to connect the dots and invest in a rural workforce and ensure that rural and regional Australians have the support to address and overcome mental health conditions and live full and healthy lives.
I rise to speak today on the motion put forward by the member for Bass regarding the government's expansion of the headspace network. The headspace network, established in 2006 by the Howard government, has continued to be a central component of the government's vision for youth mental health services. There are currently 114 headspace services nationally, including 54 headspace services located across regional Australia. Headspace centres act as a one-stop-shop for young people, providing mental health support as well as focused services for physical and sexual health, alcohol and other drugs, and work and study counsellors.
Last year, as the Liberal candidate for Reid, I had the pleasure of visiting our electorate's closest headspace service, in the suburb of Ashfield, in the inner west of Sydney, along with Prime Minister Scott Morrison and Mrs Morrison. There, in person, I witnessed the vision first established in 2006 now working in practice: a place that offers early intervention and support for young people in one of the most formative periods of their lives.
The Morrison government is the committed to expanding the network so that it can continue to reach young people across the nation. We've provided Primary Health Networks with $122.3 million of federal funding to commission headspace services within their regions.
Prior to entering parliament, I worked for many years as an educational and developmental psychologist and worked closely with young people and their families. During this time, I saw firsthand how improving the mental health of young people by giving them the tools, resources and support they need is essential to their future success and resilience. I often used to tell my clients, 'Life is not the absence of problems, but the ability to deal with problems, and so coping skills are very important to building resilience.'
I'm proud to be part of a government now that has made mental health a key priority, to bring this vision to fruition. In 2018, we committed $50.8 million to headspace to ensure its sustainability going into the future, and to help the headspace network support the demands for its services. More than three-quarters of ongoing mental health conditions begin before the age of 25; one in five Australians face a mental health challenge every year in Australia. It is very important that we prioritise a strategy of not only prevention but also early intervention to give young people the support they need to look after their mental health. The government's $509 million Youth Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan places the wellbeing of Australians front and centre. From this funding, new headspace sites will be expanded, focusing on regional and rural areas, and will bring the number of services nationally to 153 by 2022.
At the start of this year, the Australian government announced a further $64 million in suicide prevention and mental health initiatives directed to youth mental health and suicide prevention. One initiative is the headspace Schools Suicide Prevention Activities Program. This complements the important work being done through headspace, schools and the national workforce with education and health initiatives that also support partners across Australia to build mental health literacy. Their work covers a variety of initiatives, including education programs aimed at promoting and protecting positive mental health in youth, as well as provides support for schools to prepare for, respond to and recover together where there has been a death by suicide.
In order to reduce youth suicide, headspace also delivers face-to-face training and education sessions to staff, students, parents and carers to help schools support the mental health needs of young people and their families. Headspace work and study programs provide support for 15- to 25-year-olds to plan a career, find employment or work towards further education. From one-on-one support with a career specialist to linking in with industry specific mentors, the work and study programs provide free expert and tailored support for those looking beyond their studies.
I commend the Morrison government for its continual focus on evidence-based mental health policy, for creating expansive services that promote mental health literacy to young people. Early intervention and prevention are the keys to good mental health, and the headspace network is equipped now, more than ever, in delivering these services.
There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
I move:
That this House:
(1) notes that:
(a) charities are the most trusted sector in Australian public life; and
(b) the Government's failure to act on fundraising reform is costing Australian charities over $1 million every month;
(2) acknowledges that:
(a) Australia's current framework of fundraising regulation creates unnecessary problems for charities and organisations who rely on donations from Australian supporters;
(b) current fundraising laws no longer meet the objectives that guided the decision to regulate donations;
(c) current fundraising compliance regimes do not allow charities to cultivate donor activity and make optimal use of the resources donors provide;
(d) meeting the requirements of Australia's seven different fundraising regimes is causing needless productivity loss for thousands of Australian charities and not-for-profits;
(e) Australia's current frameworks for investigation and enforcement have failed to adapt to the contemporary fundraising environment;
(f) current fundraising laws do not meet the donor-focused expectations and requirements that should govern fundraising regulation in the 21st century; and
(g) the mechanisms that regulate third party fundraisers should ensure the culture of third party fundraisers matches community perceptions of their clients;
(3) recognises that:
(a) for several years, the charity and not-for-profit sector has been calling for reform of Australia's fundraising laws;
(b) Treasury's five year review of the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, delivered on 31 May 2018, identified fundraising law as the major reporting burden on charities and recommended that fundraising law be harmonised across the country;
(c) in February 2019, the Senate Select Committee into Charitable Fundraising in the 21st Century called on Parliament to harmonise fundraising law within two years;
(d) that inquiry, chaired by Labor Senator Catryna Bilyk, delivered a unanimous report, with its recommendations being supported by Greens Senator Rachel Siewert, Liberal Senators Eric Abetz and Amanda Stoker, former Labor Senator David Smith, and former United Australia Party Senator Brian Burston; and
(e) postponing fundraising reform has had significant costs to the charity and not-for profit sector, with the committee estimating that the annual cost to charities and their donors is around $15 million; and
(4) calls on the Government to:
(a) support Australian charities by ending unnecessary waste of their precious resources;
(b) support the generous Australian donors who donate money to our charities, by ensuring their donations are not needlessly eroded by redundant administrative and regulatory costs;
(c) work with state and territory governments and the not-for-profit sector to deliver a consistent national model for regulating not-for-profit and charitable fundraising activities before February 2021; and
(d) immediately provide a public response to the recommendations made in the review panel's report, Strengthening for Purpose: Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission Legislation Review, which was provided to the Government on 31 May 2018.
Australian charities are facing a perfect storm. Hundreds of thousands of workers could lose their jobs from the charities sector if something isn't done soon according to a new report from Social Ventures Australia and the Centre for Social Impact. It found that a 20 per cent fall in revenue for the sector would see as many as one in six charities at high risk of closing down, and a quarter of a million charity workers out of a job. We often forget the charity and not-for-profit sector accounts for one-tenth of the economy. A significant number of Australians are employed in the charity sector, and yet the charity sector has, at the same time as it has seen massively increased demand for its help, experienced a huge drop in donations and volunteers. Seventy-eight per cent of charities have reported a downturn in revenue, and a survey found that two-thirds of volunteers had been forced to cut back on their volunteering activities. Charities are the safety net for people who fall through the cracks, and yet the government's JobKeeper program will only assist one in 13 charities.
But there are other ways in which the government could help this most trusted sector. One of those is to reform Australia's outdated patchwork of fundraising laws. This is not a new issue. The Treasury's five-year review of the charities commission, delivered in mid-2018, identified fundraising law as a major reporting burden on charities, and recommended that fundraising be harmonised across the country. The government's failure to act on fundraising laws is costing Australian charities over $1 million a month. Charities are the most trusted sector of Australian public life, and yet our current framework of fundraising regulations requires charities to register with seven different fundraising regimes. It's a needless productivity drag on a sector which is more crucial than ever, because it's having to comply with fundraising laws that are barely fit for the 19th century, let alone the 20th.
The Senate committee looking into charity fundraising, ably chaired by Labor's Senator Catryna Bilyk, unanimously recommended the harmonisation of fundraising be done by February 2019. As I said, that was a unanimous report by not only Senator Bilyk but also Greens senator Rachel Siewert, Liberal senators Eric Abetz and Amanda Stoker, former Labor senator David Smith, and former United Australia Party senator Brian Burston. That report noted the huge cost of failing to act on fundraising, which it estimated to be around $15 million a year, and called on the federal government to lead a process working with states and territories to deliver a nationally consistent model for regulating fundraising activities before February 2021.
Charities have pointed to some of the specific problems. Nell Anderson from the Cova Project, an Australian charity that provides safe sanitary care to women in developing communities across Africa says that, due to the shift to online marketing and fundraising, the charity needs to obtain licences around Australia: 'We have only one employee, and it's a waste of her time and effort, and of precious money.' Paul Burke, Treasurer of the Whitsunday Suicide Prevention Network, says that the process of applying for charity registration is 'hopelessly out of date'. A charity worker who sells products with charity logos describes Australia's fundraising laws as 'an absolute nightmare'. Another charity says, 'As a charity registered nationally with the ACNC, in the digital era it is difficult to understand why a simple web page inviting online donations triggers a labyrinth of laws, many of which seem incredibly outdated.'
This motion was put on the Notice Paper last year—well ahead of coronavirus—and it called for the government to act by February 2021. But that is now, in my view, too late. The government should act much more speedily to reform Australia's fundraising laws. National Federation Reform Council meetings are now occurring fortnightly, so there is no reason why the issue cannot be taken up by the end of the financial year, with a clear directive to officials to begin work. A permanent solution could be in place before the Christmas giving season if appropriate priority were given to it now. It is the right time to help charities. If the government want to, as they put it, 'build back better' then this is a zero-cost way of removing the biggest administrative burden on the sector and helping Australia's charities and the millions of Australians who are helped by them.
Is the motion seconded?
The motion is seconded, and I reserve my right to speak.
Charities are an outward demonstration of the compassion in a society. No-one wants to rely on the charity of others, but when times get tough it is wonderful to know that there are selfless people out there offering a hand to those in need. And there have recently been more and more people who need that hand. The COVID pandemic has been accompanied by an economic downturn the like of which we haven't seen for over a decade. Indeed, judging by some of the metrics we are in an economic malaise worse than any since the Great Depression. As the queues snaked around the block outside Centrelink offices back in March, the number of people dependent not only on the government but on their family, neighbours and friends rose too.
With this need came the generosity of Australians to meet it. I have been fortunate to see this generosity personally. Early on in the health crisis, Parramatta Women's Shelter reached out to ask if they could use our offices as a drop-off point for food donations. I was more than happy to offer this, and over the past two months I've been absolutely astounded by the size and number of donations we've received from generous locals. When times get tough, it is abundantly clear that Australians don't leave people behind.
In Bennelong, we're so lucky to have a large number of wonderful charities that offer services and empathy across our community. They are doing extraordinary work but are stretched to their limit right now. As they have said to me, any new person they have to help is in addition to those they are already helping. The pie needs to be cut more finely, but the pie does not necessarily get bigger. That is why the government has needed to step up and help the sector, with fantastic news in the recent announcement of an additional $200 million as part of a new community support package to help vulnerable Australians who have been impacted by coronavirus. Bennelong has been fortunate enough to share in total additional funding of $959,000 over this year to support the work of these and other community organisations. The government is working closely with these groups, providing them with the additional support and finance they require to support our most vulnerable. Our excellent charities—including Christian Community Aid; North Ride Community Aid; and CatholicCare, Diocese of Broken Bay—are all receiving their share of this increase and using it to continue their wonderful work helping those who need it most.
I've also heard from Stryder, our wonderful local mobility volunteers, who are a critical service for sectors of the community that would otherwise not have the ability to get around. They have received word of a successful application for a 2020 Commonwealth volunteer grant. This will allow them to add to the generosity of their donors and, hopefully, grow their volunteer base. I'm looking forward to visiting these guys as soon as the COVID virus allows.
We really can't thank our local charities enough at this time. The work effort, dedication and resourcefulness that they have put into our communities are beyond what we could ever comprehend. Their successes are testament to the thousands of regular people in our community who are giving their time and care to those who desperately need help. We have strong communities that rally together in the face of an uncertain and dangerous future. It is because of our community spirit that we will endure this crisis and come out stronger on the other side. I often claim that Bennelong is the capital of innovation. We're also in the running for top orders for generosity and kindness.
I'm very pleased to join the member for Fenner in his motion calling for more support for our not-for-profit and charity sector. In Australia we are so fortunate to have people who don't just think for themselves but act for others. Our not-for-profit and charity sector is a great source of pride. In many cases we wish we didn't need its work, but in so many ways I know that I, as a member of parliament, and many colleagues on all sides are inspired by the efforts of ordinary Australians going above and beyond, and a bit later I will share some of the experiences in my electorate.
I also want to note that before the last election I joined the member for Fenner just outside my electorate at the local organisation SANE—they do wonderful work supporting people, especially around mental health—for an announcement of all the different things we would be doing to support charities and not-for-profits. While we didn't get everything right at the last election, I think that policy was one thing that would have made a significant difference in the lives of people. It was a great day. Sadly, we didn't get to implement some of those things—alas!—but we continue working.
This sector is one that needs support, and never more than over the last few months in Australia. As the member for Fenner rightly pointed out, while demand has increased, support has decreased at a rapid rate. I think the best example I can think of locally is the outstanding Australian organisation OzHarvest. I was very pleased to have a conversation with its founder, Ronni Kahn, a few weeks ago, on one of the many webinar experiences that we all have been doing. She spoke about the need for food and the need for food for Australians, because many people are doing it tough and OzHarvest has never been needed more in Australia. Thankfully there had been support from some of the major supermarkets, but demand had never been higher. Unfortunately, people don't have as much to give right now, so every little bit that we can be doing in this place to support not-for-profits and charities to reduce their administrative burden and to reduce their own financial burden is absolutely crucial. It means more people get fed, it means more people get supported and it means more and more organisations like OzHarvest are able to do the things that they do best, which is support Australians.
There are other local organisations that I wanted to take note of. The first one is one that holds dear to my heart, which is the Father Bob Maguire Foundation, which is a foundation that literally looks after those people who don't have a voice and looks after the people who are forgotten. Bob is in his 80s at the moment, but he is still firing on all cylinders. He is still working tirelessly to support people in public housing in all different parts, vulnerable parts, of the community, and he does an outstanding job. We should be supporting organisations like Father Bob foundation to make sure that their administrative burden is reduced as much as possible.
I also want to note that the assistant minister for homelessness and housing came out and met with Father Bob before the coronavirus, and I was pleased to join him on that day. I would like the next visit to come with an announcement of support for the Father Bob foundation. I'd be, once again, pleased to stand with the assistant minister if he were to join me.
Of course there are so many other organisations that I could point to. Little Dreamers is one that blows my mind every time I speak to Maddy Buchner, who is the CEO. She is an absolute force and a leader to be reckoned with in the future. She is younger than me but she is far more impressive. She has created a whole organisation supporting carers of people—siblings who care for their sibling. It provides a whole range of support networks and support programs for people who are doing caring, unpaid caring and people who are often forgotten in this industry. She is just brilliant. I know that she is speaking to many people across all forms of government at the moment to try and secure her future. I wish her well and wish her our full support in the future of Little Dreamers.
This motion is a really important motion. It's a motion that says the government needs to act on the Senate committee's report and on their own review into the Charities Act. This is outdated legislation. For the party who likes to brag about reducing red tape, this is a great place to start. This is a great place to start, by supporting people who do incredible work supporting Australians. I wish there wasn't as much demand, but now is the time to be supporting our not-for-profit and charity sector.
I rise today to speak on the important role played by charities in Australia's economy and society, and to speak on the government's work to support the charities sector and enact reforms recommended by the Australian Charities and Not-for-profits Commission, ACNC. I agree with Dr Leigh's first point, that the charity sector is one of the most trusted in Australian public life. However, I don't agree that the government has failed to act on fundraising reform. Since the government tabled in parliament the ACNC review panel's report in August 2018, the Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters, Senator Zed Seselja, has consulted extensively with the charities sector, the community and with the state and territory ministers to understand the views on the review panel's recommendations. Thanks to Senator Seselja's hard work in this space, in March this year the government delivered its response to the ACNC review with three themes in mind: reducing red tape, increasing transparency and having an effective regulator.
I have been involved in the charities sector for over 14 years myself, through the development of a not-for-profit to support young mothers into education and employment. Through my experience, I have found that the chief role of government is to provide an effective framework within which charities can freely operate. This framework should support the work done by charities, not dictate to them. Of course, regulation and accountability are also key components of the government's role. The government's response to the review shows that we are committed to a regulatory regime for charities that fosters a vibrant and innovative sector. By reducing red tape, we will ensure charities are able to focus on serving their community, not simply ticking boxes. And all the charities that I speak to in Mallee confirm this objective.
The government is ensuring the ACNC can continue its important role as a regulator for the industry. The ACNC has become a highly regarded institution and is an integral component of the framework that allows charities to flourish while providing transparency and trust in the sector. The ACNC is also working with the states and territories to remove the duplication of reporting obligations, including the harmonisation of fundraising regulation so registered charities that report to the ACNC no longer report to the states.
Finally, the government is focused on strengthening trust and confidence in the charities sector to ensure public faith in these institutions is maintained. The government's response to the review into the charities sector gets the balance right between reducing red tape for charities while ensuring Australians can trust the sector they so generously support. With these reforms, the 57,000 charities across Australia, including many in Mallee, can focus on helping those in need, and Australians can continue to give generously of their time and money with confidence.
The charities sector has not been immune to the health and economic impacts of COVID-19, which is why the government has extended unparalleled support for the sector during this time. Charities have been able to access the jobkeeper payment through a test more generous than that offered to any other sector. The 15-per-cent-turnover decline test and the option to exclude government revenue from their calculations to access jobkeeper was a response to urgent calls from the sector to which the government promptly responded. This measure supports charities like the Salvation Army and the Catholic Social Services as well as local charities across Australia that are expected to have a significant increase in demand for their services during this pandemic. Charities are also able to access the boosting cash flow for employers program, providing a minimum payment of $20,000 to eligible employers. The charities sector employs over 1.3 million Australians, and many businesses in the country will benefit from this stimulus.
The government has also announced the $200 million Community Support Package to assist programs delivered by charities during COVID-19, including emergency and food relief and financial literacy services. This package includes a $100 million funding injection to more than 300 charities and community organisations to conduct these activities and support Australians in the wake of the coronavirus economic turndown.
The government is actively supporting the charities sector through our response to the ACNC legislation review and via immediate and direct funding support in light of the COVID-19 pandemic. I would like to thank the Assistant Minister for Finance, Charities and Electoral Matters, Senator Zed Seselja, for his outstanding work, and offer—(Time expired)
Charities and not-for-profit organisations are the bedrock of our communities, especially in my electorate of Mayo, where we have one of the highest rates of volunteering in the country. However, the government has dragged its feet on proceeding with reforms that would remove a range of unnecessary obstacles facing charities, some of which are particularly urgent in the intensely online world of COVID-19.
I have two particular concerns regarding the regulation of charities that I believe need urgent attention. My first concern relates to the process by which charities receive their tax-deductibility status, known in the jargon as deductible gift recipient, DGR, status. It is best illustrated in two brief stories. I have an NGO in my electorate which does excellent work and clearly fits the environmental DGR category. They put in their application and did everything right, and then they waited. And followed up. And then they waited. And then they followed up again. And then waited. After more than 16 months of frustration, they got in touch with my office. My office contacted the relevant branch of the environment department, who were required to undertake an initial assessment. They proclaimed that the application had been sent to Treasury many months ago, and the hold-up was Treasury. My office then called Treasury the next day, only to learn that the application had been received the day before. About 40 phone calls later to both Treasury and the Assistant Treasurer's office, the application was finally approved. The organisation was perfectly eligible. There were no complications in the paperwork. It shouldn't be this hard.
I have another organisation in my electorate that provides veterinary services during emergencies such as bushfires. They applied for DGR status but were told by the unit in Treasury that they did not fit any category. They were then actively encouraged to withdraw their application, which means that they would not need to be considered anymore. The NGO representative said that they would consider it, only to find that their application was then closed off. When the summer bushfires hit and badly damaged my electorate, the organisation was still struggling with the bureaucrats to get their application considered. Thankfully, the Assistant Treasurer's office was able to help my office use the emergency to get their application over the line. It was considered to be an animal welfare charity, which should surprise absolutely no-one.
The DGR system is clunky. These two stories are just a couple that I'm sure are felt in 151 electorates across Australia. This shows the need we have for reform. In particular, the specific list process is woefully ill-equipped to deliver outcomes. Yet, in response to my question in writing on the matter, the government said they had 'no current plans to review the DGR specific listing process'. That is, I believe, simply unbelievable and unacceptable.
The second issue of concern I wish to raise is the lack of transparency in the remuneration of executive management in large charities. Having worked in the sector, I'm deeply concerned that some charities have executive pay cheques in the many hundreds of thousands of dollars, with bonuses, but with no meaningful accountability. They don't need to put it on their annual return. They can stack boards with their mates and put themselves on wages in excess of the Prime Minister's. Donors deserve transparency around where their donations are going and whether their altruism is being cannibalised by top-heavy executive pay packets.
Recommendation 15 of the legislative review found that large registered entities should be required to disclose the remuneration paid to responsible persons and senior executives on an aggregated basis. I was pleased to see that the government has agreed to implement this recommendation, and I strongly urge them to proceed with this reform as soon as possible. It is issues such as this that are making many people in our community concerned about giving their hard-earned money to charities. We need people to continue giving in our nation in order for us to get through the crisis of COVID and bushfires and support our community generally.
Australians are a generous people. The most recent Giving Australia survey found that an estimated 14.9 million Australian adults—that's around 80 per cent of Australian adults—give around $12.5 billion to charities and not-for-profit organisations each financial year. I saw this generosity firsthand in my electorate of Indi this past summer as the bushfires ripped through and devastated communities, property, livestock and wildlife. Within a matter of weeks over $500 million was raised to help support the volunteers fighting the fires as well as provide emergency relief and recovery assistance to the communities reeling from the impacts of those fires. Another story emerged as well during that time around the efficacy of the management and distribution of those moneys.
Charities and fundraising drives of all shapes and sizes were inundated with generous donations from large multinational aid organisations like the Red Cross to online platforms like GoFundMe, regional organisations like the Country Fire Authority of Victoria and local operations and organisations operating out of our region, like the Into Our Hands Community Foundation. Each of these organisations had bona fide objectives: to do the best they could with the resources they had to assist the community in need during an emergency. But as the weeks unfolded questions were raised across Australia and, indeed, internationally, about how well this charitable giving was coordinated and whether the system governing charities in Australia was getting in the way of an effective response. Many expressed frustration at large sums of charitable donations destined for bushfire affected communities sitting in the trust accounts of large organisations, waiting for sign-off to be deployed. Others welcomed non-charitable methods of raising funds that could be injected into communities and households overnight, such as crowdfunding campaigns on social media, but they were wary of the lack of oversight and exposure to abuse.
In the moment, it was difficult for even the most well intentioned to know how best to help. We all remember the amazing work of comedian Celeste Barber and the raising of $51 million in charitable donations for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service, which the New South Wales Supreme Court later found could not be legally redirected to other bushfire relief charities or for other purposes even if the New South Wales Rural Fire Service wanted to, because of its governing trust deed. Just yesterday, the ABC reported that, of the $282 million donated to the Red Cross, the Salvation Army and St Vincent de Paul, $135 million is yet to be spent.
Now there are often good reasons for this. Bushfire recovery is not a one-week thing; it lasts for many years. It makes sense to keep some money in the bank to finance recovery needs a year or two down the track, once the spotlight has gone. But many members of the public are wondering where their donations have gone and how they're being spent, especially when there is still so much need out there. Part of this is also anger at the slowness of government's response. When people look at their situation now, six months on from the fires, it's fair enough to direct that frustration at the general powers that be. It's heartbreaking to hear people say that after this bushfire season they will never donate to bushfire recovery again. Australians, as I said at the beginning, are generous people, but they don't like to feel like the wool's being pulled over their eyes. I don't believe for a second that it is, but clearly we must do more to ensure there is transparency about how the money we donate to bushfires will be spent.
This is not about bashing the charities. The Red Cross, the Salvos, Vinnies and many smaller charities are often the first people on the ground in the wake of a disaster. I've met so many of them. They're outstanding. They've committed to being around for years to come. But the many letters I receive indicate there is a gap between community expectations and the way donations are delivered on the ground. There are many things we can learn from this bushfire season, and re-imagining how charities work is one of them.
The motion raised by the member for Fenner notes that current fundraising laws and governance regimes do not allow charities to make optimal use of the resources donors provide. The current rules are from a time gone by and not nimble enough to respond to real community needs. I'd like to echo these concerns, and I will support any push in this place to support charities and the work they set out to do. Australians have an immense spirit of giving, and we should do what we can to cultivate that to ensure that these generous everyday Australians feel confident and have the trust to give again when inevitably we need to call on them in the future.
There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
I move:
That this House:
(1) recognises the importance of the Country Women's Association (CWA) in the lives of rural and regional towns across Australia;
(2) notes that the mission statement of the CWA is 'to advance the rights and equity of women, families and communities in Australia through advocacy and empowerment, especially for those living in regional, rural and remote Australia';
(3) acknowledges the:
(a) CWA has over 44,000 members in 1855 branches across Australia; and
(b) vision of the founder of the CWA, Ruth Fairfax OBE; and
(4) congratulates the CWA on almost a centenary of service to rural and regional Australia.
Ruth Beatrice Fairfax was born in October 1878 at Lue, near Rylstone, New South Wales. On 2 February 1899 she married John Hubert Fraser Fairfax, with whom she had one child. In 1922 she was elected president of the newly established Queensland Country Women's Association, and she spent the subsequent six months touring the Queensland outback, establishing branches of the Country Women's Association. Ruth was a principled woman and lived her life by the code that now guides all branches of the Country Women's Association. Ruth led by example and opened her property for fetes, pageants, meetings and entertainment for patriotic and charitable causes. She exhausted her efforts to advance the rights and equity of women, families and communities in regional, rural and remote Australia.
Ruth is now immortalised as the namesake for the federal electoral division of Fairfax in Queensland, represented today by Mr Ted O'Brien. Her legacy is also taken up by the 1,855 branches across the country that continue her inspiring work for the benefit of country women and their communities. For example, just three years ago, the CWA of Australia commissioned research in partnership with the Royal Flying Doctor Service and the National Farmers Federation to investigate the health needs of rural, regional and remote Australia, with a report launched in August of 2017. This research has provided knowledge to all of us about rural and regional health and the inequities experienced in our communities. It provided an insightful perspective into how funding needs to be spent, which has informed policy decisions from the government.
The Victorian branch of the CWA and its 5,000 members are also carrying the torch lit by Ruth Fairfax. Each member belongs to one of 300 branches across Victoria that maintains its own program and is empowered to meet community needs. It's a vibrant, self-funded volunteer philanthropic organisation with a focus on friendship and personal development and advocacy. Its commitment is to make a difference in each community and advocate on community issues, sustainable development and the protection of the environment, as well as social issues. The CWA of Victoria awards education grants and scholarships while providing training and leadership opportunities to members. State president Marion Dewar says:
The Country Women's Association of Victoria has helped women, children, families and communities for over 92 years. We pull together and use our resources to benefit people in our local areas and beyond. At the same time, we enjoy the support of fellow members and learn new skills.
In Mallee, there are over 35 CWA branches, some of which I've had the privilege of speaking to. The sense of community and purpose within these organisations is wonderful, and the diversity of membership is perhaps their greatest strength. Membership to these groups is not based on any particular attribute other than being a woman. The Victorian branch has contributed greatly to agricultural life in Victoria. It has assisted in the coordination of numerous drought support initiatives and has recently been contributing to WorkSafe Victoria's agricultural safety reference group to improve safety and reduce the number of workplace deaths and serious injuries occurring on farms.
The CWA and its many branches has proven its heart and commitment for rural and regional Australians, for women, children and families, for nearly 100 years, and I commend them for this ongoing service to communities across Mallee and Australia.
I thank the member. Is the motion seconded?
I second the motion and reserve my right to speak.
As country women, we know that the Country Women's Association of Australia is more than an organisation; it is the lifeblood of so many rural and regional communities. Few institutions win as much respect from right across the country as the CWA, and for good reason. These are women doing important work on behalf of all rural and regional Australians. The CWA is much more than a bunch of ladies having tea and baking scones, although they do plenty of that. The CWA is a progressive organisation, taking stands on issues most important to rural people. Much like a good ginger fluff, the CWA may appear genteel, delicately mixed and expertly baked, but there's a good dose of spice! In its own words, the CWA 'advances the rights and equity of women, families and communities in Australia through advocacy and empowerment, especially for those living in regional, rural and remote Australia'—equity and empowerment. This year, the Victorian state conference, which would have been held on the last weekend of May, was to debate motions on issues as diverse as plastic pollution, TV gambling, mobile telecommunications, the age pension and e-cigarettes. The women of the CWA are no shrinking violets. They are powerful advocates for the bush, looking out for the interests of regional Australia and showing our city cousins the best that the regions have to offer. They fund research into rural health and professional development scholarships for nurses and midwives, they promote farm safety, and they are a powerful voice for mental health.
I'd like to pay tribute today to all the CWAs across the country and to all the women who lead them, particularly the 24 branches of the CWA in my electorate of Indi, from Kinglake and Yarck in the south to Kergunyah, Cudgewa and Tintaldra in the Upper Murray. There are many extraordinary examples of the work of the CWA, but today I'll illustrate the leadership of some of them. There are women like Dhirleen Clark and Elizabeth Harvey, president and secretary of the Wodonga CWA. In Wodonga, Dhirleen and Elizabeth lead a group of women who cook for local events, raise money for local projects through sausage sizzles and the like, and advocate on issues important to women. Their main goal this year is to raise money to build a covered pathway from the Hilltop cancer hostel to the Albury-Wodonga hospital. This is classic CWA—seeing the hidden needs of the community and quietly going about their business to get things done. On top of that, they're doing this project hand in hand with the local Men's Shed.
But this year also brought a pandemic. Building on the theme 'Grow, connect and improve', the Wodonga CWA have developed an impromptu support network to help their most vulnerable members through the crisis. For many of the older women, many of whom aren't online, the CWA is the main source of social interaction, so the Wodonga CWA started a phone chain to ensure that all women continued to maintain social contact, even as the lockdown was imposed. Recognising that the lockdown means many women will be placed in vulnerable situations, they've been advocating strongly on violence against women and domestic violence—tragically, issues that are all too important in 2020. The pandemic, of course, threw off many plans. The Wodonga branch had planned an outreach event with women from the local African community, which is growing in Wodonga. Those plans have had to be delayed, but I look forward to both communities coming together when we're able to again.
I'd also like to recognise the North-Eastern CWA group, led by their president, Wilma Bright, for their work during the bushfires. When fires came to Corryong, the women from Rosewhite branch cooked 360 meals, hopped into their cars, went to the Corryong area and knocked on any door where it looked like the people were affected by bushfire or could use a meal. The Oxley-Milawa branch sent personal care bundles, and women across the region spent countless hours knitting and crocheting for bushfire affected communities. The bushfires brought out the best in us, and the CWA is the best in us. The CWA is a treasured national institution and I hope it remains that way for many years to come. To all its 44,000 members, thank you, and I wish you well.
In starting, I thank my very good friend and colleague the member for Mallee for the opportunity that this motion affords, and that is to rise and pay testament to the wonderful women of the Queensland Country Women's Association. With three regions, 20 divisions and over 240 branches, the QCWA is the largest and most widespread women's organisation in Queensland. Since 1922, the QCWA has ensured women from all over Queensland have come together for fellowship, to share skills and to support their local community with fundraising. The QCWA now has more than 3,800 members statewide at over 240 locations—a tremendous outcome for service organisations at a time when other service organisations are struggling. The vision of the QCWA as an organisation is a testament to their community focus. It reads:
For the women of Queensland to come together to support communities whilst celebrating their interests and forging friendships in a respectful and caring environment.
In my electorate of Ryan, the QCWA women are certainly living up to that vision. There are QCWA branches at Toowong, Kenmore, Brookfield and Moggill. And, lest anyone think that my primarily urban electorate doesn't warrant CWA representation, I'll have them know that the Moggill branch of the QCWA is, in fact, the largest in the state, which is something that those members should be incredibly proud of. That's primarily due to the exceptional efforts of Christine King, now state president, who has long been a driving force for the CWA in the electorate of Ryan. I congratulate her on those efforts. The CWA are always there to support their community and particularly their regional and rural sisters. Much of the QCWA's work over the past 20 years has focused on assisting drought affected or flood affected women and their families. In particular, I recall that during 2011, during the terrible flood that impacted Queensland and Brisbane and which traumatically impacted my community in Ryan, the QCWA raised and distributed over $400,000 to support more than 500 families—a tremendous effort.
In the electorate, we are particularly proud of the annual Moggill QCWA Christmas craft store, which is the highlight of the local calendar, raising much-needed funds for issues including drought and flood relief. The community enjoys purchasing quilts, Christmas decorations, fabrics and toys, many of them homemade, in support of these wonderful and dedicated women. Lest anyone think that there isn't a place for service organisations in this now fast-paced and sometimes selfish world, I recall that it was only 12 months ago this month that we were acknowledging that the QCWA had achieved a 10 per cent membership jump in just six months and were reopening branches across the state, some in entirely new locations.
On a personal note, I want to record in the Hansard, and for the chamber, that my grandmother, with whom I was exceptionally close, was a member of our local Brookfield branch of the QCWA in my electorate. She loved the fellowship, particularly her participation in the choir, and, as she progressed through an illness that would ultimately see her pass, I remember the great joy she took from the friendships she gained at the Brookfield QCWA, particularly the women who continued to come around to her place and support her long after the illness meant that she couldn't, herself, attend the meetings. Our family will always be grateful for the support that those wonderful women of the CWA in the Brookfield branch provided to my grandma and that I know they are providing to women right across the state.
It is a pleasure to pay tribute to all of those women in the Ryan electorate and around the state of Queensland who are part of the QCWA. Together, they are improving the lives of their local community members and of people living in regional, rural, and remote Queensland. I encourage women in the electorate of Ryan to consider the QCWA local branches as their first option if they are seeking to make a contribution, if they are seeking friendship, if they are seeking to make a meaningful contribution locally.
For decades, the Country Women's Association of Australia has been an essential voice that has advanced the voice and rights of women across Australia. Their advocacy on behalf of Australian women is as strong as it was 75 years ago. Their voice influences change across our nation—a change which is empowering and improving the lives of women, their families and their communities, particularly those living in regional, rural and remote Australia. Not only does the CWA provide a voice for these women; it also provides a community that connects 44,000 members in 1,855 branches, as we've heard, across Australia. Amongst many things, the CWA provides communities with support and a sense that they are never alone as they persevere through some of the great challenges that regional, rural and remote communities experience daily. One example is the current drought in Australia. The CWA has distributed over $30 million in household support to affected families. In the words of founding president Ruth Fairfax, 'Branches meet together every month socially and to discuss the affairs of their district and help to further its interests, trying to break down the barriers that have gradually arisen between people and do away with suspicion and the fear of being belittled.' In 10 August 1922, in the Albert Hall in my home city of Brisbane, a need was seen for the connection and networking of regional and country women. This is where Ruth Fairfax was elected president of the Country Women's Association in Australia. From here, she began her tour of outback Queensland, where she established the outback branches and suburban branches, including the Oxley CWA.
Since March 2020—fast-forward—the members of the QCWA Oxley branch have continued to work with their community to aim to reduce the impact of COVID-19, particularly on women and children, and have supported many initiatives aimed at providing support for those facing addiction or domestic violence. The division of the Oxley CWA is for women of Queensland to come together to support their communities whilst celebrating their interests and forging friendships in a respectful and caring environment. They've achieved this via advocating and providing opportunities for women centring on education, health and community throughout every phase of a woman's life.
I've proudly supported the Oxley Country Women's Association for many years, including my time as the local councillor representing the suburb of Oxley. I was able to support the relocation of their hall due to a railway infrastructure upgrade—a vital move to ensure the Oxley CWA still had a place they could meet and gather. They moved into a brilliant new all-purpose-built hall in Cawonga Park, Oxley, in February 2011. The old hall has been moved out to Warwick and is still used by the community there.
I'd like to make special mention and show my gratitude to the current executives and hardworking women of the Oxley women's CWA, including Jane Clark, who's done a remarkable job stepping up to this role in the last year. I'd also like to thank the current serving office-bearers: Lyn Lincoln, Sally Gardner, Diane Wootton, Pat Burgess and Norma Lovelace OAM. I know Norma, Lyn and Pat are long-serving members and have helped advance this vital social network, connecting families and women in the Oxley electorate. They do a remarkable job month in, month out looking after, particularly, new residents and new younger members, which has been a hallmark of the current executives' focus.
Over the years, I've attended a number of events that the CWA has put on, particularly their latest events the Easter competition and Christmas cake-eating competition, which I have become a master of. During the COVID-19 pandemic, there's never been a better time for the community to come together. As the member for Oxley, I've been consistently blown away by the tireless and enormous effort that community groups have displayed over the last six months. I want to place on record in the parliament of Australia my thanks to the Oxley Country Women's Association, and the entire CWA, for nearly 100 years of service to our country, alongside all branches nationally, as they play their part in connecting with, and advocating for, the safety and wellbeing of the community. Congratulations, Oxley CWA, and congratulations to the Country Women's Association in our nation.
Firstly, I would like to begin by congratulating Dr Webster, the member for Mallee, for bringing this motion to this place and drawing the attention of the parliament to the very significant and important work that the Country Women's Association does right across the nation.
Like other members in this place who represent rural, regional and remote communities, my electorate is blessed with very many branches of the CWA working across all fields, and, on reflecting on this motion, I thought I could refer to one effort which I think is emblematic of the work that the CWA does across the nation. This work doesn't take place in my electorate; it's actually at the Royal Adelaide Show. The Royal Adelaide Show is, as you'd expect, a bustling hive of activity, where people are very busily getting on with having the fund that's associated with show endeavours. There's the type of food which we all shouldn't be consuming—there's the fairy floss, the sweets and the fried fare. Amongst all that chaos of activity, there's one sanctuary. That sanctuary, for as long as I can remember, has always been the CWA Country Cafe.
This is a place where, amongst all that bustling activity at the Royal Adelaide Show, you are met by friendly volunteers from branches across the state, where you can eat some home-cooked, hearty fare. It's a place where you can pause for a moment over a cup of tea and inevitably some home-cooked traditional scones. In that chaos that is the Royal Adelaide Show, there's just this quiet sanctuary.
I think that's emblematic of the work that the CWA does across my electorate, with volunteers coming together to support each other but, more broadly, to support the community. There is obviously a long tradition with cooking of a homely nature and high quality, and that happens at the Country Cafe as well. There is also an opportunity for people to pause and reflect on what's important in the context of a very busy and stressful world.
In addition to that, I would reflect on the fact that there is, increasingly, another role undertaken by the Country Women's Association that we wouldn't traditionally identify with the association. That role principally is in advocacy. As someone who came to this place seven years or so ago, I hadn't fully appreciated how much significant advocacy and agency is undertaken through the work of the CWA. I'm regularly contacted by the CWA about better health services for regional Australians and better telecommunications and connectivity and about issues relating to remote schooling. So, whilst we all immediately associate the CWA with scones, craft fairs and getting together and discussing issues in local communities, increasingly I'm noticing a push into the world of advocacy—and it's incredibly powerful.
The other phenomenon I have seen in my electorate which I'm really pleased to see is the demographic change in the CWA. Increasingly, young regional women are getting involved in this organisation. That's a shift that's occurred in, I'd suggest, the last decade. In particular, there's one branch of the CWA in my electorate in Naracoorte which are all young mums. They work alongside the longstanding traditional branch, but they have formed their own sub-branch. They do that because they are interested in working together on matters that are relevant to them.
To the volunteers of the CWA in my electorate, I say thank you very much for everything you have done over the long course. You're a testament to the resilience of regional Australians. You work very hard to ensure we have that resilience. When I reflect on the very good work you do in my electorate, I look to the example at the Royal Adelaide Show. I go there every year with my children, and I see there the good work and the agency that you do across South Australia and, by extension, across our nation. I think it is a great example of the very best of what the WA does.
I also rise to support the proposition put forward by the member for Mallee, and I congratulate her for doing so. The story of rural and regional Australia is one of challenge, hardship and opportunity. This vast country of drought and flooding rains and those who have worked its natural resources are an iconic part of the Australian story. For almost 100 years, the women who are part of the Country Women's Association have been a crucial part of the story too. The formation of the CWA in 1922 was borne out of the shared struggle of rural families facing all the challenges you'd expect to be put in front of them as a result of isolation, or in some cases just relative isolation. The organisation's 1,855 branches boast 44,000 members. Despite all the changes in our society over the past 98 years, including of course on the technology front, the CWA is as relevant today as it was in 1922. What a tribute that is to the founder, Ruth Fairfax, and all those who have been and are involved in the organisation. In 1922, and for a long time after, women had very little role to play in the production of our food and fibre. Thankfully, we are a far more enlightened society today, and the skills and talents of Australian women are put to use in management, production and, of course, still in family roles. They can do it all. They are a part of policymaking and advocacy too—a key role for the CWA—and, of course, the current president of the National Farmers Federation is Fiona Simson.
Members of the CWA are often recognised for their cooking and craft skills. I can attest to some of those talents—I have been the beneficiary!—as can, of course, millions of other Australians who have benefited from their work. But cooking and craft are, of course, just a sample or a part of the work done by the women who make up the CWA. It is just a small part, really, of the work they do in our local communities.
Just as their work was so important during the Great Depression, their work has come into its own during floods and droughts, including the most recent drought, when we all saw the CWA playing a very, very important role. They are crucial when our rural Australians are facing the challenges put up by this great country of ours. Of course that's also been true throughout the course of this terrible COVID-19 period that we have been challenged by.
The CWA is also an organisation which is not fearful of speaking an independent mind, always. I think that's a very, very important part of the success and longevity of the organisation. Just this year, for example, the CWA expressed deep disappointment at parts of the government's response to the drought and assistance to drought-affected families. Indeed, the CWA described the $500 voucher for drought affected families as 'disappointing, infuriating, insulting, and disrespectful'. It's a matter of public record now that the CWA refused to be part of the distribution of that voucher system. An independent voice is exactly what rural and regional Australia needs, and it is something that it has enjoyed from the Country Women's Association.
I have a number of branches in my own electorate. I have had a lot of engagement with the women who formed those branches. I hold community morning and afternoon teas in various towns around my electorate, and more often than not I hire the CWA hall. It is a perfect quid pro quo, because I get to host my morning teas in a quality venue, and the CWA ladies get a donation from me as a result of those meetings—I pay very happily—and often provide the cup of tea and the sandwiches for those occasions. What a wonderful organisation. What a wonderful celebration. What a wonderful motion this is. It's been my great pleasure to support it.
The CWA is an organisation that I've had a long involvement with through my family. Probably most prominent was my grandmother. My grandmother was one of the chairs of one of the divisions in her area. She lived at Adelong. I remember at one stage watching Four Corners. It was around the time of Germaine Greer and The Female Eunuch. On Four Corners there was a women's meeting. As I watched it I saw this lady in a big hat. She was holding forth, with a whole group of other people baying around her, trying to tear her argument limb from limb. I said to Natalie at the time, 'Look at this lady. Look at her bravery. She's standing up and really giving her position and argument, and she seems to be doing it in a very dignified way.' Then I looked at it and said, 'Hang on. That's my grandmother.' That personified what was there. My grandmother was not a shrinking violet. She was an early graduate of the University of Sydney. She had been a teacher in country areas. But her vision, I suppose at that time portrayed through the CWA, was that you can get a long way by being dignified and emotionally sober and presenting a point of view, and people will listen to that more than they will listen to volume. I suppose I should have taken more notice of her.
The CWA was formed in 1922. It's slightly younger than the National Party, so they have lived a parallel course. Its purpose, of course, was the benefit and advancement of women and children in regional areas; not exclusively regional areas, but especially regional, remote and agricultural areas. It was so vitally important in those days, as it is today, that people have the capacity to go out and meet other people and have that social interaction that alleviates some of the concerns that might be present in their minds and work to a common purpose of bringing about betterment to others.
It has a conservative moniker in 'honour to God, loyalty to the throne and service to the country'. But I suppose many members decide which parts of that they pick and choose. Service to the country, I believe, has been a pre-eminent form through that. For my grandmother, honour to God was also a strong issue. I don't know quite where she would have fitted on loyalty to the throne.
It is so incredibly important that we understand that the work of the CWA goes on. In recent times, especially with the drought, they have been exemplary in trying to do their part in getting aid, especially assistance with stock, out into the areas that have been afflicted by the drought. It is an issue that they have prevailed on, and people sometimes are cynical towards them, but as an organisation they have survived longer than others that have come and gone before them, I would dare say political parties that have come into existence and disappeared. It is a fact that sometimes there might be a cynicism about the so-called tea and scones group, the cranky women's association, all these pejoratives that might have been cast in their direction. But they are still there. In fact I think that they are growing now, probably more in urban areas than in regional areas. This in itself brings a change in the complexion and tenets of the organisation and where their motivations are. Maybe, to be quite frank, some of their political leanings have gone. That's entirely okay. Any organisation that is dynamic and can survive over a long period of time has to change with the times and evolve. The CWA is doing precisely that.
I remember the Latin quote—I think it was by Virgil—dux femina facti, which is 'the woman leads events'. That was a reflection on the queen of Carthage, Dido. That in itself has always shown that there are certain times which are pre-eminent in history and of the day, where the women will lead the events. The Country Women's Association of Australia does precisely that.
There being no further speakers, the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.
Sitting suspended from 12:44 to 16:0 1
I rise today to start by thanking our frontline workers and local residents in my electorate for their response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Locally, in the City of Casey, I think we've had about 70 active cases of the coronavirus. In particular, I wanted to thank the frontline workers—the doctors, the nurses and our testing officials at the Casey Hospital, the Cranbourne Integrated Care Centre and Westfield Fountain Gate pop-up testing facility—for their work and others in the area for keeping our community safe. I wanted to thank our community organisations, like the Cranbourne Information & Support Service, for their work to provide emergency relief to those in need during this pandemic and during this time of crisis.
I think, particularly in speaking of the sacrifices that have been made by those in my constituency—to those who have lost their jobs, to those who have had diminished working hours—there's been a sense of cohesion, of community and of understanding the joint sacrifice that's been made to beat this pandemic. And I wanted to commend the government and the state premiers for the work that they have done in a cohesive, collaborative, collective way to keep our country safe. That has been mirrored by the sacrifice and the resolve of those people out in my constituency. The one thing I think they would say—those who have lost their jobs, those who have suffered a diminution in income, those who have experienced mental health challenges because of the isolation—is that what we were asking people to do, and what people did in such astounding numbers and so quickly and with so much discipline, was almost give themselves a form of home detention to keep the community safe. I think it's often forgotten that home detention is used as a form of punishment. We asked the Australian community to, in effect, put themselves into home detention, with time out to go shopping and to exercise et cetera, and the fact that they did that in such great numbers says a lot about Australia's community spirit.
In that vein, I think that great community spirit offers a window in terms of where we should be conducting ourselves, the national debate about where we need to go. We can't have made these sacrifices as a community without wanting politics to change a bit, to imagine a future where all Australians have a stakehold, where we all work together collectively, where we all look after each other—that hand reaching down to lift others up rather than pushing people down. So, particularly to those in the Australian community in my constituency who made that sacrifice, who kept themselves at home, who isolated themselves: thank you, again, on behalf of us all here. What we have to do now in this place is ensure that that spirit of sacrifice and that spirit of coming together and of sacrificing for the common good is kept so that we have policies that include all Australians and not just some.
I rise to express my local community's utter dismay and disappointment in the Labor state government and the local Greens MP regarding two issues in the suburb of Toowong. The first issue is the recent decision by the Labor state government, with no community consultation whatsoever from their current MP, to move 300 people considered at risk into the Atira apartments in Toowong. They include those recently released from prison and those with drug addiction problems. This decision occurred with no consultation, no extra support services and no notice on Good Friday.
Residents are now contacting me, their local LNP councillor, James Mackay, and their local LNP candidate, Lauren Day, to describe disturbing incidents of drug use, public indecency and exposure, harassment and public urination. Residents near the 'at-risk' housing describe being too scared to go to the local Toowong Village shopping centre, too scared to walk at night and too scared to let their children out to play. Retailers at Toowong Village are so concerned about losing this important trade from locals at a time when they're trying to recover from COVID that they have offered up a free retail space for the new Toowong police beat. This is a tremendous local initiative and would greatly enhance local policing in the suburb of Toowong. It's strongly supported by myself and the local LNP candidate, Lauren Day, in stark contrast to the current local Greens MP, who is working absolutely overtime to dismiss and diminish the legitimate concerns of local residents about this issue. I call on him to support our campaign to support the LNP candidate, Lauren Day, to secure our new police beat at Toowong.
The second issue the Labor government has also run roughshod over the Toowong community is the erection of a fence around the Queensland Academy of Science Mathematics and Technology oval. This facility has unilaterally cut off residents' access to what was a very popular dog-walking, cycling and exercise area. Again, there was no consultation and a total disregard for my local community. This is particularly galling given the land was donated in the first place to the government by a local family, the Palmer family. Now, the LNP candidate, Lauren Day, has secured a pledge that the fence will be removed if the LNP are successful at the October election. Meanwhile, the Labor state government, working with the local Greens MP, who could get rid of the threat of this fence against residents with the stroke of a pen, have failed to lift a finger. It just goes to show that at the state level the residents of Toowong need better representation, and I congratulate local LNP candidate, Lauren Day, on being able to secure both a Toowong police beat location, in conjunction with Toowong Village, and the removal of this fence as an election commitment.
I rise today to speak about the economic impact of the COVID-19 crisis on my electorate. We've seen devastation right across our local economy—workers losing their jobs, our struggling local businesses, and the impact on some of our major employers such as the local councils, the airport and Southern Cross University. In fact, just last week, I wrote to the Minister for Education seeking urgent intervention for the Southern Cross University. The university has announced that it's facing an economic crisis, with an estimated $58 million funding shortfall over the next two years. This will potentially affect hundreds of staff and students across the North Coast campuses. This university is a strong economic driver in our region and produces excellent graduates and great research outcomes. It's imperative that the government act urgently and take the necessary steps to ensure the survival of Southern Cross University.
As a result of the pandemic, our local workers and our small and medium-sized businesses on the North Coast have indeed been dealt a very devastating blow. The initial queues we saw outside Centrelink were truly heartbreaking. Of course, Labor did call for wage subsidies very early on. Whilst we welcome the JobKeeper program for the businesses and employers that were fortunate enough to be eligible for the program, we know that the JobKeeper payment, when it was finally rolled out, left many workers and businesses behind. For my electorate, it was particularly harsh for the casual workers who didn't qualify—people working in retail, tourism, hospitality and the creative industries as well. Indeed, on the North Coast, we're very fortunate to have a diverse and vibrant arts and creative sector, but the government has left these workers and that sector behind. The JobKeeper payment must be extended to casuals and the arts and entertainment sector. The government must also provide much more overall support to this sector because of the vast numbers that it employs and the economic benefits that it generates.
Also at this time it's imperative that we invest in job creation and opportunities for regional Australia, and a key element to this is education and training, investing in our universities, and investing in TAFE and training. Reports of the expected losses of trade related jobs and the further loss of apprentices are, indeed, alarming. When it comes to apprentices and trainees, the government is failing regional areas like mine on the New South Wales North Coast. In my electorate of Richmond this government has overseen a massive reduction in apprentices. There are now more than 500 fewer apprentices in my electorate. This is terrible news for young people and for businesses looking for trained staff.
Finally, I'd like to mention what an honour and privilege it was for me and my team to be phoning seniors across the North Coast as part of our community care calls program. To date, more than 12,000 people have been called. We checked in to offer support during this difficult time, and it was wonderful to hear their stories of strength and resilience. It was also very heartwarming to hear that so many of our seniors have such great support from their families, their neighbours and their communities. It has been indeed been a very, very challenging time right across the country and in my region. I'd like to acknowledge the wonderful work of everyone involved in adhering to the restrictions and making sure they've been keeping us all safe.
I rise today to acknowledge the contribution of five outstanding individuals from my electorate of Robertson who were recognised in the 2020 Queen's Birthday honours list. The list includes Terrigal's Michael Hickey, who's received a Medal of the Order of Australia for his service to veterans and their families and to our community. After serving in the Army during the Vietnam War from 1966 to 1967, Michael continued to work diligently to support veterans and their families in our local community through roles with Legacy, Rotary International, and the Returned and Services League of Australia. Michael is currently the personnel committee chair of Brisbane Water Legacy, and he's been a member of the board since 2010. He serves his community as an active patrol member of the Terrigal Surf Life Saving Club. As a member their myself, I hope to see Michael in the summer when the patrol season starts again so I can congratulate him in person on the beach. Also from Terrigal, William Purcell, known to his friends as Bill, was awarded a Queen's Birthday honour for his significant service to tertiary education, business and Australia-Japan relations. Bill is a passionate advocate for international education. This passion has seen Bill work as Vice-Chancellor, International and Advancement, at the University of Technology, and as a deputy vice-chancellor, international, and dean of business at the University of Newcastle. Notably, Bill was also a professor of economics at the University of Tokyo between 1986 and 1990. I'd like to commend Bill Purcell for his contribution and commitment to higher education.
John McKenzie from Pretty Beach was made a Member of the Order of Australia for his significant service to the law and to social justice for the Indigenous community. John has worked in the New South Wales Legal Services Commission as the New South Wales Legal Services Commissioner since 2015 and, locally, worked as the Legal Aid New South Wales Gosford solicitor in charge from 1994 to 2001. He's held various roles for Aboriginal Legal Service, the Law Society of New South Wales, and the Central Coast Community Legal Service, and we thank John for all of the work that he has done.
Harold Sharp from Erina, who received the Medal of the Order of Australia, has held many positions within Rotary International and continues to serve the community and support charitable initiatives. He's the chair of Rotary Oceania Medical Aid for Children and the director of Better Hearing Australia. He's worked with local charities such as Fairhaven and Meals on Wheels Central Coast.
Former Minister for the Central Coast John Della Bosca was also recognised on the Queen's Birthday honours list. John served in a number of roles in the New South Wales government, including as Leader of the Government in the New South Wales Legislative Council, and held a number of ministerial portfolios, including education and training, health, finance and disability services. He served for 11 years, leaving in 2010 to assist in the establishment of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. I want to thank John for his service to public health, particularly in the disability and drug support sectors, and to the parliament of New South Wales. Congratulations to all of our Queen's Birthday honours list recipients.
The Morrison government's robodebt scheme is a cruel and cowardly extortion racket that intimidated innocent and vulnerable Australians into paying debts they did not owe. It's a scheme designed by the current Prime Minister, which he expanded with the current Attorney-General, to steal hundreds of millions of dollars from everyday Australians. This was money they had no right to take—money taken from people who had no ability to pay it. People across my electorate of Isaacs contacted me, desperate for help, as the Morrison government stole from their bank accounts and tax returns and threatened them with debt collectors and jail terms. People from every suburb across my electorate were illegally held to ransom by this government's grasping robodebt scam, from Mentone to Patterson Lakes, Dandenong South to Aspendale, and Dingley Village to Highett—the list goes on.
Jane was hit with a $6,000 robodebt. After she lost her partner to suicide in 2017 she returned to work full time, but, instead of looking over Jane's case and seeing that her income had increased, Centrelink averaged her salary across the year and sent this single mother of two a bill for $6,000. In 2018 a young hospitality worker, Tyson, came into my office with a robodebt demand for over $4,000, which included a 10 per cent recovery fee because he couldn't source pay slips with only 28 days notice. That year he earned only $21,000. They were asking him to cough up almost a quarter of his salary in a month. And then there's the 62-year-old woman who contacted me about her robodebt demand for $4,000 allegedly owed from 2014. Centrelink is her only income, so they stole the money from her disability support payments to repay the alleged $4,000 debt.
And all the people caught up in Mr Morrison's illegal robodebt money-making scheme were branded guilty until they could prove otherwise, when, in fact, the only people acting like criminals were this government and its most senior people. On four separate occasions in 2017 the Administrative Appeals Tribunal ruled the scheme illegal, and on every occasion the government did not appeal that decision, so for at least three years the government knew its robodebt scheme was illegal. And yet they continued to extort millions of dollars they had no right to claim from people who had no ability to pay and threatened them with jail if they didn't. The cowardice and wickedness shown by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and his government towards the people in my electorate of Isaacs, and across this nation, is unforgivable. It's now long past time that this Prime Minister, the Attorney-General, the hapless human services minister and everyone else involved in this scandal took responsibility for this state-run extortion racket.
I wish today to pay tribute to 21 remarkable Australians, local residents from my electorate of Wentworth, whose contribution to our nation was recognised as part of the Queen's Birthday honours. Across science, sport, community service, academia and even our parliament, these Australians have distinguished themselves during a lifetime of service.
Congratulations to Cyril Baldock OAM, the oldest person to swim the English Channel and a lifelong supporter of Bondi Surf Bathers Life Saving Club; Margaret Bowering OAM, for her work in higher education; Michel-Henri Carriol AM, for his services to Australia-France relations, to business and to the community; Michael Clarke AO, for his distinguished work, which is a bit of an understatement, in cricket as a player and as a contributor; Peter Conrad OAM, for his service to vascular medicine; Philip Cunningham OAM, for service to medical research; Commander Matthew Eglen CSM, Royal Australian Navy, for meritorious devotion to duty in the field of marine engineering; Detective Chief Inspector Peter Faux APM, for longstanding service to the New South Wales Police Force; Professor Lesley Forster AM, for significant service to tertiary education and rural health; Professor Stephen Garton AM, for significant service to tertiary education; Colleen Goodwin OAM, for services to the community; John Hawke AM, for significant service to community mental health, and to business; Professor John Ham AM, for significant service to medical education. There's only another 10 or so to go!
An honourable member interjecting—
Wentworth is a well-endowed electorate! Dr Anthony Joseph AM, for significant service to emergency medicine and to education; the late Dr Michele Cotton AM, for significant service to veterinary science and education; Rear Admiral Jonathan Mead AO, RAN, Fleet Base East commander, for distinguished service to the Royal Australian Navy in senior management and command roles; Greta Moran AO, for distinguished service to the visual arts through philanthropic initiatives and as an advocate for Australian art and artists, and to the aged-care sector; Gretel Packer AM, for significant service to the community and to the visual and performing arts; the Hon. Graham Richardson AO, who is well known here, for distinguished service to the people and the parliament of Australia, and as a political commentator; Ryan Stokes AO, for distinguished service to business, particularly in the media, mining and construction sectors, and to cultural institutions; and, lastly, Raymond Whitten AM, for significant service to the law, particularly to legal reform and consumer protection. Our country is a more culturally rich and prosperous country, and my community is a safer place, because of the efforts of these Australians, and the efforts of so many other Australians who serve our community every day. I congratulate each and every one of them.
This afternoon, I wish to draw to parliament's attention yet another demographic who have been forgotten by the Morrison government during the COVID-19 pandemic: our international students and temporary visa holders residing in Australia.
Last week, I met with Pastor Robyn Robertson and Pastor Ryan Vallee from the Riverlife Baptist Church in my electorate in Oxley, alongside Paviter Kumar Noori, from the Indian Cultural & Sports Club, and the state member for Mount Ommaney, Jess Pugh. I'm grateful for the work that Riverlife Baptist Church and the Indian Cultural & Sports Club have been able to do within our community for this forgotten group. They've shared heartbreaking stories of students who've been stranded in our community with no family close by, no access to jobs, no access to JobKeeper, no access to jobseeker and, more importantly, absolutely no access to any financial assistance from the government.
One such story was that of Eric from Fiji, who was studying at QUT and who was working prior to COVID restrictions. He was covering his rent, food and student fees and sending money back to his family in Fiji. As a result of Cyclone Harold hitting Fiji and Vanuatu in early April, his family experienced much loss. They were not in a position to send money to assist him. Despite Eric's hard work and best efforts, he now finds himself in financial stress through no fault of his own.
One of the most confronting situations they encountered was that of a female international student who, because she was unable to cover her accommodation contribution to her share house, was being exploited for sexual favours by the landlord, allegedly to pay down her outstanding balance. Riverlife Baptist were able to provide funds to pay what was owing, cover bond for a new place for her to live and connect her to counselling as a precursor to this student lodging a police report. To date, Riverlife has invested more than $45,000 in support to 42 international students from 13 nations experiencing financial hardship. Funds have been used to cover rent, food, medicines, phone and data plans and to create a multi-week buffer and, in certain cases, a term student fee instalment to ensure students can continue to complete their studies. I want to thank the Riverlife Baptist congregation for their generosity and for loving their neighbours as themselves and giving to those in need in our community.
Our international students and temporary visa holders make up an important part of our community. In 2019, the number of international students in Australia was 720,000—growth of 11 per cent from 2018. These people have been abandoned by the Morrison government. International students in 2020 contributed around $32 billion to the Australian economy, and Australia is one of the leading countries for tertiary education. But will we be able to keep this up the way the government is neglecting international students and neglecting to grant organisations—
Government members interjecting—
Those opposite won't even apologise. They are so arrogant that they are still condemning those students who have absolutely no support from this government. So many of our international students—
Government members interjecting—
and those opposite are laughing about this, Madam Deputy Speaker—need our support and care. I congratulate and salute our churches and community organisations, which are delivering for these international students being ignored by the Morrison government.
It's my pleasure today to update the Chamber on a great milestone in Australia but also in my home city of Adelaide. Today there was a sod-turning for the South Australian Health and Medical Research Institute's second building, which is known as the Australian Bragg Centre for Proton Therapy. It was possibly named after Senator Andrew Bragg, although I suspect it was more likely named after the father-and-son Braggs—two of the many Nobel Prize winners from my electorate of Sturt—who, of course, were such great pioneers in developing, in particular, X-ray technology and the modern X-ray. This is going to be a proton therapy unit centre as well as being for other health and medical research and infrastructure. The proton therapy treatment capability is particularly exciting for all Australians, because this is the first time that we will have this capacity in our country. It's a very focused radiation beam that, obviously, is quite effective in treating cancerous tumours—in the spine, for example, and other places where you want to limit damage to non-tumorous tissue as much as you possibly can.
At the moment, Australians who need this sort of treatment have to go to Japan, the United States or Western Europe. I think it's a great testament to the government that we've said it's not acceptable for a First World country; we need to have this capability and capacity in our country. It was Minister Hunt, a few years ago now, who made the decision to underpin this new building by putting the money down to purchase the proton therapy unit and put it in place in Adelaide. Now Australians—people from around the region as well—will be able to get this treatment, funded by the Commonwealth government and other funding partners, in Adelaide.
The first sod was turned today by Lendlease, the builder, and Commercial & General, who will be the building's owners, with the state government. Unfortunately, it being a sitting day, I wasn't able to be there, but I would have loved to. My heart was certainly with them, because I've been very involved with the development of this project for a long time, wearing a number of different hats. More recently, as the federal member for Sturt, I've been working very closely with Commercial & General, the company, the state government and Minister Hunt's office in the federal government to make sure that we reached this milestone today.
It's a few years away. This is obviously very complex nuclear machinery. We're building a very big bunker. They're digging down about three storeys, and it will come to be 12 storeys above the ground when it's completed. It's exciting technology. This is the second machine that the company, ProTom, has installed. The first one that was commissioned is now at Massachusetts General Hospital, so we're in pretty good company as far as cutting-edge technology goes. I congratulate everyone involved. I'm very excited to see this health infrastructure being delivered in my state of South Australia.
Australians have done a remarkable job of listening to the experts and following the tough restrictions throughout the COVID-19 crisis. As a result, from a health perspective we are in a very good position compared with other countries around the world. However, while COVID-19 is a health crisis, first and foremost it's also an economic crisis. The government need to develop a jobs strategy to support Australians in the challenging months ahead. They know that despite what they claim there'll be no snapback at the end of this pandemic. The latest unemployment statistics demonstrate this. Between March and April, 2.7 million people either left employment or had their hours reduced, and 26,000 of them were in the Hunter. This means that the real unemployment rate during this period was somewhere between 15 and 20 per cent. In Newcastle and Lake Macquarie the unemployment rate increased from 5.8 per cent to 7.7 per cent. Most distressingly, the youth unemployment rate is now at an official level of 18.7 per cent, which means it's well over 30 per cent in reality.
The government desperately needs to develop a jobs strategy, and JobKeeper should be a key part of it. The government must consider expanding JobKeeper to include more impacted workers, like the one million casuals who are currently missing out. The Treasurer can fix this right now with the stroke of a pen. The government must also consider extending the JobKeeper payment beyond September for those businesses and industries that need it. A sudden end to this subsidy will be disastrous for businesses that continue to be crippled by this crisis.
Unfortunately, the government has done the exact opposite when it comes to the early childhood education sector. Three days after promising that JobKeeper would continue until September for all eligible Australians, the government broke this promise when it announced it would stop paying 120,000 early childhood educators from 13 July. The free child care scheme will also end. I'm really concerned about the impact this will have. The government's free child care scheme hasn't been perfect—it's left a lot of people out—but snapping back to the old system, with high fees, will make early education and care unaffordable and inaccessible for many, particularly those suffering reduced hours or the loss of a job. As a result, some families will be forced to pull their kids out of centres, which will have a significant impact on providers.
Without JobKeeper, some of these providers may be forced to close down. What a way to say thanks to all those educators who worked throughout the pandemic to educate kids, in turn allowing some of our essential, frontline workers to do their jobs! One early childhood educator was in tears while talking to me yesterday morning.
The government must fix this. It clearly demonstrates why the government need to develop a jobs strategy. Without one, they risk botching our economic recovery, which will see more people queuing out the front of Centrelink. That is something Australia cannot afford.
I'd like to take this opportunity to highlight Townsville's amazing volunteers. We in this place know that volunteers are the heart and soul of our communities, so from 18 to 24 May we celebrated National Volunteer Week in the electorate of Herbert by notifying local groups of volunteer grant funding and presenting volunteers with their official certificates of appreciation. There were 16 volunteer groups in my electorate who received a share of more than $63,000 worth of funds as part of the government's Volunteer Grants program. This is an excellent program which provides vital equipment and fuel, and covers the cost of compulsory training to keep our local volunteers going.
It was great to get down to the Arcadian Surf Life Saving Club, meet with Amy and the crew and let them know that they'd been successful in their grant. The club members provide lifeguard services on 'Maggie Island' and the mainland on a volunteer basis on weekends and they also run a great nippers program, encouraging kids into the sport. They'll use their grant for a much-needed and long-awaited computer system to track their members.
I also popped into Triple T Community Radio to let the station manager, Tee Johnson, know they'd been successful. The station's volunteers do an excellent job in keeping Townsville informed and entertained on the radio waves, but they've been battling with an eight-year-old computer in desperate need of replacement. Their grant will purchase a new one to keep them on air for many, many years to come. Also, I put the call out to the community to nominate great volunteers to receive the Australian Government Certificate of Appreciation for Volunteers for all the hard work that they do.
Reef HQ is a Townsville icon. Visitors are greeted by volunteers as they arrive. Dorelle and John Jewell OAM have, combined, 70 years of service with Reef HQ. Dorelle turned 90 this year, but that hasn't stopped her volunteering and giving all the kids a stamp as they walk in. John not only volunteers at Reef HQ but also helps the coastguard, and he's been doing it for 45 years. It was a pleasure to meet with them and present them with their certificates as the sharks swam overhead in the predator tank.
It was also great to meet Tricia and David Hatfield who coordinate the Community Food Pantry in West End. This service caters to many in the community who are doing it tough. We know that, throughout the COVID-19 process, these volunteer groups have been the backbone of our community, and providing this food service has gone a long way.
Finally, I'd like to congratulate Robert Mara, who, despite having lost his leg, is probably the most helpful man around the Townsville Men's Shed. He is described by fellow members as the 'Eveready battery' of the Men's Shed and was deserving of this recognition.
Congratulations to everyone who was nominated. I'd like to thank you for your service to our community.
In accordance with the resolution agreed to earlier, the time for members' constituency statements has concluded.
We all, not only in this Chamber, this House, this building, the state of New South Wales, the country of Australia but, indeed, around the whole globe, are going to remember 2020. We have defining moments in our lives, we have defining moments as a nation and, indeed, the globe has defining moments in its history as well. For us all as individuals, this is a defining moment; as a country, this is a defining moment; and, as a globe, this is a defining moment. Who could have foreseen at the start of 2020 how this was all going to play out? Just in my region, last year we had fires and we had drought, and they were tough. They certainly tested the resilience of my community, which was ravaged by both. But this is taking us to a whole new level of resilience, perseverance and strength of character because this is not just a local, community based thing or, indeed, a national thing; it's a global challenge that we're facing.
There's been a lot of anxiety in my community, as I'm sure there has been in all the communities we live in. We will all remember when we started to become more aware and educated about this virus and the decisions that we were going to have to make, as well as the consequences those decisions were going to have on people's lives and livelihoods. We will all remember how the partial shutdown started. There were unprecedented things, in the sense that people were questioned when they went to work, where they were going and whether they were really required to go to work. We've had things like internal and international border closures and we shut down our country to international students—things that we really could never have imagined.
I want to acknowledge a whole lot of people today. I want to acknowledge them across governments. There are frontline health and service workers, and just Australians themselves, who have saved us because of the type of people they are. They have saved us a lot of pain. Let's start with the PM. We're talking a lot about economics at the moment and the consequences the lockdown has had on jobs and people's livelihoods. The PM 'got' this. A lot of countries went to a harsher lockdown. The PM and the government were under a lot of pressure at one stage to lock down more than we did. If we had, the economic consequences we're talking about now would be worse. You can't walk away from that.
Very early on, in one of the addresses he gave, he said that every job is essential. He said we were going to shut down organisations or businesses where contagion was a higher risk. We would do that because of the health risks, but we were not going to do what some countries did, where only the supermarkets and the pharmacies were open. He said that went too far, that the economic consequences would be too great, and we didn't need to do that. He was under much pressure to do more, but he held the line on that. I think that was a great decision and it showed that he got it right at the start. We're still dealing with two things, but the health crisis that we faced was at least managed, and the management of the economic crisis will be as great, if not greater. The 'every job is essential' line was very important for us to understand that.
I want to thank the Australian public. The national cabinet has done a great job. I acknowledge Greg Hunt as the federal health minister. I acknowledge all the health ministers from every state in this country, as well as all the health panels and experts that have been advising governments every step of the way. They've done a great job and should be congratulated. I want to thank Australians. In my community, when we all saw Bondi packed that Sunday, we said: 'Maybe this isn't where we should be. From what we're told, that increases the risk of the virus being spread.' I noticed that the behaviour changed in my community. We as Australians 'got' that. Australians 'got' the importance of social distancing, 'got' the importance of hygiene and made this better for us. As a collective, Australians 'got' it and reacted. They reacted as a community, and there was a health benefit for fellow Australians. Because of that, there is also an economic benefit.
I want to thank the national cabinet. I think it was a great initiative of the Prime Minister. It crossed party boundaries, which was very important. The Australian people certainly didn't want to see partisan politics, and they didn't. They wanted to see the states acting, they wanted to see messages that they understood and they wanted to see that we were acting on those messages. As part of the national cabinet, the state premiers and the chief ministers were involved. No-one's ever going to agree on everything all the time—I get that—but I think they had a solidarity about them and they knew that partisan politics wasn't part of this. At such a very crucial time, it was a great effort by everyone involved.
During our heaviest shutdown, we were very aware of the important people in our community. They are the people that we talk about: the frontline health workers; the people at the check-outs; the truck drivers who were delivering things around this country—sometimes the only things on the road were the trucks; the supply chains; the farmers; everyone producing our food; and everyone producing the essential goods and services that we need. Those people were there, they didn't miss a beat, and they deserve our great thanks as a nation. We all know individuals in our communities who did that. As a nation, we are thankful to all those people.
Touch wood, but we aren't out of this health crisis yet. My learned colleague over there, the member for Macarthur, would know this better than I. This doesn't disappear. This will be around a long time. We have managed it to a degree. 'Flatten the curve' was the mantra—and we did. So I think we've done a great job there. But there is also the economic impact. We are dealing with a double crisis now. We have lost significant numbers of jobs. The unemployment rate, the number of jobs and the underemployment rate that have been mentioned are all true. This is now an ongoing thing that we will need to manage for many, many years.
I don't mean to be alarmist but, if you look at the history of the world, whenever there is a massive economic contraction such as we've seen around the world—it compares to economic depressions et cetera in the thirties—it sometimes leads to a world that is less safe and where you get, for example, nationalist movements and people are fearful. Weird things happen when people lose livelihoods and jobs. So the decisions that we make as a country, as the Prime Minister said earlier today, over the next two months and over the next three years, four years or five years, are important for not only our country and our people but also the globe. Lots of decisions are being made all around the globe right now. The decisions that we make as a country and the decisions made by other world leaders for the next little while are going to map out the future for our planet and everyone on it. So it is a very important time. I know everyone in this chamber has good intentions. Even though we will disagree on some things, I know that we all want to get people back to their jobs, to their livelihoods and to where they were as best we can—and we want that for the globe.
I was reading about this the other day, and it is quite amazing when you think how quickly things have moved. On 21 January, we heard—and for a lot of Australians it would have been the first time that they had ever heard these words—that the human coronavirus with pandemic potential was added to a list of human diseases. That's not that long ago, really. We know that, as Australians, we did very well. We were ahead of the curve. We listed it before the World Health Organization really treated it in the same way we did. That put us on the front foot. Blocking international students and some other international travel gave us some breathing space to get our act together in different ways.
I won't be able to get through all of this list, but I will mention some of the entries. On 11 March, we announced a $2.4 billion health package which covered a whole lot of areas. The next day, we announced a $17.6 billion economic response to the crisis. We were here; we came back to parliament to pass it. I think 'Harry Hindsight' is smart, but at the time that was perceived to be a pretty good response. It was targeted to small business. It was targeted to help the economic response to this. Then, on 13 March, we established the national cabinet, which was a very important part of our response. On 22 March, nine days later, we announced—because, obviously, everyone was becoming much more aware of what this was really going to be—the $66 billion economic response. That was about income support for individuals, a supplement, and boosting cash flows for business. On 29 March, which was just a week later, there was money announced for telehealth and for domestic violence, mental health and community support packages. Then, on 30 March, the day after, we announced the JobKeeper payment—and I have a list of other things we did post that with different industry health packages and the HomeBuilder scheme. This is an important time in our history. We have a big job to do, and we will do it.
Firstly, I would like to concur with the member for Page in saying that the real heroes in this situation that we are facing are the Australian people. Australia has done remarkably well, because the Australian people did what they knew they had to do. I think there are very few countries in the world that would have responded in the way that our people have responded—for example, in taking up the COVIDSafe app, which, in spite of people's misgivings, many millions of Australians have done; complying with the health regulations; complying with social distancing; not going into work but working from home; and putting up with the difficulties of homeschooling their children. All of these things have helped us have a response that is hardly matched throughout the world. New Zealand is perhaps the only other country that's been able to match our response overall. So the Australian people are the heroes, and I concur with the member for Page and I thank him.
I also want to thank the Minister for Health, the member for Flinders, and the shadow health minister, Chris Bowen, for their contribution to this debate. I want to also thank and note the minister for his response to and his handling of the entire COVID-19 pandemic. I also want to thank him for appointing me to the NHMRC COVID-19 health and research group. I am very grateful to him for allowing me to take part in the management of this crisis. I also want to acknowledge and congratulate Professor Brendan Murphy, the Chief Health Officer of the Commonwealth, who has done an absolutely remarkable and outstanding job; our Deputy Chief Medical Officer, Michael Kidd, who's been coordinating the scientific and research response; and those in their team who have worked so tirelessly in recent months to form our response to this pandemic.
It seems like a very short time ago that we were hearing about this pandemic. I remember being at a dinner party in January with some legal friends of mine who were asking me whether we should be concerned about this arising of the virus from the Wuhan in China and what we should be concerned about. I said that we should be concerned, but it was an evolving situation and it was still unclear what was happening. Now, six months later, it is still an evolving situation. We are by no means out of this. This pandemic is the greatest health crisis of my career. I was working as a paediatrician at the beginnings of the HIV epidemic in the early 1980s. I remember those times. People were talking about this as being the greatest medical crisis of our generation of health workers. Well, this has surpassed it by far. It is still evolving.
There are many people we have to congratulate. First of all, as I've said, I think the Australian people are the real heroes in this situation. As a health worker myself, I'm very proud of all of my colleagues—nursing colleagues, laboratory staff, doctors, intensivists. At my local hospitals the unity of purpose has been really overwhelming. Thank God, so far we haven't needed all the health resources that we were preparing. We are very grateful for that. But I know how hard everyone has worked to try and put together a response and prepare us for what could have been much, much worse than we've seen. We're very lucky. So far, because of our national response, we have been able to avoid some of the disasters that I've heard of from my colleagues who have worked in other countries. My daughter Amelia works for Medecins Sans Frontieres. She's based in Germany, but she deals with teams throughout the world. She describes to me some of the terrors that have faced and are facing their teams in countries like Italy and Spain and in Asia and South-East Asia. Amelia's worked with teams and been to Cox's Bazar in Bangladesh. They are facing an absolute disaster with the Rohingya refugees in the refugee camps there. It's an evolving tragedy, as it is evolving around the world. In Africa, in South America and in some of the disadvantaged countries of South-East Asia we are really facing continuing disasters, day after day. We can be very thankful in Australia for our response. Our response has been a bipartisan one, and I think people on both sides need to be congratulated for all this, not only in the federal government but in state governments.
We should be very pleased with our response, but we need to be vigilant. The pandemic is unfortunately far from over. Our society will still be required to adapt to cope with this crisis for many months, probably years. In particular, we have evolving situations with how we are going to deal with some of the unusual behaviours of this virus. We know that a significant number of people with COVID-19 are asymptomatic. That is a big challenge for what we are going to do with our international trade and whether we are going to open our borders. If we are going to have asymptomatic people and presymptomatic people—in other words, people who carry the virus before they develop symptoms—are we going to be able to open or borders? It is virtually impossible to detect those people unless we screen everyone. That is going to be a major difficulty that our country must face, as indeed other countries with closed borders will need to face.
In Australia, we have done very well. Our state borders will hopefully all be opened up very soon. What we do with our international borders is a much, much bigger dilemma. The information about that is still coming forward and needs to be investigated much further before we can open our international borders. That is a major issue, not just for our trade, but also for our universities and for our population who were born overseas, with things like family reunions et cetera. This is a major issue that is still to be resolved.
As I have said, we are very, very lucky. We've had fantastic health responses. I would also like to single out the ABC and the coverage they have given to this crisis, and in particular my good friend Norman Swan, who is the foremost medical communicator in our country and probably one of the best in the world. He has a reputation that extends far beyond Australia. Norman has done a fantastic job. As Norman has said, we have done very well. The fact we have done very well and we haven't faced the disasters of Italy, Spain, England and the United States is really a tribute to everyone in Australia, not just the health system.
Of course there are naysayers who are saying that this is a minor epidemic and it would have been coped with anyway. That is certainly not true. It is still evolving, and we must be forever vigilant. I would like to thank the ABC and Norman Swan for their continuing coverage of this. I thank every day every Australian, and particularly those in my electorate, who are doing their best to continue with the policies that are enabling us to stay virtually free of community spread. We have done very well. I'm not an alarmist. I'm generally an optimist, but I think it is essential for all Australians to understand the gravity of the health situation that is still there. I realise the enormous economic effects of this pandemic. I'm not belittling them. This predominantly remains a health crisis, and the solutions will come through health policy, not through economic policy. We owe it to each of the people in Australia that have died and those who have developed the illness to make sure that we maintain our health vigilance. I will continue to encourage each and every Australian to download the COVIDSafe app. This is a technological way of speeding up contact tracing and helping us manage any outbreaks that occur in our community. Hopefully they will be few, but everything we can do to reduce them will increase the chances of opening up our society.
I would also like to say that, economically, I think we need to make sure that we take care of the disadvantaged. They will be the people that will suffer the most, as they do in most health outbreaks. I acknowledge that some in our society express concerns about the lockdown and the necessity for it. It was important. We have done very well. Let's not drop the ball now. Let's continue with our vigilance.
I will end my contribution to this debate by saying that I believe all that needs to be said already has been said, but I will stress the following: everyone listening should continue practising social distancing, keep maintaining good hygiene practices and think selflessly about the health of our nation.
Only a couple of hours ago we heard some absolutely fantastic news of the finding of that young autistic and non-verbal boy, Will Callaghan, on the thankfully not aptly named Mount Disappointment. I have some understanding of what those parents went through. My son is also autistic and non-verbal. There are times I have lost him, but only for 20 minutes or so. I know the fear that would run through your heart. To hear that that young boy spent 47 hours lost in the wilderness of the Victorian mountains and has been found by the police is a tremendous credit to all those involved in the search and a tremendous credit to our police who coordinated and organised it.
That is so important at this time in our Australian history. We've seen during the coronavirus the police having to enforce draconian laws that simply have no medical logic behind them and no common sense behind them. We saw police arresting lone swimmers in the ocean; a guy on a paddle board out by himself being chased down by a police boat; golfers by themselves, alone on entire golf courses, being rounded up and chased; someone going to put flowers on his wife's grave being harassed by the police. Police having to enforce this petty totalitarianism has damaged the police's reputation in the eyes of many. We need to have a police force that is respected in our society. We need the rule of law respected and the police's authority respected. We see enough of people trying to undermine our police's authority. We saw on ABC TV, only earlier this week, the ABC allowing to go to air unchallenged the accusation that the police have murdered 400 Indigenous Australians over recent years. The ABC allowed that to go to air unchallenged. This is what our police are up for.
So today I am so proud of our police forces and all those volunteers that helped search for that young boy. The things they did, like going out and playing Thomas the Tank Enginethat is exactly the sort of thing I know my son would be attracted to, if you play music like that. The idea that he would take his shoes off is something I can associate with. Also that he has a love of food is exactly the thing that I understand as a father of an autistic and non-verbal child. So that's a wonderful thing that we should celebrate today.
When it comes to the coronavirus and our nation's response, one of the most important decisions that I think was ever made in this parliament was when the Prime Minister made the statement, 'every job is essential'. At that time, there was a lot of pressure on the Prime Minister to close everything down. There were people running around the place saying: 'Lock everything down! Close everything down!' The Prime Minister said, 'No.' He said, 'Every job is essential.' So we kept our construction industry firing. We allowed takeaway food businesses to keep operating. We saved millions of jobs, and billions—perhaps hundreds of billions—of dollars of debt that future generations would have to pay off, all by that one decision of our Prime Minister. He got that decision right.
He also said, 'We are fighting two wars.' We are fighting the war against the virus and we are fighting the economic damage that is being done by that war. Every time the Prime Minister has gone and made a decision he has looked at: what benefits will we get from this step in fighting the virus, and what is the economic cost? What will the cost be? Not just the economic cost; what will that do to the health of people like small-business people who have had their livelihoods and their lives ruined? What will those decisions do to rates of suicide and depression and mental health problems? This idea I have heard some people say, 'We are all in it together,' is complete and utter rubbish. The weight of the government's response, both state and federal, has fallen on the shoulders of a very small number of people, mainly in small business and also in our tourist sector.
That is the decision that we made, but unfortunately that is not what we have seen from some of our state premiers. We have seen a complete dismissal of even a consideration of what the economic costs are both in dollar terms and in terms of, as I said, the mental health, welfare, livelihoods and lives of people. The idea that today, when there has not been a single community infection in New South Wales now for—what is it? Two weeks? There are 7.5 million people in New South Wales, and not one single community infection in two weeks, and yet we still have the border between New South Wales and Queensland closed. This is beyond ridiculous! And if you people on the other side of the chamber don't stand up, you are just as guilty of the harm and the suffering that you are causing to all those people in small business.
An honourable member interjecting—
Yes, exactly. I say yes, the Liberal Party in South Australia are doing it wrong as well. But there is a difference in Queensland. At this time of the year, Queensland relies on its tourism sector so much more in winter to get tourists from southern Australia, so the economic effect on small business in Queensland is far, far, far greater. Let's not make an excuse about what's happening in South Australia—which is wrong—to try and excuse the appalling conduct of the Queensland Premier.
We have heard that they have filed documents in the High Court of Australia denying that there are any harmful economic effects of this lockdown. Is this a joke? Is this seriously a joke? Do they have any idea of what it would be like to have a small retail shop or a restaurant on the Gold Coast, with your home mortgaged and everything on the line for that business, and hear these people saying, 'Oh, no, there's no economic harm'? What an absolute disgrace! Our Constitution is explicit. Section 92 and section 117 in our Constitution are explicit. They provide for free trade and free movement of people across the borders, and only in the most extraordinarily exceptional circumstances can that be overridden. Given that there has not been a single community case in New South Wales in two weeks, that exception is not there. Those restrictions must be lifted immediately. Instead of the Queensland Premier saying, 'I am going to monitor this on an hour-by-hour basis because I don't want to see that border closed for one second longer than is needed'—that is what you would expect from a leader: 'I'm monitoring it day and night, and the very minute I think I can lift those borders I'm going to do it'—we have the Queensland Premier saying, 'Oh, I might look at it at the end of the month.' This is appalling conduct!
That case is being heard before the High Court. If the High Court finds that the Queensland Premier has violated the Australian Constitution, there is no alternative: she must resign. That is why our forefathers wrote the Constitution as it was. They didn't want to see pettifogging state premiers abusing their power and closing down their state borders to try and get some type of artificial electoral advantage. If the High Court comes back and says that there is no reason to close down the borders and that it is in violation of either section 92 or 117 then there is no alternative: the Queensland Premier must resign, if that is the case. There are too many people in small business that are suffering unduly. Let's have concern for those people. Let's have concern for what it's doing to their mental health. There is simply no longer an argument for closing those borders down on health grounds.
Deputy Speaker Gillespie, I thank you for your indulgence on this, but it is most important. We've got to get this economy going again. We are going to have hundreds of billions of dollars of debt that none of us are going to repay. All of us are going to be gone from this place long before we repay it. We owe it to every Australian to get the borders open and the economy moving as soon as possible.
I'm pleased to be able to respond to the statement provided to the House by the Minister for Health and the shadow health minister when we last met during what has been an extraordinary challenge for all of us through this pandemic situation. I'll just update the House with the Illawarra Shoalhaven Local Health District numbers released this morning. There have been a total of 117 confirmed cases of COVID-19 in the region. Currently, thank heavens, none are hospitalised. One hundred and fifteen have recovered, and the total number of people tested is 25,152. I commend all of our health services, from the health minister and the shadow health minister, who made statements, right through to all of the authorities and the service providers that have been involved in that outcome. There is no doubt that a number of months ago we were all very concerned that we would see very different numbers to those, not only in my own region but across the country, as we saw the impacts that this pandemic was having in other countries evolving internationally.
When we last met, I had a brief 90-second opportunity to thank many of the amazing locals who had been working day in and day out to support our community at this time. I acknowledge the doctors, nurses and medical staff, and educators right across the board—early education, schools, TAFE, our universities. Then there are the retail workers. Of course, many shops were shut, but many others were under enormous pressure, as we saw from the panic buying but also in general. They remained open to deal with all that was needed to keep the shops safe while providing essential goods to people. Cleaners across workplaces, public transport and all those places were quietly going about their job, ensuring that we were safe. Transport workers were still out on the road, making sure deliveries got through, particularly as more and more people were relying on things being delivered to their home as they self-isolated.
Mental health workers, homeless service workers, disability care workers—as my colleague the member for Macarthur said, these times hit those who are the most vulnerable the hardest, and they have had an even greater need for the services that those workers provide. The same goes for family and domestic violence workers. Sadly, we know that there is much more pressure on those services at such times.
There are also our public servants, including the obvious frontline public service workers such as our police and emergency service workers. But there are also people like those who work in our embassies and Foreign Affairs, who, we would all know, were putting in extraordinary hours as they interacted with our offices, our staff and the general public to help people who were trapped overseas or were trapped here trying to get home—all of those circumstances. The public servants have had to roll out government programs that were announced with very short lead times and yet had to get out there and make sure that those services, under those new programs, were delivered. It has been an extraordinary effort.
I would also acknowledge union representatives. Many in my area had to immediately start to help people work out what the situation was as work conditions changed and how the JobKeeper program would operate, and make sure that things were actually facilitated—as we saw at the top level between the minister and the ACTU—at the local level and that we could all work together to make sure these things operated well. I want to acknowledge those representatives, as well as other organisations in our area that worked in that space. I particularly think of the Illawarra Business Chamber, who did a lot of work getting information out to their members about how those programs would operate.
I want to report to the House a particular incident. We had the Ruby Princess docked at Port Kembla in my electorate. Of course it is still at the centre of some significant questions under current investigation. Given the deep concerns of many in our community about the pandemic at the time, when the state government decided to direct the ship to Port Kembla it would not have been surprising if people had expressed anger at this. Quite rightly, our local community were concerned and deeply sceptical about the decision. Despite that, they rallied in common human concern for the crew, who were still aboard that ship. Messages of support were sent to them. Friendship packages were sourced, packed and supplied to the crew. I and my colleagues the state members for Wollongong and Keira, supported by my federal colleague the member for Whitlam and my state colleague the member for Shellharbour, all worked together to get those packages to the crew.
I want to particularly acknowledge John Kewa, who leads the amazing team at our local Mission to Seafarers, who work tirelessly to provide support to the seafarers in our port. I also acknowledge Nicole Dillon and family, who suggested the idea of reaching out to the crew and encouraging community participation; Peter Ernst, GM of the Port Authority of New South Wales, for his excellent role in liaising between the New South Wales Police Force, NSW Health and Princess Cruises Australia, ultimately to get clearance for the delivery of the friendship care packages; Mark Sleigh, the CEO of Destination Wollongong, for his brilliant ability to make sure we had extensive media coverage, especially in sharing good-news stories to the wider community and the world in a time when communities were gripped with fear and uncertainty; and Richard Mohr for his support and especially for the lovely postcards, which people were able to sign. They were laminated and delivered prior to the Ruby Princess's departure. We will never forget the scene of that huge cruise ship sailing out of Port Kembla with one of our local tugs giving it a farewell with the hoses. They put a huge sign on the back saying 'Thank you, Illawarra.' I think it just shows the great humanity that sometimes we see, and may we see more of it during such difficult times. For the care packages I want to acknowledge Jill Crossley, Nicole Dillon and family, Paul Scully MP and Alison Byrnes-Scully; Ryan Park MP, Susan Wallis, David Bosanquet, Louise Del Rio, Steven Krinks, Colin and Annette Booth, Lenah Kewa and family, Paul Loemker, Kiley Martin and Llewelyn Hinder and many others whose names I don't have, who gave up their long weekend at Easter to assist in that mammoth task.
We were joined by an organisation called Good360 Australia. It was an extraordinary contribution by them: $70,000 worth of goods that they sourced. Thank you to Alison Covington, the founder and managing director of Good360, and her team, and also the Port Authority of New South Wales. As you can imagine, with that much of a contribution it was a huge effort to pack those onto the crates that needed to go onto ships to be delivered, and they helped with that. We also acknowledge and thank the Australian Mariners Welfare Society for contributing $12,000 towards the project, and our sincere thanks go to the Mission to Seafarers Sydney for contributing $500. I also want to acknowledge Kollaras & Co, who helped with us transporting the goods to the ship. There were obviously many, many stories of people doing important things at the time.
In the time that's left to me I just want to indicate to the House that I'll be looking for some other opportunities to talk about how the government's initiatives that I've outlined—in particular, JobKeeper—are working in our area. There are some concerns. I genuinely welcome the JobKeeper program and I think it's a good initiative, but there are some anomalies that are causing real concern. I really ask the government to listen and take the concerns on board. The Treasurer has the power under the legislation to sign off and make changes.
For me, the dnata workers who work at our airports are a particular case. I have a number of them living in my electorate; they work at Sydney Airport. Some of them have contacted me. Basically, they've worked in this job for many, many years and, beyond their power, the ownership has gone from Australian ownership to a foreign ownership, yet they've continued doing the same job in ensuring that our aircraft are supplied and food is provided, all the things that all of us enjoy as we travel—not so much recently. But those workers, because of that ownership change, have been locked out of accessing the JobKeeper, and many of them are not eligible for jobseeker either. That's the case for my constituents. So I ask the government to have another look at that, because these workers do need that support.
COVID-19 has been a battle fought on many fronts. Firstly, this is of course a health issue—probably the greatest health issue many of us will see in our lifetimes. The COVID-19 health crisis has elicited a response from government which has been unprecedented, and the Minister for Health should be commended for his work. Second, we are fighting an economic battle. We have endured unseen demand shocks, the full effects of which I'm sure we have not fully seen. The Treasurer has coordinated a world-leading response, and his tireless efforts have helped save the livelihoods of millions of Australians. Our focus is now on building confidence and momentum in our economy and resetting to help grow the economy for the years ahead. The government's jobseeker, JobKeeper, JobMaker and HomeBuilder programs are all steps in the right direction.
As a health issue, COVID-19 is set to permanently reshape our society. Australians have not experienced anything like this before and, unfortunately, we will all be left with the fear of something like this happening again. The Australian government's response has been world-class, and we are lucky to be seeing the easing of restrictions across all states in Australia. This is a wonderful thing and should be celebrated; however, it is worth remembering there was no silver bullet to solving this health crisis. The Prime Minister and his team led a multifaceted response, always in consultation with experts and state leaders. Every action taken by the government was timely and carefully measured. The Minister for Health has outlined the progressive way in which the borders were closed, ensuring that as many Australians as possible could come home.
Closing the borders was integral to limiting the spread of COVID-19 in Australia; however, other measures at home have been just as crucial. We have all come to learn the new phrase 'social distancing'. It might have sounded odd at first, but these measures had a huge impact on flattening the curve. Every decision made was not made lightly. We are winning, but the fight is not over. I urge all my constituents in Chisholm to continue their good work and to download the COVIDSafe app if they haven't done so already.
We are in the good position we are in thanks to the good work of Australians in following social-distancing restrictions and the sacrifices that they have made, and we all deserve a pat on the back. However, like many others, I am concerned about the protests over the weekend. While all of us in this House condemn racism, I am deeply aware that we cannot ease up just as we are beginning to stem the spread of the virus. I would urge all Australians not to be complacent. Let's avoid further outbreaks and beat the pandemic together.
With the curve now flattening, it might be convenient to think the war has been won. Sure, we have some successes to celebrate on the health front, but our economic battles have just begun. It's easy to focus on the fact that in Victoria we can now have gatherings of up to 20 people at home, and restaurants are now able to gradually reopen for dining for up to 20 people at a time. However, what isn't so easy to focus on is the debt now upon us. This debt may have helped millions of Australians. I am proud to have supported it, but it must be repaid. In the last sitting week of parliament I spoke in the House of the love I have for my children and how I missed seeing them on Mother's Day. As a parent, every decision I have ever made has been made with my children and Australia's next generation front of mind. My decision to support the economic stimulus, which has helped many Australians, was no different. I thought of how, as younger Australians, they might one day become responsible for that debt. It wasn't a decision I made lightly. As the Treasurer rightfully said, what we borrow today we must repay in the future.
This support helped many businesses and individuals in my electorate. Let me briefly inform the Chamber of Salon First in Burwood. This is a small business which has updated me that, thanks to JobKeeper, they will be able to come out of the COVID-19 crisis with all their staff still on board. This is exactly what JobKeeper was for. Salon First's owners, Beth and George, know that a coalition government is on their side.
While we have been focusing on tackling problems at home, we are now facing challenges from abroad as well. Like many others, I am concerned by calls from the Chinese government over the past week telling tourists and students not to come to Australia. We have a strong and proud multicultural community here in Australia, especially in my electorate of Chisholm. Over 50 per cent of people in the electorate were born overseas. Australia is one of the safest and most welcoming destinations for tourists and international students, and I'm proud of my country's strong record of welcoming people into our country. The idea that Australia is in any way an unsafe destination does not stand up to scrutiny. As the first Chinese Australian woman in the House of Representatives, I am very much aware of increased concern about race based attacks in migrant communities. While there may have been increased attacks against Australians of Asian background during COVID-19 simply because of how they looked, these have come from a rogue minority of people in Australia. They do not represent the majority of Australians, who in my 35 years in Australia I have found to be overwhelmingly generous, welcoming and kind.
Chinese Australians have been some of the first to respond to COVID-19, and they should be commended and celebrated for this act. Chinese Australian organisations like the Asian Business Association of Whitehorse, a group which I have spoken about many times, were some of the first organisations to respond to the COVID-19 crisis. They took the voluntary step of cancelling their lunar new year celebrations—a tough decision to make in January but, with the benefit of hindsight, the right call. This group, like many other Chinese-Australian organisations, called upon their members to give back to Australian communities, and they raised $50,000. This money was used by Box Hill Hospital to purchase much-needed medical equipment which I'm sure has helped save many lives. I have a quote from Mr Jason Smith, the director of the Eastern Health Foundation, which supports Box Hill Hospital. He said in relation to the ABAW:
The association has made a donation as an organisation and has also been encouraging its members to donate individually, with many cash injections coming from donors with Chinese surnames.
Finally, I want to echo the Minister for Health in thanking the Prime Minister. His leadership has been exceptional and the key to Australia getting an upper hand on COVID-19. To the Prime Minister and to my good friend the Minister for Health: thank you for what you have done for this country. The Minister for Health has rightfully said that the job is not yet done. Our work is not finished. The virus is not yet defeated. So let's all stay united and do it together.
As we meet here in parliament, already halfway through 2020, it's hard to really come to terms with what a difficult year it has been so far and how much our community has been through. So much the same in my community of Canberra; it has been a really difficult year for our businesses, our community organisations, our environment and our people.
Of course the year began with the unprecedented bushfires around Australia. For Canberra, a big part of that was a really significant health crisis in its own right: the smoke haze. We had many days where it was the worst air quality in the world, and also many days that were classified as hazardous and people were advised not to leave their homes. After that, we had a freak hailstorm which caused really widespread damage across Canberra. It damaged thousands of cars and buildings, including priceless long-term research which was housed in glasshouses at the CSIRO, which was another devastating loss as part of that. And then, obviously, after that, we've had COVID-19 and our response to that and the restrictions there.
Canberra has dealt with this relatively well. Obviously, as a nation, we've done well at flattening the curve. I want to again take this opportunity to thank the healthcare workers in Canberra for everything that they've done to get us through this crisis; also the ACT government for the things that they have done locally to get our community through; and all the other workers I will again take the opportunity to thank, from our supermarket workers to cleaners and public transport and everyone that has kept us going through this crisis.
Last week I hosted a business forum with our shadow minister assisting for small and family business, Matt Keogh, who is the member for Burt. I want to thank the Canberra businesses that attended that forum and our Canberra Business Chamber for helping to facilitate that forum. Obviously the main focus was how businesses are coping with COVID-19 and looking towards coming out of restrictions in coming weeks. Something that was really clear from that meeting and the concerns is that Canberra businesses have really gone through an extremely difficult time. I'm not sure that people around the country realise just how hard Canberra has been hit by the cumulative impacts of these crises this year. It's something that, as the member for Canberra, I feel a responsibility to make known in this place. Whilst Canberra is often viewed as a bubble and a wealthy community, we have struggles like other parts of the community as well and, with that, an impact on our businesses. Whilst we thankfully, of course, didn't have the fires in Canberra that communities in our region had, that smoke did really have a huge impact, because people were not leaving their homes for weeks. People weren't going out, places were closed, our airport was closed several times. Unlike other communities that had the fires, Canberra businesses were unable to receive any assistance. So they really are in need of support at this time. Whilst JobKeeper has been a huge help to businesses, there are obviously gaps in that, and many people have been left out of the assistance package. We've been talking about that a lot on this side of the House today and in the last few weeks.
Now is certainly a time to maintain and grow jobs, not to cut jobs and destroy jobs. I want to talk about two examples of that now, as we come out of this pandemic, or as we begin to adjust. Throughout 2020—first of all, the bushfires and then, of course, COVID-19—the ABC has been a critical source of information for so many Australians, yet the government will force the ABC to cut 250 jobs to meet a $41 million annual budget shortfall. The ABC has lost $783 million in funding since the coalition came to power in 2014. During the fires, 81 per cent of Australians used the ABC as their main source of information, and 60 per cent of people in bushfire affected areas said the information helped ensure their safety. There is no doubt that the ABC's work to disseminate information about COVID-19 and the restrictions in place have helped ensure our safety during this pandemic too, and some of our success in where we've got to now. So why the government would continue to cut the budget of the ABC now is not clear to me. This is a critical information source and an independent media that should be supported and is vital to Australia—not just to our health and safety but to our democracy.
Another example is Australia Post. So many Canberrans are writing to me about this at the moment. Many Canberrans are very concerned about the government's proposed regulatory changes to Australia Post, which could see services scaled back and the post delivered less regularly with, no doubt, jobs and wages cut in the process. The government has halved the frequency of postal delivery rounds, leaving the jobs of up to one in four posties, and many other indirect jobs already, in limbo. Labor is concerned these measures, although apparently temporary during the pandemic, will remain in place. I'm proud to say that Labor is going to oppose these changes, and we'll do our best to disallow them through the parliament.
As we do come out of this unprecedented crisis, it really is a time for big ideas and there are opportunities. Our leader, Anthony Albanese, has talked about this—that we actually have a really special moment in history now where we can take this opportunity to review and rethink and rebuild an economy that is stronger, more sustainable and more inclusive. But, unfortunately, we're seeing some of these opportunities completely missed by this government. One example is on climate change; this is another issue close to the hearts of so many Canberrans who write to me about it. Ross Garnaut has written in his book Superpower not only about how Australia can embrace a low-carbon future but also about how a low-carbon future will transform our economy and bring in the equivalent of a second mining boom. Exporting clean energy and producing green steel using hydrogen are some of the opportunities that are presented. Transforming our electricity grid to run on renewables is also something that is happening despite this government's inaction. So imagine if we got behind those things as a nation and invested in a recovery from this crisis that transformed our economy and our future as a planet.
Another opportunity that's being missed is on housing. The government's HomeBuilder scheme is devoid of funding to improve public housing, reduce homelessness and respond to the massive strain on remote housing for First Nations communities. HomeBuilder has had zero applications a week after it was announced. Clearly there aren't many Australians earning less than $125,000 per year who have $150,000 lying around to spend on a renovation during a pandemic. It is a long way off the 7,000 anticipated to take it up, so Labor has called on the government to put this money into social housing or affordable housing. We've called on the government to build more affordable housing stock for our essential workers and to expand the First Home Loan Deposit Scheme. It's really a question of priorities, because all these measures will stimulate the economy, but we should be investing in those who need it most and in those who don't have somewhere to live or can't invest in their own home without some of this help, rather than in renovations for people who can afford it anyway.
Lastly, the pandemic has again really demonstrated the critical importance of a strong social safety net. In doubling the jobseeker—formerly Newstart—amount, the government has acknowledged that people cannot live on the $40-a-day amount that it was previously, and we cannot return to that. I wish that the government would accept that. We on this side have been calling on the government to take this opportunity to reset that rate. But it's also an opportunity to look at the whole system. We have an excellent structure there to deliver a highly targeted and strong social safety net, but it has been neglected and cut over many years. At the moment, we have one-in-six Australian children living in poverty. So it is time to look at our social security system, which is one of the most powerful tools governments have to lift people out of poverty. I would urge the government to do that and take that opportunity, as we come out of this pandemic, to look at the positives and to think about the type of economy and society we could be building as we return to normal.
The COVID-19 pandemic crisis is obviously an event that will go down in history and is even much more devastating than the pandemic of 100-and-so years ago. But the response that Australia has made so far will also go down in the record books as one of the most successful managements thus far of a viral pandemic, when you see the tragedy unfolding around the world in countries with very large health systems, very mature health systems, and with all the medicine and technology that money can buy and yet the disease has gone through the population, literally with fatal consequences. Because the virus is new and it's come from animals and it may have had a bit of designer engineering added—we are not to know for sure, but there's a lot of suspicion in scientific circles that that is, indeed, the case—it has had a particular predilection to have a higher mortality in the elderly, but obviously it can be fatal in young people. And that's what has happened in other pandemics as opposed to the regular flu, where young people don't get the severe illness. With this, young people can get it. That's why it's such a serious condition.
I'd just like to run through and document some of the incredibly effective manoeuvres. We were right out of the blocks, first of all, as a nation, calling it a listed human disease of pandemic potential on 21 January. That's weeks ahead of the WHO. We announced our emergency response plan for both the health and the non-health sectors on 27 February, and our national biosecurity coordination plan on 5 March. And then there was the declaration of a biosecurity event on 18 March.
I would like to compliment, from the top down, Minister Hunt, the Chief Medical Officer, all the other medical officers around the state, all those on the Australian Health Protection Principal Committee and all our health workers. Across the Lyne electorate we had quite a cluster of cases because a lot of our retirees are big travellers and they love going on cruises. So we imported quite a lot of people into the Lyne electorate. At the bottom end, down in John Hunter, through to Manning Base Hospital, through to Port Macquarie Base Hospital, we had a huge mobilisation of health resources. We've set up respiratory clinics. We've got GP respiratory clinics. We've got drive-by testing. Fortunately, because of all the social isolation principles that the nation embraced and contact tracing by our community and public health officers, we have flattened the curve. But the unfortunate thing about this new virus that we humans aren't used to is that it will behave like every other viral pandemic. It will bounce around the world until we get to 60 per cent or 70 per cent of people who have been exposed and become immune, or we get a vaccine, or we get a treatment or both, or all three. So this is with us for a while to come. And, even though we've had an outstanding response so far, there will be other waves.
We negotiated with the states in a way that we haven't negotiated before. We negotiated with private hospitals to get all their equipment, staff and everything ready for a wave that would have happened if we hadn't acted early. Some people said we have overreacted, but we haven't. Just look at what has happened in America, Europe and England—the NHS is overwhelmed. We would have been in the same situation. I worked in the NHS. It's a massive employer. There are hospitals everywhere and they've got thousands of people, and they were overwhelmed. Look at what has happened in Europe—the same thing.
We have got control of it now, but we have the other crisis—that is, the economic crisis. We've done amazing things with JobKeeper and jobseeker. We've put money into the bond markets to keep interest rates, bonds and credit flowing. We've mobilised superfund money. We've got jobseeker and JobKeeper. We've had plans for mental health. We've had plans for industry—keeping minimum transport networks around the Asia-Pacific and looking after our Asia-Pacific neighbours. We've expanded viral testing. We've expanded our treatment. We've got ventilators. We've got all the bases covered.
Now we have to lift the restrictions in a COVID-safe way. That's why the COVIDSafe app is so important—it speeds up and industrialises the tracing that is otherwise done manually. Having gone to a few restaurants and a few clubs and pubs over the last week, I know that what we are doing in New South Wales, at least, is manually having to register and give your details. But, if you've got the app, they have said: 'Don't worry. You've got the app turned on; just come in.' It is really part of our response. We have to lift the restrictions in a sensible way. I'd like Queensland to open their borders and for the other states to open their borders, because we need Australian business happening again. We can't keep paying and supporting businesses forever. We will be in a huge debt situation that we'll never quite recover from. We will be continually managing it, rather than extinguishing it, and I don't want that remaining for my children and their children. If we don't get the economy back working, we will have a massive problem for generations.
The other thing that I would like to talk about is the idea that has been floated of a travel bubble to similar nations like New Zealand and maybe Taiwan, who have had an exceptional response. It's a great idea. In our Pacific neighbourhood, there are a lot of smaller nations that depend on us. As I said, we've kept the transport links open for them when other people have vanished. We should be really proud of what we have done for our Pacific neighbours. But some of them are reluctant to engage, because they're scared. But, if they're happy to have it, we should include them in our tourism bubble to get things going again.
On the testing, other people have said, 'If we've got a low-risk country, why don't we open it to them, if we've got rapid testing, before they get on a plane?' If we set up a system whereby, if people do want to come to Australia and they get tested the day before, they can go into a pre-flying quarantine—they can go into a 24-hour or a shortened quarantine here and get retested after the trip—and if they are free, well, away we go; we've got a person doing business and/or having a holiday in Australia safely. We could use it to our advantage.
The thing is: we will have second waves. But, as I said, if we have our contact tracing and our isolation and quarantine in place, hopefully it will bubble around at lower numbers. But we can't remain a hermit nation forever. I'm not sure what the big-picture plan is for when we will lift our travel restrictions. Whilst there's exponential growth in these other surrounding countries, I can't see it happening in the immediate future. But, for the safer countries, I think it's a matter of some great national import to get our tourism businesses going again. The poor people in Queensland are crying out for tourism. In New South Wales, the only cases are usually imports from overseas that are isolated in quarantine. But there's this Queensland phenomenon where, I think, they think they're going to eradicate this disease. We can suppress it, but it's not going to be eradicated around the world any time soon. As long as we don't have aspirations to stay an isolated country, like North Korea, and stop everyone from coming here, we are going to have to manage it. We've got to learn to live with it and get our economy going again, because, as I said, it's not sustainable.
What we have done is great. Be proud of what we've done. We've saved thousands and thousands of lives. We would have had what other countries are going through now if we hadn't done what we've done. But now that we've got it under control—and that's the important thing—I, like most Australians, will be hanging on national cabinet decisions. I would like to encourage premiers like Annastacia Palaszczuk to use the data and apply common sense, rather than support irrational fears, and get the economy going again.
I rise to speak on Australia's COVID-19 health response, following the minister's statement on the response taken to this global pandemic. We are very fortunate to live on an island where we really can shut ourselves off from the rest of the world physically. As a nation, we've done well to practise physical distancing from one another, and I commend all Australians on their responsiveness to the health challenge and their compliance with the guidance.
While we've done so well to date, we need to keep up the good practices developed already. To this effect, I urge everyone to stay focused on the measures we all must ensure we take responsibility for: these are the 1.5 metres of distancing; hand-washing; staying home; getting tested if there are any concerns; and downloading the app or, if you have uncertainties, keeping a clear record of your movements. We all have a part to play to maintain this outcome, in terms of this health crisis. Of course, we can't talk about this health crisis and how well Australia has done without saying thank you to all our health and frontline professionals who have played such a massive part in the outcome. They have kept Australia going and kept Australia safe through the pandemic.
This is also an opportunity to speak about the issues that have come up as a result of this pandemic: one that pertains to the current crisis and one that reflects where the government should go in the future in relation to health crises. Some of the stories that we've received—and I'm sure my fellow MPs have received many as well—have been about the personal impact and challenges that so many in our community have gone through with this pandemic. It has tested so many aspects of our systems, and, whilst the response has often had to be in haste, there have been issues where there is an opportunity to look at whether our response have been adequate and whether we have left some of our more vulnerable in the community exposed and with insufficient assistance.
One such story that I received from a constituent in Warringah was incredibly moving and highlighted a real difficulty. It was about a family of four who face a wide range of challenges in their everyday life and who in the era of COVID-19 have suffered even more and continue to do so. The mother, father and one son all manage multiple comorbidities, and all require psychological assistance. Their youngest son has cerebral palsy and a hearing impairment and is also in need of psychiatric help. The family are paying for their various medical costs on one wage. They were not eligible for the coronavirus supplement, as were so many others in their situation. This is an example of how many families have struggled with the conditions created by the crisis, which exacerbated an already difficult situation.
From a policy point of view, I urge the government to consider further measures to assist these families. A particular area that comes up a lot in constituent correspondence is the limit of 10 psychology visits per year, which is not enough for people in this situation, with or without a pandemic. It has been made worse and it is insufficient. I urge the government to raise the limit on psychology visits per year for people who have a mental health diagnosis in addition to other disabilities. Their carers, too, need further support. As we emerge from the COVID-19 health crisis, we need to be vigilant in its aftermath and about the impact on the mental health of so many Australians. We know that there is a much greater risk of domestic violence and we know that there is a much greater risk of poor mental health outcomes. We need to ensure that services are adequately funded and that specific packages are put in place to make sure that those more vulnerable in the community are assisted.
One of the things that have been interesting has been the government's ability and willingness to act on health and scientific advice. In fighting this pandemic, we cannot escape the obvious parallel with other crises that we face, the most obvious being the health impacts of a hotter world. We must shift our focus to the long-term health challenges this will present. In September last year, the Australian Medical Association declared that climate change is real and will have the earliest and most severe health consequences on vulnerable populations around the world, including in Australia and the Pacific region. The AMA further stated that climate change will affect health and wellbeing by increasing the situations in which infectious diseases can be transmitted, through more extreme weather events, particularly heatwaves. In doing so, the AMA were joined by the American Medical Association, the British Medical Association and a chorus of other associations like the Royal Australasian College of Physicians and the Australian Medical Students Association. The government must listen to our peak bodies for all health risks.
Last year, the world's pre-eminent medical journal, The Lancet, established that Australia is particularly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change on health and that policy inaction in this regard threatens Australian lives. It stated that the increased prevalence of heatwaves will lead to more instances of acute kidney injury, congestive heart failure, heat stress and heatstroke, interpersonal and collective violence and impacts on mental health. Children will be more at risk than the general population and will have a greater risk of electrolyte imbalance, fever, respiratory disease and kidney disease. There's also evidence that a hotter world will make infectious diseases like COVID-19 more common. Andrew MacDonald of Stanford University found:
… the sorts of large environmental changes we are seeing today, including climate and land use change, have a high potential to lead to changes in health outcomes, including the transmission of infectious diseases.
The health impacts of our changing environment should have been made clear to all Australians during the 2019-20 'black summer'. We learnt from the recent bushfires royal commission that 445 people died of smoke inhalation and over 3,000 people were admitted to hospital with respiratory issues.
We have shown great regard for science and the advice of our experts to chart our way out of this crisis, and I commend the government for that. We must also do that on climate change. With COVID-19 we accepted that we had to act early and decisively to avoid our systems being overrun. The same applies to our emissions and the environment. If we fail to reduce our emissions decisively, our systems and environment will be irreversibly impacted and will be overrun. The government knows that we must flatten the curve on our emissions as a matter of urgency. We can use this recovery as an opportunity for significant economic reform and to put us in an immediate trajectory to achieve the best health outcomes.
This parliament has a duty of care to the country and particularly to its children and future generations. The health emergency we are facing now has revealed the importance of being prepared and taking early action. Changes to our lifestyle that we would have thought impossible to accept were overwhelmingly accepted by so many Australians. We all pulled together for a common good to ensure we could defeat the health crisis of the pandemic. It's now time to do the same for the impacts of climate change. We were not prepared when the coronavirus first hit our shores, but we did take early action, and that has served us well. Now we need to take urgent action on the biggest long-term health risk we face.
I rise today to commend the leadership shown by the national cabinet in the COVID-19 health response to date. I speak for many of us in this place and many in my community when I thank the incredible work of our Chief Medical Officer, Dr Brendan Murphy, our Minister for Health, Minister Greg Hunt, the Australian Health Protection Principle Committee and the many medical experts who have been working around the clock since the start of the year. Australia moved swiftly on 21 January to identify COVID-19 as a human coronavirus with pandemic potential, under the Biosecurity Act. This action was taken ahead of the World Health Organization, which met on 30 January to declare the novel coronavirus outbreak a public health emergency of international concern. We moved early and quickly to enhance border measures, put in place quarantine structures for returning Australians and eventually shut all borders to foreign nationals. Around two-thirds of our total cases of the coronavirus were acquired overseas, so it is clear how necessary it was to take these measures.
From the outset, our health response has been comprehensive. The Morrison government delivered a $1.1 billion community health package, and this included a $669 million whole-of-population telehealth primary care program through the Medical Benefits Scheme. This has helped to keep GPs open for face-to-face services for patients with conditions that can't be treated via telehealth. It has also meant that patients can get the assistance they need while remaining at home to social distance. When announcing the expansion of telehealth, Minister Hunt said that changes that were expected to take many years had been undertaken in 10 days, which speaks to the cohesive work of our healthcare workers and leaders during the pandemic. Our ventilator stockpile has gone from 2,200 to 7,500. Forty million masks from the National Medical Stockpile are available now, on top of the over 34 million masks to date made available to our healthcare and aged-care workers. This funding has also seen 436 respiratory clinics operating nationally, including over 100 GP-led clinics established more than two weeks ahead of schedule. I recently visited Concord hospital's COVID-19 clinic in my electorate of Reid. The staff there have been working tirelessly to test exhibiting symptoms and help stop the spread of the coronavirus. I want to commend the work of the doctors and nurses, the people in the emergency department, the paramedics, and everyone in the COVID-19 clinic for their hard work during this time. I also want to commend the work of those who have been working tirelessly at the Five Dock drive-through clinic, those now working at the Homebush Bay drive-through clinic, and also the healthcare workers across the Sydney local district more broadly.
In relation to testing, we have now passed 1.6 million tests across Australia. Of those tests, only 0.4 per cent have been positive. Australia is leading the way in the scale and accuracy of testing. Our record testing is reinforced by the contact tracing being carried out rapidly across the states and territories. This process has been made more efficient through the COVIDSafe app, which is speeding up our tracing and allowing state health officials to contain potential outbreaks before they spread. The app has been downloaded by more than 6.2 million Australians, and we thank everybody who is participating and doing their bit to help stop the spread of the virus. Our government encourages as many people as possible to participate in downloading the app and, if this is not possible, to keep a daily record of the places that they have been and the people that they have been in contact with. Health officials across our states have used the app to successfully contact-trace those who were in proximity to a coronavirus patient.
I also want to acknowledge the significant focus the Morrison government has placed on mental health during this period. As a psychologist, I'm particularly passionate about mental health policy. I think it's wonderful that I'm part of a government that has invested so much into mental health. Mental health is really the priority. The Australian people were confronted by the coronavirus pandemic when they were already vulnerable from bushfires and drought. The pandemic's isolating and anxiety-inducing effects have, no doubt, added to the collective stress and trauma. As the restrictions ease, the government's preparedness for a COVID-safe environment has assisted in reducing this anxiety and restoring confidence to many Australians, knowing that potential outbreaks can be detected and contained quickly. For others, their mental health may be impacted by the financial pressures or loss of employment caused by the pandemic, which is why the government's economic support package is so important in protecting people's wellbeing and livelihood.
For most of us, the act of social distancing, isolation and the loss of our usual routine have been enough to impact our mental wellbeing. That is why I'm proud that our government has so significantly invested in our mental healthcare response. Since January this year, we have provided $500 million for mental health services and support. It is an important and necessary component to our road to recovery. The Morrison government committed a $74 million package in the early stages of the coronavirus outbreak for preventative mental health services. As a result, we have seen 50 per cent of healthcare consultations being conducted through telehealth. Over one million telehealth mental health consultations have taken place since mid-March. The government's digital mental health portal, Head to Health, has become a single source of information and guidance on how to maintain good mental health during the coronavirus pandemic. The portal outlines simple self-care behaviours that can benefit everybody, from simply eating well to regular exercise, having regular breaks, not watching the 24-hour news cycle, and having good sleep hygiene practices.
The government has supported the important work of beyondblue by providing $10 million of federal funding for a dedicated coronavirus wellbeing support line. This is helping people experiencing a coronavirus diagnosis or experiencing anxiety due to employment changes, financial difficulties, family pressures or other challenges associated with coronavirus. A further $40 million of federal funding has bolstered the capacity of mental health providers such as Lifeline and Kids Helpline. To make sure that our younger Australians stay on track in their education and feel prepared for the workforce post-pandemic, $6.75 million will be provided to deliver the headspace digital work and studies service and eheadspace.
Of course our doctors and nurses and frontline healthcare workers have gone above and beyond during this time and could be at risk of burnout themselves. The Black Dog Institute is now providing digital access to mental health support for our frontline healthcare workers. It is our priority that they have the resources they need to take care of their own mental health in what has been an incredibly stressful and at times traumatising public health crisis.
I also want to commend the Morrison government for appointing the country's first Deputy Chief Medical Officer for Mental Health, and I congratulate Dr Ruth Vine on this role. I advocated to the Minister for Health that a mental health professional should be integral to the work of our Chief Medical Officer, and I am so pleased that Dr Vine will take up this position. I am confident that she will continue to strengthen the government's coordinated medical and mental health response to the pandemic and beyond.
While Australia is tracking exceptionally well, we know that there will be further outbreaks or spikes of the virus in the months ahead. We know that our hard work is by no means over. Let's not forget the success we've seen, and let's keep building on it as our nation recovers from the crisis. The Commonwealth government's health response has been robust. Our nation is once again proving its resilience. I am confident that the government will continue to steer Australia in the right direction on the road to recovery.
It's great to be able to acknowledge all the great Territorians and all the great Australians who have contributed to what's so far been a world-leading response. As the previous speaker said, we can't let our guard down. We know there is a risk of a return in strength of COVID, so we must keep our discipline up and follow the health advice, and we'll continue to do well.
Restrictions are easing around the country. We shouldn't stop to forget, and it's important to remember and honour, the work of our health professionals: doctors, nurses, pharmacists, allied health workers, carers, aged-care workers, disability workers—all the frontline workers that kept us safe, fed and connected to each other and to essential services during the pandemic. But Australians themselves, everywhere, have made sacrifices to help flatten the curve. Many have distanced themselves from their families, which I know has been difficult. Some have shut down their businesses, paused their livelihoods and been forced to give up work. People have been forced to cancel weddings, and family members have been unable to attend funerals. These are not small things.
According to the reported stats this morning, Australia had 7,267 reported cases, of which 6,720 have recovered, and, unfortunately, we've had 102 deaths. In the last 24 hours, we've had two new cases nationwide. So we have fared better than most countries, but we need to be careful not to get too cocky, I suppose, and we need to be careful not to quantify the effects of COVID on these figures alone. Each of those 102 people we lost represents a life, a soul, a grieving family and community, and a reminder of how devastating COVID can be.
We should acknowledge the work done by the Department of Health, the Chief Medical Officer, the Chief Nursing and Midwifery Officer and their deputies and staff, and, in addition, the work done by the government and state and territory governments, and the constructive role and the constructive work of the federal opposition. While we cannot doubt the fact the government's response, both at the territory and state level and at the federal level, has saved lives, we should reflect on where the collective response could've been quicker and where it could've been better. Had we moved the Ruby Princess out of the question, the conversation about recovery and what the new normal would look like would be more advanced.
We should also reflect on the adequacy of the support provided by the government. We know that JobKeeper isn't perfect, and unfortunately the government's announcement of free child care has equated to no child care for many. The government's changes have meant that many Australians who need to access that child care are not able to access it. Let's keep working at it and get these policies right. Many of those providers who need funding are not able to tap into the additional funding allocated, putting the future of their centres in jeopardy. I held a briefing last week with the shadow minister for early education, Amanda Rishworth, the member for Kingston. I thank her for that. There were so many childcare operators that are really unhappy. I again encourage the minister to get it right.
The Northern Territory performed a vital role during COVID-19 for our nation. As it has always done, the Territory has been willing to do whatever is required to keep our nation safe and secure. In what now seems like an age ago, in early February, when borders and pubs were open and we were looking forward to the footy season starting, the Manigurr-ma Village at Howard Springs, just outside of Darwin, was utilised as a quarantining hub for Australian citizens and permanent residents who were evacuated from overseas, many of whom were in Wuhan and mainland China during the worst of the pandemic. It later held many people who needed to be evacuated from the Diamond Princess. That facility at Howard Springs, the old Inpex workers camp, is still being utilised to isolate people who do not live in Darwin or who do not have a home where they can self-isolate, including those who are homeless or live with other vulnerable people.
The Northern Territory has fared better than most. It would not be a stretch to say that because of the efforts of Territorians and the Northern Territory government the Northern Territory may just be the safest place in the world. As the NT Chief Minister, Michael Gunner, says, we are the safest and the freest right now in Australia. There has been no community transmission in the Northern Territory to date. There are no active cases in the Northern Territory. The last two active cases we had were soldiers. They got COVID overseas, they returned to Australia, they were treated and they recovered. I thank them for their service. To date, all positive cases in the NT have been connected to international or interstate travel. The Northern Territory government has released its road map to our new normal, which outlines the plan for easing restrictions in the coming weeks and months, provided, of course, that there's no surge in cases.
So at this point I think it is right to make some acknowledgments. I want to congratulate the Chief Minister, Michael Gunner; his deputy, Nicole Manison; the Minister for Health, Natasha Fyles; and all of the cabinet ministers, all the other ministers and all the members of that great NT government united team. Of course, the Department of Health workers and the Chief Health Officer have also been a great team. I want to acknowledge the work done by our police officers—in particular, the NT police commander, Jamie Chalker. Our police officers have been at every point of entry into the Territory. The officers have been patrolling with members of the ADF. I want to acknowledge some of those ADF members. The Operation COVID-19 Assist team, led by Brigadier Ash Collingburn, Commander, 1st Brigade, has done a sterling job. The team is now led by Colonel John Papalitsas, from the Regional Force Surveillance Group. I've had great feedback from the NT government on how good that assistance from the ADF has been, whether it has been in logistics, communications, planning or manning the biosecurity checkpoints. The internal biosecurity checkpoints in the Northern Territory have been stood down, but there are still seven border posts, as our border remains closed. There are four ADF members at these checkpoints working with NT police and NT health officials.
So I just want to acknowledge and congratulate them all. This Defence assistance to the civil community is essential and is appreciated by the people of the Northern Territory. They've all done a sterling job. But most of all I want to thank every Territorian. Keep doing the right thing, as we've done so far, and we'll continue to reap the rewards.
One of my two best friends on the planet, Ron Purse, rang me the other night. He's lived most of his life nearly 300 kilometres from the nearest town. He and I owned half a million acres together at one stage, and he owned many hundreds of thousands quite separately in some good country. He said, 'Mate, I'm doing the right thing—staying at home, not doing anything wrong.' I think he was quite proud of that when he told me that. The only thing that really has beaten this has been moral suasion. The governments have said, 'It's the wrong thing to do, so stay at home, please,' and people have stayed at home.
In North Queensland, where I come from and the honourable member for Dawson comes from, we are 400 kilometres away from any other part of Australia. We're like Tasmania; we're a separate island. As the honourable member for Dawson will tell you, Mackay and surrounds are 350 or 400 kilometres from Rockhampton. Longreach is 300 kilometres from Hughenden or Mount Isa. We have never had coronavirus. The only cases we've had are those where someone's come up from Brisbane or come in on a cruise ship that came up to North Queensland. There's not been a case of anyone actually getting the disease in North Queensland. We've been nearly three months without the disease, yet the honourable member for Dawson and the honourable member for Kennedy have watched their entire tourism industry be completely destroyed.
The Premier of Queensland is still sitting there saying, 'No, no; you can't have any tourists.' It's alright for the Gold Coast; they get tourists from Brisbane. We don't; we get our tourists from outside of North Queensland. You're not allowed to travel any further than—I don't know what it is at the present moment—and the consequences have been disastrous for us. Yes, we have the coal industry, as the member for Dawson and I are both well aware. Yes, we have the magnificent mining region, the north-west minerals province. Yes, we do have those things. We have the sugar industry, we have a cattle industry—it's not really big by the standards of the coal industry or the sugar industry—and we have the tourism industry, which may be our second- or third-biggest employer, and it's being completely destroyed as we talk.
We have not had a case of coronavirus in something like three months now, and the only cases we've had—I see the honourable member for Dawson is nodding—have been in people who've come up from down south. The last case we had—and it bears mentioning—was a state government employee who was ordered to go from Brisbane to the Cairns base hospital. The greatest fortress of protection in North Queensland, in northern Australia, is the Cairns base hospital. They sent a person completely untested, with no testing whatsoever—our football team has got to be tested, but they can send their employees up—and she lights up the Cairns base hospital. So there is one set of rules for the rest of us in Queensland and another set of rules for the state government. They play by their own rules.
But for this to go on now is most serious. I don't know how many deaths we've had in Queensland—10, 15 or whatever it is. I know of one death that is directly attributable to the lockdown; I have had another death reported to me. I know of two attempted suicides as a result of the lockdown. Now, if I know that, there have got to be 20 or 30, or maybe 50, out there. So, every day that you continue, you are costing lives. It's the other way around now: with the continuation of this lockdown, you are costing lives. I'm quite happy to stand up anywhere and describe it in detail. I think I've got permission; I'll just have to confirm that in writing from the family of the person that died as a result of the lockdown.
I want to switch to my First Australian cousin brothers. They are locked up. They're not locked down; they're locked up. Yarrabah is the biggest First Australian community in Australia. There are nearly 4,000 people; arguably there are over 4,000 people. They're completely surrounded by a very high mountain range with dense jungle. The only way out is a road that has been cut over the top of the mountain. Since very few of them have cars and all communications have been stopped, even if they attempted to walk through the jungle over the mountain, which is maybe 2,000 feet high—they could get out by boat, but the state government is patrolling the waters with police boats, so they are locked up.
A lot of them are old enough to remember that when the Country Party took government in Queensland there was the infamous Aborigines Act—and it was infamous. It was notorious in Australia. You could not go into a community or out of a community without the permission of the superintendent, which was exactly the same title used by the head of a prison at the time. He could apply corporal punishment to you at his discretion. He could put you on bread and water for nine days. But let me go to probably the most pernicious aspect of the act: you weren't allowed to leave. You were locked up.
It's exactly the same situation now at Yarrabah. You are locked up. These communities don't have a shopping centre. A normal town of 4,000 people would have quite a substantial shopping centre. I think little Julia Creek has about 30 shops. In Yarrabah, sometimes a shop opens up and closes, but the last time I was there, yes, there was a little coffee shop and there was a supermarket. There were two shops. So they've got nothing there, unless you want a coffee or something from a tiny supermarket, which we'd call a corner store anywhere else. They do all their shopping in Gordonvale, which is only 20 minutes away by motor car, or in Cairns, which is about 25 or 30 minutes away. But now they're locked up.
Because they've been locked up, there has been rioting at Aurukun. There have been continuous demonstrations at Yarrabah. There has been a death in one of the western communities. There are three boys, according to the newspapers, that have been locked up in jail because they snuck into Doomadgee, into their homes—they wanted to get home—and they were fined $1,300. They couldn't pay the fine, so they went to jail. People are being locked up, people are dying, people are rioting, people are demonstrating, and the state government continues to have them locked up.
Many of you will know that I often identify as a First Australian. I'm not going to go into why, how or wherefore, but I will often speak in the first person. When I heard that we First Australians were going to be locked up—everyone else is locked down, but we're being locked up—I have to tell you my emotional reaction was to say: 'What are we? Some sort of monkey species or something, are we? Everyone else can get to do something, but we're locked up. We're not even allowed to go down to the shop. We're locked up.' I just felt that this was totally racial discrimination.
If you want the specifics of it, I went down to the last demonstration at Yarrabah, which was on the national news. There was a whitefella driving a truck in. He's got a contract to supply goods to the supermarket, I think. There was a black bloke standing behind me and he said: 'See that whitefella in the truck? I have exactly the same contract as he's got, but, because I'm black, I'm not allowed to drive my truck in there. But the whitefella is allowed to drive his truck in there.' I let it go for six weeks, and then I started to question it. They said: 'Don't you understand diabetes? Don't you understand the dangers of overcrowding?' I said, politely at first, 'No, you don't understand the dangers of diabetes, because if you did you would have given us back the market gardens which you, the Labor government, took off every single community when you came into power in 1990! All 28 of the communities had market gardens so that we could overcome the malnutrition that causes diabetes, but you couldn't care less.' Look, the Prime Minister has promised me, or his office has promised me, that something will happen on the issue of market gardens. But, with all due respect to the government, 15 months ago I was promised the money for market gardens and there has not even been a discussion with a nutritionist or an agrostologist or a farming contractor—not even that. So don't tell me you're worried about diabetes!
As to the second issue—that is, overcrowding—well, the federal government has called off the housing program. So that's a nice piece of hypocrisy here! (Time expired.)
Wendy Saclier remembers meeting Mike, the man she would go on to marry, more than 50 years ago at a Tanzanian Independence Day function. She was a speech therapist, and he was an archivist—a passion that continued right through his life. Mike Saclier worked, successively, at the Tasmanian state archives and headed up the Butlin archive on business and labour at the Australian National University for many decades. He was somebody who was serious about history, serious about labour history and serious about civil war history. He was a loving father to Rod and Ele, and to Leigh Hubbard, his adopted son, who re-entered his life some 15 years ago. When Leigh Hubbard came back into his father's life, he said that he wished he had re-engaged with his father sooner. He was fascinated by the fact that they both shared a passion for labour history and for the civil war, and it made him think about the role that genetics plays in one's life. As Leigh Hubbard told me, 'What Mike didn't know about civil war battles, generals and politics wasn't worth knowing.'
When Mike contracted COVID-19, his family thought he would be okay. He had some underlying health conditions, but they hoped he would pull through. Wendy was uplifted when she sent him a text saying, 'Amazing company you keep—Prince Charles and now Boris,' and Mike replied, 'But I'm holding out for the one that Trumps all others.' But, unfortunately, just days later, he passed away—one of the Australian victims of COVID-19. We think about statistics when we think of coronavirus. Johns Hopkins tells us that, as of this moment, there have been 7,241,079 cases globally and 411,320 deaths. But it's important that we put faces to those names, and Mike Saclier was one of the faces.
One of the earliest victims was Li Wenliang, a Chinese doctor who died aged just 33, almost a full half century younger than Mike. Li Wenliang is known in China for being one of those who, early on, spoke out about the dangers of COVID-19.
Amidst the pandemic, there have been so many wonderful stories of people pulling together. Here in the ACT, I have compiled an ACT support services map, which illustrates more than 100 social services available to people during the lockdown. I want to acknowledge all of those who went above and beyond to assist their neighbours, including: the Early Morning Centre in Braddon; the Blue Door drop-in centre in Campbell; the Griffin Centre's Friday lunch in the city; the St Vincent de Paul night patrol van; Orange Sky, which provided laundry services around Canberra; the many mutual aid organisations, including those in Charnwood, Dunlop, Fraser, Palmerston, Gungahlin, Crace, Bonner, Harrison and throughout Canberra; the group Turbans 4 Australia, in Gungahlin; the Evatt, Melba and McKellar community building group; the Ngunnawal community food pantry; Gungahlin Mosque volunteers; the Buy Nothing groups in Gungahlin, Crace, Nicholls, Ngunnawal, Casey, Moncrieff, Forde, Franklin, Harrison, Florey, Scullin, Page, Belconnen and beyond; the Adventist Development and Relief Agency; Anglicare emergency relief; Companion House in Cook, which continued its vital work supporting refugees; the Salvos Assessment Line in Canberra; St John's Care in Reid; Communities@Work in Gungahlin; the Holy Cross Tuckerbox in Hackett; the Mustard Seed Uniting Food Pantry in Gungahlin; The Pantry in Watson; HandUp Food Care in Charnwood; Helping Hand Food Pantry in Spence, the Food Co-op in Belconnen; the Lyons Food Corner; the one Pantry in Woden; GIVIT, which worked as a donations hub throughout Canberra, ensuring that people who wanted to make in-kind donations could get them to where they were needed; the mutual aid groups in Cook, Aranda, Macquarie, Evatt, Melba, McKellar, Dickson, Downer, Reid, City, Braddon, Turner, Ainslie, O'Connor, Watson, Hackett, the inner south, and Weston Creek and Woden regions; Youth With A Mission in Watson; and EveryMan in the Canberra city. These are just some of the extraordinary Canberra community organisations that supported their fellow citizens at the time of the pandemic.
There are others who did much to lift our spirits. If you are ever feeling down, I can guarantee an uplift from going to Catherine Barrett's 'Kindness Pandemic' Facebook page, which hundreds of thousands of people have joined and on which thousands of stories have been reported. There are tales of people who stepped in to share their scarce supplies of toilet paper, to pay for groceries for neighbours, to assist those who are in trouble on the street, to put up murals and simple stories, to provide coffee to neighbours who are homeschooling and to be there to mow the lawn and assist in buying groceries for elderly neighbours. Astrid Jorgensen's Pub Choir could no longer carry out its in-person events, so it moved to a couch-choir model in which Astrid crowdsourced extraordinary videos of thousands of Australians singing together—songs like David Bowie's Heroesand demonstrated the very best of Australia in a time of need.
Australia's charities have been there for Australians like never before, but they've suffered challenges at this time. Two-thirds of volunteers said they have had to cut back on their volunteering work. Seventy-eight per cent of charities reported a downturn in revenue, largely because of a drop in donations. People were tapped out after the fires, and the squeeze on household budgets has meant that people aren't able to donate. A report by Social Ventures Australia and the Centre for Social Impact suggests that just a one-fifth fall in revenue for the sector could see as many as a sixth of charities collapse and a quarter of a million charity workers out of a job. We have a sector which has done so much to support Australia, and yet only one in 13 charities are covered by the government's JobKeeper program. Across Australia, we have vital charities that are struggling right now. The FSHD foundation, which funds medical research into muscular dystrophy, lost a potential $1.2 million in donations after its annual Sydney charity ball was postponed.
Debate adjourned.
In this debate, I would like to raise a few matters that relate to my electorate of Bean. Most items are of much pride but one, unfortunately, is of deep disappointment to many in my electorate. The first issue, a grievance, if you will, is out of the robodebt debacle. In September last year, I spoke in a matter of public importance debate in the House on the robodebt scheme and the catastrophic stress and anxiety that it was causing many of my constituents, as it did around the country. I read correspondence from a member of my local community. To repeat, that correspondence noted:
… our intellectually disabled daughter is undergoing a review of past income by Centrelink through the robodebt catastrophe. She is 28 years old and resides with us, her parents. She may owe money to Centrelink, but a letter came out of the blue to her, chasing debt back to 2015, without any prior notice or review of her earnings by Centrelink.
There have been many such cases across Bean, and the frustration, the stress and the anxiety were real.
But, for months, the Morrison government kept denying that its pet scheme was illegal or that it was doing harm. We had the member for Barker, during this debate in September, calling Labor's prosecution of the robodebt issue, just a 'robo-scare', saying that these harassment letters were all about integrity; that calling the Liberal government mean and nasty about this system was trite; and that the robodebt letters were just a simple request for information. Then we saw the member for Bowman get up and put forward another interesting line of logic—that it was very much okay to 'robo-target' sensitive Australians like those with disabilities, because they receive payments by electronic means.
This type of tripe continued for months. We had the member for Fadden denying the stand-over scheme was unfair, inaccurate or illegal, despite the settling of cases, and we've seen the member for Cook batting away questions on the legality of robodebt, a scheme cooked up on his watch. It beggars belief that this government was not advised of the illegality at the heart of this heartless scheme. After all of this out-of-touch spin and damage, the scheme was found to be illegal, with the government finally agreeing to zeroing the debts. Another way of putting it is that 474,000 Australians will be refunded over $700 million of robodebt that they had been illegally hounded for. But this doesn't help families who were devastated and damaged by this unfair process and in some cases lost loved ones.
As others have said, the coalition had to be dragged kicking and screaming to this point. Those coalition members that worked so hard in parliament to defend the scheme and attack Labor should take the next opportunity to put their hand up and say, 'I was wrong and I am sorry,' to half a million Australians and their families. And those ministers who delivered this debacle should do the right thing and not only apologise to my constituents in Bean who were caught up in this mess but also take responsibility for their gross failures and resign.
The coronavirus pandemic has put enormous strain on so many local businesses, local families, local not-for-profits and many of our key government services. But it has also shone a light on some of the great people and businesses in our local community. In that context I want to give a shout-out to the Canberra Southern Cross Club and to Vinnies Canberra-Goulburn archdiocese for their work in preparing and supplying meals and support to those workers and families who need it during this tough time. The Canberra Southern Cross Club established a job-saver program to support their staff on international visas that were ineligible for JobKeeper assistance. The program has meant that the club have used their kitchens that have otherwise been quiet to increase their support to Vinnies night patrol vans, providing over 500 meals per week to assist people doing it tough in Canberra. As Vinnies themselves noted: 'During this difficult period, it's great to see an outcome that supports both those people employed at the club as well as the people who turn to Vinnies for help every day.' Well done and thank you to the team at the Canberra Southern Cross Club. My family and I ourselves look forward to getting back to one of your venues soon for a meal.
The coronavirus pandemic has reminded all of us in our community just how important every worker is to our community, whether that be those that staff the checkout and stack the shelves at a supermarket, early childhood educators, waste management workers, farmers, cleaners or our teachers. They've all been essential to collective efforts to militate against the spread of the coronavirus. However, I do want to give a special mention to our frontline health workers—our nurses, doctors, and allied health professionals. And I particularly congratulate our local members in Bean on receiving nursing and midwifery excellence awards. These awards recognise and acknowledge the exceptional contribution that nurses and midwives make to the lives of the clients they serve within the broader community and to their professions. The recipients in Bean were Heather Needham for excellence in leadership; Mercy Lukose, for excellence in management; and Nikki Johnston, for excellence in quality improvement and research practice. I would also like to congratulate Lucy Kenny, from Capital Chemist Calwell, for being named the pharmacy intern of the year, and recognise the work of all in community pharmacy across the region. It is great to see these local workers recognised for the extraordinary work that they do, particularly under the added pressures and challenges of COVID-19. On behalf of my constituents, the community, and my federal parliamentary colleagues, congratulations and thank you once again.
While there are some controversial names in the Queen's Birthday Honours list this year, there are plenty of good stories about the amazing differences made in our communities by members of the Bean electorate. I congratulate the following Bean residents who have been recognised for their contribution to our community across a diverse range of endeavours, each grounded in the common good, from working with veterans, road safety and medicine to service to the Indian community of the ACT, service to people with an intellectual disability, and exceptional service in public, emergency and military service. I wish to congratulate Mr Eric Chalmers, Mr Peter Eveille, Dr Paul Smith, Mr Laki Prasad, Ms Anne Walsh, Deborah Lee McGuire, Mr Christopher Zeitlhofer, Air Commodore Andrew Heap, Group Captain Jane Wheaten, Lieutenant Colonel James Bryant, Corporal Tobias O'Neill, Colonel Mark Welburn, Group Captain Paul Carpenter, and Chief Petty Officer Noel Christoffel. I congratulate you all on your service and look forward to catching up with you after the parliament rises.
Since this parliament last fully met, there have been births, anniversaries, special events and deaths that have not been able to marked, celebrated or shared in the normal way. It's been more difficult to tell the stories of those who make our communities what they are. It is particularly devastating in relation to those that we have loved. One such passing was that of Don Dwyer, a particular friend to this House and this parliament. He was a Queenslander, an adopted Canberran, an Irish-Australian, a true believer, a Labor historian, a journalist, a friend and helper to generations of Laborites across the country, a life member of the Australian Labor Party and of the Media, Entertainment and Arts Alliance, actively involved in the Woden branch and the old Curtin branch here in Canberra, and someone who helped in campaigns and federal offices for decades in both the ACT and Queensland. Don provided me my first opportunity to contribute to some parliamentary speeches almost two decades ago, just as he provided opportunities and support to many up-and-comers. He continued to provide helpful research to MPs' officers over the last couple of years. He was a key to the winning teams of the old national conference and Labor history trivia nights. Don always asked after my mum and dad—Queenslanders all—just as he always showed interest in those around him. He was never short of a good yarn from his amazing long involvement across the Labor movement. We are much poorer for his passing.
In the time that I have this evening, I would like to make some remarks about the need to grow our manufacturing sector in Australia. I believe that, as a nation, we have navigated the COVID-19 crisis to date as well as any other country in the world. However, this situation has shone the light on issues that we, as a country, need to deal with. Though these are the same issues that many Australians understood before the virus hit, the COVID-19 situation has highlighted the importance of addressing these matters as we move forward.
One of the issues we need to prioritise is the lack of manufacturing in this country. Growing our manufacturing industries is a key priority of the Morrison government. Just last week, the government launched a new ad campaign to promote Australian-made, reminding Australian consumers of the value of buying home-grown products. This new campaign comes after the government invested $5 million earlier this year to expand the reach of the Australia-made logo. Our Manufacturing Modernisation Fund is now supporting around 200 projects around Australia worth approximately $215 million, with $48.3 million of federal investment. It is expected to create more than 2,600 jobs around Australia. Businesses are being backed to improve technologies and operations, upgrade equipment and upskill workers to boost competitiveness. Our $100 million Advanced Manufacturing Growth Fund is helping industries to fund advanced manufacturing techniques, allowing business to build long-term, sustainable growth.
Manufacturing provides jobs for almost one in 10 Australian workers, with more than 900,000 people employed in our manufacturing sector, the seventh-largest employment industry in Australia. Because of the value manufacturing provides for our Australian economy and the potential for employment, we need to focus on fixing some of the barriers the sector faces.
In my electorate of Longman, I've spoken to the small number of manufacturers we have left and the main common issue they all face is that they simply cannot compete with overseas companies on a financial level given our higher manufacturing costs. We must address this because Australia has always been able to compete on a quality level. We are well-known for producing some of the finest-quality goods in the world. The problem we face is the rising cost of living, which means people simply cannot afford to pay the higher prices that Australian-made goods often command. Before COVID-19, Australians were already grappling with the cost of living and COVID-19 has made this challenge even harder, but, if our nation is to survive and, indeed, thrive for future generations, we must give our Australian businesses a fair go.
There has been renewed community support for Australian products with a four-fold increase in applications and a doubling of new licences for the Australia-made logo. Now is the time to rally together and back our Australian manufacturers and the businesses in their supply chains. This means a renewed focus on addressing systemic issues and major barriers to Australian manufacturing. One major barrier that manufacturers face is the cost of energy. The government has recently taken steps to reduce the cost of energy and boost the development of new technologies. Through the recently released national Technology Investment Roadmap, the government is driving investment in low-emission technologies to strengthen our economy, create new jobs and support businesses. Australia has also secured gas supply out to 2023 and we've seen a drop in wholesale gas prices, which is great news for the manufacturing sector. The government's measures, which include the Australian Domestic Gas Security Mechanism and heads of agreement with LNG exporters, continue to be effective in boosting domestic gas supply and easing market pressures. Australia's gas and broader resources sectors have an increasingly important role to play in providing affordable and secure energy supply for our manufacturing sector.
We know that, since 2015, electricity generation in Australia from renewable sources has increased 54 per cent, with gas-fired generation growing six per cent from 2018 to 2019. I have had the pleasure of meeting with several alternative energy companies who will be able to complement the existing power-generating infrastructure we have with more inexpensive, environmentally-friendly options for commercial and industrial estates. We need to continue to take decisive action to develop technologies and secure affordable energy supply for Australian businesses, particularly when it comes to getting the state governments to play their part.
Another issue for businesses is keeping overheads and wage costs down. We want Australians to be employed and earning more, but, when I hear about Australian businesses that develop products locally and then go and produce them overseas where labour is cheaper, I think there must be a better way. What is the point of having the best conditions for workers in particular industries if the industry ceases to exist because the business can't afford to pay its workers? We must look at ways of reducing overall wage costs to businesses by greater efficiencies with high-tech automation and high-skilled workers, as well as potential changes to industrial relations practices that abolish high-cost, draconian stumbling blocks which cost businesses money and which were designed for a pre-2000 workplace rather than a 24/7 post-2000 globally competitive market, and replacing them with aspirational employee share schemes, where employees share in the profits of the business they work for. I would love to see more workers prosper when a business prospers.
Another suggestion is to have a different award for regional areas where the cost of housing and land is lower. This would also have the added benefit of decentralising and easing congestion in the major centres and bringing much-needed population growth and more economic prosperity to the regional areas. Why couldn't a resurrected Holden factory be located in Maryborough, the Kelvinator factory be located in Orange, or the KingGee factory be pumping out Aussie-made work wear in Mildura? Surely this must be better than a factory being set up in another country and employing no Australian workers.
We also know that overseas labour across various industries can often mean slavery practices. Australia has world-leading modern slavery laws that seek to stamp out illegal labour practices. We need to be creating jobs for Australians in Australia, where we know not only that we are buying a quality product but also that we are supporting fair and legal work practices. Our manufacturing exports are worth close to $55 billion in 2019, up nine per cent on 2018. We need to keep this trend going. The value of our manufacturing exports has also grown over the past decade to more than $120 billion in the last financial year. We know that exports are a big part of the equation to grow our manufacturing industries and create new jobs, particularly in small and medium businesses.
Government procurement is another barrier we need to overcome. The federal government changed procurement guidelines in 2017 for contracts worth over $4 million to ensure that officials examine and understand the wider benefit offered by alternative providers. We can improve access and platforms for local businesses to boost local procurement, especially given that more and more Australians are focusing on supporting their local community businesses during these challenging times. Manufacturing consists of many businesses and skilled jobs throughout the supply chain. We need to improve our local, state and national collaboration so that more and more Australian businesses get a chance.
We also need to ensure that the bureaucrats are briefed correctly before approving grants. A classic example of bureaucrat lunacy was shared with me by a local manufacturer of mower parts. This manufacturer proudly employs 116 full-time Australian workers. By his own admission he could move his factory offshore and manufacture goods at a much lower rate and increase his net profits, but he continues here out of patriotism and the enjoyment of employing fellow Australians. Someone decided to go into competition against him and applied for a grant to set up in competition to him. They duly received a grant to the tune of $380,000. They then used the funds to set up their factory in China to compete with this proud Australian business and, worse still, set their head office up in Singapore, which coincidentally has lower company tax rates. If they did this on their own dime, I wouldn't mind so much, but surely Australian taxpayers' money being used to fund businesses that compete against Australian businesses, employ overseas workers in overseas countries and pay less taxes overseas has got to be straight-out mental.
Lastly, we must look at the amount of red tape involved in running an efficient manufacturing business. There are simply too many levels of government, all with their hand out for a piece of the pie, cutting into profits and adding redundant layers of compliance and regulation. Manufacturing Australia has stated that a factory can be proposed, approved, built and operational in the United States in less time than it takes to jump through the very first approval hurdle in Australia. This isn't good enough. We must release the restraints on our manufacturing sector to make businesses more competitive. They should be competing on value, not cost. Making our Australian businesses more competitive and agile will strengthen our economic sovereignty and ensure greater efficiency.
We also need more national pride. Our approach isn't about nationalising the industry, as we are an open trading nation so that Australian manufacturers can access bigger markets, but we do need to shore up domestic capabilities and supply. We do this well in agriculture, resources and wine, but we need to do better in other industries such as the car and fashion industries. As a retailer of electrical appliances for over 20 years, I can say that in the 1980s it mattered to many people that the products they bought were made in this country. Sadly, when I exited that industry in the mid-2000s, very few asked or cared whether what they bought was made here. I would beseech all members of the public to seek out and, where possible, buy goods that were made and/or grown by Australian companies in Australia. This single act will help more than all the other strategies combined.
I can remember in the 1970s being driven by my dad in an EH Holden, coming home dressed in Stubbies shorts, washed in a Malleys washer and ironed with a Sunbeam iron, to mow the lawn with a Victa mower and then watch an AWA TV, drinking Caboolture milk and eating Arnott's biscuits while we cooked out on a Chef stove and a Sunbeam frypan with food that came from a Kelvinator fridge—all made in this great country. We need to get back to this.
I acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which I currently stand, the Ngunawal and Ngambri people, and I pay respect to their elders, past, present and emerging. I would also like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the electorate of Warringah, the Gayamaygal, the Gameragal and the Borogegal, as the first people of Warringah, and pay respect to their elders.
Sovereignty was never ceded. I accept the invitation extended to all Australians through the Uluru Statement from the Heart to walk with us in a movement of Australian people for a better future. The depth of Indigenous history, knowledge and culture adds a depth of richness to this continent that makes it all the more special. I wish to use this opportunity to push for a better way, one where we elevate this to a moral issue, recognise the Indigenous voice in this place and in the Constitution and establish the Makarrata Commission to oversee the process of truth-telling about our history.
Just two weeks ago we learned of the destruction of a key historical site in the name of profit and greed. Rio Tinto detonated explosives in the Juukan cave in the Pilbara on the land of the Puutu Kunti Kurrama and Pinikura people. The caves contained significant Indigenous artefacts proving the existence of the people in the place for 46,000 years. That site proved that people had lived in Australia through the last Ice Age. I'm ashamed by our lack of respect for the traditional custodians of the land. I'm also ashamed by our lack of pride in the history of this nation. These caves contained artefacts around 40,000 years older than the Pyramids. This is a loss to humanity, not just the traditional custodians of that land. Worse still is that yesterday we learnt that Fortescue Metals have applied to destroy another significant site, on the lands of the Eastern Guruma people in Western Australia. The Queens mine expansion has a footprint covering more than 70 heritage sites, including rock shelters, campsites, rock paintings and engravings, including a 60,000-year-old rock shelter among them.
Indigenous people have been here for over 60,000 years. They have done wonders with this place through all sorts of climates. For humanity to thrive, we must acknowledge and learn from our history—the evolution and journey of mankind on this planet. The destruction of these caves is not the first piece of history we have lost. Aboriginal land care and agricultural techniques are only just being rediscovered now through hard work. Bruce Pascoe has demonstrated that there was once a grain belt that extended across the whole continent. There were indigenous crops that are far better suited to the Australian environment. Aboriginal land management was proactive and uniquely adapted to this place. The Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements will no doubt highlight the importance of Indigenous use of fire in land management. There's so much to share, yet not only do we fail to listen but we actively silence them.
Internationally, the riots in the US surrounding the death of George Floyd during his arrest have generated a harsh reminder of police brutality, including towards Indigenous people here in Australia. It is a story of systemic failure to walk with one another, personified in police brutality. Many of the recommendations from the 1987 Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody have not been implemented. Since the conclusion of the royal commission in 1991, 432 Aboriginal people have died in custody without any person being convicted. I express my deepest sympathy to the many families who have suffered through this traumatic experience. The system has failed you. The Uluru Statement from the Heart states that Indigenous people are not innately criminal people. Yet today Indigenous people represent two per cent of the total population, 28 per cent of the prison population, 34 per cent of incarcerated women and 48 per cent of juveniles in custody. Since 2004, the number of Indigenous people incarcerated has increased by 88 per cent, while the number of non-Aboriginal people incarcerated has increased by 28 per cent. This is a systemic failure based on discrimination and bias.
The 2017 Uluru Statement from the Heart asserts that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander sovereignty has never been ceded and calls for enshrining a First Nations voice to parliament in the Constitution. Enshrining a First Nations voice to parliament in the Constitution requires a referendum process. The questions that could be put to the Australian people have been drafted in the submissions of Professor Davis to the 2018 parliamentary inquiry into constitutional recognition relating to Indigenous and Torres Strait Islander people. The Dodson-Leeser report found that a voice to parliament, not a voice to government, was the only viable reform proposal. The power and success of that voice depends on its public status, and a referendum will provide the public discussion and education necessary to validate the voice within our democratic process.
I welcome the Prime Minister's appointment of the Hon. Ken Wyatt MP as the first Aboriginal Minister for Indigenous Australians, but I am concerned that the minister appears focused on only legislating a voice to government. I suspect this is due to internal party room dynamics. This issue needs to be elevated above the party room. It is a moral issue for all MPs, above party politics. If there isn't enough support in the coalition party room for constitutional recognition and a voice to parliament, Minister, know there is support from many across the chamber. Call for a conscience vote to enable a referendum. As Teela Reid, a proud Wiradjuri and Wailwan woman and lawyer, states:
… what mob don't want is more bureaucratic red tape suffocating their communities through a 'Voice to government'. This is not what the Uluru Statement from the Heart calls for.
The community wants a voice to parliament; anything less has already been rejected as symbolism.
The Uluru statement ends with an invitation:
We invite you to walk with us in a movement of the Australian people for a better future.
This sentiment is so selfless and so empowering—to be invited to share in a history and culture that reaches back over 65,000 years. This is a moral choice for all Australians to make. What kind of Australia do we want to be? In the past nine years, there have been five formal taxpayer funded, government endorsed processes; a legislative framework, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Recognition Act 2013; and eight reports. The work has been done. Now is the time to put the moral question of constitutional recognition to the Australian people.
The ask is simple. Prime Minister, we have seen you act on a health crisis decisively. It's now time to act on injustice. Empowerment of our First Nations with a voice to parliament and the Uluru statement is the way forward. The ask is simple: (1) that Minister Wyatt devise a question and publicly commit to a referendum on the voice to parliament without delay; (2) that the referendum to be put to the Australian people during 2021 without further delay; and (3) that the Prime Minister urgently convene a national cabinet meeting on Black Lives Matter, inviting experts from the Indigenous community to agree to a national plan of action to address Indigenous deaths in custody and incarceration rates. As the Eddie Mabo decision showed 28 years ago, change can happen against the odds. We again need urgent reform of our Constitution, and the best time to start is now. So, in answer to the Indigenous people and the Uluru Statement from the Heart: I will walk with you, my fellow Australians.
In a conversation with the CEO of Stockland, Mark Steinert, some years ago, he made the observation that the principal reason for the high cost of major infrastructure projects in Australia was the ad hoc, fragmented rollout because of the absence of any master planning. The result was that major projects would not be followed by similar-sized opportunities; therefore the costs of gearing up and gearing down for a major project had to be borne by that single project. Mark went on to explain that if there were a continuum of work the costs of gearing up, combined with increasing capacity, would result in enormous reductions of cost for infrastructure. This was one of many significant conversations that influenced my thinking and moved me to look critically at how we have managed the development of our country in this critical area.
After meeting with Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, he then established the Standing Committee on Infrastructure, Transport and Cities, which I was asked to chair after stepping down as chair of the Economics Committee. In the years since, we have conducted two inquiries, which have been very enlightening on the future directions of infrastructure provision: Harnessing Value, Delivering Infrastructure; and Building Up & Moving Out.
The importance of inquiries should not be overlooked, and, if those elevated to ministries dismiss them as just a way to keep backbenchers busy, they are wasting a valuable resource and failing in their responsibility. Inquiries seek to gain the facts from expert witnesses, verify them into findings and then apply logic and reason to provide recommendations for a course of action which should be the basis for policy development—long-term vision, not corrupted by short-term political goals.
The inquiry Harnessing Value, Delivering Infrastructure produced a plan to sustainably fund major infrastructure by putting in place a mechanism to capture a fair share of the uplift created by the investment of our taxpayers' funds in infrastructure to maximise the value of surrounding land when zoning is combined with infrastructure. Why should the speculator take all the profits from their fellow taxpayers' investment? The central question to be answered is: what is fair? And, importantly, fair to all concerned—the taxpayer, the landholder, the developer. How do we align their interests?
The inquiry Building Up & Moving Out analysed the effects that not having a plan of settlement has had, especially the evolving problems of overcrowding, overcongestion and overpriced housing in our major cities. The findings were so clear and logical: to relieve our major cities of the burden of absorbing our immigration by implementing a plan of strategic decentralisation while affecting a plan of densification around transport hubs to facilitate reducing commute times to increase the quality of life in our cities.
When these two inquiries are seriously considered in combination, the vision emerges of a country with a plan that rebalances the imbalance of settlement that has occurred when no plan was in place. A long-term plan that will give businesses like Stockland the opportunity of a continuum of work where their investment in gearing up for major projects can be amortised over decades, enhanced by optimal efficiencies through achieving critical mass.
The vision of the great cities of Melbourne, Brisbane and Sydney breaking the pattern of ever increasing suburban sprawl and the increasing amounts of debilitating congestion when entering the CBDs being rejuvenated with satellite cities feeding the CBDs with fast rail commutes, complemented by modern state-of-the-art autonomous mass transit systems linking the various business districts—this vision is a plan that will provide better quality of life through vastly shorter commutes and a choice of city or suburban lifestyle without compromising career opportunities while providing an endless source of affordable housing. Additionally, we will be able to find a way to calibrate immigration to the capacity of our infrastructure, housing and job markets rather than depending on it as a cheap method of stimulating our economy.
Pre-COVID-19, this all made sense. Now, it is time for re-evaluation. The facts are: the economy needs stimulation through investment in infrastructure; our revenues are depleted, having been spent on emergency measures; and our debt has now been blown out beyond any previous projections. So we cannot fund infrastructure from tax revenues and we cannot fund infrastructure by going into greater debt, but we need infrastructure projects to stimulate the economy.
Currently I'm chairing an inquiry into financing faster rail, and already there have been articles appearing regarding fortunes being made on the back of taxpayer funded infrastructure in Western Sydney and around the aerotropolis. Tim Williams, the former CEO of the Committee for Sydney, gave a powerful warning in evidence during Harnessing Value, Delivering Infrastructure, that fortunes made by lucky homeowners and speculators at Castle Hill on the back of the North West Rail Link should never be allowed to happen again. And yet, last week, the government announced the bringing forward of the metro rail project from the Western Sydney Airport to St Marys, an $11.5 billion project with seven stations. One notorious speculator has reportedly already returned an investment of $2.5 million into half a billion dollars on the back of being closer to the new airport, an airport costing billions of taxpayers' money. The metro rail project will deliver wave after wave of gains to speculators at the cost to taxpayers. They have already seen the taxpayer funded gains from the announcement of the aerotropolis, further increases, by changes to zoning from farmland to high density, and now they're seeing the final extraordinary gains from the combination of taxpayer funded rail infrastructure and even more beneficial zoning. Nice work if you can get it!
The COVID pandemic has demonstrated that when confronted with a common enemy it appears that even politicians in this place can set aside our petty, and often conveniently constructed, differences to do what is vital for our survival. Our Prime Minister has said that what we do in the next five years will impact the following 30 years. I would like to plead to my tennis playing mate, the Leader of the Opposition, to work constructively with this government to be a partner in doing what is necessary to put in fair measures to fund vital infrastructure to rebuild our economy. Please let the only game to be played be tennis, which starts at love-all and finishes with a handshake or the touch of the elbows these days. If we can achieve this change in culture and the way we work with each other, and be seen to be doing our best for the people of Australia, we may regain some of the support from those who we have justly lost.
I want to remark upon the government's ongoing failure to save the international education sector. It's a stunning Australian success story of growth, post the global financial crisis. It's been decimated by COVID-19, as you'd imagine, due to the necessary border closures. The impacts are enormous and profound. Enrolments have plummeted, hundreds of thousands of students are stuck offshore and providers are now in crisis. But the worst is yet to come. Dealing with this is now urgent; it's overdue. It's our fourth-biggest most valuable export sector, worth $40 billion, on the last figures. I will quote the Mitchell Institute, who remarked:
Over the next few years, the sector stands to lose $10 to 19 billion in revenue from the loss of international students.
They continued:
Each six monthly intake missed due to the closed international border will deliver an economic blow equivalent to when Australia lost its entire car manufacturing industry.
There are 247,000 Australian jobs that rely on international education. Indeed, there are more workers than there are in the entire mining and agriculture sectors employed as a result of international education.
As a result of the government's inaction, there are 21,000 jobs in the university sector facing the chop—that's full-time equivalent, by the way; it actually affects about 30,000 people and families—including enormous numbers of research jobs. And there are even more in the real economy: student accommodation providers, shops, restaurants, and so on. Tourism is important too. Tourism is actually our fifth-biggest export sector. Sixty per cent of people who visit Australia are international students and even more, on top, are visiting friends, family, and relatives.
A division having been called in the House of Representatives—
Sitting suspended from 19:09 to 19:17
And then of course there's the impact on research. Thousands of jobs are facing the chop in the next few months if the government doesn't do something to fill the multibillion dollar funding gap that universities are going to be left with. This research is critical to our economic recovery. It's not just the jobs; it's also the economic impact.
International education is a wonderful thing for our communities, our cities and our regions. Many hundreds of thousands of young people from all over the world choose to come and spend some of their formative years in our country and our society. It's been said that more than 2.5 million people have been educated in Australian institutions over the decades, including many who go back to countries right across Asia and rise to the very top of those societies, in government, business, the military and so on. The soft power it creates for a country is so important. Despite all of these benefits, despite the critical importance of this sector—the sector that funds the capital in universities, that funds the research—weeks and months now have gone by with no action from the government. Nothing. Nada. Crickets. Ministers Tudge and Tehan have been revealed as impotent: they can't get anything up in cabinet. They've taken multiple subs there that, we understand, get bounced, because the Prime Minister and Treasurer are hostile to this sector.
Last Friday I heard, on the grapevine, gossip about the minister's Global Reputation Taskforce that he set up for 12 months in response to the bushfires—because we had to do something to repair this image around the world that Australia was on fire and you couldn't come and study here!—and that is now giving them advice on COVID. The minister's so sick of being berated for not having delivered anything, they're now cancelling the task force. The next meeting's going to be its last. It was going to be here for 12 months, but it's gone. They're embarrassed, frustrated, after months saying, 'Trust us, we'll do something.'
This failure to act is inexcusable. Billions of dollars have been thrown at sectors—aviation, tourism, agriculture. Far less investment is needed to save international education, far less. The JobKeeper and jobseeker payments are not available to universities at all. We debated that elsewhere. And Scott Morrison has to put more effort into saving these jobs. It should have happened months ago. We need better care for our students who are currently onshore. Students in Australia are anxious. They're isolated. Many are missing face-to-face study. There's no family support. They've lost casual work income. There are queues in my electorate. I've actually been doing certificates for businesses that are feeding them for free.
A division having been called in the House of Representatives—
Sitting suspended from 19:20 to 19:27
The protests sparked by the events in America have sent reverberations around the world and expressed hurt, anger, and disappointment about the systemic challenges faced by our black and First Nations communities. The coronavirus pandemic has been a tipping point for shining a light on the tragedy of race inequality around the world—that black lives matter. As Australians, we too need to look at our race relations. The Uluru Statement from the Heart, and our desire as a country to grapple with how to implement it, highlights that we are currently at an important milestone in our country's history with regard to Indigenous recognition and reconciliation. This is a time for us to rethink, to reassess, to reconsider. What can we do differently as a country to provide hope to those who have suffered from racial injustices—hope that their concerns will be taken seriously, hope that they do not need to suffer in silence, and hope that they, their families, their friends, and their communities can look forward to a better future?
One death in custody is one death too many. We must work to ensure that we do as much as we can to deal with these tragedies before they occur. To do that, it is imperative that we work to find the root causes of why Indigenous Australians are overrepresented in jails, in youth detention centres and in rehabilitation, and what we can do to right the wrongs of a community that is hurting and has been hurting for a long time.
In the 1980s, I travelled to the Northern Territory to work on a research project to try to understand why there was so much inequity in our First Peoples. I wanted to understand for myself what was going on, to understand better why Indigenous people continue to suffer. My time in Arnhem Land analysing the high rates of mortality among newborns in our Indigenous population shocked me. Here I saw outcomes that would not be out of place in countries like Kenya, where I had previously worked. I also saw well-meaning healthcare providers struggling to ensure that our Indigenous Australians were given the best health, public health and education services so that even our littlest Indigenous Australians would be given the best start in life.
Wind forward 30 years and we are still dealing with inequity in health and education. These two things underpin the closing the gap difficulties that we have as a nation. I commend the fact that the first Indigenous minister for Indigenous Australians has now been elevated to the cabinet. Minister Ken Wyatt is doing a wonderful job bringing Australians together, consulting widely and seeking to move forward in this important area.
Debate adjourned.
Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:31