2021-03-24 46 1 5 House of Reps 0 1

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

The SPEAKER ( Hon. Tony Smith ) took the chair at 09:00 made an acknowledgement of country and read prayers.

 

COMMITTEES 1 COMMITTEES Selection Committee 1 Report 1 09:31 The SPEAKER 00APG I present report No. 29 of the Selection Committee relating to the consideration of committee and delegation business and private members' business on Wednesday 12 May 2021. The report will be printed in the Hansard for today and the committee's determinations will appear on tomorrow's Notice Paper. Copies of the report have been placed on the table. BILLS 1 BILLS Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021 1

Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021

First Reading 1 Second Reading 1 09:33 Mr HUNT 00AMV Flinders I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021 This bill amends the Prohibition of Human Cloning for Reproduction Act 2002 and the Research Involving Human Embryos Act 2002 to make mitochondrial donation legal in Australia. This bill will allow women to have a biological child in a way that minimises the risk of transmission of the insidious effects of mitochondrial disease, a disease for which there is no known cure at this moment in our history and that leaves children suffering from seizures, fatigue, multiple organ failure and heart problems—in severe cases, even premature death. Here in Australia, each year around 56 children are born with a severe form of the disease. This equates to approximately one child her week. The tragic prognosis for these children and their families is that many will pass within their first five years. Five-year-old Maeve Hood is one of these children. Maeve's family—her parents, Joel and Sarah—are amazing. They live within my own electorate, and Maeve's grandfather, Craig, is from my surf club. This bill has been named in honour of Maeve Hood and the tireless work of her family to raise awareness and build support for those people in our community suffering from mitochondrial disease. It has been named the Mitochondrial Donation Law Reform (Maeve's Law) Bill 2021. Maeve has a severe type of mitochondrial disease that was diagnosed at 18 months. She's bright, she's bubbly—a beautiful young girl—but she suffers from the most challenging of medical issues. Maeve, thankfully, is still with us, but her family lives with daily uncertainty about the future. As her dad, Joel, said to me this morning, 'Every day for this five-year-old girl is a blessing.' That's why, as a minister, as a father and as an individual; with the passionate support of the Prime Minister, who is patron of the Mito Foundation, publicly and proudly; with the support of the opposition—and Chris Bowen has been a champion in supporting this and has passed that baton to his successor, Mark Butler; with the support of the community; and with the support of people such as Sarah and Joel Hood, and Catherine McGovern from the foundation, we seek to avoid the heartache, pain and anguish of having a child with severe mitochondrial disease. Advances in reproductive technology now mean that we can help by providing those families at risk of passing on the disease with a pathway to having a healthy child who can live a rich, full and long life. I believe that this bill, Maeve's Law, provides that pathway. It transcends parties, politics or religion; we seek for this to be a unifying moment for Australia. But we do deeply respect all of the different views, which is why the Prime Minister, the cabinet, the party room and the opposition have all agreed to endorse a rare free vote, where people can vote with their conscience and free of their party's position. I believe it's a moment of great honour and integrity for this parliament and a moment of unification where people can differ, but free of rancour. The science underlying this reproductive technology is complex. It's new—it's not untested, though. Mitochondrial donation is an umbrella term for IVF based reproductive technology which prevents mitochondrial disease being passed from a mother to her child, with the assistance of a donor. Mitochondrial donation cannot, however, be used at this point to cure people with existing mitochondrial disease, nor can it prevent mitochondrial disease caused by an individual's nuclear DNA. It has been legal in the United Kingdom since 2015 and so we have looked to the experience of the UK in designing this bill. However, we have also carefully considered how this technology can be delivered within the existing frameworks of the Australian health system. To help inform our approach, we have consulted widely in Australia over several years and we deeply respect the differences in opinion, whether it's based on faith or other forms of belief systems that people may have. In 2018, the Senate Community Affairs References Committee undertook an inquiry into the science of mitochondrial donation. The inquiry examined the impacts of mitochondrial disease and the legal and ethical considerations associated with mitochondrial donation. The final report recommended further consultation with the community, relevant experts and the states and territories before the introduction of this technology into Australia. Over 2019-20 the National Health and Medical Research Council—the NHMRC—undertook a series of consultation activities, engaging with a broad range of experts as well as the broader community. Together, with lessons learned from the UK, the outcomes from these inquiries have shaped this bill. Both identified significant support for the legislation of mitochondrial donation from clinicians, scientists, families, advocacy groups and the broader community. It was broad, but not universal—I don't seek to say that. But I hope that over time it will be universally accepted. The bill outlines a carefully staged pathway towards the legalisation of mitochondrial donation in clinical practice. This pathway balances the significant benefits of enabling impacted families access to this new technology and have healthy babies free from severe disease, with both caution and safety provided by an appropriate regulatory framework. The first stage will initially allow for lab based research and training. This will be followed by allowing some families to access the technique as part of a trial at one carefully selected, licensed and Commonwealth funded clinic. This trial will help determine the safety, efficacy and feasibility of the technology preventing serious mitochondrial disease being passed from mother to child. The trial clinic will need to demonstrate significant experience and expertise in mitochondrial disease and reproductive health. It will also need to demonstrate an ability to provide equity of access to families, have specialised research and clinical facilities and the expertise to provide appropriate support to all participants. Should the trial find the procedure to be safe and effective, the bill contains an option to move to stage 2, where this new technology will be made available in a broader range of clinical settings for all Australians. However, progression to stage 2 will be subject to a separate decision by government. It will be informed by the outcomes from the trial, expert opinion and further consultations. At this point, states and territories will also have the option of opting in to a national regulatory framework governing the clinical provision of this technology. That second stage through the parliament, certainly with the agreement of both sides, would also be subject to a disallowable instrument that would be in its own right a free vote. This bill has inbuilt safeguards and protections. It establishes a comprehensive licensing regime to ensure access to this technology is carefully controlled and that the procedure is conducted safely and ethically. Five different categories of licence are provided for in the bill, corresponding to steps within stage 1 and stage 2. Through the process of applying for licences and complying with their conditions, organisations will be closely vetted and carefully overseen by the NHMRC. The two-stage approach provided for in this bill was outlined in the discussion paper released in February this year. Public consultations on this have just closed. Overwhelmingly, the government heard strong support from experts and from those in the community who engaged in the process. Some members of the community, as I have noted, legitimately and appropriately within their belief systems have raised concerns about issues such as privacy of parents and children, creation and destruction of embryos, ensuring informed consent, donor rights and the newness of the science. I acknowledge that not all members of the community are comfortable with the use of this technology, and that's reflected in the free vote—the ability to vote with conscience—that has been called for jointly by the major parties. Ultimately though this bill has been developed in Maeve's honour—on Maeve's law—Maeve Hood. Maeve's law will ensure that other children and parents don't have to suffer the devastating consequences of mitochondrial disease—as Maeve, Sarah and Joel Hood have. Every day we look for hope for Maeve with new science but every day this bill will give hope and provide parents in the future with the option to have their own children free from the burden of this severe disease. These things happen very rarely in the life of a country or a parliament, so in looking at this there are many people I want to thank for bringing it to this point. I particularly want to thank the parents, the advocates, the clinicians, the Mito Foundation, strong leaders such as Catherine McGovern and, across the parliament, the member for Macarthur, the member for Higgins, my former opposite number Chris Bowen and so many others. There are some strong leaders in my own office and department that I want to thank for taking this forward. I want to thank Kylie Wright, Jo Tester and Wendy Black. I'm blessed to have such strong leaders in my office. Carolyn Edwards in the department is one of the finest public servants that I have ever had the privilege to meet. She is the associate secretary in our department. I want to thank the Prime Minister, who has made this a personal passion. It would have been easy to say no. It would have been easy to say this could have been decisive, but he embraced it, owned it and encouraged it. At this moment it is incumbent on this government to give Australian parents the choice and opportunity to have children free from severe disease through the use of reproductive technology and to reduce the burden of disease for future generations. It is also essential that we remain at the forefront of advances in both medical science and reproductive technology. We cannot sit by complacently when the health and lives of Australian children are at stake, and the opportunity to provide hope and medical support is now with us. Ultimately, Maeve's law is about Maeve, but it's also about all the other beautiful children to come who can be protected from this insidious disease. I commend it to the House with every fibre of my being. 09:45 Ms CATHERINE KING 00AMR Ballarat on indulgence—I commend the minister on the way in which he has brought this bill forward. I had some involvement in the earlier Senate inquiry on this particular issue. Whilst it will be a difficult issue for some in the parliament, I think it's incredibly important. I commend the minister on the work he has done. Debate adjourned. Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Bill 2021 3

Competition and Consumer Amendment (Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme) Bill 2021

First Reading 3 Second Reading 3 09:46 Mr SUKKAR 242515 Deakin I move: That this bill be now read a second time. This bill establishes a mandatory scheme to promote competition in the Australian automotive sector by requiring all motor vehicle service and repair information be made available for purchase by independent repairers at a fair market price. Motor vehicle servicing and repair is a $23 billion industry in Australia with nearly 35,000 businesses employing over 106,000 Australians. Currently, around one in 10 motor vehicles taken to repair workshops are affected by a lack of access to service and repair information. When this is the case, it results in higher service costs for consumers. This is because there is little choice as to where a vehicle, particularly newer models, can be repaired safely and efficiently. The 2017 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) market study into the sector found that a lack of access to service and repair information was causing delays and detriment to consumers. The ACCC's market study also found that independent repairers were not often given fair access to the information they need to do their job safely and effectively. The scheme will mandate that all service and repair information that car manufacturers share with their dealership networks must also be made available to all independent repairers and registered trading organisations to purchase. The objectives of the scheme, as set out in the bill, are to: promote competition between Australian repairers of passenger and light goods motor vehicles and establish a fair playing field by mandating access to diagnostic, repair and servicing information on fair and reasonable commercial terms; enable consumers to have those vehicles diagnosed, repaired, serviced, modified or dismantled safely and efficiently by a repairer of their choice; encourage the provision of accessible and affordable information to repairers and registered training organisations; protect safety and security information about those vehicles to ensure the safety and security of consumers, information users and the general public; and provide for the low-cost resolution of disputes that could occur under the scheme. To promote competition and ensure the provision of accessible and affordable information, scheme information must be offered at a price that does not exceed fair market value. Fair market value allows for cost recovery and a reasonable profit margin. 'Fair market value' is a recognised concept in both Australian law and an international context. When undertaking regulatory action, it is established practice to ascertain fair market value by using an objective test. The factors to be taken into account in setting fair market value include the price charged to other repairers, reasonable recovery of costs, and the prices for information in overseas markets. To support consumer choice of repairer, the majority of vehicles on Australian roads will be captured by this scheme, including passenger and light-goods vehicles manufactured from 2002. Again, this approach is consistent with similar arrangements in overseas jurisdictions. As you would expect, widespread access to safety and security information would create unacceptable risks to vehicle safety and security. Therefore, information related to safety and security will be available only to individuals who have the appropriate qualifications. This will of course protect consumers, repairers, and, again, the general public. Further information on the requirements for individuals accessing this information will be set out in scheme rules, which will be consulted on shortly. The government has been working closely with industry to develop technical aspects of the scheme's design, and we've consulted extensively throughout the duration of the development of the scheme to ensure that it is effective, fair and safe. Ongoing industry cooperation will be crucial to the scheme's success. Therefore, a statutory adviser will be established and will have a key role in the day-to-day operation of the scheme. Importantly, the adviser will play a key role in assisting with the mediation of disputes and reporting to the government on the operation of the scheme. The government intends for the adviser position to be conferred on a joint-industry led organisation that will have the technical expertise, experience and relationships within the automotive industry to support the scheme. Based on successful arrangements in the United States, industry representatives have advised me that this joint-industry led organisation will run an online portal to facilitate easy access to and supply of information for those that wish to participate. The government will provide a $250,000 grant to facilitate online access to service and repair information. This bill also provides a strong incentive to comply with these new obligations, with a maximum penalty of $10 million to apply in circumstances where data providers fail to comply with the scheme. The ACCC will be responsible for monitoring compliance and taking any action where necessary. This bill includes significant reforms to the service and repair industry that has been made possible only through a strong partnership with industry, and I want to take this opportunity to thank the five signatories to the existing voluntary agreement for the work and engagement they have undertaken to date and thank them in advance for the work that will be done to ensure this scheme's success. Full details of the measure are contained in the explanatory memorandum. Debate adjourned. Family Law Amendment (Federal Family Violence Orders) Bill 2021 4

Family Law Amendment (Federal Family Violence Orders) Bill 2021

First Reading 4 Second Reading 5 09:54 Mr TEHAN 210911 Wannon I move: That this bill be now read a second time. Everyone has the right to feel safe and to live free from violence. Despite this, the incidence of family violence remains unacceptably high, and victims continue to experience profound physical, financial and psychological impacts. The scourge of family violence has no place in our society. Every single death as a result of family violence is one too many. That is why the government has invested so heavily in addressing domestic violence, with $340 million in funding as part of the Fourth Action Plan of the National Plan to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children, as well as a $150 million COVID-19 Domestic Violence Support Package in 2020 to respond to the impacts of the pandemic. TheFamily Law Amendment (Federal Family Violence Orders) Bill 2021 adds further support to these efforts, ensuring greater protections for vulnerable Australian families experiencing family violence. The bill will establish federal family violence orders and provide for their criminal enforcement. This reinforces the government's recognition of family violence as not a private matter but a criminal matter of public concern. Victims of family violence who have matters before the family courts will no longer need to separately go to a state or territory court to seek enforceable protection and will be able to apply for a federal family violence order. In the 2020-21 budget, this government announced a significant investment of over $140 million in the legal system. This investment includes $1.8 million over four years to support the implementation and enforcement of federal family violence orders. This funding will stand up effective information-sharing arrangements between the courts and police, support service of the new orders and enable important training and awareness raising. This reform adds other measures implemented by this government to improve safety within the family law system. These include banning the direct cross-examination of victims in family law proceedings and establishing specialist domestic violence units and family advocacy and support services, which provide legal advice and services to those affected by family violence. More recently, we have also invested: $13.5 million to pilot a systematic approach to identifying and managing family safety risks in the federal family law courts, and establish a dedicated family violence list for high risk cases, and $10.4 million to co-locate state and territory child protection and policing officials in family law courts across Australia, to improve information-sharing between the family law, family violence and child protection systems. The bill's new federal family violence orders would offer stronger protections in relation to family violence than current family law personal protection injunctions that can be made by the family law courts. To enforce a personal protection injunction, the victim must bring a civil action against the offender in court. This can be difficult for the victim and can be accompanied by an escalation of conflict. This bill will instead provide for police enforcement and criminal prosecution of federal family violence order breaches. This is a critical measure to improve the safety of protected persons, including children. It also delivers against recommendations of the Australian and New South Wales Law Reform Commissions in the 2010 report: Family violence: anational legal response and Victoria's 2016 Royal Commission into Family Violence. The bill will allow a person to apply for a federal family violence order where they have proceedings before a family law court. These courts will also be able to make a federal family violence order on their own motion. The new orders will be available in family violence circumstances only, where a statutory test has been met. The test has been modelled on those for the issue of final family violence orders in the states and territories. The primary consideration in deciding to issue the order is the relevant person's safety and welfare. In a similar way to state and territory family violence orders, the new federal family violence orders will be able to restrict certain behaviours, communication and contact with protected persons. The standard conditions have been developed in consultation with state and territory police to ensure that they can be enforced in practice and proven in court. Federal family violence orders will protect children, parents and other persons who have care responsibilities for a child, and parties to a marriage. These are the same categories of persons who can be protected under a personal protection injunction. Federal family violence orders will benefit families who are before a family law court and would otherwise need to commence separate proceedings in a state or territory court to obtain a criminally enforceable order. State and territory courts will, appropriately, continue to be the primary avenue for victims to seek family violence protection orders. However, this bill will reduce the need for vulnerable families to navigate multiple courts when they are already before a family law court, saving them time and money, and allowing victims and survivors to access protection when they require it most. The bill will allow federal family violence orders to be varied, revoked or suspended where there is a change in circumstances or new material before the court. It will also allow state and territory courts to revoke or suspend federal family violence orders when they are making or varying a state family violence order. This will allow flexibility for victims to seek new or varied orders in a variety of fora, and for courts to ensure that appropriate protections are in place. This government values the ongoing partnership with states and territories in our joint aim to keep vulnerable Australians safe from family violence. States and territories have agreed that that the new orders will be recognised on the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme and enforced by state and territory police. This agreement followed significant consultation with the states and territories, who came together to co-design the policy underlying this bill. Recognising federal family violence orders on the National Domestic Violence Order Scheme will result in these orders being treated as local orders in the state or territory in which they are breached. This means that law enforcement will be able to enforce the new orders using the local processes with which they are familiar, and the penalty of the state or territory in which the offence is prosecuted would apply. A deferral on the commencement of measures related to federal family violence orders of up to 12 months after royal assent will allow time for states and territories to enact the legislative amendments needed for recognition on this scheme to occur. Where the Australian Federal Police is enforcing a breach using Commonwealth enforcement powers, the bill provides a maximum penalty of two years imprisonment or 120 penalty units. Importantly, personal protection injunctions will remain available where a person requires civil protection. This includes protection for persons who do not meet the threshold for a federal family violence order, safeguarding against any gaps in their protection. The bill recognises that a strong system of state and territory family violence orders is already in place, and is designed to operate concurrently with that system. The bill includes important safeguards to ensure there is a clear delineation between federal family violence orders, personal protection injunctions, and state and territory and family violence orders. This includes restricting a court from making a federal family violence order where there is a state family violence order in force between the same parties, and from making a personal protection injunction that is inconsistent with a state family violence order. Access to orders on the National Police Reference System will be available to the family law courts for this purpose. To further the government's broader family law reform agenda and to protect vulnerable Australian families, the bill also enhances the protection for registrars in proceedings before the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and the Family Court of Western Australia. It does so by conferring registrars with the same protection as a Judge when conducting conferences related to family law or child support proceedings, including those conferences involving people who are not parties to the proceedings, for example, grandparents. These changes will support increased and broadened use of alternative dispute resolution. This will support more tailored, flexible and early resolutions for vulnerable families, and free up judges to focus on more complex and specialised matters. In turn, this change will provide better outcomes for families by enabling matters to be dealt with quickly, efficiently, and cheaply as possible. The bill demonstrates the government's commitment to continuing to improve the capacity of the family law system to provide effective outcomes to vulnerable families. By allowing victims of family violence to obtain a criminally enforceable protection order, this bill sends a strong and clear message that family violence is unacceptable and that it is criminal behaviour. Debate adjourned. Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021 7

Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021

Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021

Reference to Federation Chamber 7 10:04 Mr VAN MANEN 188315 Forde I propose that at 1.30 pm today the following bills stand referred to the Federation Chamber for further consideration: Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-21 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. Second Reading 7 10:06 The DEPUTY SPEAKER HK5 Before the debate is resumed on this bill, I remind the House it has been agreed that a general debate be allowed covering this bill and the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-21. The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Kingsford Smith 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 in the form that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question. 10:05 Mr HILL 86256 Bruce We're in the eighth year of this government, that's a fact they don't actually like to talk about. They like to pretend the Prime Minister's all shiny and new and forget that bloke called Malcolm Turnbull and that bloke called Tony Abbott. How many treasurers? You'd need fingers and toes to remember how many defence ministers and Muppets have been through other portfolios. But it would be stiff competition you'd have to say to pick one of the greatest failures, the greatest matters of neglect, in this eighth year of this failing government. I want to make a few remarks on the scandal of ever rising house prices and worsening house affordability in this country. It's a tricky thing to talk about, to call out the problem that is rising house prices. The fact is many Australians own homes and people quite like their house prices going up, especially people with more than one house. Of course, like most Australians, if you only own one house generally it doesn't matter. You buy and sell in the same market. A bit more equity can help you leverage and get another house. But it's really only the people with multiple properties who love this bonanza of rising house prices, because no society should ever want to see prices rise as fast as they are in this country while wages flatline. The fact is wage growth has not kept up with the cost of housing and the goal of many Australians to own their own home is increasingly unattainable. Shockingly, a fact the government doesn't like to talk about—I've never heard them talking about it—Australia is now the third most unaffordable housing market in the OECD. Amongst all the developed nations we're the third most unaffordable housing market. This is the Liberal's record of failure. When you take away the spin, the marketing, the announcements and the crocodile tears—whatever other distraction and stunt they'll come up with today—it's a record of failure. We've had record low wage growth in this country. Real wages under this government fell in real terms between 2013 and 2019. We're the third last place in the OECD for wage growth. Out of 35 developed nations we're the third lowest wage growth and the third highest house prices—the most unaffordable housing market. We've seen the market take off again. We had a brief pause last year with COVID but off they go, two per cent a month in Melbourne and Sydney. This is a crisis. This is a problem. This is not something to get up and go, 'The economy is going gangbusters. Look, house prices are going up.' This is a problem for our society. Housing markets—it's a longer speech, you know, demand and supply. It's not rocket science. The government has nothing to say on supply. I get that a lot of those levers sit with the states and territories but that's why you need a partnership and why you need nationally coordinated policy. You also need to invest in social housing. There's a trillion dollars of debt under this mob—these great economic geniuses over there, these great economic managers. There was $100 billion in new spending in your last budget and nothing on social housing, nothing to show for it. Commonwealth land—a lot of talk. They keep re-announcing the same things, to develop the same pieces of land—nothing. No land released. Nothing but pork-barrelling in marginal seats for their so-called cities program, nothing to really deal with housing affordability. On the demand side some days you wish they'd do nothing, because I think the prize for the dumbest proposal, the gold medal for policy stupidity, goes to the idea of letting people withdraw superannuation to buy houses. It's a triple whammy. It would be hard to think of any policy that is so profoundly bad. Not only would it trash people's retirement savings; it would push up house prices—pour petrol on the fire that is now raging in the housing market in capital cities. It would also transfer enormous amounts of wealth from the younger generation to the older generation, because the only people who are going to benefit from this dumb idea are people who are selling houses, particularly those who own multiple properties. To be very clear, Labor thinks superannuation is good and home ownership is good—and you don't have to choose between the two. Labor's out there every day, every year, trying to protect the superannuation system that provides for the long-term dignity and retirement of working Australians. It used to be the province of the elite—the very top few, in banking, the top of the Public Service, the military and whatever, who got super. But we extended it to everyday working Australians. The Liberals are out there trying to destroy it. But the great lie of this policy is that it's not about first-home buyers. The only people who benefit are the vendors. Say there are two young couples bidding in an auction. Let's say they withdrew $30,000 each from their superannuation account. These two young couples turn up to the auction, and all they do is bid up the cost of the housing by that 30 grand. You might as well get a vacuum cleaner and stick it in your superannuation account and suck all the cash out into the pocket of the person selling the house—it's usually a guy, but whoever it is. All this policy does is get your superannuation balance drained into the pocket of the house seller. The latest modelling that I've seen from Industry Superannuation Australia—independent modelling, with the assumptions all out there; the government decries it, because they don't like the answers—shows that if we saw this policy adopted, if the government was loony enough to adopt this idea from their nutty backbenchers who are trying to get their names in the paper, there would be an eight to 16 per cent increase in the median house prices in the five biggest capital cities. Joe Hockey even floated this idea back in 2015 but within a couple of days had ruled it out as a very dumb idea, as Mathias Cormann told him, as the Grattan Institute told him and as leading economists like Saul Eslake told him. And the facts haven't changed, but it's come back, because of attention-seeking Liberal backbenchers like the member for Goldstein. He's got a great advantage over most of us in this place, you must admit. It's not his great intellect. It's not his extraverted nature—a few of us have that. It's certainly not his judgement. It's not his respect for parliament, after he was found misusing parliamentary committees last term. It's that he has no shame. He has no shame in prosecuting any idea that will get him in the newspaper. But he's pushing a stupid idea, desperately hoping someone will make him a minister—there might be some vacancies soon. But the great nonsense, the untruth, is the lie that super would make it easier to get a home. I do accept that he's interested in increasing home ownership. But the Liberal MPs who are pushing this idea should be honest. The only people who benefit are homeowners. He and his husband between them own five properties; it's on his parliamentary declaration. He'd stand to benefit from this policy, but first-home buyers would not. You don't make housing more affordable by making it more expensive. It is a ridiculous policy to pour more cash into people's pockets as house prices are already rising—petrol on the fire. It's also bad for taxpayers. The early withdrawal would see billions more dollars spent on the pension. To his credit, the Treasurer said no to the request by the member for Goldstein for an inquiry. But he needs to go the whole hog and rule this out—rule it out now and go and find a real answer to housing affordability, not fake promises to young people. (Time expired) 10:13 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins The Morrison government is getting on with the job of delivering for the good people of my electorate of Higgins. I'm very grateful for this, because I'm passionate about taking care of Higgins. These commitments were formulated in consultation and with the support of my local community, and I'm really pleased about them, because the commitments are about keeping Higgins safe, active and healthy. Once such project, which is going to not only bust congestion but also deliver a much safer intersection, is the removal of the notorious Glenferrie Road level crossing at Kooyong Station in my electorate of Higgins. The Morrison government has committed $260 million to its removal. This project will enable the removal of this level crossing and allow commuters from the south-east of Melbourne faster passage across this busy corridor. Further, our government is firmly committed to providing an integrated solution to the wider Glen Waverley train line, which is why we have also committed funding of $10 million to a business case looking at stations on either side of the Glenferrie Road level crossing, including Madden Grove in Burnley and Tooronga Road in Malvern. I've heard from my constituents all about how hard it is for them with this Glenferrie Road crossing and the Taronga Road crossing. We need an integrated solution, which is why the federal government has stepped in to make a change. An important element of why we're doing this is that VicRoads released a study back in 2013 listing the Glenferrie Road level crossing as one of the 20 high-priority level crossings needing to be removed. It is one of the most dangerous and congested level crossings, and it sits on a key arterial corridor for the wider south-eastern Melbourne region. It sees thousands of vehicles pass through it each day. It is one of the only level crossings left that sees cars, trams, trains and pedestrians all intersect at this one dangerous crossing. There are around 24 trains in the peak-hour period between 7 am and 9 am and this means that members of my community sit at boom gates for almost one third of the time of the peak hour in the mornings. I know this because I lived on the street along this train line many years ago and I also worked in a local medical practice right on the train line. As a mum with little kids, I used to push my pram across that level crossing and I used to see children run across it, in front of the level crossing coming down—very, very dangerous. So I'm delighted that this is something we've committed to. We have a business plan which is due to be released in the coming weeks to look at the integrated solution for the whole line, but particularly this important level crossing. As a local doctor I used to sit there waiting for my patients to arrive, knowing that they were sitting in peak hour traffic at the boom gates and unable to get to the other side in order to get to an appointment. I'm just one of the many local businesses that have been affected by these boom gates and I'm pleased that this is now going to change. I want to thank both the former minister for urban infrastructure, the Hon. Alan Tudge, and the new federal minister, who is now in the chamber, the Hon. Paul Fletcher, for supporting this important project for my community. This project is part of the Morrison government's commitment to supporting local jobs, businesses and the economy during our post-COVID recovery. Most importantly, it's about helping keep my community safe with real and practical solutions. Our government is also getting on with the job of delivering safer community spaces, which is why we've committed $100,000 towards the installation of new pathway lighting along the popular Rosanna Street Reserve in my electorate in Higgins. This is in the part of the electorate called Carnegie. This shared path forms part of the Rosstown Rail Trail east-west commuter path, and the new lighting will be both solar and LED powered. I'm very pleased about that because Higgins and I care deeply about a sustainable future. This was responding to the City of Glen Eira's Environmental Sustainability Strategy, and I'm very pleased that we are partnering with our local council for this important project. People in my electorate are now getting out and enjoy their community recreational spaces much more. We know that Higgins is one of the electorates with the least open space, so we really need to make sure that every single part of my electorate which has an open space is made safe and easy for people to use, because those spaces are a very important part of my electorate. This will help improve connectivity with our local paths and street networks, and it will encourage more walking—or active transport, as we like to call it. I look forward to switching on these new lights in the coming months with our local council in Glen Eira. We're also providing new lighting, to be installed in the Riversdale Soccer Club, with an $88,000 grant from the federal government to support this wonderful club. Great new sports infrastructure like this will encourage locals in Glen Eira and Ashburton to get involved and stay active in soccer. This funding complements the Morrison government's spending on community sports infrastructure so that local communities have the facilities they need to enjoy sport and recreational activities. And, of course, in areas of the inner city like Higgins we really do need to make sure that we care for and respect these small spaces and make sure that they're well utilised. The Morrison government is also committed to developing inclusive early intervention programs that will support improving outcomes for vulnerable young families and children in my electorate, like those who attend The Craig Family Centre in Ashburton. I recently visited the centre and met with their board to hear firsthand how federal funding announced at the last election has supported this wonderful organisation to deliver these programs. It was pleasing to hear the funding has been put to good use and that this centre is looking to continue these programs into the future, including group sporting activities, bush playgroups and a new garden kitchen project. The Craig Family Centre provides a wonderful community support to those who are really vulnerable in our community, and I really congratulate them for the wonderful work that they're doing. As I said earlier, Higgins is a very active electorate. We have a passion for both sport and health. It's about keeping active, whether through COVID or now post the pandemic. I'm pleased the outdated Murrumbeena Park Pavilion will be getting a major facelift, transforming the local pavilion into an integrated community hub with multipurpose spaces for local sporting clubs and events. In fact, just last week I welcomed the Deputy Prime Minister, the Hon. Michael McCormack, to Higgins for the ceremonial turning of the first sod to signal the beginning of construction on this long-awaited project. This new hub will be a reality thanks to a contribution of $4 million from the Morrison federal government and will provide a home base to support the growth of local sporting clubs, particularly female participation, which has seen a welcome explosion in numbers in recent years. The new pavilion will, importantly, have separate change rooms for male and female players to ensure young women will have the very best local facilities. Importantly, it also has a world-class changing facility called Changing Places which is dedicated to the support of those with a disability having change rooms that are fit for purpose. I really welcome this world-class approach to our local sporting communities. It's important for those who want to get active but have a disability. I thank the City of Glen Eira, including the CEO, Rebecca McKenzie, the mayor and local champion for our community, Margaret Esakoff, and the local member for Oakleigh, Steve Dimopoulos, for their effort to bring this project forward which is being matched by the Victorian state government to the tune of $2 million. These upgrades will benefit community groups, including the Murrumbeena Football Netball Club, the junior football club, the cricket club, the Murrumbeena Park Bowls Club and the Oakdale Angling Club. I look forward to seeing construction kick off next month now we've done the turning of the sod. I have to say the Deputy Prime Minister has very good kicking skills. We were kicking a football around the oval with some local kids. He was pretty surprised that I could kick a football, but with brothers and having grown up in Albury locally I think I can manage that. When the project is finished in mid-2022, I am looking forward to being able to watch some great local sporting highlights from the wonderful decking that is going to be provided at the Murrumbeena community hub so that parents can enjoy watching their kids and young adults getting out there and getting active. Our government has also committed $400,000 to the Melbourne Yarra bike trail project. This is being delivered by the City of Stonnington to upgrade a dangerous section of existing pathways along the busy Alexandra Avenue in Toorak. The pathwinding project will see the installation of a barrier protecting cyclists from adjacent traffic and will complete stage 7A of the Yarra River biodiversity project. My community are keen cycling enthusiasts and so am I. I can't wait to get out there and enjoy with my local community the wonderful Yarra River bike trail. It's a wonderful place for people to enjoy getting out and getting active. This upgraded pathway means that we can do it in a safer way. I am also proud of the fact that Higgins cares about staying healthy. We care about the provision of world-class health care. As a doctor myself, I care about delivering the best quality health care that Australia doesn't just deserves but expects. Along with that comes the Very Special Kids Hospice. This is a place that has a very special place in my heart. It has a very special project which is one step closer to completion thanks to a $7.5 million federal government commitment to embark on a totally new hospice for seriously ill children and their families. This wonderful facility provides 24-hour specialist care, with nurses trained in complex needs. Very Special Kids is a team of doctors, nurses, carers and other professionals who work around the clock to help children in a home away from home at a time when families are dealing with an amazing journey, when their children have life-threatening conditions. I really want to mark and honour the work of the previous member for Higgins, the Hon. Kelly O'Dwyer, on this. She fought valiantly for this funding. I want to put on record my thanks to her and to the wonderful CEO, Michael Wasley, for his efforts in providing the plans for this new hospice which is very close to getting full funding, with matching funding from the Victoria state government and some wonderful philanthropic funding. It will provide an amazing new world-class hospice. It is one of only two hospices in the whole of Australia for children. It was actually, I think, Australia's first hospice. We must give our thanks to these wonderful people doing this work. They are the angels who are looking after our very special angels. I'm also pleased that we have a wonderful hospital in my electorate, Cabrini hospital. It's the only hospital in my electorate. It is a private, not-for-profit hospital. I was on the board of the Cabrini hospital. The federal government has provided very special funding of $6 million for a new state-of-the-art cancer facility, which will allow researchers and clinicians to work towards lifesaving breakthroughs. As a former director of Cabrini Health, I know the top-quality work that this institution does both with regard to clinical care and research outcomes. This will provide better health outcomes for people in the south-east. It's a much-needed special research centre, and I'm very proud to be supporting that with a federal government commitment. Finally, young people in Higgins have been doing it tough through COVID. We know that depression and anxiety and, unfortunately, youth mental health issues, including suicide, are on the rise, so it's so important that we step up and provide committed mental health services. I'm very proud that there is a $3.5 million commitment to a brand new headspace facility in Glen Iris in Higgins. This is due to be opened in September this year, initially in temporary facilities and then in new facilities going forward. As a mum and a paediatrician, I know how valuable these services are, and I know that there are many Australians who have been dealing with a pretty tough period of their life over the last 12 months, so a local headspace facility is needed now more than ever. Our government is committed to ensuring that young people have the right support services no matter where they live. My community is benefiting from the significant investments made by the Morrison government. I'm proud to have fought for our community to be safe, active and healthy. These projects support our community to live more healthily, to have more active lifestyles and to prepare for the future growth in the inner east of Melbourne. I'm proud to be helping to take care of Higgins. 10:26 Mr GOSLING 245392 Solomon We're debating Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. Appropriation bills are, of course, the very lifeblood of government. It's important that these bills pass so that the government has money to keep our economy ticking over during a very difficult time. But what has this government been doing? What have those opposite been doing? They have been presiding over a series of scandals and shambles. One of my constituents, Pamela Trotman, a mental health social worker, recently wrote a letter to the Prime Minister voicing her concerns. I'm not sure if the Prime Minister has read it. His office certainly haven't acknowledged it. But she's urging him to reconsider his decision not to hold an inquiry into the events of 1988 in which it was alleged that Christian Porter raped a teenage colleague. She writes: Christian Porter and you have both … argued on the importance of upholding the rule of law as a key foundation of a democratic society … however there are other key principles of law which you and Christian Porter appear to have overlooked and in doing so you have both compromised the integrity of the role of Attorney General. Ms Trotman says that Minister Porter had the opportunity to declare his innocence, but the woman who is making the allegations has not. She writes to the Prime Minister: What is particularly galling about your actions is your apparent insincerity with respect to ensuring survivor's voices are heard. That insincerity, or was it duplicity, is evidenced in the fact that you made those assertions in support of Christian Porter just five weeks after you stood beside Grace Tame while she delivered her impassioned speech in response to being awarded Australian of the Year. Which 'persona' of you as Prime Minister do we believe? Ms Trotman writes to the Prime Minister further: We need leaders, men, and women, who despite the challenges and personal costs, will fight to uphold and protect the very fabric of our civil society … neither he nor you have demonstrated this level of leadership and in so doing have tarnished the integrity of this pivotal role in sustaining Australia as a civil society. She closes by saying: Your decision not to hold an inquiry is to silence not only the voice of Christian Porter's accuser but all the other rape victims who struggle to live healthy and rich lives while their perpetrators go unchallenged. That, Sir, is not my idea of a how a civil society should work. I agree with Ms Trotman. We should not be silencing the voice of victims; we should be amplifying them. This is true of the victims of sexual assault as well as those who have served our nation, and that is why I've been so vocal in my calls for a royal commission into veteran and Defence Force suicides. We've managed to get the government over to the side of overwhelming public opinion. I acknowledge the support we have had from all sides on this issue. But I do note that the Prime Minister still hasn't been able to bring himself to say that there will definitely be a royal commission; he only says that he won't oppose moves towards establishing one. Yesterday in question time the Prime Minister couldn't say there would be a royal commission. On behalf of veterans and families I say: 'Prime Minister why are you delaying confirming that there will be a royal commission into defence and veteran suicides? Why won't you establish that for the nation? I hope you do it today. You've got the opportunity to do it before we go to a break from sittings.' We know that work is a tremendous lifeline for people and sustains families. But, over the last year, work has been incredibly uncertain for many Australians, who are now facing even more uncertainty. There are only four days left until this lifeline to businesses, especially to small businesses, is cut off. It's going to be disastrous for a lot of those small businesses, including in my electorate of Solomon—Darwin and Palmerston—the northern capital of Australia. Our workers have sacrificed so much during this pandemic and they've paid a very high price. One million people are unemployed and 1. 1 million are underemployed looking for more work or more hours. Some 3.3 million have raided their super account, with many thousands of young people reducing their balances to zero. This will cost them hundreds of thousands of dollars upon their retirement. What Australian workers and businesses need right now is a government that will listen to them and hear their fears, worries and concerns. During this highly unusual period, they are hoping for a helping hand—and I speak for my electorate—to get through to the vaccine rollout, which is slower than anticipated, and to get to the dry season, when the tourists return. That's why Labor first proposed a wage subsidy system—and we understood that this sort of help would be necessary for some time. Now is not the time to lift this support. But no-one thinks that this payment, JobKeeper, should go on for ever. Economists are estimating that, when the tap gets turned off on Sunday, anywhere between 100,000 and 250,000 Australians will immediately lose their jobs. JobKeeper has been the only thing keeping them afloat. So, whilst this Prime Minister fights for the jobs of his colleagues with serious allegations against them, in four days we are facing a situation where many Australians around this nation, through no fault of their own, will join the unemployment queues. That's mind-boggling. The temporary rate of JobSeeker has been cut too, so Territorians and people in my electorate won't get much support there. A miserly boost of $3.57 a day from those opposite isn't going to help keep the lights on at home or put food on the table or pay the rent. More than 4,000 Territorians were still on JobKeeper at the end of January, and three-quarters of them live in Darwin in my electorate. So I speak for them when I say it is premature to be pulling this support away—particularly for people connected with the tourism industry because, as we know, the borders remain closed. In my electorate Chris Cleanthous runs a business servicing cruise ships. They normally service 50 to 70 ships a year. They've been doing that for 30 years. It was a very profitable business until COVID-19 hit and the ships stopped coming. Chris and his brother George have already had to lose two-thirds of their staff, dropping from 30 employees to 12. Those 12 are all on JobKeeper and all look to be out of a job from Monday, when JobKeeper goes. Overseas tourism is still a long way from returning to Australia, and we all understand that, so some consideration needs to be given to businesses such as these that have been paying their taxes for so many years. Domestic tourism coming back isn't going to be able to fill that gap for them, so there is a big, real need for targeted support with JobKeeper. We all know there's massive corporations that have been getting JobKeeper whilst making massive profits, whilst giving out executive bonuses and whilst paying out dividends funded by the taxpayers of Australia. Targeted support to small businesses that are still struggling is what's required. The $1.2 billion tourism package that the government announced two weeks ago initially didn't include the Top End at all, despite our heavy reliance on tourism. How could Darwin be overlooked when Broome was included and when Cairns was included? We have many world-class tourism icons, such as Kakadu. How could they be ignored? It was only added to the list of eligible locations after the fact, when we raised our concerns about it. I acknowledge all those from all sides of politics representing the Northern Territory who raised those concerns, but it hardly sends and encouraging message to tourism businesses in the Top End. What is the government actually offering to the tens of thousands of tourism and hospitality businesses in the Territory and around the country who are hanging on by a thread? Some of those businesses are going to go to the wall. And yet those opposite, the federal government, refuse to even consider making companies who have made massive profits pay back the JobKeeper they didn't need. In a targeted way, those funds could have kept some of these small businesses afloat. We want Territorians and, around Australia, Australian workers to be connected to their businesses. David Malone is the CEO of Master Builders Association Northern Territory. Today in the NT News he noted that we are entering what he calls the great unwinding, as those billions are pulled back and the economy returns to being powered by citizens not stimulus. One of the biggest impacts, he says, is the end of the federal government's HomeBuilder incentive and the Northern Territory's BuildBonus scheme. These schemes have helped shore up private investment. David is calling for the creation of a major projects coordinator and an infrastructure commissioner to take charge around investment as stimulus payments ebb. There is, of course, light on the horizon. The NT government has done a great job of considering the longer term future and has been busy shoring up many projects that will give us a stable base for the recovery. These projects include major investments in renewable energy. There is the Sun Cable project, which will result in up to $8 billion being invested in the Territory, which will be home to the largest solar farm and renewable energy system in the world. It will form part of the $22 billion Australian-ASEAN Power Link, for which 1500 jobs will be created during the construction phase from October 2023, with 350 ongoing jobs once operations get going. It will create both job security and energy security, both of which are absolutely essential in the NT and around our country. It will be good for the environment and good for the economy. It means that in six years from now this power link will provide a huge amount of renewable energy for the NT as well as powering a fifth of the energy used by Singapore. It will export one billion per year in solar electricity. The NT will be a renewable energy powerhouse and will be set to become a green energy manufacturing hub. It could, in fact, be a key cog in a federal renewable energy precinct network, which could support a cluster of manufacturers powered by 100 per cent renewable energy. It could help Australia get on the front foot and capitalise on a growing global demand for carbon zero products. It could position us as a world leader in zero-carbon, sustainable manufacturing. A proposal from the World Wildlife Fund suggests that 3,000 regional manufacturing jobs in Darwin could double under such a program. That's a big deal for the northern capital of Australia. So there's a bright future ahead of us, especially for the Northern Territory. But many of these fantastic initiatives are still a few years away. We need support to help our local businesses hold on during this very tough time, so that they still exist when the time comes to capitalise on the opportunities ahead. This is not the time to cut JobKeeper. The government must reconsider this. If it escapes the government's attention, let me make it very clear: like in other regional areas of Australia, in my electorate in Darwin and Palmerston there are many small businesses, including First Nations businesses, whether they be in the travel booking industry or connected to international tourism, that still require this assistance in a targeted way—those exposed to the dramatic decline in those coming from overseas to visit our magnificent Northern Territory. They still need a hand in a targeted way to get through to the vaccine rollout, which those opposite are responsible for. If the vaccine rollout is a lot slower than anticipated, keep JobKeeper going—particularly to those businesses in the tourism industry that are going to struggle or close. Many of them will simply cease to exist. It behoves those opposite to take the concerns of these small businesses and their workers in the Northern Territory seriously. I seek leave to table a letter from Ms Pamela Trotman, one of my constituents, to the Prime Minister, because I have no faith that it has been read. Leave not granted. 10:41 Mr PASIN 240756 Barker When we entered this pandemic, we entered it with very clear eyes. The Prime Minister and the leadership team consistently referred to a strategy, and that strategy was about saving lives and preserving livelihoods. As a result, the COVID-19 restrictions we were forced to impose at the beginning of the pandemic were harsh. We weren't used to those draconian measures. The appropriations bills, Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021, are an opportunity to reflect on the year that was, and I want to reflect against that matrix—lives saved and, of course, measures that go to preserving livelihoods. Mr Deputy Speaker Kevin Andrews, you know that Australians, our community at large, sacrificed a lot. But it was those sacrifices which ensured we saved lives. Compared with comparable jurisdictions around the world, Australia has done exceptionally well. Today we have zero community transmission in the country, and that has a lot to do with the early action taken on our international borders. Our economy today, I would suggest to you, is the envy of the world. According to the OECD, Australia's economy only contracted 3.8 per cent compared to the 5.5 per cent average across advanced economies. Our economic success was dependent on our success in fighting the health crisis in the first instance. We took action quickly to combat the pandemic. We declared COVID-19 a pandemic well before the World Health Organization; we even received criticism from that organisation for that declaration. We closed our international borders quickly. On 11 March 2020 the Prime Minister announced that a new body called the national cabinet would be established to ensure a coordinated response across the country. Establishing a national cabinet would have been considered impossible prior to the pandemic, but our government, in conjunction with the states and territories, including a majority of Labor governments, made it happen. Since then, we have supported the states' hotel quarantine systems, provided increased health funding and, most recently, ensured we have a sovereign vaccine manufacturing program so that we are not dependent on other nations for our health response. I think we can say the actions taken to save lives were a stunning success but there's more work to be done. We heard the usual whinges from the member for Solomon, but the vaccine is being rolled out, and I ask people across my electorate to be patient as we do this. It is the largest peace-time undertaking in our nation's history. Early indications are positive because Australians feel as though they want to do their bit and doing their bit right now is lining up for the vaccine, if you're in the 1B cohort. As the CSL production facility at Broadmeadows comes on line, and there's been brilliant and positive news on that front today, we will produce those one million doses a week, which will ensure every Australian has access to the vaccine, should they wish to take it. I will now move to the government's response and how we maintained livelihoods during the pandemic. In the early phases of the pandemic, it was perhaps not considered as pressing, but I'm very pleased that equal attention was given to it in the early days because, of course, saving lives was pre-eminent. If we hadn't gone about saving lives then we would be facing not just an economic crisis right now but a crisis that would visit itself on people's psychological sequela today much more significantly than it is. The most significant economic stimulus our government provided was of course a $77 billion JobKeeper payment. It has provided support to businesses and their employees since the beginning of the pandemic. As we heard from the member for Solomon and as we know, it ends at the end of this month. It was always intended to be a temporary measure. It was one that was scalable and provided that soft fall into which businesses could land and it maintained that connection between businesses and their employees. Across my electorate, and I hasten to suggest the other 150 members in this place have the same experience, it's clear that businesses would have closed without the payment. I'm glad to report many of those businesses once dependent on JobKeeper have not only graduated from that but have thrived in the new economic settings. Had the relationship between employers and employees been severed at that point, I doubt I would be able to say that. Investment our government provided totals over $267 billion in direct economic and health supports. Of that, $251 billion was in direct economic support and $175 billion has already flowed to Australian households and businesses. Although many of these economic support packages were inconceivable prior to the pandemic, they've saved our economy from the negative impacts seen across the world. JobKeeper, JobSeeker, JobMaker programs and many other programs our government introduced all have the same aim: to create jobs by getting more shovels in the grounds. So speaking of shovels in the ground, particularly those shovels in Barker, I would like to address a few of those programs. I begin with Building Better Regions Fund. It's one of those programs ensuring that post-pandemic we are getting shovels in the ground. It has seen projects both completed and under construction in my electorate of Barker. Drought-affected regional communities in Barker took a share in millions of dollars under round 4 of that program. Projects approved through round 4 of the Building Better Regions Program are currently under construction, including: the Southern Mallee commercial centre revitalisation project, which received $2.25 million; the Loxton Wellbeing and Community Centre, which received a touch over $1.2 million; Destination Swan Reach received $224,000; the Bordertown Caravan Park received $700,00; Waikerie Age Friendly Community Project received $600,000; and the Murray Bridge Golf Club and Community Clubroom Redevelopment received $339,000. In previous rounds, this program has provided enormous benefits to the community, not only building social infrastructure but also creating jobs, both in the construction and post-construction phases. Applications for round 5 recently closed. I'm looking forward to those determinations being made and announcements being made shortly. It's a $200 million fund, and of course colleagues would know that $100 million of that is dedicated—hypothecated, if you like—to tourism related infrastructure, which is the right investment at the right time. Barker has some of South Australia's, indeed our nation's, prime tourism offerings: the Barossa Valley, the Coorong, the Riverland and the Limestone Coast, meaning our local regions will benefit from this increased domestic tourism and the diversity of the tourism offer. More local jobs, better community infrastructure, a boost to the local economy: that's exactly what the Building Better Regions Fund is about. Another fund which has operated positively in my electorate during the pandemic is the response fashioned for local governments through the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. It's led to better infrastructure and better facilities. It's allowed councils to keep building and keep employing Australians through the pandemic. The first round of the LRCI program provided $500 million and brought forward $1.3 million in financial assistance. That's nationwide. Across Barker, that meant $30 million for local councils in round 1. This unprecedented economic support allowed councils to not only get on with the job of providing services but get to those projects they were unlikely to fund in the short term or even in the medium or longer term. The success and sheer number of these projects submitted through round 1 of the program led, with the assistance of many colleagues, to the establishment of a second round, and that provided to my electorate an additional $10.5 million. I could spend the remaining time I have listing these projects but let me simply say these projects included playground projects, footpath projects, road resheeting projects, reconstruction projects, lighting projects, sporting infrastructure upgrades, stormwater projects, community hall projects as well as some larger applications where councils took this injection of funding and parlayed it with existing funds to get about doing very significant works. It's important to remember that prior to the pandemic many regional communities were suffering from the implications of a prolonged drought and, indeed, in many places around Australia, the effects of bushfire. Our government understands the effects of long-term droughts don't end when the rain starts, just like the floods being experienced in New South Wales today—their impacts don't end just because New South Welshmen in affected areas woke up this morning to sunshine. That's why the government's Drought Communities Program was so important to regional communities, another program that rolled out during the pandemic, another program that put shovels in the ground. Eleven councils in my electorate were eligible for $1 million, 10 of them were eligible for $2 million. The councils that benefited from this program included the District Council of Loxton Waikerie; the District Council of Karoonda East Murray; the Southern Mallee District Council; the Mid Murray Council; the Berri Barmera Council; the Light Regional Council; the Rural City of Murray Bridge; the Renmark Paringa Council; the Coorong District Council; the Tatiara District Council; and, of course, the Barossa Council. As I travel around my electorate, I'm seeing the rollout of projects across that program, which is raising the spirits of people who live in these communities who've dealt with prolonged drought—24 months of drought—effectively doubled down with the pandemic. Not only is it raising their spirits; we're seeing local employment stimulating the local economy and improving services and amenities for those regional communities. Preserving community and social needs through the pandemic has been, I think you'd accept Mr Deputy Speaker Andrews, a priority of our government. I know that people who are connected and engaged with their community have much better outcomes than those who are isolated. That's why every year I attend most agricultural shows and field days across my electorate. Last year, almost all of them were cancelled, and their future was put in jeopardy because, of course, the profit earnt from this year's show is invested in making sure that show societies can run next year's show, meaning: no show, no profit. No profit, potentially no show. That's why our government had shows' and field days' backs. We offered $34 million worth of agricultural show grants to make sure the agricultural shows and field days bounced back. I'm here to tell you that they have bounced back. In the last four weeks I have attended shows at Angaston and Tanunda in the Barossa, Mount Pleasant and Mannum. The one thing that was common, aside from the joy on people's faces because they were back at community events, was the very significant crowds. I've never seen crowds of that size at those shows. I thought I might have been unusually optimistic, although I think I'm the parliament's pessimist. I confirmed it with the show societies. They said, 'Tony, we have never seen this many people through the gates.' There's a silver lining to the dark COVID cloud. I think we had come to a place in life where we took many of the things we love for granted—'I won't go to the Angaston show this year. I'll go next year. I won't do that thing at the Mount Pleasant show because I'll do it next year.' People have had 18 months to remember. One of the things it has done is shocked them to realise that the things they love might not always be there, so they better go and experience them. I'm very pleased to say that but for the agricultural show grants program those shows, those events, wouldn't have been there. It was the injection of that funding—that smart, targeted assistance—that meant that the things that constituents love doing were there to do post pandemic. It has been a very tough year. I'm incredibly grateful to the executive members of our government who have worked day in and day out to negotiate the need to save lives and livelihoods. I congratulate them on their efforts. There's more work to be done, but we're in a very good place. 10:56 Ms PAYNE 144732 Canberra I rise today to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021, which are of course about the government's priorities. This government has failed to prioritise some of the most vulnerable people in our society and their carers. I want to talk today about aged care, the NDIS and carers. I want to start by sharing the story of Angelina Giorgio and her sister-in-law Tania Giorgio from Canberra. Tania came to meet with me in 2019 to talk about Angie's situation. She was living in a dementia ward in aged care here in Canberra. Angie has catatonic schizophrenia and has had a stroke. She was in this dementia ward, despite being only 59 years old and not having dementia. She was mostly bound to her bed and was lucky to be taken out in her wheelchair once a week. When I talked to Tania about this she said that she was basically told, 'You need to accept that this is life for Angie now and she will die here like this.' She had been approved for a supported disability accommodation package. Part of the reason Tania met with me was that she was concerned that at her upcoming assessment she would not get sufficient funding for this to become a reality. Tania has been a fearless and tireless advocate for her sister-in-law. In writing to me and being in touch with some other great advocates in the ACT, including ADACAS, her situation has been improved. In February I went and met Angie at her new home in Canberra with the shadow minister for disability, Bill Shorten; the shadow assistant minister for disability, Kimberley Kitching; and our shadow assistant minister for carers, Emma McBride. It was heartwarming and fabulous to see Angie in her new home. Her condition has improved so much since being there. She has been feeding herself a bit and brushing her teeth. We chatted with her about things. She has even been doing a little bit of cooking herself. She has her own little garden she can go into. She just seems so much happier. This is exactly what the NDIS is supposed to be about—innovative solutions. She's living in a townhouse with support from CHC Canberra. They were able to have this innovative solution where she has around-the-clock care and support in her own home. She doesn't need to be in aged care. She doesn't need to be in a group home. This is exactly the innovative solutions that were supposed to come out of the NDIS. But it took so much fighting to get there and it should not be this way. Everyone should be able to get these things and they shouldn't have to wait so long. If not for a carer like Tania, who, at great personal cost, advocated for her sister and never gave up, this wouldn't have happened. I wanted to put this story on the record because it says so much not only about the NDIS but about aged care; and I want to talk more about that. The NDIS, under this government, is not being implemented properly. It is not delivering the choice and control that was promised. The latest issue is the proposal of independent assessments. This is raising incredible concern in the disability community because it fundamentally destroys that choice and control people are supposed to have under the NDIS. I spoke about this in the Federation Chamber earlier this week. In sharing my speech, many people with disabilities and their carers from Canberra have got in touch with me. I want to read some of their comments to give a sense of the distress that is out there about this. Julie said: 'I have never been so made to feel like a beggar for funding and assistance as I have since the NDIS. I am a carer for my 26-year-old daughter and I'm sick of hearing how generous NDIS is for giving me funds. You guys changed the funding model and now we have to jump through hoops to get what we rightly deserve. The worst bit is that my daughter's daily life is dictated by people that have never met her and have no idea of her needs. It's jobs to the people who make decisions, but for us it's our lives.' Jasmine said: 'I have been so psychologically damaged by the whole NDIS process I can't even deal with them without having severe panic attacks. The supports I receive are life-saving but the hoop-jumping and never-ending stress that the NDIS puts participants through is cruel and cold-hearted. This government that's in power is a disgusting blight on politics and a stain on Australia'. Jessica said: 'On behalf of my baby son, who is an NDIS participant, thank you. I was so hopeful for his future to be born into a time of the NDIS. He is thriving with regular therapies. I am now very worried that independent assessments will result in a reduction in his funding and that he won't have the opportunity to reach his full potential, that a reduction in therapy will impact his ability to become a thriving independent adult who is able to provide meaningful contributions to society and to participate in paid employment to feel fulfilled with his life'. Helen messaged me and said: 'As a mother of two young men with complex disabilities, one of whom has significant impairment caused by autism, I can see how these changes have the ability to take away the decent life we have worked so hard to create for our boys. I am crying as I type this. Please do all you can to help others understand what is at stake if these changes are allowed to occur without significant modification.' And there were many more comments. This is indicative of the fear that is being placed on people with disabilities trying to deal with the NDIS at the moment. And this is not how it should be. I'm on the NDIS committee and I hear from people all around the country about these issues. And unfortunately what we are seeing is that the approach is around cost-cutting. The approach is this disgraceful attitude that somehow people with disability don't know what's best for them and are trying to get something that they are somehow not entitled to. They are after the supports they need to live their lives—bottom line. We need to be listening to them, and these independent assessments should be scrapped. I want to move on now to aged care. The aged care royal commission recently handed down its final report, with 148 recommendations to fix aged care. Aged care affects us all. Our parents, our grandparents, our partners, our friends—any of us—could one day end up in aged care. Many people would have seen Hamish Macdonald reduced to tears on Q+A about the fact that people are in fear of going into aged care. We should not be in fear of going into aged care. It should be a place that people go with dignity and for the care that they need in their older age. Instead, under this government we have seen $1.7 billion worth of cuts. In response to the aged-care royal commission report, we did see $500 million announced, and we welcome that. But we need a serious response to this in the budget. This absolutely needs to be addressed. We have 100,000 people on waiting lists for home care at the moment, and we have seen 28,000 people die while waiting on these lists. It's not good enough. This government has been in power for eight years. It's time to get this right. We really need to get it right. I also want to take this opportunity to thank the people who have brought forward their stories and those of their loved ones to the aged-care royal commission. I want to share a story as well from a constituent of mine about her parents. She has written to the Prime Minister and also sent me her letter. Her father passed away in 2019 and her mother last year. They were in an aged-care facility in Brisbane. Her father had a wound that was mismanaged and allowed to become necrotic, and this contributed to his death. It is horrific for people to see their family members, their loved ones, in these situations. Her mother passed away last year. In the final month of her life, she suffered abuse and lived in fear. My constituent has made a complaint to the Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission, but she doesn't feel that it has been dealt with and it's time for changes to be made in that facility for the benefit of other residents. She's written to the Prime Minister and cc'd me. I just want to read some of that letter. She says: 'I have reached my wit's end in dealing with the nonresponsive, obfuscation, disinterest and lack of accountability of the aged-care industry and the ineffectiveness of your own Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission. I am therefore humbly writing to ask you add your power to my voice and restore justice, meaning and purpose to the lives of my late parents. In their lives and deaths, justice, meaning and purpose was denied them by the facility. Despite my representations to them and to the ACQSC, this continues to be the case.' Then she's written to me, saying: 'In the preceding context, I request that the recommendations of the royal commission into aged care be fully considered and legislated by parliament. My parents' legacy is that future aged-care residents are protected by robust federal legislation with severe penalties for clinical failures, false written records and bullying behaviour within nursing homes.' This just needs to happen. These are our loved ones—our parents and grandparents. We need to get this right. I want to say about that as well that, while the findings of the royal commission are nothing short of horrific, shocking and completely unacceptable, for those of us who've had a personal experience with aged care, unfortunately, they are not surprising. We know that these things are common. I want to talk a little bit about my grandmother, Joan Handsaker, and her own experience in aged care here in Canberra. My grandmother was a wonderful woman, wife, mother and grandmother. She was a nurse, a formidable tennis opponent and a talented artist. She was and remains an inspiration to me. At the end of her life, she lived with dementia. She lived with us for sometime but eventually had to go into aged care. I'm not going to go into the details, but suffice it to say that many of the most horrific things that have come to light I saw happen to my own grandmother. I know what that's like. For my mother, this was one of the most painful things that she lived with. I want to share a bit of a story because it points to some of the policy responses. I want to talk about staff ratios, the need for registered nurses and the need for better treatment of our aged-care workers. My grandmother was in a dementia ward with eight other women. We were told that the ratio at the time was one staff member. That must have been a policy of the home that she was in because people would be surprised to know that there actually are no ratios for aged-care staff. We have ratios for child care, classrooms and hospitals, but not for our older Australians. So there was one person there with those eight people, and, at some times of the day, that might have been okay, but at other times—at a mealtime, for example—that is not enough to care for those people. My mother would go in there at least once a day, usually twice a day, to help with the care of my grandmother. I remember sitting there at mealtimes. The meals would come out and many of the people could not feed themselves. There was no-one to help them and the meals would be taken away. Then someone would say, 'I need to go to the toilet,' but someone else would be taken, so they would have to say, 'You have to wait.' Then people needed to be put to bed, and my mother would end up helping the staff to put the other residents to bed because there simply was no-one there to care for them. New staff would come in, and these were the most passionate, dedicated, wonderful people, who wanted to spend time talking with the older people and making their lives brighter. But, as soon as they had been there a little while, it became clear that they could not do their jobs in the way that they wanted to because there were simply not enough staff, and either they would leave or they would just do their best. But that was the crux of the issue—not enough staff, not the proper training, not registered nurses around to deal with the issues of wound management and of abuse that was going on. That absolutely needs to change. Before the royal commission report came out, Labor had announced an eight-point plan. In that plan, we included staff ratios and 24-hour registered nurses. These are recommendations of the report. It is absolutely time that, as a nation and as a parliament, we prioritise aged care. We need to prioritise people with disability. We need to prioritise older people and their carers—people like Tania and people like my mother. It is the most selfless task to be a carer, and carers also are neglected by this government. The informal care is valued at $78 billion a year, but carers receive only a fraction of that. They give of themselves, and we should support them. (Time expired) 11:12 Mr GOODENOUGH 74046 Moore I rise to support these appropriation bills, in their original form, which make provision for the moneys required to be appropriated from the Consolidated Revenue Fund for expenditure on new activities agreed to by the government since the introduction of the 2020-21 supply bills in October of last year. Mindful of the needs of our fellow Australians as our nation emerges from the COVID-19 global pandemic, these appropriations are intended to facilitate the recovery phase of our economy. Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 proposes expenditure of approximately $2.5 billion, while Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021 proposes spending of approximately $141.3 million. Our focus as a Liberal-National coalition government has been to act swiftly, first and foremost to safeguard the health and wellbeing of Australians in our communities by implementing a vaccination program as we set about rebuilding our national economy by restoring jobs, promoting confidence and reopening borders. To achieve this, an appropriation of $701.2 million is made to the Department of Health, which includes $539.1 million for the COVID-19 vaccination rollout during the remainder of 2020-21. The vaccination of the Australian population is an essential health measure which will serve to contain the pandemic and allow life to return to some degree of normality. No vaccine is 100 per cent effective, nor absolutely guaranteed to be free from adverse side effects. However, mass vaccination of our population is arguably, scientifically and medically, the best option available to bring the global pandemic under control. Vaccination, although highly recommended on medical grounds will not be compulsory for conscientious objectors. I am pleased to say that the vaccinations have already commenced for elderly residents of aged-care centres in a number of suburbs within my electorate in a bid to protect the most vulnerable cohort in our community. The rollout will be gradually expanded to include other groups, in order of need and based on health advice, to mitigate the potential risk of exposure to an infection such as that faced by frontline workers. Plans are being made to broaden the network of vaccination centres across the electorate to make access more widely available, including at Joondalup hospital. The federal government has delivered on its $158 million commitment to expand Joondalup hospital to a total capacity of 1,020 beds to alleviate the long waiting times and record levels of ambulance ramping currently being experienced at the emergency department. Multiplex has been awarded the early contractor tender for construction works due to start later this year. Meanwhile, the Department of Health has reached an agreement with Ramsay Health Care on the key terms that will form the basis of Ramsay's contract extension to operate the Joondalup health campus for at least another 15 years from 2028, with an option for an additional five-year renewal. The contract extension will include the contemporary funding model and performance management regime, implemented from 2025, to enable Ramsay Health Care to plan future investments in its private services with confidence beyond the current expiration in 2028. Population growth in the northern coastal suburbs is placing greater demands on Joondalup hospital. Even the planned superclinic at Yanchep will not be sufficient in coming years to meet the growing demands caused by residential growth in the northern coastal suburbs. Visionary forward planning is required for another major hospital based in the Yanchep region to meet the future healthcare needs of a rapidly-growing community. I call upon the WA state government to start the planning design and funding for a major hospital around the Alkimos and Yanchep area now, based on the population projections, to take pressure off Joondalup hospital. Moving on: the bill provides $408 million to the Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications for programs to support the economic recovery from COVID-19 by improving transport access and supporting regional development. I strongly support the City of Wanneroo in its advocacy for the road funding necessary to unlock the economic development potential of the Neerabup Industrial Area. The local economy of Joondalup is, to a large extent, reliant on access to the vast commercial and industrial areas in neighbouring Wanneroo. There is a compelling requirement to upgrade both Flynn Drive and Neaves Road without further delay, providing an efficient east-west link between the industrial estate, the Mitchell Freeway and the productive regions of our state to the Perth to Darwin National Highway. An efficient road network will also better connect Neerabup with future economic and employment estates proposed at Nowergup and Pinjar. The extension of Lukin Drive from the Mitchell Freeway to Wanneroo Road, a distance of 800 metres, will connect the coastal suburbs with Nowergup, providing improved access to employment, the transportation of building materials from the quarries and an alternative emergency access route in the event of bushfires. A key regional project which needs to be brought forward is the Whiteman to Yanchep highway. This will benefit the adjoining electorates of Cowan and Pearce. I repeat my previous calls for the government to bring forward the construction of the highway. The Whiteman to Yanchep highway will connect to Flynn Drive and Neaves Road. The construction of this missing link will complete an important east-west freight corridor. Further to the south, the Whiteman to Yanchep highway will connect with Gnangara Road, improving access for businesses based in the existing Landsdale, Wangara and Enterprise Park industrial estates. The connection of Whitfords Avenue to a realigned Gnangara Road is a priority project which I have been long advocating for as essential to promoting economic development by linking the Wangara commercial and industrial area with the residential areas of my electorate. The WA Liberal opposition made a $10 million election commitment towards progressing this project. I call upon the McGowan Labor government to match this commitment. Another regional infrastructure project, which I have been advocating strongly for, is the grade separation of the Reid Highway and Erindale Road intersection. This will benefit residents in the neighbouring electorates of Moore, Stirling and Cowan. An estimated $80 million will be required for the construction of a flyover bridge, which will minimise traffic congestion at this busy intersection, allowing free-flowing traffic access from the coast to the Balcatta and Malaga industrial areas and to Perth Airport and beyond via the Reid Highway and Northlink. The Department of Education, Skills and Employment has been allocated $237.5 million for various programs, including additional funding for the Transition to Work and jobactive programs. Assisting Australians to return to the workforce remains a main priority for the government. Young Australians in their prime are disproportionately represented in the unemployment figures, so our government is taking action to increase workforce participation amongst young Australians aged between 16 to 35, providing incentives for businesses to recruit additional employees. These measures will benefit young people in my electorate as they transition to opportunities in the workforce. Continued investment in the Joondalup Learning Precinct is critical to develop the skilled workforce of the future, through university courses and vocational education and training. Federal funding of $245 million has been allocated to the Edith Cowan University over the forward estimates to establish a new campus specialising in creative industries, business and technology courses. The new satellite campus, which will be based in Perth's CBD, is scheduled to open in 2025 at a total cost of $695 million. For residents of my electorate, it means a wider range of courses to choose from and having access to a broader selection of learning facilities and educational resources to equip them for future careers in the workforce. We need a bold futuristic vision for our city. I have a vision that the city of Joondalup will develop into a centre of excellence for innovation, technology, research and development. Our educational institutions, such as the Edith Cowan University, will collaborate with industry to promote the commercialisation of intellectual property. Our city has the potential to evolve into a digital hub, supporting software development, cybersecurity and advanced information technology. We have the highly educated and skilled workforce necessary to attract advanced industries into the heart of Joondalup, such as the specialist medical services, medical research, technology and diagnostic imaging. Attracting both government funding and private sector investment is essential to realising this vision. Federal and state governments can also give Joondalup a boost through decentralisation by relocating government departments and agencies to Joondalup. I have been working closely with the City of Joondalup's economic development unit and the Joondalup Business Association to engage with stakeholders through a series of workshops to develop a destination marketing strategy to attract more visitors to our region. There are currently more than 1,000 vacant sites within the City of Joondalup. Measures designed to initiate the construction of homes and commercial buildings, such as the federal housing grants, have boosted our local economy. Local tradespersons and building contractors based in my electorate have gained work through a combination of greenfields development in new subdivisions and urban renewal. To aid Australians stranded overseas during the COVID-19 pandemic, an allocation of $199.4 million has been made to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade. The government is aware that thousands of Australians are seeking assistance to return home from overseas. However, it is essential that they go through proper quarantine to prevent the transmission of infection internationally. The weekly caps on hotel quarantine places imposed by the states have created a considerable waiting list. To improve security at our border Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2012 provides $45.1 million to the Department of Home Affairs to support the development of a secure digital platform for the collection and management of incoming passenger information. Providing humanitarian assistance to our neighbouring countries to boost their vaccination rates will also help to ensure that international travel may resume soon. The provision of $62.1 million has been made to support COVID-19 vaccine access in the Pacific and South-East Asia to ensure that our neighbours in less developed countries have adequate access to vaccination. Having reopened the international borders our focus must turn to diversifying our international trading relationships with a range of emerging economies in South-East Asia and the Indo-Pacific region, developing new markets so that our nation does not become overly reliant on a single market for our exports. An allocation of $253.3 million has been provided to the Department of Defence, which includes additional funding for defence operations, including the deployment of Australian Defence Force personnel to staff checkpoints and quarantine hotels as part of Operation COVID-19 Assist. The bill provides $142.1 million to the Department of Industry, Science, Energy and Resources to improve our domestic fuel security, which is critical to our national security. In concluding, I commend these appropriation bills. The legislation enables the provision of improved services, facilities and amenities for the benefit of my local community. 11:27 Ms WELLS 264121 Lilley The Morrison government stands today in the midst of a political storm led by outdated ideology and a broken moral compass. They are frantically trying to avoid jagged rocks of scrutiny whilst looking for a passage back to calmer waters. Now that they're desperately paddling against the tides themselves what the Morrison government are failing to do in their basic duty as the government for Australian people is to realise that for too many Australians the water was never calm and there isn't any way back and it has been like that for years. Insecure work and low wages have created the perfect storm for workers. The nature of Australia's workforce has been shifting for a decade. Wages are flatlining whilst the cost of living continues to climb. Job insecurity is rampant, directly impacting many workers ability to provide for families and to plan for their future. Combined with the chaos of COVID-19, these trends have manifested into a volatile environment for too many northsiders in my electorate of Lilley who are now struggling to find their feet at all. Ill-designed policies have only exacerbated this reality. Schemes like the government's out of control childcare policy hurt northsiders who want to work. The Morrison government's contrived optimism about the economic and budgetary forecasts betrays the granular reality of an economy that doesn't work for too many in my northside community. What LNP governments never seem to be able to wrap their heads around is that budgets are about much more than numbers. They are about priorities. They are about your vision for Australia. They should be about people, the people that we are elected here to represent. The economy is supposed to work for the people, not the other way around. A slight improvement in budget and economic forecasts is pointless if people are still struggling to get by. Labor has been arguing for some time now that we cannot allow the economy to snap back to business as usual, meaning how it was before. Instead the reconstruction of our economy should be used to fix what structural flaws that COVID has exposed. When talking to aged-care workers about the impacts of COVID in the suburb of Chermside, in my electorate, we talked about how COVID has actually been like an X-ray, in that has it has thrown up what was already there structurally and has exacerbated those problems. When COVID hit, northside workers in insecure work—people who were casuals, contract workers, gig economy workers, labour hire workers—suddenly saw their hours slashed or taken away altogether overnight. Despite what the Attorney-General said at the time about casual workers earning more money to get them through hard times, the pandemic exposed the darker side of casual work. On those first few days when the COVID impacts were starting to hit our communities, I walked the lines of constituents of Lilley standing outside the Centrelink centres at Nundah and Chermside. I talked to them about why they were there and what they were hoping their government would do in this time of crisis. Those queues of jobseekers snaking down Sandgate Road in Nundah Village stretched for hundreds of metres. It laid bare the consequences of a casualised workforce. I spoke to one lady who was five months pregnant. She was a childcare worker, and because she was the last in she was the first out of the system because of the changes to childcare payments put in by the government. She was genuinely at a loss for what to do. I thought: 'You are doing such important work for us in our community. You are an early educator. You are five months pregnant, and, as a community, we have abandoned you right at your hour of most need.' Over one-third of the workforce is insecure or non-standard forms of work, and the majority instantly fell through a trapdoor into financial abyss, without sick pay, holiday pay, family leave or annual leave. Initially they were left with no options and no support from the Morrison government, and many of them were forced to access their superannuation to tide them over. In fact, 14 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women used their super to pay down debt, and 13 per cent of men and 15 per cent of women used their super to buy food. Think of that—having to access your superannuation, your savings for your retirement, in order to put food on your family table that evening. Low wages are only adding fuel to the fire. For too long Australian workers have seen their wages flatline while the cost of living continues to skyrocket. This isn't by accident. Last year the then Minister for Finance declared that wages were low by design as part of the Morrison government's deliberate economic strategy. Unsurprisingly, those same tactics have not been applied to corporate interests. While wages have hit the wall, company profits crashed through it pre-COVID. By August 2019 over 60 per cent of listed Australian companies had seen their profit margins grow in the previous 12 months. Corporate profits were growing at five times the rate of wages, and instead of profits going to the workers—the people who put in the work to make those companies grow—they were being privatised in returns to shareholders. Instead of getting their fair share, the workers were told to be grateful because the only way they were going to be able to keep their jobs at all was to settle for whatever was going. Decent pay is in everybody's interest. Workers with money in their pockets to spend are the engine rooms of economic growth and our local community economies. Sixty per cent of our economy is domestic spending. That money is spent in small business, in our local shopping strips and in shopping centres, and that creates the demand our economy needs to generate more jobs. But, instead of addressing low wages or taking action to combat the rising cost of living, the Morrison government is telling northsiders, 'It is what it is.' They're being told that spending on average $112 on child care per child per day is the best the federal government can offer. They're being told that they will have to choose between a comfortable retirement or buying a house because it is simply impossible to have both. To buy a house, to support your family and to keep up with the cost of living day by day whilst trying to tuck some money away into savings are simple aspirations. But, under this third-term government, we find ourselves having to defend these aspirations, to defend the basics of what Australians expect their government to help them to do. I have a message for the Prime Minister: northsiders are not going to jump on another ride on the merry-go-round of austerity. They are tired of more being asked of them whilst heads of multinationals pocket the profits generated from their hard work. To emerge as a stronger and fairer society, Australians need a government that can lead the way. National economic reconstruction will not happen by hoping for market miracles. Government has the responsibility to shape the future of Australia's economic security and to ensure it has a place for all, not just a few. Those on the other side of the chamber who want to look in the rear-view mirror and pine for the destructive, trickle-down economics of the Thatcher and Reagan years—I see that the member for Goldstein has entered the chamber!—have abdicated their responsibility to guide Australia through a crisis that has exposed the depth of inequality of opportunity in this country. Australians need a comprehensive, progressive plan for economic reconstruction that will see us emerge with a stronger economy, one that ensures that all Australians can look forward to a future that offers secure and decent jobs and a vibrant future for their families and for the communities that they love. Only Labor has a plan to tackle exploitative, insecure work. A federal Labor government will defend your penalty rates and rights at work. We will legislate to properly define 'casual work'. We will explicitly insert job security into the Fair Work Act. We will crack down on cowboy labour firms to guarantee same job, same pay. We will put a cap on back-to-back short-term contracts for the same job. And we will enforce portable entitlements for workers in insecure industries. Only Labor has a plan for strong wages, especially in female-dominated industries, which are too often overlooked. A federal Labor government will strengthen the ability and capacity of the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases for workers who are in low-paid female-dominated industries. We will legislate so that companies with more than 250 employees will have to report their gender pay gap publicly. We will prohibit secrecy clauses and give employees the right to disclose their pay if they want to. We will take action to address the gender pay gap in the Australian Public Service, because we understand that you can't ask the corporate sector to do what you are not prepared to do yourselves. Only Labor has a plan to make sure that early education is affordable, accessible and high quality for working parents. A federal Labor government will scrap the $10,560 childcare subsidy cap, which often sees women losing more money from an extra day's work. We will lift the maximum childcare subsidy rate to 90 per cent, and we will increase childcare subsidy rates and taper them for every family that is together earning less than $530,000. Only a federal Labor government will actually invest in nation-building infrastructure that creates jobs, instead of just making grand announcements in high-vis and hard hats with absolutely no follow-through. When is comes to creating jobs on the north side and boosting our local economy, I am not just talking the talk; I am walking the walk. To identify funding gaps in local infrastructure and our local community projects, which will create new jobs on the north side and boost our local economy, I have conducted suburb-specific community surveys across the electorate of Lilley for the past six months. The responses I have received from those community surveys, from my constituents in Lilley, in addition to feedback I've received by conducting mobile offices across every suburb and at community events across the electorate, have been used to inform the drafting of the 2021-22 Lilley budget submission. This is a budget submission by the people of Lilley for the people of Lilley. It includes a list of our local funding priorities, relating to sporting infrastructure, roads and transport, the Urban Congestion Fund, health, education and community initiatives. I seek leave to table the 2021-22 Lilley budget submission for the consideration of the Treasurer, ahead of the release of the next federal budget in May. Mr Wyatt M3A Leave is not granted. There are other avenues for the member to follow. Ms WELLS 264121 I didn't expect much different, and I will, from here, head straight over to the Treasurer's office and hand deliver him the Lilley electorate budget submission, because my community has worked very hard to put it together, and I am here on their behalf, trying to work with the federal government to get things done on the north side. That's what I was elected to do, and that's what we are all elected to do, as 151 different communities in this place. I think, particularly after the past month, what our constituents are crying out for is to see a bit of responsibility, a bit of dignity in this place, and a bit of bipartisanship, working together to actually get things done and make things better. This isn't a partisan document. I am just trying to tell the government what we need on the north side in order to create jobs, what we need in order to boost our local economy. For leave to table the Lilley budget submission to be denied is disappointing. But, as the minister said, I will use the opportunity to go directly to the Treasurer after this and hand deliver that submission myself. I will do that because, now more than ever, targeted community driven infrastructure projects are fundamental to creating jobs and to improving our local economy on the north side. That's exactly what this budget submission does and what the initiatives, if taken up by the government, would do. The COVID-19 pandemic has caused far-reaching and ongoing difficulties for communities right across Australia. As the federal member for Lilley, I know how difficult COVID-19 has been for the 108,608 northsiders I am privileged to represent. Approximately 8,687 Lilley residents currently rely on JobSeeker support, 4,716 more than the number of pre-COVID-19 recipients. We also have 1,792 businesses and 5,515 workers who are still relying on JobKeeper even to this day and who will be negatively impacted when the scheme is axed on 28 March, in just a few days. The end of JobKeeper will rip away approximately $2.7 million a week in support of the Lilley economy. The extended period of economic turbulence experienced by businesses and workers in Lilley is in no small part due to a result of the unique characteristics of our electorate. We are home to the Brisbane domestic and international airports as well as the 6,600 aviation workers who work there. The tourism economy is critical to the economic recovery of the north side of Brisbane, with approximately 23.8 million passengers travelling through those airports each year. One in 70 Queensland jobs are enabled by Brisbane Airport. Over 425 local businesses are located in the Brisbane Airport precinct, employing nearly 24,000 people. With international passenger numbers down by 98 per cent, terminal retailers have been forced to close, and thousands of workers who support international and domestic movements have been stood down or made redundant. The mass job loss experienced at the Brisbane Airport has had severe flow-on effects for jobseekers outside of the sector as aviation workers have flooded the job market. I know northsiders have aspirations and they want a government that invests in them but this government has phoned in any real plan by turning a blind eye to the plight of our workers and electing to parade failed policy. As elected representatives, this is our moment. We have been asked to meet a challenge we could not have foreseen and with no road map. I want a pathway forward for the north side. (Time expired) 11:42 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein As we emerge from our present crisis, it inevitably raises questions about the course our country should take hereafter. Some celebrate a lessening of fiscal constraint and monetary policy as ushering in a new modern era of economic policy and wish to rebuild the economy and society on green foundations divorced from economic and human reality. In politics there will be others with their agendas but it should also give a moment of pause for those that hold the Liberal moniker to revisit our approach. Sailing across the sea of economic and geopolitical choppy waters, we need more than ever to find a safe harbour. We need a confident course lest we be overwhelmed by tides originating from beyond our shores. In his essay, Why I am not a Conservative, Austrian economist Friedrich von Hayek rejected the centre right political zeitgeist of his adopted homeland in the second half of the 20th century. He saw socialism on the advance and the deficiencies of conservatism but thought the viable alternative was moderation to merely slow socialism's advance. Hayek's observation was to recognise conservatism's inherent strengths and limitations. The spirit of his comments was reflected in my first speech in this place, that conservatism is a virtue not a vision; an anchor, not a compass. Hayek argued conservatism's proper place is legitimate—probably necessary—and certainly widespread attitude of opposition to drastic change. However, by its very nature, it cannot offer an am alternate direction in which we are moving. It may succeed by its resistance to current tenancies and slowing down undesirable developments but, since it does not indicate another direction, it cannot prevent their continuance. It has, for this reason, invariably been the fate of conservatism to be dragged along a path not of its choosing. The tug of war between conservatives and progressives can only affect the speed, not the direction. As progressivism is an accelerator to a car, but undirected, which can lead to a crash, conservatism is a brake that, unrelenting, ensures that you are only overtaken and, when other forces are applied, dragged slowly along. They are speeds, not directions, and there is no logic to defining yourself by your speed. To advance a nation's politics it is your competing destination that matters. Without a vision, you tacitly accept the one of those who have put one forward. There are only two fundamental motivating principles in politics: power or ideas. Condemning ideology is celebrating politics for power, and politics for power only ever favours the few. Political ideologies are gravitational forces that centre the foundation of policy to improve humanity. Political ideologies often want central governments empowered and their pull strengthened so that they can be manipulated to the ends of the few at the expense of empowered citizens. The role of liberalism is to offer an alternative orbit for human progress. As Hayek also observed: … I personally cannot be content with simply helping to apply the brake. What the liberal must ask, first of all, is not how fast or how far we should move, but where we should move. In fact, he differs much more from the collectivist radical of today than does the conservative. While the last generally holds merely a mild and moderate version of the prejudices of his time, the liberal today must more positively oppose some of the basic conceptions which most conservatives share with the socialists. While occasionally pitted against each other, in practice, moderation and conservatism alone achieve the same result: the drag of gravity to a centralist alternative. An ultimate gravitational force is required with enough strength to achieve rebalance and an alternative direction. This was expressed in the audacity of Sir Robert Menzies' speech at the 1965 federal conference of our party: 'The effect of this forward thinking, this liveliness, this being modern, being prepared to be a little adventurous … We have won because we have been the party of innovations. Not the party of the past, not the conservative party dying hard on the last barricade, but the party of innovations. … These were innovations, these were evidences of a lively mind and a forward-looking heart.' In Australia, the challenge of politics is to appeal to ideas and ideals and to implement them practically using that power. In his seminal 'Forgotten people' radio broadcast, Menzies articulated the case for people because, without a constituency, ideas have no currency. Only people vote. Ideas are the foundation for those who practice the art of persuasion to sacrifice for what is right over the platitudes of the easy or the popular. The harshness of our continent has tempered our idealism, and the absence of revolutionary fire at the modern foundations of our nation has ensured our politics are anchored in the practical. Hence Australians will always choose the imperfection of lived experience over the purity of ideology. It's a world view consistent with Isaiah Berlin's message to the 21st century: If you are truly convinced that there is some solution to all human problems, that one can conceive an ideal society which men can reach if only they do what is necessary to attain it, then you and your followers must believe that no price can be too high to pay in order to open the gates of such a paradise. Only the stupid and malevolent will resist once certain simple truths are put to them. Those who resist must be persuaded; if they cannot be persuaded, laws must be passed to restrain them; if that does not work, then coercion, if need be violence, … Berlin's observation of history highlights the distinction of liberalism from other political ideologies. Others seek conformity to empower a common goal over people. Liberals seek structural pillars to empower a common people. There is not one vision, but many. And through empowerment of people and the stitches sewn in our soft economic and social fabric a mutualism is achieved which binds us together and which moderates our interactions through convention and expectation, compared to the sharp edges of bureaucracy and laws. Adam Smith identified the strength of mutualism in his undercelebrated work, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, where he observed that people measure their conduct to be held in the good standing of others. That is why, in a liberal democracy, a liberal's unyielding obligation is to confront emergent justifications to faddishly corrode the empowerment of the individual. We need, necessarily, to show courage and to stoke the torch of liberty often, especially when society is tempted down dark passages. Courage matters to survive the darkness. That is why being moderate is equally deficient. We should not let the liberal flicker feint in moderation to succumb to the darkness. Moderation is the palliative ideas that underpin courage or conviction, which cannot exist without core belief. You cannot be passionate in your moderation; you can be in limited conservatism lest you risk becoming a reactionary and fail to heed Edmund Burke's warning that 'a state without the means of some change is without the means of its own conservation'. Today there is an attempt to create an ideology around conservatism, but it will always be limited because it lacks a framing to consider the future beyond the conservation of the past for its benefits. As Orwell understood, he who controls the past controls the future; he who he controls the present controls the past. Therefore, the Left progressives seek to rewrite the past, and they do so to create the institutions of the 21st century—which would leave no-one surprised that some younger Australians are hypnotised by their agenda. And, as conservatism lacks a vision for the future, it cannot defend the past nor command present institutions. As alternative ideologies progress their agenda and the equity of institutions is eaten away, all that is left is indulging insecurities and pandering to prejudice. An alternative is required: conservatism is management; liberalism requires leadership. A liberal understands that the sustainability of a society depends on building foundations for the nation. The foundation comes from the strength of its citizens, communities and commerce, and the future of the nation rests in driving the change to keep their power, not corporates, Canberra or state capitals. As outlined in the new social contract, what makes liberalism in Australia unique is that it is not a rebellion against an existing order, but the continuation of a truly democratic nation politically, socially and economically—a nation governed from the citizen up, not Canberra down, through the empowerment of Australians in the organic and proximate institutions they build: family, home, community, enterprise. Doing so decentralises and democratises multiple forms of power from the few to the many: rights and freedoms to the individual, for cultural and social power; private ownership and prices, for economic power; and the franchise for voting, for political power—to name but a few. While each may lack the gravity of a larger ideal, combined they create a different orbit for the practice for whom politics is there to serve: the Australian people and our shared mutual interest. And policy guided by these guard rails will bond and strengthen the nation. That does not mean that there isn't a relationship between liberalism and conservatism. As an institutional conservative, I share a reluctance to recreate the architecture of our nation—our polity, economy and society. But that is because I am a liberal and they were evolved to empower people. While I accept that nationalism can rarely be decoupled from conservatism, my nationalism comes from my understanding that liberal ideas need the context of a legal, societal and economic Petri dish to germinate—and against those who would seek to undermine it, foreign and domestic, and with the aspiration that other societies will pursue these humanist ideals for themselves. So too, as a cultural conservative, I resist the ambition of the modern progressive socialist, who wants to shift our relationship to each other away from our common humanity—to group rights and identity bingo. But it is because I am a liberal, committed to formal equality before the law, whereas on economic and social issues I am liberally focused on doing what is necessary to keep policy focused on unpacking concentrations of power from monopoly Canberra to corporates. The opposite of a centralist state socialism and corporatism is not conservatism. The opposite is empowered, responsible liberal citizenship. Liberalism necessitates persistence and to constantly reconsider what may be the accommodation of noble causes to advance empowerment: the freedom to choose universal education or health providers; taxes and regulations that are not a burden to equality of opportunity nor favour established operators; an environmental policy that fosters responsibility and stewardship, whether it be local litter or global gases. Hence I cannot identify as a conservative, and my liberalism does not come in moderation. Australia's success calls us to be confident, forward-looking, modern liberals. 11:54 Mr JOSH WILSON 265970 Fremantle Budgets and associated appropriation bills can be viewed as instalments in a story of a government. I think governments should have a story. I think it helps to have a story. I don't think it's helpful to take an overly technocratic approach to the way government proceeds and just think about government in terms of dollars and cents, numbers, dry programs and other kinds of measures. There should be some sense in which a government has an ethos, even a managerial ethos, and certainly some kind of vision or purpose that covers off on that part of a government's intentions that could be described as transformative or reformist. We'd like to think that all governments have a managerial aspect, but they certainly should have some kind of transformative or reformist aspect as well. I think that ought to be the case at any time in history, but in the time in which we all presently live it doesn't much matter if you're not interested in transformative government, because that's being required of us by the circumstances that we confront. You can look at that in terms of climate change, energy and, obviously in the last 12 months plus, the challenges that are presented by a pandemic. This is not the first brush with a pandemic that we've had in the 21st century. As we deal with COVID-19 we'd be foolish to expect that it's the last time we'll have a brush with a pandemic. The difficulty with this government—now eight years old and three prime ministers old—is that it has never really had a story. I'd be very interested to hear from a member of the government or the Prime Minister what the story of this government is. It's very hard to put your finger on any significant theme, any narrative trajectory or any transformative achievement really, and I think that tells you something. It's a government that is fundamentally managerial. That's the nature of coalition governments. They see it as their role to just steer the ship—or that's the way they would have people see it—but they have failed to step up to the needs of the times and the transformative challenges that we face. You can see that in many areas. You can see that in terms of climate change and energy. You can see it in terms of the things they inherited from the previous Labor government. The previous Labor government had two terms over six years and faced a global financial crisis that descended upon it in the first 12 to 15 months and yet it created the National Broadband Network, the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the national network of marine parks—the most significant protection of marine estates globally. So in a relatively short time, in the face of some very significant challenges, it took on that transformative role. The government inherited some of those things. If they had simply picked up the baton in some of those areas, they might have achieved something. But, as we know—NBN being a classic example—they straightaway broke the model. They straightaway moved away from a fibre-rich network that would have been the foundation of our 21st century productivity and innovation and would have provided easier and fairer access to social services, information, entertainment and all those sorts of things. They said: 'No. You know what? We'll have a 21st-century broadband network based on 19th-century copper. We'll buy up more copper than anyone else on the planet and we'll keep rolling out new copper and making use of old copper so that when we get to the point of delivering the NBN, much later and at much greater expense than we said we would do, it will essentially be obsolete at the point of delivery. That's what we've achieved.' The government inherited work that Labor had done in the waste and recycling space. We created the National Waste Policy, some product stewardship reforms and a number of things. That had been really abandoned until the last 18 months or so. Even in picking up that challenge, the government has found every way that it could to do very little and to avoid the big challenges in procurement, infrastructure, product stewardship, labelling and all those things that are necessary if we really want to move towards a circular economy. Managerially, the coalition love to tell one enduring story, or they try to, which is that they're superior economic managers and that they're ideologically free, that they don't have a value system and that they simply try and run things according to some sort of foundational and efficient economic orthodoxy. But we actually saw the value system that they bring into that space as early as 2014, and we see it in these appropriation bills and in their recent budget. The terms that they used back in 2014 were 'lifters' and 'leaners'. The terms they use these days are 'class warfare' or 'the politics of envy'. What they essentially do is divide Australia. They suggest that people who are already doing well and companies that are already profitable need to be further assisted and that that then results through the weird magic of trickle-down economics into benefits for everybody and that it's the people doing it tough who really need to get a bit of a move on courtesy of some governmental stick. When we talk about addressing inequality, when we talk about a focus on people facing disadvantage, when we talk about the benefits of broad participation in Australian life and the Australian economy and how that kind of social and economic inclusion actually lifts everybody up, we get accused of class warfare. We get accused of the politics of envy. In reality, what we're prosecuting are the politics of fairness and the politics of justice. We've seen the government's skewed approach to that task and their neglect and dereliction of what should always be top of the list for any government, which is looking to create greater shared economic and social wellbeing. We've seen their dereliction of that task in multiple instalments. We saw it through the pandemic. They were dragged to recognising the need for a wage subsidy in the form of JobKeeper, but they then managed to deliver a distorted version of what could have been a sensible and helpful wage subsidy, and their distorted version has been patchy and uneven and it's been yanked away too soon. It hasn't gone to many parts of the community that needed it. It has gone to very large and profitable companies that have seen their profits increase. What have they done with those increasing profits? They've paid out big dividends. They've paid out executive bonuses. The dividends have often gone to CEOs, like the CEO of Harvey Norman, to the tune of millions of dollars. So our local government workers, university staff and people in the arts and creative sector have missed out altogether or have received very little or are having their support withdrawn too soon while we've seen literally hundreds of millions of dollars paid to profitable big companies that have no intention of giving that back. Whether they have an intention of giving it back should be irrelevant, because it should be government's task to say: 'Hang on a second. We got this wrong. We didn't have the settings right. But I'll tell you what. We're not going to allow hundreds of millions of dollars of taxpayers' funds to go to companies that don't need it. That's money that should be going to people who are on the brink of personal disaster. That should be going to small businesses and enterprises that are on the brink of disaster.' But that's never the approach this government takes. Some of those companies that received money they didn't need decided to pay it back, and they should be applauded for that. But those that haven't have been left to pocket this government's largesse. All the Prime Minister will say is that it's good for them to have the money and it's good for them if they want to pay it back. Contrast that with the industrial cruelty of robodebt, where people were literally told, 'We're coming for you. The computer tells us that you got a few dollars that you don't deserve because you're a leaner and we're coming for you. We'll prosecute you and we'll take you to court.' You could not get a more stark contrast between the approach the government takes to someone like Gerry Harvey, with $10 million plus of taxpayer funds in his pocket that he doesn't need and doesn't deserve, and the approach it took to tens of thousands of low-income Australians—pensioners, unemployed people and veterans—who, in many cases, were told that they had received money they didn't deserve. Those assessments were wrong, They then had the living daylights scared out of them, and their relatively meagre material circumstances were put further under the cruel vice of this government because it wanted to tighten the purse strings at that end of the budget—at the end where people already have so little and could do with just a little bit more. The government delivered tax cuts to big business. They would have gone further if we hadn't opposed that. As I said, for low-income Australians, there was robodebt. There were tax cuts for individuals, the large majority of which go to high-income earners. There were penalty rate cuts for low-income earners again. Why? 'Because we make the workplace more flexible, and then more jobs will result.' Did more jobs result? No. Is there any great surprise there? Does all the money tipped in at the top end ever trickle down? No. When you cut the wages of people who are already at the low end of the income scale, does it actually create any more work? No. It just fattens profits and makes life meaner, colder and harder, and less free and more full of misery for people who have already got enough of that. As I say, even in the context of the pandemic, the government has taken that approach. If there were a story of the government, it would be inequality, inaction and unfairness—a user's manual. That might be the novel version of this government, in terms of this budget and all the previous budgets. And we see that broadly, as I've described, but we see it particularly in some sectors. We certainly see it with Indigenous Australians. Some of the key measures that we look at through closing the gap have not moved under this government. Employment participation has not moved at all. Employment participation for the population as a whole has increased marginally; employment participation for Indigenous Australians has got marginally worse. The gap has got larger. In terms of life expectancy for Indigenous Australians, the gap has not closed. The gap remains stubbornly high. The gap in life expectancy between Indigenous men and non-Indigenous men is 8.6 years, and, for Indigenous women, it is 7.8 years. Nothing has been done to address that enduring problem in Australian society. Take women, who face economic disadvantage as part of the patriarchal and misogynist aspects of our culture which persist. We know that. We're talking about that a lot at the moment, quite rightly. But look at the economic circumstances. The gender pay gap remains stubbornly high. The government has no interest in doing anything about that. Labor has identified a number of ways in which you could actually begin to close that gap, such as requiring the disclosure of the pay gap and looking at reducing the pay gap in the Public Service, something that the government has control over. We know that, when you address those kinds of things in the Public Service, it flows through to the private sector. These are practical things; they're not that hard. They're things that the government could take on. Look at superannuation. Women retire with, on average, half what men retire with, yet the genius idea that the government had recently was that, in circumstances where there is domestic violence and they are seeking to escape that kind of scenario, women should be forced to draw on their super. So they've done nothing in that space. People expect their government to put its shoulder to the wheel of achieving positive change, to achieving greater fairness, and to achieving greater equality. This government has failed to manage the economy. It's less strong and less fair, and they've failed to step up to any of the transformative challenges. (Time expired) 12:09 Mr JOYCE E5D New England I think that it's really important that, whilst you are the member of your electorate, you operate in such a way as to make that electorate a small country for which you, as a servant, try to do the very best job you can. You work towards a theme and within that theme you try to bring delivery. One of the key themes that has been part of my role in parliament, certainly my role in New England, is dealing with water infrastructure. We have now put quarter of a billion dollars at a federal government level towards Dungowan Dam. This is a vital piece of infrastructure for the security for the Peel Valley and the city of Tamworth, which is probably the epicentre or the most prominent area of growth in the seat of New England, which also includes the Upper Hunter. It was important. Whilst we already have Chaffey Dam, if we hadn't have expanded Chaffey Dam—I was very happy to be part of that program when I first arrived back home to New England—then the city of Tamworth would have run out of water. We took it from 60,000 megalitres to 103,000 megalitres. As we speak today, I believe it's about half full, which would have been more than three-quarters full in the old volume. But it's not just Dungowan Dam or Chaffey Dam; it's also other pieces of water infrastructure, such as the first lot of funding for the Mole River Dam in the north of the electorate, the Quipolly Dam in the south of the electorate, the upgrade of the Tenterfield water treatment plant in the north of the electorate and also the recreation capacity of the Dumaresq Dam at the centre of the electorate. Water infrastructure is so vitally important. If it's not dams, it's the upgrade to the Upper Horton water supply in the west of the electorate. They're drilling a new bore and installing tanks and pipe work to the underground. This assists the town. There's also the construction of a new swimming pool in Bingara. Upper Horton is basically a small village. It's got the Upper Horton Sports Club. It sort of sits between Bingara and Moree on the back road. But this shows that we even reach into those small areas. I think that's the next step. What I'd like to discuss is how we look after the smaller areas. There are many, but I'll pick out one. I grew up in the hills in a place called Danglemah. I still live there. Across the hills from us is a place called Weabonga. It is like it sounds: it's been forgotten by time. It used to be a gold mining town. I made it a goal that as a member I would do things for those communities that I grew up in. At Weabonga we got a new mobile phone service in. We had about 30 people, I'd suggest, in an area where no-one believes anybody lives that turned up because they wanted improvements on that mobile phone service. They were very thankful that they got it. The fact that Weabonga could get a mobile phone service is an incredible reflection of the Nationals and what the Nationals do in regional areas. Our focus is particular and pertinent to the people who live in the weather board and iron on the edge and outside the spotlight of the urban electorates. Whilst I was there, I said, 'What else do we need here?' Their hall was falling over and they needed a community focus point. So we went to work again and we found money to build a new community centre, a new hall, which is going to be incredibly important for the people of Weabonga. It was $82,500 for the Weabonga hall development. There are a whole range of areas, whether it's tennis courts, whether it's water facilities, whether it's swimming pools, whether it's walking tracks—these are all vitally important. But roads and bridges are also seminal to how we get the commerce and the economy of New England also going ahead. We have been instrumental in such things as the Legume to Woodenbong road, making sure that that corridor that takes people from the tablelands down to the coast is upgraded. We have invested immense amounts of money in the New England Highway. In fact, I've almost taken people ad nauseam in showing them the Bolivia Hill realignment. But it's not just that. It's the money we have poured into Waterfall Way between Armidale and Dorrigo, or the work that we have started on between Kempsey and Wollomombi. Unfortunately with massive the rains we're back to square one. We poured money into the second range crossing over the Liverpool Plains between Merriwa and Willow Tree—which we have to start working on again because of the weather. There are other roads as well and other bridges. Retreat Bridge is a classic example of the Nationals once more investing away from the major spotlight. Retreat Bridge is on the most direct route between the city of Tamworth and the city of Inverell. It's near Kingstown. To open up that area this bridge basically needed to be replaced. We got more than $1 million to make sure that we worked on that bridge. There's also Fishers Bridge. There are a number of bridges. I might remind people that over half a million dollars of the funding for Fishers Bridge came from the federal government. As much as I admire my state colleagues, we've got to know where this money comes from. It was the Paddy's Flat Road bridge that we put money towards, as well as the Martin's Gully bridge and the Benama Bridge. There's the Yarrow Creek Bridge replacement on Mount Mitchell Road. All these bridges go on the back of everything we have done before, such as the Munsie Bridge in Uralla. We could go right around the electorate and show you the bridges in New England that we have replaced—so that we build the economy, so that people have capacity to move B-doubles of cattle across to get them to the saleyards. The wealth from the saleyards flows back to the hairdressers, flows back to the tyre businesses on the high streets of the regional towns in New England. Sporting infrastructure is so important for the social fabric of New England. Sporting infrastructure also has to take into account the populations. In places such as Glen Innes we've put a substantial amount of money for the upgrading of the Glen Innes netball facilities—in excess of $1 million towards that facility. Glen Innes, of course, has a bigger population. When we go to Sunnyside Hall Road, which is west of Tenterfield—which is really a location more than any sort of town—we've put in money that assists them to upgrade the tennis courts. The great thing about tennis is you only need two people. Two people and an esky and you've got a tennis match. This is important in keeping the fabric of those small communities going. It shows them that the Nationals reach out to the small areas to make sure that their lives are better. You could see it in the Ben Lowmond Hall. You could see it in the Bundara hall. You could see it in what we've done at the Deepwater Hall. We know these halls are the focus of those towns—of Christmas celebrations, of school celebrations. We have put the money in there because we acknowledge that Australia is not just a story about Sydney. It is not just a story about Melbourne. It's a story about those people who live towards the edges, in areas that're not recognised. We've put money in there to make sure that we show them a sign that they're part of this nation as well. People will always look at what you've done and they expect you to go into bat for them. They expect you to do such things as the chlorine mix at the Walka water treatment plant—yet another piece of water infrastructure. They're thankful for what you've done. Back near where I went to school, Woolbrook Public School, we've upgraded what we call the 'stampede grounds'. We don't recall it a rodeo. We call it a stampede, which is basically a bush horse, bush stockman event. All the time I was there those facilities were never actually upgraded. They were quaint but they were probably out of date in about 1943. Now they've been upgraded. The community all went together to upgrade them. Everybody was working towards making sure that we got the best bang for our buck for what we've fought for. I do get a sense of pride being able to go back to a village like Woolbrook and see that there is advantage from what we've done. Also, going along some of the roads there, there is sealing on either side of the ramp. One of the greatest annoyances in some areas is that on a public road the grader comes along—it can't help it—and pushes the dirt into the ramp, so the cattle just walk across it and you can't control the stock. But if you just put a little bit of asphalt on either side of the ramp, then the grader, when it's grading, has capacity to stop and not damage the ramp. The other thing we've had is trucks, looking after the railway lines, going up and down our roads and smashing our ramps. So it's great to get some assistance in trying to deal with those issues. When they're over their load limit they're supposed to use the gates, but they never do. What is our vision for the future? We've got to have a vision for the future. Sooner rather than later, this nation is going to have to start thinking about what the path ahead is, and there are some major issues before us that this nation is going to have to contend with. We have seen the rise of China and, unfortunately, it is run by a regime, not a democracy. We have seen the fading of democracy across the world. We always believed that democracy would be the pre-eminent form of government and would grow into the future, but it has not; it's fading. And we are lucky and blessed that we live in a democracy. However, we must prepare ourselves to live in a world where the superpower in our region is not a democracy but is unitary control. It is almost a tyranny, a new lineage, which, as we've seen in how the Uighur people have been dealt with, can be very belligerent. We see what's happening in the South China Sea. We see the recriminations on trade. So, Australia had better be a strong place. We have only one job in this nation: to make it as strong as possible as quickly as possible. If we believe in the ideals that I presume people on both sides stand for in this parliament then we must be able to stand behind them with a capacity that says that we will never be browbeaten, never be pushed down, never be silent, because we're strong enough to stand up for ourselves. That is our No. 1 goal. I say that, and this will sound pretentious, but our No. 1 goal is not about climate change and our No.1 goal, to be quite frank, is not about COVID; our No. 1 goal in this nation is to make ourselves as powerful as possible, as strong as possible, as quickly as possible, because you've got no hope of managing the other two unless you do that first. So, how are we going to do that? We have to rebuild sovereignty—sovereignty in our capacity, in our manufacturing industry. We don't have a sovereign satellite capacity, even in our weather predictions. We use American satellites. We use three Chinese satellites. We borrow information from them. We use Indian, European and Korean satellites. Australia does not have them. This is, once more, a flaw—to think that if things went wrong, although people say it could never happen, we don't have the sovereign capacity, if other people decide to switch it off, to even get a weather report, let alone GPS. These are the sorts of things we ought to look for. These are the sorts of visions we've got to take forward. We've got to take the next step in the development of this nation. Taking water from the north to the blacksoil plains of western Queensland, into western New South Wales, to give a stronger environmental security to the southern parts of the Murray-Darling Basin, is a project that other nations would have done by now. But we are such cynics, and everybody finds a reason to snigger and laugh. Well, that has to be put aside. Our nation now has to take this forward as a program over the next 40 years and drive towards it. With the Nationals, I was very proud of what our party did, when so many people sniggered and were cynical about the inland rail, saying it would never happen. Within the Nationals, with my colleagues, we negotiated a coalition agreement to get that money, and that project has now been started. It is being built—just as we started on decentralisation, a Regional Investment Corporation that no-one thought we'd ever get, and the Murray-Darling Basin medical school. These are the things, amongst many others, that we fought for and achieved. And now comes the time, as we're probably within about a year of an election campaign, at the very least, for us to start laying down a path and a vision for the future that stands on the foundations and the structure of what we've delivered in the past. I believe that with the work we've done thus far we have set ourselves up to do precisely that. 12:24 Mr SNOWDON IJ4 Lingiari I'm pleased to make a contribution to this debate on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. It's an opportunity for me to examine in detail an ongoing failure in public policy in this country—a failure of successive governments, not just the current government: the failure of governments to adequately address and fund the overwhelming housing needs of First Nations Australians across the country, but I am referring in particular to my own electorate of Lingiari. I'm not quite sure as to why it is, but it seems that successive governments have failed to understand or acknowledge the costs involved in not addressing the overwhelming housing need. I look at health costs in particular. The relationship between overcrowded, unsafe and inadequate housing and chronic disease and mortality rates in First Nations households is very well documented. As an example, it is clear there is a direct relationship and a correlation between overcrowded housing and the high incidence of scabies and rheumatic heart disease in many remote communities. This means, of course, there's an extremely high cost on the health system, but it also means that, sadly, the lives of Aboriginal Australians in my own electorate of Lingiari in the Northern Territory are being undermined, and that their life expectancy diminishes significantly. The relationship between that and overcrowded, inadequate and unsafe housing is there for all to see. I was in Barunga—which is in the Northern Territory in my electorate of Lingiari, about 90 kilometres south-east of Katherine—only a week or so ago to observe new houses being built. It's great that there are new houses being built, but there was no kerbing and guttering and no drainage. As a consequence the houses were being flooded. That's poor planning, clearly, but it goes to inadequate resourcing of the housing needs of that particular community. It's stressed by perennial flooding and the lack of stormwater abatement. It's clear that governments have been blind to this relationship between poor, overcrowded and unsafe housing and the costs involved in areas such as health. There's a lot of duck-shoving between the various governments. Although the current government pledged $550 million over five years for Aboriginal housing in the Northern Territory in its 2018 budget, matched by a similar contribution from the Northern Territory government, frankly it's clearly insufficient. We know that it's the intention of the Morrison government to withdraw from the field post this investment. That's clearly not good enough. The poor housing that exists in the electorate of Lingiari is largely a legacy from when the Commonwealth administered the Northern Territory prior to 1978. I remember vividly that in that period there were people still living in tin shacks—in some places, they still are. We've not done sufficient work to address the appalling housing needs. It's time that this government spent what is required to deal with the historical legacy of inadequate, inappropriate and unsafe housing, and the disadvantage that it perpetuates. It is a federal responsibility, in my view, and I know that the Commonwealth government has been progressively withdrawing from these responsibilities. I would argue that the 1967 referendum gave the federal government a particular responsibility and that this government is withdrawing from it. Frankly, the state governments, and in my case in particular the Northern Territory government, they have insufficient resources to address the long-term housing needs and even the short-term housing needs in reality. Only this year some of you will have read the very good book that Henry Reynolds has written about the legacies of past conflicts since James Cook arrived in this country. He talks about the frontier wars and all that happened to First Nations people across this nation. It's an interesting document, because, when you reflect on it, you can see how the disadvantage occurred and how people's rights were ignored. I would argue that, over the decades and the centuries, there's been a high level of institutionalised racism existing in this country, and it still exists, because we have yet to come to terms with our obligations to make sure that our First Nations people have the rights they properly deserve, one of which is housing. Yet we have failed to do it. We know what we need. As I've explained, overcrowded, unsafe and inadequate housing has a direct relationship with better health outcomes, better education outcomes and so on. Of course, it's hard to argue because the facts are there. This dreadful coronavirus this provides us with additional evidence as to why we need to have appropriate housing. It becomes more important that we, in this place and across this nation, resolve this vexed issue. Lockdowns and other mechanisms, like people isolating in their communities, have been very effective, but one of the problems is—and it's very clear in the way in which some chronic diseases exist in many remote communities—the impact of overcrowding. If, God forbid, this virus got into some remote communities, its direct impact as a result of overcrowding would be just awful. This is not an issue which shouldn't be addressed; it's an issue which people don't seem to want to address in an appropriate way. When we think about it, we do have an obligation here to do these things. We have international obligations. We have signed covenants, but we seem to ignore them and our responsibilities that arise from them when it comes to addressing these very important issues. Compared with other Australians, research in 2019 shows us that across the country First Nations Australians were half as likely to own their own home, with or without a mortgage; 10 times as likely to live in social housing; three times as likely to live in overcrowded dwellings; and nine times as likely to require access to specialist homeless services. In remote communities, the situation is even more dire. If you live in a remote community, you're three times as likely to live in social housing, in First Nations communities, as you would be in non-remote communities. In 2014, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey collected information on basic types of household facilities that are considered important for a healthy living environment and on where the household dwelling had major structural problems. In 2014-15, 29 per cent of First Nations Australians were living in dwellings with major structural problems. In the same period, 15 per cent of First Nations Australians were living in households in which at least one basic facility required for a healthy living environment was not available or did not work. Nearly one-in-five First Nations Australians were living in houses that did not meet acceptable standards. This evidence is before us. If you are a First Nations person living in a remote community, the likelihood of major structural problems is 37 per cent compared with 27 per cent for those living in non-remote communities; lacking basic household facilities—27 per cent compared with 11 per cent; or did not meet acceptable standards—31 per cent compared with 16 per cent. We have the capacity within us here to address these problems. We need to understand the nature of them, and I don't think, as much as we might express good intent, that we're prepared to commit ourselves to addressing what is a really overwhelming need. My office has been working with the Parliamentary Library to try and update data on how many First Nations houses are needed across this country to address the current shortfall, in terms of both overcrowding and also inadequacy. Sadly, this data is not easily assembled, and nobody has known the real answer, including from a major government review in 2017. So the work which the library has been doing has been quite revealing. That research tells us that up to 76,000 additional dwellings are required across this country to address the housing needs of First Nations Australians. In the Northern Territory alone, that figure is about 21,000, and the requirement is for an expenditure of around $5 billion. As I said, there has been a commitment from this government in its 2018-19 budget of $550 million. There has been a matching commitment from the Northern Territory government of $550 million. But it's not enough. It's not even addressing the replacement costs. It's not addressing the population growth or keeping pace with the population growth This is a really significant issue. Between 2009 and 2016, the First Nations population across the Northern Territory grew by 10.1 per cent or thereabouts. We haven't seen a commensurate increase in the number of bedrooms that are required to house that population, let alone sufficient funding for the replacement of inadequate and inappropriate housing. I do want to commend the work which is being done by Aboriginal community based organisations in the Northern Territory and elsewhere and by the community sector for shining a light on this inadequacy. We do have a responsibility here. I know that the amount of money we're talking about is eye-watering, but we've got to find ways to deal with it. Maybe what we've got to be talking about is different ways of financing. There are possible alternative ways of financing, but it appears to me that governments haven't accepted the challenge of what that might look like and then gone to the money in the private sector to see if there can't be a partnering in the development of this infrastructure in an appropriate way that meets this housing need. It's important that we here understand the fatal impact of not addressing that need. It's clear to those who have any knowledge, understanding or experience of remote Aboriginal community health, for example, that housing is such a driver. I said that at the outset of this contribution. Housing is such a driver of better health outcomes, yet we're not seeing the resources being put into housing, let alone into primary health care services. Not enough has been put in there, and not enough is understood about the relationship between health and housing and the prevention strategies that can be implemented by investing in housing. We do have a responsibility here, and it's time we accepted that responsibility. I'm not saying this to be critical just of the government. It's a matter for the parliament and it's a matter for successive governments. Whatever the next government might look like—hopefully, it's a Labor government—they'll be stuck with the same problem. It's going to require a commitment, it's going to require an understanding and it's going to require partnerships with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people right across this country in a way we haven't seen previously. Not only will it address issues to do with housing in the real sense but it will provide opportunities for business and employment for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people right across this nation. It's an opportunity which can't be missed, but it's an opportunity which, at this moment, has been missed. 12:39 Mr RAMSEY HWS Grey The seat of Grey was formed in 1903 and, despite the fact that I am only the third Liberal to represent that seat, this is the 28th year that it will have been in Liberal hands and I'm proud of that outcome. As such, it is considered a safe seat, even though there are times when even safe seats are pushed to the limit and certainly that was the case in 2016. But in any case, as I work my way around the electorate and talk to people, from time to time it is put to me that 'we would be better off voting for the Labor party and the independents so the seat became a swinging seat and we would get more attention, more money from the government, more support'. I would like to take that to task given that we are dealing with the appropriations bill. I have been keeping a running check on the grants and programs that are coming into Grey. I hope 15 minutes is long enough but I'm going to have a go at taking you through them. The No. 1 issue for people who live in a seat like Grey, which is not as big as Lingiari—I must say to the good member who has just sat down—but bigger than New South Wales in any case, is roads infrastructure. I will start on roads. There's just on $900 million in current works underway or in the pipeline coming from the Commonwealth government on major projects in the seat of Grey. We have $160 million for the duplication of the Joy Baluch Bridge in Port Augusta. There's $80 million going into the Port Wakefield overpass, and those works are underway at the moment. There's $100 million going into the upgrading of the Eyre Highway. There is $50 million for the Barrier Highway, the one from Adelaide to Broken Hill. There is $44 million for the Horrocks Highway and $100 million—one I'm proud of and pleased with—for the sealing of the Strzelecki Track, which is currently cut by floodwaters or at least wet roads. The Strzelecki Track would be a wonderful connection to your home state of Queensland, Deputy Speaker Wallace. There is another $5 million for the Adventure Way, which is the little bit of road that connects Innamincka to the Queensland border. The APY Lands will get a new road with $113 million. The Augusta Highway will get a $130 million upgrade and, on top of that, another $64 million to begin its duplication. There's $114 million recently committed for safety works. There's $8.8 million going into the Dublin turn-off, which takes you into the South Australian sale yards. That's an enormous effort. We have never seen this kind of support coming into a regional seat like Grey before, and I am extremely grateful to the government for those outcomes. There is more, though. It's like the steak knives, I must say—there's more yet. Local government has been receiving substantial funds through local roads and community infrastructure funding, the Roads to Recovery program grants and, in South Australia, the special local road component, which the member for Barker and I are lobbying the government furiously to continue in the next budget. Councils are very happy with the support they are getting from the Commonwealth government across a range of projects. The Adelaide to Tarcoola railway re-railing project will get $252 million. Not only will it bring up a heavier, better freight load—an extra two tonne an axle—but that rail is coming out of the Whyalla steelworks, so it's a win, win, win and there's a lot of people employed getting that job done. More than $8 million has come in for bridge replacements around the electorate of Grey. The electorate of Grey isn't covered with vast rivers, it must be said, but we do have bridges over some of our waterways. They need upgrading and replacing and that's getting done. There is a list of programs here with outcomes that will take a little while to get through. We have three uni hubs. We have now got one of the 10 training hubs that was recently announced in Port Pirie at the top of the Spencer Gulf. We've had drought community support. Twenty councils have received two allocations of $2 million. An enormous amount of good public works has been done. Importantly, they have employed local contractors to get the work done. That is what the Drought Communities Program was about—making sure we have a workforce in place for when the farming economy comes good. We've had good grants for sporting infrastructure. On the weekend I opened the new Kadina hockey pitch. There was a $422,000 grant there. We've had a range of capital grants going to aged-care facilities. We've had ARENA back backup battery projects and studies on how to build pumped hydro at a couple of locations in Grey. We have had money coming in through the Safer Communities Fund. Our country publishers have enjoyed some support from the federal government. Tackling Tough Times Together is another program that pumps money into my rural communities. The Stronger Communities and Volunteer Grants are very important grant programs. There have been school infrastructure grants. I've lost count of the number of schools I've gone to to help snip a ribbon to open new facilities. They are greatly appreciated. There have been water grants. Ag shows have been supported coming out of the drought and the cancellations last year because of COVID. They have had support. The dog fence is another one I'm incredibly pleased to associate my name with. I didn't know whether we would ever nail this one. The 1,600-kilometre dog fence in South Australia is over 100 years old. It is being replaced. There is $10 million from the federal government, $10 million from the state government and $5 million from growers. It's a wonderful coming together of the people who need to get this job done. It will ensure that we can continue to farm sheep in the southern part of South Australia. Programs to address 30 mobile phone black spots have been either approved or completed—most of them have been completed. Rural and regional airstrips have benefited right across the electorate. There are not too many airstrips left in Grey that aren't sealed. Most of them have lights and appropriate facilities. There have been some fantastic heritage grants. Just recently over $5 million went to the Copper Coast for the preservation of the old mining sites at Moonta that were so instrumental in the building of South Australia. We support remote art studios, particularly on the APY lands but not only there. There has been a lot of money come in through the Indigenous Advancement Strategy. We have four headspace units. That's a pretty good outcome. Smart farms, men's sheds and the RSLs have all benefited from a number of grants, including armistice grants, RSL infrastructure grants and saluting their service grants programs. RJIP, the Regional Jobs and Investment program, has $20 million for the upper Spencer Gulf. Indigenous protected areas have had support. I am very pleased to announce in this place that the NBN is complete in Grey. Everybody in Grey who wants NBN service can get it. That's a pretty long list. At every opportunity I take to task those who think they miss out because the electorate looks safe. I don't often get enough time to tell people about that long list. We should remind people of what we actually provide for an electorate like Grey. If you live in one corner of an electorate like Grey, you might not be very aware of the expenditure and support that is going to the other side, given it could be up to 1,000 kilometres away and you mightn't read the same newspaper or see the same television signal. For business we have some good tax breaks. There are tax breaks for individuals as well, but for business there is the accelerated tax write-off for capital expenditure for water works and for fodder conservation. These are all good things to build a stronger and more resilient agricultural sector. JobKeeper has been very important. I think there are about 2½ thousand left on JobKeeper in Grey. That gives an indication of just how busy the economy is. There are jobs all over the place. There are positions we just cannot fill. That is one of the great challenges we are facing at the moment. We've had higher caps. This wasn't in the last budget, but over the last few years: we've had the doubling of the Farm Management Deposits and of course the support for apprentices, which we just uncapped the other day. We anticipate that there will be another surge of interest in that across Grey, given that we've just opened the training hub in Port Pirie, as I said before. At the moment, the Grey economy is in the fast lane. The building industry is absolutely flat strap on the back of HomeBuilder. Conversely, the tourism industry, somewhat at difference to parts of Australia, is going very well indeed—while South Australians were confined to South Australia they decided to go and have a look at it! Many of the regional tourism operators have recorded record, or close to record, seasons since about July last year. The same thing can't be said for Adelaide, which relies on conventions, major events and inward traffic from internationals. But in Grey we've certainly had a pretty good result. We have a burgeoning space industry in Grey, given that we've had this long relationship with Woomera. The interest now is on the lower Eyre Peninsula, with Southern Launch. There's the possibility of building a really large industry out of this. The world is looking for hundreds and hundreds more low-orbiting polar satellites to be launched and we happen to be sitting on one of the prime pieces of real estate in the world, shooting down over the Southern Ocean where planes don't fly regularly. It's relatively empty sea and air space in that direction so it's an ideal site. There are a number of port projects on the burner at the moment. There are a couple of deep-sea ports and a barging facility which are all trying to raise finance to get them established. I don't think they'll all go ahead but I certainly hope that at least one of them does. In fact the government has put some money on the table for one of them, to try to get that project over the line. It would be very important in providing some diversity in South Australia, particularly with the farming community We do have challenges, though. One that I've spoken about in this chamber many times is the challenge of getting professionals to come and work in our rural communities. We are faced with long-term population decline in the inland areas, largely caused by the super efficiency of modern agriculture. This is an issue that I've raised here many times: the lack of doctors in rural areas. I couldn't ask for better attention from the government and the Minister for Health—certainly, everybody is aware of the problem. But being aware of the problem and finding the solution are not necessarily the same thing. I have certainly moved to a stage now where I favour the view that we're going to have to come up with a different payment structure for rurally based doctors. Let me lay it on the table here: I think it shouldn't cost the government anything at all, because linked to this dire shortage of doctors in country areas is exploding overservicing in metropolitan areas. We know that metropolitan people and doctors are accessing Medicare items at more than double the rate they're being accessed in country areas. It's clear that it's overservicing and we are going to have to move as a government—or someone is going to have to move—to put a cap on it or otherwise we'll go through the same process that we did in the 1990s when we cut the training numbers because we had overservicing in the cities. But if we cut the training numbers then we'll be right back to where we started and importing doctors again and whatever. Of course the imported doctors have saved our lives in country areas, so don't let me talk them down, but the advantage of the imported doctor is that when you import them they'll go where you tell them to. When you train them in Australia they're beyond that kind of guidance! I think that's one of the failings of the system. But it's not only doctors. We don't have enough dentists and we don't have enough vets, we're struggling for nurses and we're struggling for age-care workers. A local town—and I don't know what the current rate is over the last two weeks—was unable to open its pub on Friday nights because they didn't have enough workers, the motel had cut the number of rooms it had available because it couldn't get enough cleaners and one of the roadhouses was shutting on Saturday afternoons. This is a town of a thousand people. It's a great little place to live in but they can't get workers. And I know of a French cafe in a coastal town that has cut its hours because it can't get workers. I'm aware of Nyrstar in Port Pirie looking for tens of workers—20 or 30—and they can't get any starters. These are good, well-paid full-time jobs and yet they're struggling to fill them at the moment. These are some of the issues facing government, but certainly the opportunities are out there. There are opportunities out there in a seat like Grey. That long list I went through demonstrates that the government believes in the regional areas and is building the infrastructure fit for purpose so we can employ all those people and get them out there. (Time expired) 12:55 Ms RISHWORTH HWA Kingston I'm very pleased to be able to speak on this Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and to raise a number of issues of great concern to my local community. I was back in my community on the weekend after sitting in parliament and, as I was talking to people at my shopping centre stall, there was a growing frustration about this federal government that is focused all on announcements and always wanting to be there for the photo-op or getting out a marketing slogan but really failing when it comes to delivery. There are many members of my community that are feeling frustrated in a range of different areas. I'm going to touch on a few of those today. The first is people being left behind with the end of JobKeeper. We hear this government say that there is just no problem, that there are jobs out there for people. Well, I've been speaking to people employed by small businesses that are staring down the prospect, at the end of JobKeeper, of losing their jobs. That is absolutely the case. Next week, when we see the end of JobKeeper, which has been an important lifeline for many small businesses in my electorate of Kingston, we will see some of those wondering how they are going to survive. Throughout the pandemic, I continued to visit and reach out to countless local businesses. It was heartbreaking to speak to business owners who had been running successful, longstanding, well-established business for many years, some for over 10 years, and last year they were faced with the prospect of closing their doors due to events completely out of their control. It's also been devastating to speak to those business owners who had only recently taken the leap to start their own business and were then hit, as their business was taking off, with some of the issues that have come from the pandemic. These were Australians who had developed and pursued a good idea, taken a risk and gone out on their own. Again, through no fault of their own, their livelihoods were suddenly thrown into disarray with the pandemic and recession. JobKeeper, something that those on this side of the House had called for, ended up being really important to many of my local businesses in keeping them afloat and allowing them to support their staff and their families. That is why Labor really did call on the government to introduce wage subsidies at the start of the pandemic. We knew that, without the support, countless small businesses as well as those workers in many businesses across Australia would lose work and those small businesses would collapse. Thankfully, in 2021, a lot of businesses have started to recover, but there are many industries that are still struggling and need this government's support. These are industries that have not felt the economic bounce-back that the government keeps bragging about. This government is now going to pull the rug out for these hardworking Australian businesses when it cuts JobKeeper next week. In doing so, it will be putting local jobs, livelihoods and small business at risk. Many of the struggling industries have been widely reported on—tourism, entertainment, the arts and hospitality. But one that hasn't really been spoken about much is the events and party industry. I have spoken to a number of local businesses in the events and party industry and it is clear that they have been some of the hardest hit by the pandemic and are still feeling the impact of ongoing social distancing requirements and COVID-19 restrictions. I spoke to Tina, who is the owner of Eco Party Box in Moana, a small family owned and run business that has been operating for over 10 years. Tina runs the business from a shed at home. She supplies environmentally friendly party supplies, things like compostable plates, napkins and cutlery. It's a clever and successful business idea at a time when people are starting to really care about minimising their environmental footprint. Tina told me at the start of COVID virtually all orders stopped and her business was at a standstill. JobKeeper was a lifeline for Tina's business and helped her to look after her four kids and kept food on the family's dinner table. Eco Party Box is still struggling with the ongoing impact of COVID-19 restrictions on parties and social gatherings. Many people still aren't hosting parties, and those parties that are happening are usually smaller and scaled back due to restrictions on the number of people at gatherings. For businesses like Tina's, this means their bottom line is still taking a huge hit. When I spoke to Tina at the start of March, she said her business was only just starting to recover. She said that February was the first time since the pandemic began a year ago that she had more than a couple of orders on her books for the week. Tina told me she wishes that JobKeeper could continue for at least a few more months while her business is still getting back on its feet. Another local business is Down South Party Hire at Lonsdale—once again, a family-owned business, which has been operating for 16 years. They do an amazing job of providing party supplies and hiring out party equipment, like audiovisual equipment, lights and gazebos. They've told me that, in 2020, they experienced a 98 per cent drop in their business and they had to rely on JobKeeper to get through. They told me that bookings are still not back to normal yet. The uncertainty around the regularly changing COVID-19 restrictions means that people aren't planning ahead for parties and events. Many of the bookings they are receiving are only being made a week or even a few days out from the event. This lack of certainty about income is making it incredibly hard for them to plan ahead and run their business effectively. The scaled-down nature of the parties that go ahead means they aren't seeing bookings for items like marquees and gazebos. Even at the best of times, winter is a quiet time for the events and party industry. These businesses rely on the revenue from the busier spring and summer seasons to make it through. Without any reserves from last year, winter is quickly approaching and JobKeeper is ending. Many event and party businesses don't know what's going to come next. Local businesses in the events and party industry like Eco Party Box and Down South Party Hire are just two of many, many businesses out there that have been hit hard by the pandemic and are still feeling the impact, and none of the government's packages are helping these businesses. Both of these businesses say they would still be eligible for JobKeeper if the current criteria were to continue past 31 March. The pandemic isn't ending on 31 March. With the vaccine rollout delays and chaos, which have caused people to become increasingly frustrated with this federal government, events based businesses will continue to feel the impact of COVID-19 restrictions. The fact is that more than one million Australian workers will still be on JobKeeper on 31 March but won't get anything the next day. That's 10 per cent of the workforce. With a week to go, there is still no real plan from this government to replace JobKeeper for many, many of those businesses and workers. Not all sectors, industries and communities have shared in the recovery, and it is time that this government looked comprehensively at how they can support businesses which, through no fault of their own, are going to struggle when JobKeeper ends, many of which have been very successful for a long time. Another issue that has very much got the attention of many people in my electorate is the failings of this government in aged care. On 26 February, the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety handed down its final report. This report made clear what we have known for some time: the aged-care sector is in crisis. Funding cuts and neglect by the Morrison Liberal government have had devastating repercussions on the sector. The final report outlined the true extent of the neglect of the Morrison Liberal government and highlighted its horrific effect on older Australians. It is appalling that, under this government and under this Prime Minister, 68 per cent of residents of aged-care facilities are malnourished. One in three are receiving substandard care in the home and in aged care. The report outlined countless horrific cases of abuse that have taken place in our aged-care system. There were reported instances of residents being left with maggots in open wounds and residents being left lying in their own excrement due to the lack of staff and resources. The state of the aged-care system is terrifying for those who are in the system already. It is also terrifying for those faced with going into the system in the future; I hear that time and time again. I have people say to me, 'If I look like I'm going into an aged-care facility, I want it to end.' That is just not good enough. Our aged Australians should be enjoying their twilight years, but they have a fear of going into an aged-care facility. Many families of older Australians are terrified at the prospect of their older Australians not being treated with dignity and respect. I regularly hear from children, partners, siblings—those who are dreading the prospect of working with their loved ones to move them into aged care and are deeply concerned about their loved ones already in residential aged care. Every Australian deserves the comfort of knowing that either they or their loved ones will be safe and looked after in aged-care facilities. No Australian should have to feel scared about entering residential aged care. When an older person needs to enter aged care we must ensure that they can enter quickly. Unfortunately, at the moment, the wait time to enter care is close to 200 days. The crisis in aged care can be directly brought home to this government's mismanagement and underfunding. One of the central issues is that aged-care workers are overworked, are underpaid and lack the support they need. Many staff are responsible for too many residents, and, as a result, cannot offer the standard of service that is required or that they want to provide. I have heard from aged-care workers who say they work in the industry because they love looking after older Australians. They get a sense of pride and purpose when they do this. They themselves are desperately upset when they are not allowed to sit with an elderly person feeling upset or angry; they may be experiencing some sort of memory loss and want some comfort. Our aged-care workers are telling me that they're not even able to pause for a moment to provide that comfort and support—the reason they wanted to get into aged care in the first place. It is for many of these reasons that Labor repeatedly called on the government to mandate minimum staff ratios to ensure each resident receives the care and attention they deserve. Unfortunately, older Australians and their loved ones say, when they talk with me, that they have lost faith in this government. In October 2019 the Morrison Liberal government was told by the interim report that one of the things it could address immediately was the waitlist for home-care packages. Nearly two years later the waitlist is still a staggering 100,000 people. Over three years 30,000 older Australians have died waiting for in-home care—and this is care that's already been approved. In southern Adelaide there are over 1,500 people who have been approved but have not been offered the correct package. Too many older Australians have nowhere to turn, and the Prime Minister cannot sweep this crisis under the carpet any longer. This government has now received 22 reports about the broken aged-care system since 2013. Each time they've chosen spin over substance, neglect over action. Enough is enough. Older Australians deserve better. Finally, I want to quickly touch on the other end of the age spectrum—that is, young Australians, who have also been left behind during this pandemic but in a different way. Young Australians have felt the brunt of the COVID pandemic, with many working in casual and insecure work in industries that have been hit hard, like hospitality and the arts. Many young people have been the first to lose work since the pandemic started. Youth unemployment is still at 12.9 per cent and underemployment is at 19.4 per cent. I hope that we will see real action from this government in terms of a youth recovery strategy. At the moment the youth portfolio, from what I can tell, has no resources attributed to it. I want to see a proper recovery strategy that brings in young people and ensures that their needs are looked after as we recover from the COVID pandemic. At the moment there's meant to be a report on the minister's desk. We don't know what's in it, we don't know if it'll ever be released and we don't know what resources will go along with it. I look forward to seeing that report made public, because young people deserve transparency and direction from this government. 13:10 Mr VAN MANEN 188315 Forde It's a pleasure to stand in this place and speak on the appropriation bills, because it gives me an opportunity to talk about many things that this government has done and is doing, and not only across my electorate of Forde; many of the things we are doing benefit every electorate in this country, every segment of our community. I think it is incredibly important for people to remember that this government is actually doing stuff and delivering on its commitments, on what it's talked about doing for the Australian people. That's one of the big differences between this side of the House and those on the other side. We're focused on delivery and on making the lives of ordinary Australians better each and every day. We can see that, firstly, through this pandemic over the past 12 months, with the government's response through JobKeeper, through increased JobSeeker and through other supports it's put in place to ensure that we keep businesses afloat, doors open and, by extension, people employed. In my electorate of Forde, with the many small to medium businesses across the electorate that I have talked to and met with, I know of their thankfulness for JobKeeper, to ensure that they can keep their doors open and keep people employed, and many of the grant programs that this government has run, like the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund, for businesses like Holmwood Highgate. They were successful in obtaining a grant through that fund that allowed them to buy a new state-of-the-art laser cutter for aluminium and steel for the tankers they make for trucks and also, over the past few years, their water and fuel tanker product that they've developed for defence industry and for our defence forces here in Australia, but also they are developing an export market in that space. The consequence of those investments is that they are growing their workforce. They are putting on more apprentices. All of this leads to jobs in our local community. They have partnerships with our local high schools to bring in school based apprenticeships and trainees. That creates jobs and opportunities. Many of these kids come from families that maybe haven't had those opportunities previously. It continues to build and strengthen our economy. This shows up in the unemployment numbers that were released this week. We see now an unemployment rate of approximately 5.5 per cent. Would we all like to see that lower? Absolutely we would. But in January nearly 89,000 jobs were created, all of them full time. Importantly, more than 80 per cent of those jobs went to women, and another 40 per cent went to young people. For me, representing an electorate that has an average age of 37 or 38, seeing the opportunities created for young people in my community to get jobs is very heartening. I know that many employers across my electorate, because of the confidence that has been generated in our community because of the economic support the government has provided over the past 12 months, are looking to hire. They want to hire people to grow their businesses, because the opportunities continue to present themselves. Prior to Christmas I met with a business that is one of the largest suppliers of library books in Australia and New Zealand. They are continuing to grow their business and to look for new employees, because they can't keep up with the level of activity that they have. In fact, they're now talking about going the next step and moving into new premises. They're looking to build a new building and employ more people. These incentives the government has created for people to build and grow their businesses are going to grow and drive our economy as we move forward out of the coronavirus pandemic. Part of that is funded by the fact that this government, through our Economic Recovery Plan, has to date delivered some $9 billion in tax cuts landing in the pockets of some 8.8 million Australians. That occurred from July 2020 to February 2021. This has helped boost household balance sheets and has seen consumer confidence rise above pre-pandemic levels. As I go around my electorate I see positivity for the future despite the difficulties we've had over the past 12 month with coronavirus. People want to get out and do things and take opportunities—for themselves or in their businesses. We've seen this too with the impact of HomeBuilder. I talk to builders, developers and tradesmen around my electorate. The developers have problems; they can't develop the land quick enough. The builders can't get the blocks of land to build on quick enough; they need to be registered before they can start building the new homes. And the tradesmen that I talk to are flat chat; there's not a single tradesperson that I know around my electorate who hasn't got a book full of work for at least the next six to nine months. They are very grateful for the fact that that opportunity has arisen. It allows them to have confidence in the future of their businesses. That gives them the incentive to take on apprentices. The 100,000 places in our apprenticeship scheme have been taken up extraordinarily rapidly—to the extent that, as a government, we've now had to expand that scheme out till, I think, the end of September this year to provide the opportunity for businesses to continue to take on those apprenticeship places. That creates the opportunity for the young people in my community to build their skills. That will give them the foundation they need for themselves as they move forward into the future. I'm focusing on skills and apprenticeships because our apprentices and tradespeople build this country. We need builders, bricklayers, electricians and carpenters to build buildings like the one we're in here today. They build our factories; they build our production lines. They're the people who build the country for the future. And that's why I'm so pleased, with all of the things that we're doing as a government, to see the support and encouragement we're providing for the working class of Australia to move forward, to build and grow their lives and to deliver on the potential they have to make this country an even better place. I had cause recently to go back and read my maiden speech, and it's always interesting to do that. One of the things I talked about in my maiden speech was the cost of living. I've already touched on our tax cuts. There is also the stuff we've done with energy policy. We see the reduction in the wholesale cost of electricity now reflected in retail prices, going directly towards reducing the cost of living for everyday Australians. I'm so pleased to be part of a government that has achieved that. The trajectory we were on when we came to government in 2013 was entirely in the opposite direction. I remember coming into this place in 2010, and not long after those opposite introduced the carbon tax they never said they would introduce. When we came into government in 2013 we repealed that carbon tax and have worked assiduously ever since to ensure that we reduce electricity prices and cost of living for everyday Australians. One of the other things I reflected on in my maiden speech, Mr Deputy Speaker, was the importance of infrastructure in my electorate of Forde. I've got no doubt infrastructure is a big topic of discussion up in the Deputy Speaker's electorate on the Sunshine Coast as well. In my maiden speech I mentioned the Mount Lindesay Highway, which is a main corridor in the west of my electorate that runs between Browns Plains down to Beaudesert and also up into Brisbane. I'm very pleased to say that in my time we have delivered one major project at North MacLean, upgrading the Mount Lindsay Highway and building a new service road on what was quite a dangerous piece of the highway, as well as installing new lights—in conjunction with my good friend the member for Wright because that piece of road sits right on our boundary. I'm pleased to say that we've succeeded for getting the funding for the duplication for the next stretch of the Mount Lindesay Highway from Stoney Camp Road to Chambers Flat Road. That's a $75 million investment of which the Commonwealth government is putting in $37½ million. That will deliver new northbound and southbound bridges across Norris Creek, a range of safety upgrades, improved fauna connectivity and protection across either side of the highway. But most importantly it will greatly improve the safety on that stretch of road, which given the new developments further south in Yarrabilba and Flagstone is an increasingly busy corridor and artery of commerce and travel. So it is tremendous to see these investments being made by this government through our infrastructure investments, some $110 billion over 10 years. Equally, the work that we're doing on the M1 between the Gateway Motorway and the Logan Motorway. We've already completed the southbound project from the Gateway Motorway to Springwood. We are now working on the northbound upgrade from Springwood to the Gateway Motorway, and that work is well underway. There are already plans for the next part of that from Springwood down to Loganlea Road. It's a $375 million investment by the Commonwealth government in conjunction with the state government, so a total project of $750 million. In addition to that, investments in upgrading Exit 45 at Ormeau and Exit 49 at Pimpama—a total of nearly $100 million of investment by this government. It's these investments and many others across our community, that were issues 10 years ago, that we're now finally delivering on and achieving. One of the other great things in my electorate of Forde is the willingness of business in my community and the community more generally to get involved in waste and recycling. We recognise the importance of ensuring that we minimise our waste and where possible we recycle and reuse those commodities to ensure that it's not all going to landfill—or in the past it has been exported overseas. Our waste has the tremendous capacity for us to reuse scarce, raw, natural materials and to repurpose that for other things. In the city of Logan its largest wastewater treatment facility has been one of the first in Australia to take human waste and turn it into energy. This facility will also transform sewage sludge into renewable energy and a safe, environmentally friendly product called biochar. We know that biochar is a very important component of our soil carbon strategy, because biochar plays a really important role in improving soils and improving the capacity of soil to retain carbon, but also, importantly, improving the quality of soils for water and moisture retention, which in one of the driest countries on earth is a critically important outcome. With many of these things and many other things that I haven't touched on—I've run out of time—we see that this government, each and every day, is focused on delivering for Australians right across this country and, more importantly, delivering for my community of Forde. I'm so pleased to be part of a government where we have a positive story to tell. We're making this country a better country each and every day. 13:25 Dr FREELANDER 265979 Macarthur I rise today to speak on the appropriation bills before the House: Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. I'm delighted to do so, but in doing so I want to express my frustration at the failed policies of this government and the fact that, whilst we are a wealthy society, we are by no means an equitable one. It's been almost five years since I've been a member of this House, since I was elected as the member for Macarthur, and I've seen, increasingly frustratingly, a lack of action on climate change, a lack of action on energy policy and a government that, as I've said, knows the cost of everything and the value of nothing. In my own particular field of health care, we've seen a government that pays lip-service to public health policy, to preventative medicine, to preventative health. Whilst they have done well during the COVID-19 pandemic, we've seen evidence of a lack of provision for the future and a lack of planning for the healthcare needs of our society. We've seen gap costs for high-level specialist care increase now to levels where it's really only affordable for the very wealthy. We've seen increasing difficulty in people accessing health care. Particularly in my electorate of Macarthur there are real problems in recruiting general practitioners to provide primary health care through our electorate and to people who have the highest need for health care. I've been constantly contacted by constituents and by general practitioners themselves saying it's very difficult to recruit doctors to work in some of the areas of highest need in my electorate of Macarthur. We've seen long waiting lists for hospital treatments and they've certainly blown out during the pandemic. We have seen people who are struggling to access education. We have new schools in my electorate that have over 30 demountable classrooms. The playing fields have been taken up by demountable classrooms in the electorate. We've seen businesses who have— The SPEAKER 00APG We're nearly at 1.30. I'm going to ask the member for Macarthur to resume his seat. He will be needing to continue his remarks later anyway. There is a statement I need to make before we get to the 90 second statements. I thank the member for Macarthur. STATEMENT BY THE SPEAKER 37 STATEMENT BY THE SPEAKER Members of Parliament: Conduct 37 13:28 The SPEAKER 00APG As members are aware, freedom of speech is a powerful privilege which enables the operation of the parliament and attaches to all parliamentary proceedings. With this privilege comes the responsibility of us all to choose our words carefully, with due regard to the potential consequences. This is especially so in relation to remarks about a specific criminal complaint made to police. Conventions of the House guide us in exercising this responsibility. One of those conventions is the sub judice convention. House of Representatives Practice contains a very useful and clear statement in relation to the sub judice convention, and I'll read it to the House for the information of members— In exercising a discretion in applying the sub judice convention the Speaker makes decisions which involve the inherent right of the House to inquire into and debate matters of public importance while at the same time ensuring that the House does not set itself up as an alternative forum to the courts or permit the proceedings of the House to interfere with the course of justice. Some aspects make the current situation distinctive. To my knowledge, it's unprecedented that a criminal complaint of sexual assault occurring in the parliamentary precincts has been made before. Further, it's not common that there would be such widespread knowledge of any police complaint at this initial stage. The fact that we are in a situation that is so distinctive does not, though, relieve us of our responsibilities. In addition to this, the President of the Senate and I have consulted with the Commissioner of the Australian Federal Police and the Chief Police Officer of the ACT in the last few days about this ongoing matter. ACT Policing, through the ACT Chief Police Officer Neil Gaughan, and ACT Deputy Chief Police Officer Michael Chew, advised that its inquiry is ongoing in relation to the matter and further commentary in relation to the investigation may be prejudicial to the criminal investigation. This includes any reference to 'facts in issue' to the investigation, as everything is currently material to any prosecution that may be commenced. I would therefore remind all members to exercise the rights they have responsibly or risk complicating or compromising an important police investigation. Debate interrupted. Greek Independence Day 38 13:30 Mr THISTLETHWAITE 182468 Kingsford Smith To Australians of Greek heritage, I say zito i eleftheria, happy independence day. This year's celebration of Hellenic independence is a special one as it's the 200th anniversary of the start of the Greek revolution of liberation from the Ottoman Empire. On this significant occasion, I wish to thank all in our community of Greek heritage for your friendship and for welcoming me into your community. I am fortunate to represent an area with a very large and active population with Hellenic heritage, centred around St Spyridon church and school in Kingsford and St Catherine's at Mascot. People of Greek heritage have made an enormous contribution to our community and have enriched our local culture and made the community of Kingsford Smith more inclusive and diverse. For that, we thank you. Greek postwar migration has helped build modern Australia, grow our economy and support the living standards that we all enjoy today. Greek Australians contribute to our nation's philanthropy. I wish to, in particular, recognise the Australasian Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, AHEPA, for their volunteers and their contribution to promoting education and medical research in Australia. To all in the Australian Greek community, I say efcharisto. Thank you for your contribution to our nation. I'm very proud to work with you. How appropriate it is, Madam Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou, that you, being of Greek heritage, are in the chair at this moment. Happy independence day to you and to all in our community of Greek heritage. Fisher Electorate: Holi 38 13:32 Mr WALLACE 265967 Fisher Last week we celebrated the Hindu festival of Holi at the Sunshine Coast. It was a vibrant event at the Kings Beach Amphitheatre. I would like to thank local leaders Vas Srinivasan and Arvind Pandit. I had the privilege of taking part of their request. Everyone had a fantastic time and the state member for Caloundra, Jarrod Bleijie, especially got into the spirit. There wasn't an inch of him that wasn't a different colour. He was absolutely soaked by the kids. I'm not sure who enjoyed it more—the kids or him. Holi celebrates the triumph of good over evil. It's a day full of bright colours and dancing, but, more importantly, it's a day filled with forgiveness and reconciliation. Here, in Australia, it falls on a perfect time, which is that of Harmony Week, which we celebrated. The population of people of Indian decent in Australia is exploding, especially on the Sunshine Coast. It is now the third-largest population of immigrants in Australia. Indian-Australians are excelling in all walks of life. We have Indian-Australian novelists, journalists, singers, diplomats, politicians, public servants, professional athletes, business leaders and academics, who are all leading the way in their respective fields on the Sunshine Coast and throughout Australia. Thank you for taking me and joining me into your community. Prime Minister 38 13:34 Mr HILL 86256 Bruce Yesterday at the Prime Minister's press conference, many Australians nearly thought we were having a national moment. After more than a month of appalling revelations about rape, sexual assault, perverted acts and cultural problems in the government and parliament, people nearly thought the Prime Minister was finally getting it—understanding the gravity and the scale of the change that is needed. We had tears and what appeared to be real emotion, and he yet again brought his family into it, but then, seconds later, the Prime Minister's true character was revealed. One question he didn't like and it was straight back to anger, arrogance, smirks, dismissal and a refusal to take responsibility and actually do or commit to anything—and an astounding demand that women stand with him when last week thousands of Australian women called on him to stand with them. And there was a fabricated sexual assault claim to attack and distract the journalists asking him questions. His empathy consultants must have been tearing their hair out! It's quite telling, though, that last night, just 30 minutes after the negative front pages of newspapers were revealed, the Prime Minister tweeted an apology to News Corp and to a victim who doesn't even exist. No quick apology, though, to robodebt victims or Australians who lost loved ones in nursing homes, to the 40,000 stranded Australians, to bushfire communities, or to Australian women—just to News Corp. This Prime Minister is a nasty fake; Australians deserve much, much better. Flynn Electorate: National Rural Women's Coalition 39 13:35 Mr O'DOWD 139441 Flynn The National Rural Women's Coalition visited Parliament House last week as part of the rural, regional and remote women's leadership muster for 2021. Laura Rutherford from Marmor in my electorate was selected to attend. She was also one of the muster winners for this year. This means that Laura will now complete the volunteer project she designed with her community in mind. Laura's project is to establish a leadership program for high-school-aged girls in cooperation with the schools, local businesses, local government and influential women in the community and abroad. The aim is to establish an ongoing program working with young girls in their middle and final years of high school, giving them exposure to new opportunities and career paths. I congratulate Laura and I wish her all the best. Dyett, Mr John Frederick 39 13:36 Mr BURNS 278522 Macnamara I want to say a very special thank you to a member of my team who is retiring next Tuesday. John Frederick Dyett is now 75 years young and has been an electorate officer serving the constituents of Melbourne Ports and Macnamara for more than 10 years. He returned to public life after a career as a lawyer and living in New York City, spending the last decade doing what he loves most: serving the people and serving the Labor cause. He worked for my predecessor, Michael Danby, and has helped countless constituents with all kinds of matters, from visa and immigration issues to Centrelink and issues with the NDIS, and so many more. He has also been a friend and has given an ear not just to his colleagues but to many of the hundreds and thousands of locals who have dropped into the office or given him a call. When John takes up the case, he gives it absolutely everything he's got to try to help the person before him, because John has given his time to people and he always does. He always gives his time, and that's why we have so much time for him. He has been a devoted member, volunteer and true believer in the Australian Labor Party over the last five decades, and still loves attending the Elwood branch meetings. John has overcome some pretty serious health challenges in recent years, but he's never once wanted to miss a day of work; he loves doing it. On behalf of the people of Melbourne Ports, Macnamara, my predecessor, Michael Danby, and the Australian Labor Party to my friend John Dyett: thanks for all your work, mate. Robertson Electorate: Floods 39 13:38 Mrs WICKS 241590 Robertson Over the past few days, my community on the Central Coast has really been greatly affected by the rain and flooding which I know has impacted so many communities right across the New South Wales east coast. But this is particularly true in my community for residents who live in Spencer, Wisemans Ferry, Gunderman and other communities along the Hawkesbury River. I am advised by the Department of Communities and Justice that while they're still conducting welfare checks on those further down the river, all appear to be safe and well at this stage. But we know that there remain concerns over the weather over the next 24 hours or so. Local residents have gathered at the Spencer general store, with many calling on neighbours to check they're okay, sharing batteries to charge their phones and ensuring that everyone has access to essential supplies. These communities have been through a lot in recent years, with last summer's bushfires threatening property, heavy rains in early 2020 causing damage and now floods posing a serious threat. I've spoken with a number of locals and volunteers over the past few days, including Alison Wade, Rolf Garda, Alan Pappas, Robyn Downham and Cath Wade. Cath said that locals were remaining resilient. She was confident they could get through this tough time and rebuild, as they've done so many times in the past. I want to say a very big thank you to everyone involved, including our amazing SES, RFS and local police, who have worked tirelessly to prepare and protect our community. The federal government will continue to do all we can and I would encourage those affected to contact Services Australia on 1802266— (Time expired) Prime Minister 39 13:39 Ms CLAYDON 248181 Newcastle I wish to make some comments today in the wake of the Prime Minister's press conference yesterday following ongoing reports of utterly unacceptable behaviour in this parliament, which has served to reinforce and bake in existing inequalities and ongoing practices that underpin gendered violence not just in this place but in our nation, as well as a culture of bullying and harassment. I watched that press conference, as I'm sure most Australian women did, and we saw a Prime Minister moved—apparently, profoundly moved. Indeed, there were significant moments where he shed tears. I hope that that provides some insight that there is some empathy going on now in the Prime Minister's office and that he realises that we're not seeking a political fix here. We need a Prime Minister who will be a leader, who will stand up, who will take significant action, who will drive long-term sustainable cultural change not just in this House but in every house in Australia, in every workplace in Australia, in every street and suburb. Prime Minister, I've got a few things for you to start thinking about right now. How about taking a leaf out of the Victorian government's book and looking at a gendered equity strategy, a piece of legislation that might bring genuine change to this nation— (Time expired) Goldstein, Ms Vida Jane Mary 40 13:41 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein I was actually quite moved yesterday by an article in the Nine press by its national affairs editor titled 'Time to end Canberra's statues of limitation' particularly talking about the lack of statues of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders and women political figures. In fact, there are more kelpies now in statues than either of those two significant representative bodies. Rob Harris, the author, is right. The reality is that we expect to see more statues of women and of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders. There should be statues to Dorothy Tangney, Enid Lyons and Neville Bonner, amongst others. There should also be a statue in honour of the namesake of my electorate of Goldstein—Vida Goldstein, who stood for the values of freedom, service, justice and respect. She was an incredible Australian. She was the first woman to stand for parliament in the former British Empire. She was a suffragette who inspired others all around the world. She fought for the right of women to vote, buy a home and enter marriages on the same terms as men. When I speak to many people across the country and sometimes, unfortunately—as you'll know, Deputy Speaker Vamvakinou—I have to correct the pronunciation of her name, it's quite clear that there is not a proper acknowledgement of her legacy. In fact, recently there have been books written by Clare Wright and Jacqueline Kent on her important legacy and why it should be honoured. Statues are not the solution to bigger challenges, but it would be good if young women coming to Canberra could see leaders. Mayo Electorate: Community Events 40 13:43 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo Nothing says life is starting to return to a new COVID normal in South Australia than the return of our country shows with champion rams, blue-ribbon cakes and 'animals made out of fruit and veg' competitions. On Saturday, the program began in Mayo with the Mount Pleasant Show, at which, thanks to the lovely weather, we had one of the biggest crowds ever. I think everyone was so excited to finally mingle on a large scale, and I was delighted to see so many faces and chat with so many people that I haven't had a chance to talk to in some time. I would like to give a shout out to Suzie and Shirley from the Coloured Sheep Owners Society. They taught me the ancient art of felting. Congratulations to Sienna and her brother, Harry, from Bridgewater. They won blue ribbons for their pet bantams, Snowball and Chicken Noodle. Later in the year we will have more country shows in Mayo. We will be at Yankalilla, Strathalbyn, Port Elliot, Kingscote, Callington and Uraidla. As well, I will be hosting stalls at the Willunga Almond Blossom Festival and fairs at Meadows and at Houghton. This Saturday, we have the Mount Barker Show, and I welcome everyone in our community, right across Mayo. Come out to the Mount Barker Show. You'll love it. I need to practise my skills. I will be in the goat-milking competition again. There are some things you learn as a federal MP, and I can tell you that it's much easier to milk a cow than it is to milk a goat, because they're so close to the ground. Lake, Ms Naomi 40 13:44 Mr RICK WILSON 198084 O'Connor I rise today to recognise an extraordinary woman from my electorate of O'Connor. Naomi Lake is here in the gallery today with her mother, Wendy. Welcome, Naomi. Naomi has travelled all the way from Albany in her role as Western Australia's health ambassador for Down Syndrome Australia. Naomi joined nine other ambassadors from all over Australia here in Canberra to celebrate World Down Syndrome Day on 21 March. I met with the Down syndrome ambassadors on Monday morning when they visited Parliament House. They were later treated to afternoon tea with the Governor-General at Yarralumla. Currently ambassadors are working on an inclusive communications project to engage with healthcare workers. Naomi is already an accomplished communicator, having written three children's books. Her most recent book, Naomi's World, tells of her experience growing up with Down syndrome and her road to success. The book focuses on the ability of people with disabilities and what they can do. Naomi's can-do attitude was proven when she and her mum travelled 4,000 kilometres to promote her books. Their tour took in remote communities, including Laverton, Leonora, Leinster and the Mount Margaret Aboriginal community in O'Connor, which, as Naomi quite rightly says, are not visited by many authors. She ran sessions at schools, conducting readings and explaining the process of writing. Her No. 1 tip for becoming an author? Practise makes perfect. That was a hit with the teachers. I close by offering my congratulations to Naomi, her fellow ambassadors and Down Syndrome Australia. I thank them for their work around Australia. COVID-19: Vaccination 41 13:46 Ms STANLEY 265990 Werriwa Vaccinations are our way out of the pandemic and into the new normal. The Prime Minister promised that, by the end of March, four million Australians would be vaccinated. That goal will not be achieved. Since September last year, the government has known that vaccines were coming. It had six months to prepare and plan for an admittedly huge logistical undertaking. But now we find ourselves in a situation where GPs are being flooded by calls for a vaccine they don't have. The Royal Australian College of GPs has pleaded with the federal government to not give unrealistic expectations around the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. I've had inquiries to my office from older Australians asking when and where they will be able to access the vaccine. The news is not great. At present, there is only one GP in my electorate that is administering the vaccine. The health minister said yesterday the government has enough vaccines for every Australian three times over. So we have enough vaccines but not enough places or people to administer them. It reminds me of the Yes Minister episode about a hospital with no patients. The Prime Minister and the health minister need to stop the spin, stop the PR and stop the photo-ops. This is a global health crisis to manage. My constituents want better and they want their vaccination soon. Domestic and Family Violence 41 13:47 Mr YOUNG 201906 Longman Domestic violence is still rife in our communities and continues to poison our country, tearing families apart, destroying lives and causing an unspeakable amount of pain. It's truly a most vicious cycle. I have spoken out about the topic of domestic violence in this room before and will continue to speak up because I will not stand by and be silent on this issue. I truly hope there will come a day when I can say that domestic violence is no longer an issue, that women, children and men can feel safe in their own homes and within their communities without fearing for their lives or those of their children. Until then, we have a lot of work to do in order to put a stop to it now and forever. That's why it's so important for our communities to stand up, say no to violence and say to those who are experiencing violence that they are not alone. On 1 May this year, the people of the Moreton Bay region will join together in a sea of red and send a message that domestic violence is not tolerated. The Moreton Bay Red Ride on 1 May will see many bikers in red put the pedal to the metal and raise funds which will go to Act For Kids and Variety, the children's charity, all in the name of supporting those who are experiencing or who have experienced domestic violence. I'm proud to see the community of Longman come together to bring an end to domestic violence. I would like to thank Rotary Caboolture for putting together this event to support this important initiative. Tickets for the Red Ride are on sale for those who wish to support this important cause. Go to 101.5 FM Caboolture's own community radio website for more details. Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities 41 13:49 Mr GOSLING 245392 Solomon I've been very proud this week to host and support AMRRIC, Animal Management in Rural and Remote Indigenous Communities. They're doing brilliant work looking after companion animals in our First Nations communities. First Nations people have had cultural relationships with animals dating back many thousands of years. These animals are part of their dreaming, their stories and their totems. Some dogs are given skin names or family-member status. They are companions and protectors. AMRRIC's work in caring for these animals is also a way for caring for the health of the humans who live alongside them in our communities. Ehrlichiosis a disease which is spreading rapidly through Indigenous communities around Australia. It's an exotic tick-borne disease that is killing dogs and may also be transmissible from ticks to humans, so it's bad news and very hard to contain. Raising awareness is key, which is why AMRRIC is here in Canberra this week, to ask for support and fund research and to discuss a national response to containing this disease. I would like to acknowledge the CEO of AMRRIC, Brooke Rankmore, and Program Manager, Bonny Cumming, and thank them for their work. I hope my colleagues in this building on both sides of politics are listening and will support AMRRIC too. Leichhardt Electorate: Imagine the Possibilities Masquerade Ball 41 13:50 Mr ENTSCH 7K6 Leichhardt It gives me absolute pleasure to rise today to highlight a fantastic event that I recently attended in my electorate. Imagine the Possibilities Masquerade Ball was a night of glitz and glamour to commemorate International Womens Day. This amazing event was made possible thanks to the Zonta Club of Cairns in collaboration with Empowering Women Empowering Communities. On arrival, the guests received handmade one-of-a-kind masks made by the wonderful ladies of the Women's Yarning Place, a safe place, my beautiful wife, Yolonde, established in Cairns Villa and Leisure Park in December 2019. The ball highlighted the challenges faced by many women in disadvantaged communities and generated awareness of two organisations that seek to address these challenges. The evening consisted of a range of entertainment from local groups. I would like to give a shout out to local Indigenous artist, Peter Dabah, who painted a magnificent piece, Earth Mother, to raise much-needed funds for the organisations. I would also like to acknowledge the enormous efforts of Bridie Walsh and the four ladies who made the masks—Janet Patterson, Melanie Mallony and Amanda Griffiths and Theresa Knight, the many people behind the scenes who donated resources and many long hours to ensure this inaugural event went off without a hitch. I can tell you now I'm certainly looking forward to attending the event in 2022. JobKeeper Payment 42 13:52 Ms O'NEIL 140590 Hotham There are more than a million people in our country today who are relying on JobKeeper. On the weekend, that support will be ripped away and it's estimated that between 100,000 and 250,000 Australians will lose their jobs as a consequence. I just want you to imagine getting elected by your community, coming to Canberra and making decisions in this chamber that you know will put somewhere in the order of 1,000 people that you represent out of work. I can't see a single person behind me who would make such a decision but that is what every Liberal and National who come into this chamber have done. JobKeeper helped a lot of people, no question about it, but there are aspects of this scheme that have been administered appallingly. What we know from Ownership Matters is between $15 billion and $20 billion of JobKeeper money was paid to firms whose profits actually rose during 2020. So because of the Morrison government, some of the richest companies in this country are pocketing billions of dollars in taxpayer money my constituents paid for. And now the government comes into this chamber and says that it can't afford to support the people that I represent here. Gerry Harvey's company recorded a 116 per cent profit increase over the last year. His company received $22 million in JobKeeper and is not going to pay it back. If you owe $50 to Centrelink, they will come for you with everything they have and it's a double standard that, after eight years, we are sick of. (Time expired) Parliament 42 13:53 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong I rise to inform colleagues of the Arthur Calwell-Robert Menzies Lunch Club. This informal group is essentially made up of members from all sides. It was inspired by the former member Martin Ferguson's valedictory speech and Tony Abbott's gracious admission of transgressions and apology on such an honourable member. What followed were tales of Prime Minister Robert Menzies and opposition leader Arthur Calwell meeting for lunch each Friday after sitting weeks to work through issues facing Australia, and the Calwell-Menzies group was formed. To honour their bipartisan friendship, our group agreed to meet for lunch on Tuesdays during sitting weeks at the Martin Ferguson table for respectful dialogue with no politics. Recognising there is more that unites the parties and all Australians than divides them, our group is committed to improving the standard of debate in parliament and public life. As representatives we should be focused on promoting the respectful, positive and productive exchange of ideas rather than negative political discourse. If not we violate the faith of those who elected us and transgress our duties. Considering recent escalation of unproductive conflict and vitriol in this place, all members of good will should join us as we strive to heal partisan divides, strengthen relationships between all parliamentarians and make this place safe and welcoming to all. JobKeeper Payment 42 13:55 Dr LEIGH BU8 Fenner A year ago billionaire Solomon Lew reportedly cried as he spoke on the phone to the Treasurer, Josh Frydenberg, urging him to create JobKeeper. Lew's firm, Premier Investments—which owns Just Jeans, Jay Jays and Smiggle—qualified for over $45 million in JobKeeper support from taxpayers. Today Premier Investments announced a record profit, almost twice what it was making before the pandemic. Premier Investments has paid its CEO a $2.5 million bonus, more than many workers will earn in a lifetime. They paid $111 million to shareholders, over $30 million of which will end up in Solomon Lew's pockets. The Business Council of Australia and the Australian Taxation Office say firms getting JobKeeper shouldn't pay bonuses. The head of the small business council says this kind of behaviour is 'pretty close to theft'. The Australian Financial Review editorial today says Premier Investments should pay its JobKeeper back. As much as one-fifth of JobKeeper may have gone to firms like Premier Investments whose profits were rising. The Liberals may have squandered $10 billion to $20 billion. Last month Solomon Lew's $40 million superyacht, Maridome, finally made it to Melbourne after being caught by COVID on the other side of the world. He must be delighted to have it back. Perhaps to thank the Australian taxpayer he could rename his super yacht 'JobKeeper'. Higgins Electorate: Duldig Studio 43 13:56 Dr ALLEN 282986 Higgins Recently, I was delighted to take federal minister for the arts, Paul Fletcher, to the Duldig Studio museum in my electorate of Higgins to show him the results of a small federal grant used to preserve a precious piece of Australia's migrant history. It was deeply moving to hear the story of Karl and Slawa Duldig, a young, artistic Jewish couple who fled Nazi occupied Vienna before finally establishing a new home for themselves and their young family in Australia. Slawa was a talented artist and pioneering woman of her time. Extraordinarily she was the inventor of the foldable umbrella. In fact, she took out worldwide patents for her invention in 1929. The umbrella went on to production in Austria and Germany and Slawa received royalties from it until 1938. Heartbreakingly, she had to sell those patents before fleeing Nazi occupied Vienna. A hand built prototype of the folding umbrella is part of the extensive collection of work at Duldig Studio museum in Malvern. I know the minister was as impressed as I was as this timeless piece of female entrepreneurship. In 1996 the couple's daughter Eva de Jong-Duldig opened the studio as a museum to continue the proud legacy of this amazingly inventive and resilient couple. Out of darkness has come light. What a woman Slawa must have been. Whenever I open an umbrella I think of her. Abetz, Senator Eric 43 13:58 Ms COLLINS HWM Franklin I, like many women working in this place, have come in here every day last week, and again this week, with a sense of dread about what is next, hoping we have heard the worst. The Speaker of the Tasmanian parliament, Sue Hickey, has said today in the Tasmanian parliament that she had a conversation with Senator Eric Abetz on 1 March. In relation to the allegations of serious sexual assault against the Attorney-General, Senator Abetz is alleged to have said: …yes, it was the first law officer of the nation, Christian Porter, but not to worry, the woman is dead and the law will protect him. He then allegedly said: …as for that Higgins girl, anybody who is so disgustingly drunk, who would sleep with anybody, could have slept with one of our spies and put the security of our nation at risk. I understand Senator Abetz has denied these comments and he has questioned the motivations. But I also understand that Speaker Hickey told the Tasmanian Premier about these comments just days after they were made. This is a very serious allegation that is being made against one of the government senators—one of the senators that the government is relying on in the Senate. I trust that the Prime Minister will investigate this disturbing account. My question is: who is going to be believed in this do we think? One of the government senators or the female speaker of the Tasmanian parliament? The SPEAKER 00APG It being almost 2 pm, I ask members to take their seats. In accordance with standing order 43, the time for members' statements has concluded. QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE 43 QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE Abetz, Hon. Senator Eric 43 14:00 Ms COLLINS HWM Franklin My question is to the Prime Minister. Is Senator Abetz a fit and proper person to represent the government on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, given the Speaker of the Tasmanian parliament quoted him as saying: As for that Higgins girl, anybody who is so disgustingly drunk, who would sleep with anybody, could have slept with one of our spies and put the security of our nation at risk. Do you believe Speaker Hickey? 14:00 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I note the statement that has been issued by Senator Abetz: Ms Hickey's defamatory allegations under parliamentary privilege are categorically denied. Allegations of rape are serious matters and have always been treated as such by me. Sexual assault is an issue on which I've been consistently outspoken including domestic violence. He goes on to make a number of statements. I'd refer the member to the senator's statement, as it's very clear that he completely denies those statements. Australian Floods 43 14:01 Dr MARTIN 282982 Reid My question is to the Prime Minister. Will the Prime Minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is delivering ongoing assistance to support communities impacted by devastating flooding, and how this assistance will help these communities to recover? 14:01 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the member for Reid for her question. As a fellow member in this House from New South Wales, she will also be—as will all members right across this chamber, but particularly those from New South Wales—very mindful of what's occurring right across our state. We also know that these very serious flood events and storm events have affected not just New South Wales but many other parts of the country—particularly South-East Queensland, where we're seeing the inland flooding now starting to impact. These are issues of great concern. Earlier today I had the opportunity to take an aerial tour of the flood affected areas in the Hawkesbury and, straight after that, meet with those at RAAF Base Richmond who have been involved in directing and supporting the community efforts and operations out of RAAF Base Richmond, in the time I had available this morning. I'm looking forward to returning to not only these areas but many other areas when I have the opportunity, once parliament rises. I was there this morning with the director-general of Emergency Management Australia, Joe Buffone, who is doing a very good job. We were able to address a number of issues while we were there. One of those was the matter raised by the minister for emergency management yesterday—that is, to confirm that the New South Wales government was moving on the urgent issue of supplies in North Richmond. We were advised this morning that barges were being used for that. The federal government, through the defence forces, has heavy lifting assets available, and they are available to New South Wales. They haven't been requested but they are there to support them, should they need that support. When I was there, I could see the water almost literally lapping at the fence of RAAF Base Richmond. The expanse of water that went right across that region was quite devastating to see, as it was to see only the roofs of homes and outsheds and things like that. For the producers in that area, it was very clear that, when these waters subside—and they will, albeit it's happening all too slowly. As we went past Warragamba Dam, we could see the water continuing to surge out of the dam. It will be some time before those waters recede. But it highlighted the work that is ahead of us when it comes to the clean-up and the recovery. The defence operation Flood Assist has been put in place; other members, I'm sure, will have the opportunity to speak about those things. I saw ingenuity as farm machinery and other assets and other pieces of heavy equipment were moved to high ground in very short periods of time to limit the damage. But the damage will, indeed, be great, and the government will be supporting each step of the way as we go through the clean-up and recovery process in partnership with the New South Wales government. I mention one other point: Services Australia, with 1,000 staff on emergency lines, has now processed payments totalling $13½ million, under the payment assistance there, to over 10,800 Australians. We will continue to work with all local members on the ground at every opportunity, both state and federal, to ensure that those communities get the support and assistance they need. The SPEAKER 00APG The Leader of the Opposition on brief indulgence. 14:04 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler We certainly stand, everyone in this parliament, with the communities who are going through such distress, these flood affected communities. I would ask the Prime Minister—not formally—if he does travel back to that area that's been so affected, in Richmond and Hawkesbury, that he contact the local member there, Susan Templeman, who's on the ground working with those communities. Honourable members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG I just need to say that an indulgence is granted to associate yourself with the remarks, not to add political commentary. I do give leeway. I gave leeway— An honourable member interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG I won't tolerate people interjecting while I address the House—full stop. That is why, on an issue like this, I didn't ask the Prime Minister to resume his seat when the time expired. I just want to make that clear—that indulgence is granted on the basis that there's a compact, that it's to associate yourself with the remarks. And if that occurs continually, you'll be finding that indulgence will be much rarer. Abetz, Senator Eric 44 14:06 Ms COLLINS HWM Franklin My question is again to the Prime Minister. Is Senator Abetz a fit and proper person to represent the government on the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Intelligence and Security, given that the Speaker of the Tasmanian parliament quoted him responding to the allegations of serious sexual assault against the Attorney-General with: 'Yes, it was the first law officer of the nation, Christian Porter. But not to worry: the woman is dead and the law will protect him'? Do you believe her? The SPEAKER 00APG I'm just going to point out that these questions are in danger of breaching the standing orders inasmuch as members cannot reflect on other members or senators except by way of substantive motion. I'm just pointing that out to be helpful. I am going to allow the question, but I'm pointing it out as a caution for questions but also for any other contributions in other forms of the House. 14:07 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook The comments that have been referred to by the Speaker are obviously repugnant. What I can only refer to is the absolute denial of those statements by Senator Abetz. Now, I was not a party to this conversation. There were two persons who were allegedly party to this conversation. I was not one of them; nor was the member who asked the question. Mr Perrett interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Moreton will leave under 94(a). The member for Moreton then left the chamber. Mr MORRISON E3L The matter has been absolutely denied by Senator Abetz, and that is a matter of public record, and he will continue to serve in the role that he has. Senator Abetz has been a significant contributor to the chamber opposite—to the Senate—over a long period of time. He has served his state and he has served his nation. He has served as a minister both in the Howard government and over the term of this coalition government since they were elected. So, he will continue to serve in the roles that he now serves in within the Senate. I can only refer to his complete denial of those allegations. But the actual comments that have been quoted of course the government would find completely and utterly repugnant. Australian Floods 45 14:08 Dr WEBSTER 281688 Mallee My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. Will the Deputy Prime Minister inform the House of how the Morrison-McCormack government is supporting those communities impacted by flooding in regional Australia? 14:09 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina I thank the member for Mallee for her question and acknowledge that we've had substantial and severe rain in parts of Victoria and indeed many, many parts of eastern Australia, across the country. It's been tragic to see some of the consequences of that rainfall. It wasn't that long ago that we were in the country's most substantial dry spell for a long, long time, and now we have flooding rains. And while it's positive to see clear skies over some parts of New South Wales today, the risk of existing and increasing floodwaters persists, and those rising waters unfortunately have not yet peaked. This reprieve from rain does not mitigate the risk which has been building over the past week. This being the case, I would again remind people, as the Prime Minister has consistently done, not to drive into those flooded roadways, not to go surfing and to follow the directions of local emergency personnel. I've heard Minister Littleproud say it—and it is just common sense—but we need to reiterate that you are not only placing your own life at risk when you do that; you're placing at risk the lives of those who may have to come to rescue you. Road closures are occurring across New South Wales. I would encourage people to check with local councils if they're going on a major trip, or even in a local situation. Significant areas of Australia remain flooded and 40,000 evacuation orders are in place. It's too early to know what damage has been done, but an assessment will take place. When those floodwaters recede, we will make sure that we will build back better. One thing we can agree on is that our truckies have been magnificent. I thank them for restocking the supermarket shelves and for continuing the delivery of the vaccine rollout. I spoke to Saul Resnick, of DHL, yesterday. I appreciate that Linfox too are playing their part. DHL has delivered nearly 600,000 doses of Pfizer and AstraZeneca vaccines around Australia and travelled nearly three million kilometres in doing so. Our truckies have been magnificent. They will continue to step up and answer the challenge that has been placed on them during COVID and in this flood situation. They'll keep those wheels of transport rolling. I thank them again. Members of Parliament: Staff 45 14:12 Mr BRENDAN O'CONNOR 00AN3 Gorton My question is to the Prime Minister. The Ten Network has reported that government staffers allegedly brought sex workers to Parliament House for a current government MP. What steps has the Prime Minister taken to investigate these very serious allegations concerning a current member of the government, which constitute a blackmail risk and potentially jeopardise national security? 14:12 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook The matter the member has raised in his question is a very serious matter. I can add little to what I said to him yesterday. The process that we were following yesterday was to make contact with the whistleblower on this issue and encourage them to bring that information forward that would allow us to take that matter further. I am advised that, after that contact has been made, the whistleblower at this point is not in a position to do that. And that makes this issue very difficult to pursue. The individual who has alleged these matters—we're not in a position to know the veracity or truth of that one way or another. So I would only encourage that individual, if they—or anyone—have information on that, to bring it forward so that it can be properly addressed. In relation to other matters that were raised in these reports: we will take the opportunity at the appropriate time—the individual has already left the employment of the government as a staff member and is currently under care—to have a conversation with that individual. We'll take that opportunity when it presents. Sexual Harassment 46 14:14 Ms STEGGALL 175696 Warringah Prime Minister, yesterday morning you told the Australian people that you were listening. But, with respect, you are not listening. If you were listening, you would have supported debating the sex discrimination amendment immediately. The Australian Law Council has publicly advised that sexual harassment should be prohibited in all circumstances. If you don't agree—and you appeared not to agree yesterday—please tell us: in what circumstances should sexual harassment be okay? 14:14 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Sexual harassment should never be okay. It shouldn't be okay in this place. It shouldn't be okay in any place. There are steps that the government is going to be taking to address that matter in our response to the work program that has been recommended to us by the Sex Discrimination Commissioner in the Respect@Work report. I have personally taken on the responsibility of ensuring this response is in place very soon. It will be made available before the budget. I am working with the Acting Attorney-General and the Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General to ensure that that response goes to the very matters that you raise and the remedies that can be put in place by this parliament. That report also goes to many actions that can be undertaken, I hope, also by state and territory governments, where these matters are also subject to their laws. I would hope that that would also be taken up by those jurisdictions and I look forward to raising those matters when national cabinet meets after the Easter break. So I agree—it has no place anywhere. Now, it is not for me to make commentary about what judgements people make about me and whether or not I have listened. I can only say to the women of Australia, as I said yesterday: what Australian women are looking for from me is to demonstrate my understanding of the issues that they have raised and that I am listening to the great pain that they have been enduring. I acknowledge that there is further work, not only for me to do but for many people in this place, and that is what I am committed to doing. I am not going to stand here at this dispatch box and do what blokes do and say, 'Well, I'm a bloke. I've got the solution to your problem and here it is—here's the fix.' That would be to approach this issue exactly from the wrong paradigm. Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG Members on my left. Mr MORRISON E3L What I must do first is demonstrate— Ms Kearney interjecting— Mr Shorten interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The members for Cooper and Shortland will cease interjecting. Mr MORRISON E3L that I am listening and that I am understanding the pain that so many Australian women are feeling and that is what I am committed to doing. The SPEAKER 00APG The members for Shortland and Cooper will leave under standing order 94a. Yes, the both of you. I'm not going to tolerate members being warned and continuing to interject. Economy 46 14:17 Mr CONNELLY 282984 Stirling My question is to the Treasurer. Will the Treasurer remind the House how the Morrison government's strong leadership and our resilient economy are delivering on our commitment to generate more and more jobs for all Australians, and is the Treasurer aware of any alternative policies? 14:17 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong I thank the member for Stirling for his question. I acknowledge his tremendous contribution to good policy on this side of the House, as an outstanding advocate for his community, as somebody who spent time in the Australian Defence Force and in the private sector and who has seen more than 19,000 people across his electorate graduate from JobKeeper. Eighty per cent of those who have been on JobKeeper in the electorate of Stirling have now graduated. He understands how the Australian economy, facing the single largest economic shock since the Great Depression, has rebounded strongly. We saw economic growth of 3.1 per cent in the December quarter. For the first time since records began back in 1959, we have seen two consecutive quarters of economic growth above three per cent. And what was particularly pleasing is that it is the private sector that is helping to lead this recovery, with incentives that the Morrison government has put in place like HomeBuilder and like the immediate expensing. We've seen dwelling investment up. We've seen business investment up. We've seen household consumption up and we have seen motor vehicle sales up. We've also seen our labour market be tremendously resilient, with the unemployment rate falling to 5.8 per cent. There were 88,700 jobs created in the month of February alone and all those jobs were full-time jobs. More than 80 per cent of those jobs went to women and more than 40 per cent of those jobs went to young people. Despite those on the other side of the House trying to talk down the Australian economy, we have seen its tremendous resilience, and we've seen 2.7 million Australians graduate off JobKeeper. And even as JobKeeper comes to an end in March, we will see continued economic support from the Morrison government. Already $9 billion of tax cuts have gone through to households, with another $12 billion to go. We've seen more money going into infrastructure. We've seen 340,000 training places. Dr Leigh interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Fenner will cease interjecting. Mr FRYDENBERG FKL I am asked whether there are any alternative policies. We know that those opposite stand for one thing: higher taxes. We all remember—indeed the Australian people remember—$387 billion of higher taxes, when the member for Rankin called them 'the top end of town', when the member for Maribyrnong talked about retirees sitting at the back of their yachts and when the member for McMahon said, 'If you don't like our policy, don't vote for it.' Well, they remember—higher taxes on superannuation, on income, on housing and on retirees—and they voted against Labor's high-taxing, high-spending policy. They voted for the coalition, and we have delivered lower taxes and more jobs. Members of Parliament: Staff 47 14:20 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Yesterday in the House the Prime Minister defended his use of an alleged confidential complaint about workplace misconduct inside a media organisation to dismiss questions. Given his midnight apology, which came only after the front pages of today's newspapers were published, will the Prime Minister now commit to give straight answers to simple questions about his handling of a reported sexual assault just metres from his office? 14:21 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook The Leader of the Opposition has made reference to the apology that I've already provided, late last night as I arrived in Richmond. It was not done in the way that was characterised by the Leader of the Opposition. I had not seen those things that the Leader of the Opposition asserts that I had. I had reflected very strongly, over the course of that evening, on the matters that were raised in that press conference yesterday. And I have apologised unreservedly for what I did in bringing that matter into that press conference and raising something I should never have raised, and that was done not respecting those individuals who are at the centre of that particular issue. I've given that apology. I've given that apology honestly and openly, and I will continue, where there are situations of that nature where I believe that is necessary, to do that, and I will do it honestly. If the Leader of the Opposition wants to take these matters and pursue them for some partisan advantage, that's up to him. I'm going to keep focusing on the issues that we have to focus on to make this country safer for women. Domestic and Family Violence 47 (Curtin) (14:22): Ms HAMMOND 80072 My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Women. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is working to improve the safety of women and children who have been victims of family violence? 14:23 Ms LEY 00AMN Farrer I thank the member for Curtin for her question and note her strong commitment to women's safety. I will also mention, because the member for Boothby has told us, that in the gallery here we have three Indigenous women who have visited the parliament today: Jacinta Price, Cheron Long and Becky Long. They have spoken quietly but powerfully on the importance of women's safety in Indigenous communities. And may I offer my reassurance that your communities are our communities, and we hear your voices. Preventing family violence has been a priority of this government, because the scourge of family violence has no place in our society. Today the government has introduced to the parliament the Family Law Amendment (Federal Family Violence Orders) Bill, which will add further support to addressing family violence by ensuring greater protections for those who've experienced family violence. This legislation will establish federal family violence orders to be made by family law courts. Ms Burney interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Barton will cease interjecting. Ms LEY 00AMN The orders will operate in the same way as state and territory domestic violence orders and can include restrictions on a person's behaviours, their communications or their movements. The challenges were enormous, yet we've been able to secure 50 million vaccines, produced by CSL in Victoria, for all Australians. Very importantly, on Sunday, the TGA approved the manufacturing processes and the plant. Last night, they approved the first of the batches, and those batches will now be continuously available as we roll out those 50 million doses. Very significantly, as we have moved to phase 1b this week, we've seen a massive escalation in the number of vaccinations. Last week, there were 116,000 vaccinations, well above the phase 1a target of 80,000 a week. On Monday, we moved into phase 1b, which included our elderly and our immunocompromised, and I was thrilled to see today the Minister for Indigenous Australians and his counterpart, the member for Barton, help lead the Indigenous program with their vaccinations today. On Monday there were 30,000 vaccinations. Yesterday, there were 46,000 vaccinations to take it to 358,000 vaccinations nationwide—that's 46,000 in one day. And those numbers over the coming weeks will continue to grow as our general practices, with the supplies that we're able to provide, are now able to offer every Australian, progressively, the capacity for vaccination. So, as the supplies allow, the vaccines will be administered. What we've seen in the last 48 hours is evidence of that on a grand scale, which will ultimately be about saving lives and protecting lives Prime Minister 48 14:31 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. Last Thursday, the Prime Minister repeatedly misled the parliament about the Gaetjen's review. What does it say about the government that even the Prime Minister doesn't feel the need to take responsibility for misleading parliament, as his own ministerial standards require? 14:31 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook The assertion put forward by the Leader of the Opposition is just simply not true. He comes to the dispatch box and he says things that are untrue. That reflects on him, not on me. It reflects on the Leader of the Opposition that he would seek to make such false statements. It is indeed the Leader of the Opposition who is guilty of the things he's accusing me of, in bringing it forward in that way, and he should cease doing it. Australian Floods 48 14:32 Mrs WICKS 241590 Robertson My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is providing support and assistance to communities across the east coast that have continued to battle the effects of devastating flooding? How will the Morrison government assist with community recovery efforts? 14:32 Mr LITTLEPROUD 265585 Maranoa I thank the member for Robertson for her question and I acknowledge the fact that now her electorate is becoming inundated with floodwaters. I acknowledge the leadership of all the members—those who are here and those who are back with their electorates. I also acknowledge the fact that many have reached out with individual issues that we have been able to resolve through Emergency Management Australia, particularly in New South Wales, working with Resilience NSW, and that has made a difference to real people. We've got to understand that, while the sun is shining, it is still unsafe for people to go near these floodwaters. Not only are they putting themselves at risk but they are putting at risk their families, and, more importantly, they are also putting at risk those men and women, many of whom are volunteers, who are out there trying to protect them and protect the properties of those who have been impacted. We've had 922 rescues to date. We all have a responsibility in this—every one of us. We are pleading with those people: you need to stay away. You are not just putting at risk the rescue of men and women who have been forced to escape from these waters but you're also impeding relief efforts. That's why yesterday we initiated the National Coordination Mechanism to be able to provide essentials to those communities that have been locked off. Today I'm pleased to say that 50 palettes from Coles will get through to North Richmond, and we are making every effort to encourage Resilience NSW to take up our offer of further aerial support to get more stores into those communities, because we are still uncertain as to the speed with which those waters will abate over the Hawkesbury, and we need to make sure that those communities feel the comfort of the knowledge that they will be able to get what they need. That is complemented by the fact that we have approved a request from the New South Wales government for ADF support. There are three extra helicopters that have been provided to them, plus there will be a surge of 290 ADF personnel when they are deployed tomorrow. That will increase to 700 over the coming couple of days as water continues to abate and we can get them in to help in the clean-up. We have also ensured that we have engaged Shane Stone, as an eminent Australian who currently leads our National Drought and North Queensland Flood Response and Recovery Agency, to look at the long-term recovery. That can only happen once the waters abate and we allow the New South Wales officials to make assessments about the extent of that damage. We will work with New South Wales with the understanding that the support we provide is adequate in repairing the damage, not just to public infrastructure but to those personal properties which have been impacted. Shane Stone will work underneath the Director-General of Emergency Management of Australia to make sure that those programs are rolled out in conjunction with Resilience New South Wales, and I acknowledge Shane Fitzsimmons as the commissioner of that. This will be a long road to recovery, but, no matter the road, the Australian government will be there with them all the way. Parliament House: Access 49 14:35 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney My question is to the Prime Minister. Last night the Senate heard that on 26 March 2019, just three days after the reported sexual assault of Brittany Higgins, Finance advised the office of the former Special Minister of State, now the immigration minister, that Senator Reynolds' suite had been accessed after hours. As a matter of government policy, is the Special Minister of State told about after-hours access to every ministerial office on every occasion? And why was the minister told on this occasion? Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG No, members will not interject. I'll make it very clear that I will make use not only of 94a, depending on whether the members have been interjecting continually, but of naming a member. The Leader of the House has the call, on a point of order Mr Dutton 00AKI Mr Speaker, I refer to the statement you made just before question time in relation to this matter, which is currently under investigation by the Australian Federal Police. The police commissioner has made very public his views in relation to this matter. I think, in the spirit of your words before question time, that the opposition should reflect on this question and on the words of Commissioner Kershaw and, frankly, move on to the next question. Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG I'm just going to say that as I deliberate on this point of order, members interjecting not only do not help but they're making it almost impossible. They are not making a valuable contribution. I am labouring the point: can I be any clearer? Members interjecting and who have been interjecting, do you need any clarification? Am I signalling well enough what will happen? The Manager of Opposition Business has the call on a point of order. Mr Burke DYW To the point of order raised by the Leader of the House—and I refer also to your statement earlier today, Mr Speaker. The question that's just been asked goes directly to matters that were asked in Senate estimates yesterday and which were allowed in Senate estimates yesterday, the Senate having received the same advice as what you've received today. I respect that we don't take notice of the other place, but the context of that question, word for word in terms of those issues, is that they were all allowed within the parliamentary committee yesterday. I certainly don't take your statement today as meaning that we cannot ask questions relating to the government's response to the various investigations that are taking place. I would simply remind us of the long history, that while this is the first time—and you referred to it—that this particular crime has happened within the parliamentary precincts it is not the first time there has been a criminal investigation into what might have occurred within the parliamentary precincts. It has happened with respect to the use and uploading of documents from computers within the building and it has happened with respect to phone calls being made when they ought not to have been made to the media concerning an AFP raid. So the concept of it happening within the parliamentary precinct itself is not new, and the question simply goes to the government response subsequent to what the AFP is directly investigating. The SPEAKER 00APG I thank both the Leader of the House and the Manager of Opposition Business. I won't read the statement again. I would encourage members to familiarise themselves with it. I made it just before the 90-second statements started. There are a number of aspects to the statement. The point I would just emphasise is that it's a statement I made obviously after considering the conventions and the practice but also the discussion that the President of the Senate and I had with the AFP, where they made the point that 'commentary and reference to facts in issue'—and this is their words—'can complicate the investigation'. I am now ad-libbing, of course. The point of the statement was members have freedom of speech and parliamentary privilege here in this chamber but they also have responsibility. Members shouldn't think that some things they say might not prejudice an investigation, so I'm making that point to all members. With respect to this question, I have a different problem with it—that is, as a matter of responsibility. Without going through all the details, in terms of access to offices, let me just state what I am sure most members know, that that's a matter for the presiding officers. The way access to offices works is simply that if members of staff require access to offices out of hours for your office, member for Sydney, if they're employed on your staff and they have a pass, they're given access. That is important information. In terms of whether the Prime Minister has got a capacity to answer that, that can't prevent the question being asked, but I'm just pointing out, just as a matter of administration, if I heard the question rightly. Yes, the Manager of Opposition Business? Mr Burke DYW Just to assist, if I may, the question goes specifically to the Department of Finance advising the office of the former Special Minister of State and to that policy, not to the policy of the access itself. The SPEAKER 00APG Sure, but didn't it also say every occasion they're out of— Mr Burke DYW No, it was whether or not the advice goes to the department for the minister. The SPEAKER 00APG Can you read the bit before. It might save time. Mr Burke DYW It's not my question. The SPEAKER 00APG A fair point. Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Mr Speaker, the question goes to: As a matter of government policy, is the Special Minister of State told about after-hours access to every ministerial office on every occasion? And then the final sentence of the question is: Why was the minister told on this occasion? What makes this occasion unusual? The SPEAKER 00APG What I'm going to point out is the government can't have a policy because it's administered by the Department of Parliamentary Services, whether they have got one or not. On terms of out-of-hours access, that's true. I'm going to allow the question but I'm just pointing out what I think is an important fact. I mean, the government has some responsibilities, of course—many. But when it comes to Parliament House and access out of hours, the policy is actually the policy of each individual member and senator. Each member employs staff, they issue them with a pass and they're granted automatic access. Okay? An honourable member interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG That's right but, as a matter of course, every time someone comes into the building after working hours. As I've said, I'm just trying to make the practical point. I'm allowing the question but just pointing out the difference in administration. The Prime Minister has the call. 14:44 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Without repeating some of the matters that have already been raised regarding what the Secretary of the Department of Finance has already said in evidence to the Senate Economics Committee, where they said they had been advised by the AFP that caution needs to be exercised in responding to questions regarding these matters. They have said in their own statement that they have been advised they should not go into the events of that time, particularly while this investigation is ongoing. What I will undertake to do for the member is to provide a response to that in writing to the House after taking further advice on these issues to ensure that I would not say anything here that might compromise any other investigation. I think that would be the responsible thing to do. Australian Floods: Australian Defence Force 50 14:45 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Defence. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is providing critical ADF support to those communities impacted by flooding? 14:45 Mr DUTTON 00AKI Dickson I thank the honourable member for his question. Like all of us, he's watching at the moment with this tragedy unfolding. We need to make sure that we respond in whatever way we can. We want to make sure that the emergency services workers in New South Wales receive all the support that they need. Certainly the Australian Defence Force will step up to provide that. I can report to the House that, tragically, The Daily Telegraph reports at the moment that a person has been recovered from a vehicle that had been washed away. The advice from the New South Wales Police is that the person was trapped in floodwaters in Sydney's north-west today. At about 6.25 am, emergency services responded to reports the car was trapped in floodwaters. Officers from the Hills Police Area Command attended the scene, along with SES flood rescue, to search for the vehicle. At 1.10. pm today the vehicle was found tragically with the man's body inside. The man has not been formally identified and that investigation continues. It underscores the message that everybody from the New South Wales Premier and the Prime Minister down have been issuing over recent days, and that is: please, do not enter these floodwaters. I am advised by the Australian Defence Force that yesterday they deployed two helicopters in New South Wales, and RAAF Base Richmond was activated as an evacuation centre. Eight civilians on four flights arrived at RAAF Richmond air base via ambulance aeromedical evacuation, including two pregnant women and others who required medical attention. It shows the breadth of the response that's required and the human reality at a time like this. We just need to continue to work very closely with our counterparts, particularly in New South Wales and Queensland, to provide a supplement to the support that is requested and that would be reasonably provided to the authorities in New South Wales. As the minister for emergency management pointed out in his earlier answer, we have seen close to 200 ADF personnel deployed over the last 24 hours or put on 24 hours notice to move for support. We expect the number of defence personnel to climb potentially above 700 in coming days. As we know, once the floodwaters recede and the emergency and the immediate threat is dealt with, people will want to get back into their homes and businesses as quickly as possible. We want to help people get back to that position. So the recovery will be incredibly important, and the assets of the Australian Defence Force, including the amazing skill and expertise within the ranks of the Defence Force, will be deployed to help those communities return to normal as quickly as possible. Attorney-General 51 14:48 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler My question is to the Prime Minister. The Prime Minister has confirmed that he has received advice from the Solicitor-General about the Attorney-General's portfolio responsibilities. He has also confirmed that he has sought advice from his department in relation to the Attorney-General and ministerial standards. Is the Prime Minister preparing to make his Attorney-General a part-time minister or is he preparing to drop him altogether? 14:49 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I am considering that advice with my department secretary in terms of the application against the ministerial guidelines. When I have concluded that assessment, I will make a determination and I will make an announcement at that time. Australian Floods 51 14:49 Ms BELL 282981 Moncrieff My question is to the Minister for the National Disability Insurance Scheme and Minister for Government Services. Would the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is ensuring critical assistance and supports are reaching flood affected Australians. Minister, how can Australians access this support now? 14:49 Mr ROBERT HWT Fadden I thank the member for Moncrieff for her question and acknowledge the work she's doing with the industry minister as our city and the Gold Coast are inundated and rivers and creeks are flooding. I thank her for her continual effort in serving the city. It's a wet east coast of Australia! In response to the unprecedented rain events, Services Australia is now coordinating an all-of-nation response across our agency. As the Prime Minister said, we started the day with over a thousand Services Australia staff operating phones and processing claims. We're now in the process of surging that to 2½ thousand staff to ensure all Australians are getting the services they need. To give the House the up-to-the-minute number of claims processed, the CEO has just informed me that we've now gone past 13,000 claims having been processed and $17 million in payments across the Australian Government Disaster Recovery Payment to needy Australians—$1,000 per adult and $400 per child. To ensure this rate of effort is maintained for as long as we need, Services Australia are now training public servants from the Australian Taxation Office, the Department of Social Services and the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to also join in the national undertaking. I thank the respective ministers for releasing some of their staff to us. I encourage any Australian impacted to call the Australian government emergency information line on 1802266 to claim either the Disaster Recovery Allowance or the Disaster Recovery Payment. To give the House an idea of the volume of calls coming through, as of a minute or two ago, from the start of the day over 8½ thousand Australians have now called and claimed. The average speed of answer, so the average wait an Australian is waiting, is 4½ minutes. So I all Australians, if they're in need and looking for that support, to get on the phone lines. They'll be open until 8 pm tonight. Those lines will not close until every single Australian who has called that number has been answered. Services Australia will also be at three evacuations centres today: at the Port Macquarie Golf Club, the Laurieton United Services Club and the Bonny Hills Conference Centre. We were at four evacuations centres yesterday. We'll continue to be in each and every evacuation centre and recovery centre, if the states put them together, where invited and where needed. At the same time, Australians are reminded that debt has been paused for all affected Australians until September, as have mutual obligations for the time being. For those Australians in the NDIS, be advised that the agency and local area coordinators will be reaching out proactively as we speak to engage with each and every one of you to check and ensure your welfare. I encourage all Australians wherever you are in flood affected areas, if you are impacted and eligible, please call that emergency line: 1802266. NT Working Women's Centre 52 14:53 Mr GOSLING 245392 Solomon My question is to the Prime Minister. The Northern Territory Working Women's Centre helps women with workplace issues, including sexual harassment. The Respect@Work report recommended an increase in funding for centres like these, but instead the NT Working Women's Centre has been defunded. Why? 14:53 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook I thank the member for his question. As I indicated in response to a question from the member for Warringah, the government will be making our response to the Respect@Work set of recommendations from the Sex Discrimination Commissioner before the budget. That has been personally taken up by me as Prime Minister, working with the Acting Attorney-General as well as the Assistant Minister to the Attorney-General. That will be addressing the many recommendations that are set out in that report, including the one that you've referred to in your question. At the same time, as the Minister representing the Minister for Women has responded in this House, the government is working with the states and territories, because, in many cases, the sorts of services that you are referring to are joint funded with state and territory governments. And that's why it's so important that, as we go to the next national action plan, these funding arrangements are put together and work together, as they have been now for many years, under the process started, rightly, by Prime Minister Gillard, supported by the coalition while in opposition and taken forward while in government, which has included a billion dollars in additional funding for the national action plan program. So we do believe the very services that you are referring to are important. I am sure this will be able to be addressed in the program we're now engaged in. It is true that many programs that are funded across the Commonwealth have program funding that goes for a set period of time, and then ongoing funding is determined as it approaches the conclusion of that funding period. That was indeed the case for many of the programs that were run by Labor when they were in government. One I remember very well was universal access to early childhood education, or the National Partnership Agreement on Homelessness. These are agreements that, in government, particularly in relation to the homelessness agreement, we have made permanent funding arrangements for. It's an important area of funding. I will be addressing the many matters in the Respect@Work report within the weeks ahead, and I look forward to being able to update members on that when we next meet. Small Business 52 14:55 Mr VAN MANEN 188315 Forde My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Employment, Skills, Small and Family Business. Will the minister update the House on how the Morrison government is continuing to back Australian small businesses, including those impacted by flooding, and help them grow and create jobs as part of the recovery from COVID-19? 14:56 Mrs ANDREWS 230886 McPherson I thank the member for his question. I know that many areas in his electorate in South-East Queensland have been impacted by the floodwaters in recent days, just as they have been in my own electorate and many other electorates across, particularly, the east coast of Australia. Floodwaters are expected to rise today. Our thoughts go to those who are involved in having to save their businesses and their homes by sandbagging. We're particularly conscious of the fact that the recovery is likely to not take days; it will take weeks. For those businesses as well as the households that have been affected, this is going to be an extremely difficult time for them. But we have seen how resilient our small businesses are. Our businesses have been affected by fire, by the pandemic and by floods. Many of those businesses have been affected by all three. All of our businesses out there have been able to show amazing resilience as they have constantly fought back from each of these issues that have been put to them over the past 14 to 15 months. Quite frankly, some of our businesses have continuously faced hardship for many years now. There is a significant amount of support being provided by the federal government, and we will continue to provide that support as and when it is needed. Importantly, through my own portfolio area, AusIndustry, we already have on the ground over 70 advisers, who are out there reaching out to businesses, to support them to access where funding may be available to get them through the immediate hardships they are facing, and, then, what they can do to make sure they recover in the shortest possible time. We will continue to support all our small businesses. We understand how difficult it is every single day for a small business, and we understand how difficult the circumstances in which they now find themselves are. One thing that I am absolutely sure of is that Australians always band together in times of crisis, and this is absolutely no different. I know that everyone in this House is mindful of the challenges that those in flood affected communities are facing, and our hearts collectively go out to all of them. I know that our communities will rally together. They will support each other. They will get through this. I'd like them to know that this government will support them every step of the way. JobKeeper Payment 53 14:59 Dr CHALMERS 37998 Rankin My question is to the Treasurer. There are more than a million Australians still on JobKeeper, and many are still dealing with the effects of border closures, delayed vaccinations and now floods. Today, Treasury has told Senate estimates that it expects 100,000 to 150,000 jobs could be lost after the Treasurer cuts JobKeeper this weekend. Why is the government leaving so many workers behind? How many of them could he afford to support beyond this weekend if he hadn't wasted so much money on companies which didn't need it? 15:00 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong Again the member for Rankin selectively quoted the Secretary of the Treasury, because when the Secretary of the Treasury made that statement he did also continue to say: This does not mean that there will be a commensurate increase in unemployment. The Secretary of the Treasury did make a number of statements, including—and I would like to put these into the Hansard: The relatively smooth transition from JobKeeper 1.0 to 2.0 gives us reason to believe that the effects will again be moderated by the strong economic and labour market recovery— Dr Chalmers interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The Treasurer will pause. The member for Rankin will leave under standing order 94(a). The member for Rankin then left the chamber. Mr FRYDENBERG FKL He said: The relatively smooth transition from JobKeeper 1.0 to 2.0 gives us reason to believe that the effects will again be moderated by the strong economic and labour market recovery, the ongoing easing of restrictions, the changes that businesses have been making to their operating models and broader policy support measures that are in place. The Secretary of the Treasury went on to say: It is important to consider labour market disruptions at the end of JobKeeper in the context of the normal flows into and out of employment. He went on to say: So the flow of people out of JobKeeper positions is within the normal flows of employment that we regularly observe. The Secretary of the Treasury told the committee today: In our view it is appropriate for the program— that is, JobKeeper— to end as other support measures take effect and to allow the economy to continue adjusting. He went on to say: As noted in Treasury's JobKeeper Review, the program has a number of features that create adverse incentives which are likely to become more pronounced as the economy recovers. Dr Leigh interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG The member for Fenner will leave under standing order 94(a). The member for Fenner then left the chamber. Mr FRYDENBERG FKL He said: In particular, it distorts wage relativities, it dampens incentives to work, it hampers labour mobility and the reallocation of workers to more productive roles and it keeps businesses afloat that would not be viable without ongoing support. Then the Secretary of the Treasury told the committee today: Our view is that the adjustment away from JobKeeper will be manageable, and that employment will continue to increase over the course of this year … That is what the Secretary of the Treasury told the committee today. Their advice to the government is that JobKeeper will end and the trajectory of the unemployment rate will continue to be down over the course of the year. We have delivered more jobs and we have helped to cushion the blow from the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression. This is what we have done. This is what we will continue to do. Regional Australia 54 15:03 Mr PASIN 240756 Barker My question is to the Minister Assisting the Minister for Trade and Investment and the Minister for Decentralisation and Regional Education. Will the minister please update the House on how the Morrison government is driving jobs and economic prosperity in the regions as we continue to recover from the COVID-19 recession? 15:03 Mr GEE 261393 Calare I thank the member for Barker for his question and for his very strong advocacy for country Australia. Only recently the Prime Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister, representing our coalition, and many in this House today attended the memorial service for the late great Doug Anthony in Tweed Heads. As Doug himself once said, we want industry to boom again, to produce again and to employ again. That's what we on this side of the House want for country Australia. We know that the Treasurer is really enjoying those good news job statistics at the moment, and why wouldn't he? Treasurer, I have for you today some more stats that have just been released that relate to country Australia. He does love the stats. The stats today reveal there are currently 56,510 regional job vacancies advertised online. This is the highest level since 2011. And the member for Barker will be particularly pleased to know that regional South Australia is at 4.8 per cent. Regional New South Wales is up 3.6 per cent, regional Queensland up 3.5 per cent and regional Victoria up 3.5 per cent as well. But, Treasurer, the good news does not stop here. I have more stats for you. Opposition members interjecting— Mr GEE 261393 I think members opposite should listen. In regional Australia, for the month of February, regional exports rose by 11.2 per cent to $4.2 billion compared to February 2020. On this side of the House, we're put in place the policies to drive growth, investment and prosperity in country Australia. Take the 2021 regional package in the budget, which delivered 350 new programs and initiatives to rebuild our regional economy. There was $110 billion for much needed infrastructure, representing 30,000 jobs. Opposition members interjecting— Mr GEE 261393 You should listen. A little less chirp and a little more listening will deliver better outcomes for country Australia. The SPEAKER 00APG Order, members on both sides! The minister can pause for a second. Members will cease interjecting. Even though some members on my left are interjecting in an attempt to defend me, I tell you, they don't need to. The minister has the call. Mr GEE 261393 We've got the policies to drive investment and production in the bush. Take our securing raw materials program, which has $35 million. It's to get firms to move from the cities to the bush, to set up where their supply chains are and to secure those supply chains, with grants up to $5 million, if they bring the jobs with them. We're securing the supply chains and driving growth and investment in the bush. With the Minister for Industry, Science and Technology, we've just launched our $6 million Regional Cooperative Research Centre project initiative, which will support research projects in regional Australia. Doug did it before, and we're doing it now. We're driving growth, investment and prosperity in country Australia. We say, 'Come and join us'— (Time expired) COVID-19: Vaccination 54 15:07 Mr STEPHEN JONES A9B Whitlam My question is to the Treasurer. We've just heard how much he likes statistics. The government said it would have four million vaccinations done by the time JobKeeper is cut this month. Why has the government delivered 10 per cent of vaccinations but is delivering 100 per cent of the JobKeeper cuts? 15:07 Mr FRYDENBERG FKL Kooyong The member for Rankin didn't bother to listen to the answer and got chucked out, and the member for Fenner didn't bother to listen to the answer and got chucked out, so the third batsman is trying his luck. The reality is more than 200,000 vaccines have been delivered across the country. We have always said that, when it comes to JobKeeper, it will go to the end of March. Initially JobKeeper was a six month program, and we extended it for another six months. Now 2.7 million Australian workers have graduated from JobKeeper, but, when JobKeeper comes to an end, there are other support measures put in place by the Morrison government, which are designed to create jobs, including tax cuts—$9 billion already and another $12 billion to go. Infrastructure projects have been brought forward. There are 340,000 training places and apprenticeships have a great subsidy of 50 per cent, which has already been oversubscribed in the first five months. These are programs designed to continue to create jobs across the economy. We've seen the unemployment rate come down. We saw 88,700 jobs created in February, and they were all full-time jobs. We'll continue to do everything we can to support the Australian economy at this difficult time. COVID-19: Papua New Guinea 55 15:08 Mr SHARMA 274506 Wentworth My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for International Development and the Pacific. Will the minister please advise the House on how the Morrison government is helping our Papua New Guinean family respond to the COVID-19 pandemic? 15:09 Mr TEHAN 210911 Wannon I thank the member for Wentworth for his question and his great passion and interest in international affairs—especially in our relationship with PNG. I don't think there is a more important relationship than the one that Australia has with PNG. PNG has reported over 4,100 confirmed cases, with over 2,000 cases reported since 27 February. Australia will provide 8,000 vaccines from our own supply to protect PNG's frontline health workers. These vaccines arrived in PNG yesterday. Further, an AUSMAT team arrived in Port Moresby yesterday. It is providing advice on the vaccine rollout, cold chain logistics, storage and predeparture testing. Obviously, we thank everyone who is involved with that AUSMAT team for the very important role they're playing in helping and supporting PNG at this time. We are also lobbying for the EU to release one million doses of the AstraZeneca vaccine purchased by Australia so that we can also provide those to PNG. I know the Prime Minister has made representations on this front and I myself have made representations on this front. We hope that the EU will be able to release those one million doses so that we can provide them to the PNG government in this time of need. We're also providing additional PPE, including one million surgical masks; 200,000 respirator masks; 100,000 sets of gowns, goggles, gloves and hand sanitiser; 20,000 face shields; and 200 non-invasive ventilators. If more equipment or material of this type is needed, obviously, we stand ready to provide further support to PNG at this time. We have also funded the reopening of the Rita Flynn Testing and Isolation Facility. It reopened on 5 March to add 45 COVID beds. And we are working with St John's PNG to transform Taurama aquatic park into a care and isolation facility which will have capacity for 120 low to mild patients. Over the past year we have re-prioritised over $60 million in development assistance to support PNG's response to COVID, and I would just like to conclude by saying that I'm sure I speak for the whole House in wishing the PNG government and their people all the best as they deal with COVID-19. It's obviously an incredibly challenging time for them at the moment, but they should know that this parliament and the Australian people stand with them in their hour of need. Mr Morrison E3L I ask that further questions be placed on the Notice Paper. And in relation to that last matter, I also pass on my thanks to the member for Corio for his assistance as we've been dealing with these matters in PNG. I thank him for his keen interest. STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE 55 STATEMENTS ON INDULGENCE New South Wales: Floods 55 15:12 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook Mr Speaker, as flagged with you, and also with the Leader of the Opposition, and, as the minister representing the Minister for Defence has already advised the House, two hours ago a vehicle was found with a man's body inside. That man has not been formally identified. This occurred near Hidden Valley Lane at the intersection with Cattai Ridge Road at Glenorie. This car was trapped in floodwaters and a crime scene has been established. I note here that his body has not been formally identified at this point. Somewhere right now, teams of New South Wales police officers are undergoing the rather grisly task of identifying that man's body. It's a job my father used to do when he was a policeman. This is in the same area that he used to take me camping every Easter with my brother, and now this is a crime scene. After that occurs, those police will knock on the door of a family, probably in north-western Sydney, and they will break the horrible news about what has happened to one of their loved ones. This is a terribly sad day for that family. We have seen so much over the course of the past year and more as this country has battled so many things: floods, fires, viruses, drought and now these floods again. And now this family will get this news and they will grieve. Around them the activity will occur as the floodwaters recede and the clean-up begins, but their house will be dark and their grief will be great because their loss will not recede. I extend, on behalf of the House, our deepest condolences to that family. I thank those New South Wales police who are doing that grisly task today, and for every single time they've had to do this. You do a great service, a job that I wish didn't have to be done. But they know it has to be done, so they pull on that uniform and they go and do it every day—great Australians—and then the team that will go and comfort that family and put their arms around them, and the support that will come from friends and neighbours and those in the community, perhaps church groups or perhaps not. I pray a blessing on their family. The SPEAKER 00APG The Leader of the Opposition on indulgence. 15:15 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler I join with the Prime Minister in expressing my regret, on behalf of the Australian Labor Party, for this tragic loss of life. I join with the Prime Minister also in thanking the police and emergency service workers undertaking this difficult task and the tasks to come. A family has lost a loved one. There's no doubt that, although the person has not been identified, his friends—his community—will be feeling this loss very soon. On behalf of this side of the House I join with the Prime Minister in expressing our condolence to all who've lost a loved one in this tragedy and to remind people, as the minister did earlier in question time today: don't take risks. Water and cars don't mix at a difficult time like this. It is better to be delayed, to be inconvenienced, than for any risk to be taken. It's quite extraordinary that with such a significant weather event there hasn't been more loss of life, frankly, and that is a credit to the way the community has responded and to the people on the ground, be they permanent workers such as police and emergency service workers or those magnificent volunteers in the SES, who put their own lives at risk in order to help others. We thank them. The SPEAKER 00APG I encourage members, if they're able to, to stay just for a second. I'm going to give the call to the Chief Opposition Whip and member for Fowler. PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION 56 PARLIAMENTARY REPRESENTATION Fowler Electorate 56 15:17 Mr HAYES ECV Fowler on indulgence—I simply want to advise the House that I will not be contesting the next election—and I do point out that Bernadette's sitting up there to make sure I don't recant on this decision! I came here at the Werriwa by-election in 2005, and I've had the privilege of serving this place now for the past 16 years. I transferred to the seat of Fowler in 2010, which was a bit of an eye opener, because it is the most multicultural seat in the whole country, which didn't reflect my background, which was always a bit odd to me, as another middle-aged white guy, being dropped into a community like that. But I must say, the people of Fowler were very, very kind to me—very, very patient—as I learnt and understood the cultures, the customs and traditions of this very, very vibrant committee. I have always revelled in the colour and vibrancy of that particular community in south-west Sydney, not to mention the culinary delights there—I did put on 15 kilos after Werriwa! That probably adds to a few other things that I'll come to. My efforts to try to speak Vietnamese, as well as Cantonese, certainly kept the locals entertained! A little bit more seriously, I just want to say that I really believe that being a member of parliament is not a job. This is something we do. It is a privilege. It is a privilege to serve. I really believe that the people in this place, regardless of their party affiliations, are here for the right reasons, to make a difference for the better in their communities. Sometimes in the rough and tumble of this place it's easy to be forgotten, but in my case I feel I am slowing down. My health issues, regrettably, have been on public display, courtesy of our colleagues upstairs. I do require some further procedures, which I'll undertake during this break. I believe it's in the best interests of my community to make way for someone with the energy and the commitment to continue to champion the needs of Fowler. Together with my high school sweetheart, who I married—I've got to get this right—some 45 years ago, we intend to spend a lot more time in the electorate of Gilmore, so keep up the good work, Fiona! I note I'll be leaving this place in good company: my old mate Warren Snowdon, the member for Lingiari—by the way we will do a motorcycle ride over the Snowy Mountains this weekend, tempting fate I know—Nicole Flint, the member for Boothby, who I've really enjoyed working with over the years as a fellow whip and I deeply respect her; my good friend Kevin Andrews, who I can't see in the House at the moment. We have worked very, very closely over many years, particularly with respect to issues of human rights, which is something coming here has given me the opportunity to pursue as a passion. When I came to this place in 2005 I was asked by a member of the media what my ambitions were. Bear in mind the initial seat was Gough Whitlam's seat of Werriwa. Maybe my answer was not exactly what they thought they were going to get. My answer was simply that my ambition in politics was: when I leave, to be regarded as a half decent local member. Well, the jury is still out. An honourable member: No, it's not. Mr HAYES ECV The verdict's pending. Thank you. 15:22 Mr ALBANESE R36 Grayndler Chris Hayes, a great bloke, a great Australian and a great true believer. I'm very proud to call the member for Fowler my friend. He has done quite an extraordinary job. He will leave this place with something that I don't think many of us would say, certainly not myself or the Prime Minister, in that he has no enemies either in front of him or behind him. He is someone who is well loved across this parliament. When he had the health issue last year, ably assisted by Dr Freelander and Dr Gillespie, around this place people were just really, really worried about their mate, because he's held in such high respect. I want to pay tribute to Bernadette as well. He really can be difficult, Bernadette. Going on a motorbike ride this weekend is an interesting decision. I say to the member for Lingiari: you have important duties, because we're not sure that the member for Fowler has always kept himself as safe as he should. As we know, he had a major accident when coming to Canberra just a short while ago as well. He's someone who's absolutely committed to the people of south-western Sydney. He had that commitment through his work with the police as well as with the Australian Workers' Union, helping people in need. He took on the job of being the candidate for Werriwa in a by-election after the former member for Werriwa somewhat spectacularly left the parliament in January 2005. That was a tough by-election. Labor had lost the election in 2004 and the then Leader of the Labor Party, Mark Latham, went through a difficult time. The circumstances of that by-election certainly didn't make it a lay-down misere. Chris Hayes worked very hard and he showed himself to be a great candidate and a great advocate for those people. He then, after a redistribution, moved to Fowler and continued to represent that multicultural, vibrant community in south-western Sydney. He has been absolutely committed, for example, to making sure that, at Badgerys Creek airport, there is maximum job creation for people in his community. He's fought and campaigned very strongly to make sure there's rail access to that community and that it's more than just tarmac—that it's a job generator and an economic growth engine for south-western Sydney. The member for Fowler leaves with goodwill. He leaves at a time of his own choosing. We all wish him well. Down the track, the Labor Party will have an appropriate celebration of his contribution. As chief whip, both in government and opposition, his loyalty to Julia Gillard, to Bill Shorten and to me was unquestioned. He always got the job done. The job of a whip in this place is not perhaps well understood by everyone outside. You have be a confidant, someone people go to with issues and a problem-solver, and you have to do so in a way which requires absolute trust. Chris Hayes has the absolute trust of everyone in this parliament, not just those on this side. I wish him and Bernadette all the best, including during the time they'll spend on the coast in Gilmore, and I look forward to his contribution up until six o'clock on the very day of the next election, because he'll continue to serve that community in south-western Sydney with all the diligence, commitment and principle that he's shown every single day as a member of the House of Representatives. 15:27 Mr MORRISON E3L Cook on indulgence—I thank the House for the opportunity to join with the Leader of the Opposition in paying great tribute to the member for Fowler. Take his keys, Bernadette! When I first came to this place back in 2007 and we had our induction, I was sitting next to Bernadette at a function upstairs in the members' dining room. Chris was there, and I met them together. As a new member coming into this place, meeting such a wonderful couple, who clearly have travelled life's journey together, as you continue to do now, was a great encouragement to a young member. Coming to this place takes a terrible toll on relationships with the pressures and the demands that come with being a member of parliament. They are a tremendous team and I'm sure the member for Fowler would join me in saying that. Bernadette, I'd say, is the driving member of that team, as I think all of our partners and spouses are, when it comes to our ability to serve in this place. So I want to pay tribute first to you, Bernadette, for your friendship to so many in this place, particularly the partners and spouses of members of this place. You led the group of partners and spouses. You were always reaching out to them whenever you could, and you were a source of encouragement and a source of great friendship to so many. You made people feel incredibly welcome, including a young—or younger—member for Cook when he arrived on that day, and I thank you for your kindness to me and to my wife, Jenny, as well. In regard to the member for Fowler specifically, it is true that he has achieved something quite unique in this place. He is an adornment to this place and we will miss his presence greatly. I think above all people who come to this place bring many talents and skills but the one that the member for Fowler brings is a great pastoral spirit. He is someone who looks at another human being and seeks to connect with them as another human being first. He doesn't see anything else. Those other things come later, I'm sure. But he connects with people and he establishes that bond of trust, which, I have no doubt, is why he has been so successful as a local member in his own community. People of many different backgrounds, of which he wouldn't have as much experience or knowledge, would see a genuine person in an instant, connect with him quickly and form a lasting bond, as he has with so many, if not all of us, here in this place. He and I share a fraternity of being the sons of police officers. I want to thank him for his fraternity in talking about and addressing these issues over many years in this place. He kindly wrote to me after my father's passing with a very touching note. I deeply appreciated it at the time and I thank him for that. He met by father and my brother at a police event once and he struck up the same rapport there very kindly with my father and brother straightaway. They said to me, 'Gee, he is a good bloke' and he indeed is a good bloke. It has been a great pleasure to know you in this place. I trust we will see more of you. If not around this place, we will bump into each other along the way on life's journey. I am quite certain that I won't bump into you alone because you will be there in a coffee shop or in a car or talking to someone or in a pub or at a game or something like that and you will be there with Bernadette, continuing to share life's journey. Thank you for your great service to this House. 15:31 Mr BURKE DYW Watson on indulgence—Chris Hayes—a hard working MP, a fearless advocate and a dear friend. Today at a very personal level, I will say, after many conversations going back and forth over a couple of years, Bernadette, you won the argument. I was on the other side of it the whole way through—congratulations. I want to talk, first of all, about Chris's advocacy and, secondly, his role as whip. Let me just deal with one issue. He's spoken a lot today about the love of his community, but I want to talk about one other thing. Chris and I share a lot of principles, a lot of values. One of them, which is shared by most people in this room, is a passionate opposition to capital punishment. Many of us have given speeches about it. Many of us have pleaded for clemency to different embassies but it takes a particular strength of character to see the extrajudicial killings from the Duterte government and to make the speech against it in Manila. That's what Chris did. Each time there has been an Australian on death row, Chris has been involved in the advocacy for clemency. It's rarely been media work but it's always been heartfelt, it has always been passionate and it has been about defending Australians. I also, though, want to talk about his role as whip. The whip is often explained to the public and to the media as the person who maintains party discipline. Certainly, there is a long untold story of one very happy night when we took control of the House in the second term of this government, where there was an operation run by Chris Hayes. If it is to be told, it won't be yet. It really was a job well done. But the thing that is not often told about whips is what they do for the pastoral care of every member. There is not a member on either side of this place who hasn't personally benefited from Chris Hayes. What always needs to be appreciated, particularly, is that it's the opposition whip who provides leave for their own side and agrees to the leave when it's requested from the other side. While these speeches have been going on, my phone has been inundated with text messages from women members of the caucus who have used phrases like these: 'I could not have been a mum in the parliament were it not for Chris Hayes.' We have had words about the willingness to give leave, about the flexibility, about every logistic being taken care of. There are always opportunities that we all have and most of us are guilty at different times of, whenever there is an edge, trying to take them. Well, whenever there was a moment for compassion and decency, Chris Hayes has taken it. Different members of parliament inspire different emotions. There are not many of us who inspire universal love from the chamber. Chris Hayes does. We are better for Chris Hayes having been here; we are poorer for him leaving. Chris, for everything you have done, thank you so much. Your electorate is better, the party is better and the parliament is better because you have been one of us. 15:35 Mr McCORMACK 219646 Riverina Christopher Patrick Hayes—I can say that without actually referencing his electorate, but I will: Fowler—is a good De La Salle boy! He's had his road to Damascus moment and he's coming to regional Australia! It's fantastic that you are. It's fantastic that you're going to see the light and spend more time in the country. We need good people in regional Australia just like you, Chris. Just picture this: at a suburban cricket ground in Canberra, Chris and I opened the batting against the pesky fourth estate, the press gallery. We were as one. We had a formidable opening partnership. There we were, Chris and I, none for eight after nine overs. The member for Hume and the member for Moreton were yelling out, 'Run, run.' I'm not so sure whether they were yelling for Chris to run me out or for me to run Chris out! But we batted on—struggled on, I should say—for a few more overs, and then both of us ended up getting out and sharing a moment back at the pavilion. Chris then went out afterwards and wicket kept for the full 40 or so overs. That bloke is a dynamo. He never gives in and he never lets much past either—but he certainly did when he fell off his motorbike. I can't believe that you're going riding again in regional Australia this weekend. Bernadette, you might have to sort him out. My wife, Catherine, said to me when she first met Bernadette, 'She's a lovely person.' I said, 'If you think she's a lovely person, you should meet her husband.' You are a great bloke. The National Party pays every due respect that you deserve and that you've earned. You have been a mentor, a friend, a true patriot to all of us. On behalf of the National Party, we wish you and Bernadette all the very best for the future. 15:37 Ms PLIBERSEK 83M Sydney on indulgence—This is a speech I never wanted to make, because I wanted Chris Hayes to stay our whip and to stay in the parliament certainly for as long as I am here. I can't imagine the parliament without him. Chris Hayes, our chief whip, described himself as just another middle aged white guy when he moved to his very multicultural electorate. I've got to say I am the first person to say that Chris Hayes is so much more than that. Chris Hayes is a completely decent person. You don't often meet that here in the parliament. You don't even often meet it in the outside world, but Chris Hayes is a completely decent man. When he moved into his electorate, he made fun of the fact he had to learn Vietnamese and Cantonese and that he was very entertaining for his constituents. Do you know what I've seen when I have worked with Chris in his electorate and visited his electorate? I have seen love and the deepest respect, because his community knows that he is a fighter for them, that he will stand up every time and make a case for better education services, better health care. He'll do the constituent work that is so necessary in a seat that is not only very multicultural but also has pockets of people who are really doing it tough. Everywhere you go with Chris Hayes he is welcomed with open arms and deep respect. I'm very pleased that the leader of opposition business mentioned Chris's work against the death penalty. Quietly, relentlessly, at every opportunity, Chris Hayes has stood up against the death penalty. He has been extraordinarily brave in doing so in the Philippines, as the leader of opposition business mentioned. He's also quietly, at his own expense, with no fanfare, visited Australians on death row overseas not once but many times. Again and again he has been there for them and for their families, offering support and pastoral care literally to the very end. It takes a beautiful man to continue to do that. The things that matter to Chris are family, faith and the Labor Party. I know that Bernadette will be so grateful to see more of him, as will his children, his beautiful grandchildren, his mum, who he is so very close to, and his brothers and others. Family matters to Chris. One of the things that is so beautiful about his family is that I think they influence his politics as much as he influences theirs. Chris, I think it's fair to say they have sometimes been on my side of the argument over the years! Chris is a man of deep Catholic faith. It is people like the new Pope and Chris Hayes who slowly draw me back towards the early years of the way I was raised. But Chris is not a man of ostentatious faith. He is a man who is guided every day by his deep Catholic faith to offer love, not judgement, to others. And, of course, there is his deep love and loyalty to the Australian Labor Party. I know that not being in the parliament won't be a barrier to Chris's continued involvement in the Australian Labor Party. He'll be a Labor man until the day he dies, but we will miss him deeply. 15:41 Mr DUTTON 00AKI Dickson on indulgence—Many fine words have been spoken about Chris Hayes—all deserved—and I associate myself with the fine speeches that have been made by the previous speakers. It hasn't been possible to go outside of this building to a restaurant anywhere in Kingston without seeing Chris, with Bernadette by his side. In fact, Bernadette, you must share some of the blame for the weight he's put on by taking him to these restaurants and the resulting health condition he finds himself in, which we hope he recovers from quickly. Chris and Bernadette were never separated. It is a beautiful partnership and they are interdependent. The love they have for each other is obvious to all of their friends and, no doubt, to their family and to their community as well. I think that has enriched each of them over the course of the last 16 years. The spouses of parliamentarians endure the slings and arrows that are inevitable in this job. For Chris's world to be sustained here—it's very hard without support from your family and your partner. The way in which you two have been able to work as one is a wonderful reflection on your faith and also on the people who you are. I pay tribute to that relationship, which I think has been the underpinning of Chris's success. I also want to pay tribute to Chris for the work that he's done in particular through the Police Federation of Australia and his time as an advocate for police officers. The Prime Minister spoke very passionately earlier, no doubt influenced by his father's own service, of the service of the officers in New South Wales who will be undertaking gruesome work today. Chris too was guided by the service of his own father. It instilled in him values and principles that have served him well in the service of other police officers. His father would be incredibly proud of the life that he's led and the way in which his contribution, not only through the industrial work that he's done, has resulted in increasing the pay of police officers—and I am sure they are grateful for that. Chris's advocacy has, no doubt, resulted in the saving of lives of police officers as well, in improving work place conditions. The way in which he's advocated for those officers is something he's immensely proud of and that all of us in this place, on both sides, who have served as police officers have greatly appreciated. The approaches that he's made to provide support to us over a number of years and the way in which, to this very day, he continues to support the work of the PFA and police around the country are recognised deeply by many. Hayesie, you share the great adoration of both sides of this chamber. The public has seen its parliament probably not at its best over the last fortnight, but there are many in this parliament, on both sides, who share many of your attributes. There are many fine people in this place and it's a great calling to answer, to serve in this parliament, and you have served this parliament with great distinction. You should be incredibly proud of that—certainly, we are. We wish you every success and the best of health in retirement. The many years that you enjoy in retirement will be a product of the decades that you have put into your local community, into your family and into your life. It's a life that has been well lived—it's only halfway there! This is not an obituary, of course—often, in these presentations that we make we speak in the past tense! But Chris has an enormous amount to contribute in many forms into the future. I wish you and Bernadette every continued success. We will miss you deeply. 15:45 Mr VAN MANEN 188315 Forde on indulgence—I would like to take this opportunity to thank the member for Fowler for the work we've been able to do together as chief whips on either side of this parliament. That's not only in our role as whips but in previous roles on committees where we have served together. I'd like to associate myself with the remarks which were made by the previous speakers in acknowledging your service, not only in this parliament, Chris, but also in our community over a much longer period of time. If there's one thing that I've seen in you over the time that I have got to know you in this place, it's your willingness to serve our community. But, more importantly, there is the joy you get out of serving our community. I think that's one thing we can all take away from the example you have set for all of us: to enjoy and take joy from the responsibilities and opportunities we've been given to serve our communities. I want to thank Bernadette as well for your role in leading the parliamentary partners group. As the Prime Minister outlined, there was the welcome you gave to my wife, Judi, when she first became part of the parliamentary partners and there has been the time which you have served together on the committee there. It is a true partnership and I wish you both every success for the future. I look forward to continuing to work with you for the rest of this term, but I thank you for your service to this parliament and to the community throughout your life. The SPEAKER 00APG And our final statement on indulgence is by the member for Kingsford Smith. I know that many other members will want to pay tribute to Chris, but I stress that he's not leaving the parliament—he will be here! 15:47 Mr THISTLETHWAITE 182468 Kingsford Smith on indulgence—Thank you, Mr Speaker. I just briefly want to put on the record my thanks to Chris Hayes for his friendship over many, many years. I first met Chris in May 1995 when I started with the Australian Workers Union. Chris was the assistant national secretary of the union and I was a trainee organiser. Despite him holding that lofty office he always had time for someone like myself, who was learning the ropes of the Australian industrial relations system. He was always popping into the office and seeing how I was going and providing advice. Chris taught me the ins and outs of the arbitration system and appearing before the Industrial Relations Commission, as it then was. He taught me the importance of working with workers but also, importantly, he taught me the importance of patience. I think if there's one thing that Chris does represents, it's patience. He had a very distinguished career, not only with the Australian Workers Union but with the Police Association, representing workers and being patient in advocating for better wages and conditions for workers throughout the country, and he did that very successfully. I started with the Australian Workers Union through a program that was organised and run by the ACTU called Organising Works, and there are many on this side of the parliament who have benefited from that traineeship program. When I graduated from that program we had a little bit of a ceremony that was put on by the ACTU. I really appreciated the fact that Chris was the only senior union official in the country who turned up to that graduation. I thought that spoke volumes about his commitment to the union movement and to workers' rights, and also to imparting his knowledge to future generations. That's something that I've never forgotten and I thank you for it sincerely, Chris. As others have mentioned, it's a partnership with Bernadette and, Bernadette, we pay tribute to you for your role in that partnership. I particularly want to say on behalf of the many police throughout this country who love Chris: thank you for your work in advocating for them. I even pass on congratulations and thanks from Randall Meadows from the Arlington Police Association in Texas, who you know as a good friend. He asked me to pass on those congratulations on his behalf. We wish you and Bernadette all the very best. 15:49 The SPEAKER 00APG I will be brief. I won't repeat all the tributes to you, Chris, and to Bernadette; they're all very well deserved indeed. I have become good friends with Chris, particularly in my time as Speaker. I was always told that you easily made friends on both sides of the House. As I said last week, when we had the unveiling of former President of the Senate Stephen Parry's portrait—you were there—several days after I became Speaker several years ago I needed to ring the President of the Senate on an urgent matter, and Chris Hayes answered the President's mobile phone and said: 'He can't talk to you right now. We're dealing with something else.' Our offices have worked very closely together and we have worked very closely together, and with the Chief Government Whip, particularly through the course of last year where we had almost daily phone hook-ups on ensuring we could get the parliament to work and what the arrangements would be. As I said, all of the tributes are very well deserved. You're a first-class person in so many respects, but, as Speaker, can I say: you will be remembered as a first-class parliamentarian in every way. We wish you the best for the rest of your term; I know you are staying on in your role as Chief Opposition Whip, and I will continue to work with you in that regard. Thank you very much. Honourable members: Hear, hear! PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 61 PERSONAL EXPLANATIONS 15:51 Mr NEUMANN HVO Blair I wish to make a personal explanation. The SPEAKER 00APG Does the member claim to have been misrepresented? Mr NEUMANN HVO I do. The SPEAKER 00APG The member may proceed. Mr NEUMANN HVO In an opinion piece in The Daily Telegraph yesterday, the Minister for Veterans' Affairs claimed I had refused to meet with ex-service organisation leaders who supported his national commissioner approach. This is simply untrue. I have had many meetings with ESO leaders, some of whom support a national commissioner approach. Many support a royal commission. Secondly, the minister claimed I declined briefings on the national commissioner legislation. Again, that is untrue. I had a briefing on the legislation with officials of the Attorney-General's Department, who had carriage of the legislation, on 3 September last year. I think that veterans communities expect better from the minister. 15:52 Ms LANDRY 249764 Capricornia I wish to make a personal explanation. The SPEAKER 00APG Does the member claim to have been misrepresented? Ms LANDRY 249764 Yes. The SPEAKER 00APG The member may proceed. Ms LANDRY 249764 I was interviewed yesterday morning and asked to comment on the Channel 10 report which dealt with the disgusting acts of some staff members in this place. I gave an extensive answer before the interview finished. Journalists tweeted a line out of the interview which had grossly taken my comments out of context. I said I was horrified to learn of the reports. I said there was a behavioural problem in this place and that it needed to be addressed. None of this was reported, and when it was the damage had been done. Myself and my staff have been subjected to the vilest abuse. While we have been in the chamber today I have been sent a message saying that the Leader of the Opposition's office sent out a message referring media organisations to the video on Twitter, which is shameful. I would urge all of those who seek to do this in the future to be mindful— Opposition members interjecting— The SPEAKER 00APG Members on my left! The member for Capricornia will stop. She can go to the point where she has been misrepresented. She cannot debate the matter. There are other forums of the House where she can make— Ms LANDRY 249764 I withdraw that. The SPEAKER 00APG I was about to say that you need to withdraw. Then you can go to where you have been misrepresented to correct the record. Ms LANDRY 249764 I would like the record corrected. The full substance of my interview was not recorded correctly. MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE 62 MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE Aged Care 62 15:54 The SPEAKER 00APG I have received a letter from the honourable member for Hotham proposing that a definite matter of public importance be submitted to the House for discussion, namely: The Government's neglect of the nation's aged care system, evidenced by the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety. I call upon all 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— 15:54 Ms O'NEIL 140590 Hotham I will get to the MPI, but before I do I want to say something very brief about the opposition whip. As one of the previous speakers mentioned, this person has been instrumental in making many members on this side of the House able to do their jobs while they have had newborn children in Canberra. I am one of those people who really is just so grateful for Chris Hayes' support through having my two babies here in Canberra. In his entire work as whip, Chris has never made me feel like I have had to choose between looking after my baby and doing my job as a member of parliament, and I will be forever grateful for that. I will really miss you, Chris. There are an awful lot of very important issues being discussed and debated in the parliament and around politics at the moment. Clearly, we have a crisis on foot about the treatment of women in this country and it's a challenge that we must face together as a country. But it is not the only challenge that we face. About 3½ weeks ago the royal commission made its final report into our aged-care system. What we must not allow in this parliament, and what I know Labor will not allow to happen, is for that report to gather dust on the desk of the Prime Minister, like the 21 reports into the aged-care system that he received before it. There is absolutely no question that we have an aged-care system today that is in crisis. If anyone was in any doubt about that we now have an eight volume royal commission, which details, in the most harrowing manner, the way in which older and senior Australians have been treated by this system. We have a system today that is so unbelievably contrary to our national values. I know a lot of people who have looked into or who have read this report cannot believe that the type of neglect that is outlined in these documents is happening in our country. It is shameful, it is rage inducing and it is heartbreaking that we have got to the point that we are at today. The royal commission's eight volumes are a truly harrowing read. I want to highlight some of the things that I found most shocking when I read through that report. We have an aged-care system today in which two-thirds of the people who are living in residential aged care are malnourished or at risk of being malnourished. I want to make that point clear to the House. These people are under the care of the Australian government and two-thirds of them are not getting enough food to eat every day. That is the system over which the Morrison government presides today. We heard that there are endemic problems with basic aspects of caring for older people. We heard about maggots and ants crawling through wounds. We heard about aged-care facilities that are rationing incontinence pads so older Australians are having to sit for hours in faeces and urine. We heard about the routine overmedication of older Australians. Sixty-one per cent of aged-care residents today are on some type of mind-altering psychotropic medication and the royal commission tells us that 10 per cent of these instances are actually medically justified. We learned that there are 50 sexual assaults a week happening in residential aged care, often the victims in these cases are the frailest, most elderly women who live in our country. Again, under the care of government this has been allowed to occur. That is before we get onto the very pressing and urgent issues in home care. We know that most Australians would like to age in their own homes. Governments should facilitate that. Instead what we have today is a system that is rationed cruelly so that people who want to stay at home are being forced to wait years for the support they need. The system that this government presides over makes the frailest people, the people who need the most support, wait for the longest—for years. The tragic outcome of that is that over the last two years 28,000 Australians have died waiting for the support that this government has already told them that they need but will not provide. I don't think any other group in the Australian community would be treated this way. If this were happening to children this parliament would be shut down and we would be marching in the street. I think when we look at the system today what we see is pure and simple age discrimination and it has to end. I want to very quickly share a story that was very generously talked about by the member for Canberra today of an experience that her family had with this system because I think it so well demonstrates many stories that millions of people around this country have. The member for Canberra's grandmother had dementia and she lived in an aged-care facility. There were eight residents living in close quarters. There was one person who was staffed to assist those eight people who were very unwell with dementia. Anyone in this House who has had experience with dementia would know it can be very challenging. That one person perhaps could have dealt with those eight people at certain periods of time, but that one person was expected to feed those eight people at every meal. That one person was not able to do that, and so the food that would be laid down in front of these unwell dementia patients would be taken away uneaten. We heard how the member for Canberra's mother would go to the facility once, often twice, a day just to ensure that her mother was getting enough food to eat. How can this be happening in Australia? It's happening right now in every one of our communities to the people that we love and to the people that deserve better. The people who are victims of this absolutely broken system are not just older Australians and their families. I want to speak a little bit about the staff—the hundreds of thousands of people who come into this sector simply because they want to provide care to older people who need their support. These people are our national heroes. They're doing some of the most important work in the community. They're there, holding the hands of older people as their life ends. We know today that these people are fundamentally and profoundly mistreated by this system. How we repay them for the important work that they're doing is by making them some of the poorest paid people in the whole community. You can literally earn more stacking shelves in Woolworths today than you can earn looking after a very, very sick person in the final stages of their life. That is wrong. It is just unmitigatedly, absolutely, 100 per cent wrong. It's not just about the pay they get. The people who work in this sector are subject to rampant casualisation in a working environment where there's no real incentive or opportunities for them to get properly trained up. The worse thing that we are making these people do is care and work in a way that they don't want to work. They came into this sector to provide care for older Australians and, because staffing levels are so low, we are making them make heartbreaking choices every day about the people who they will care for and the people they do not have time to care for. Many people won't realise this, but there are no minimum staffing requirements in aged care today. None. We have minimum staffing requirements for child care, hospitals and schools, and yet for older people, nothing. That's how you end up with situations like that described by the member for Canberra. When I talked to staff who were working in this sector, they talked to me about coming home from work traumatised. They actually can't speak to their family for a period of time when they get home, because of the decisions they have had to make between looking after a person groaning with pain or trying to help someone eat who has lost dramatic amounts of weight since they've gone into aged care. People should not have to make those choices. We should have a system, which gives people and the people who work for them dignity in what they do. We just need to show them little a more respect. How did we end up here? The Prime Minister has, I think, in a very routine manner, run from the things he's directly responsible for we. We see that every day in this chamber, and aged care is no different. The fact that we have as situation that's in crisis hasn't happened by accident. While the Prime Minister was Treasurer of this country, he oversaw vicious cuts to this sector. More than $1.7 billion was cut over a period of 2015-17. Only the Liberals could savagely cut a sector like this and then turn around and look surprised when standards have slipped so badly. We do see that when we look at what has happened in aged care funding over time. I'm sure those on the other side of the House will get up and talk about how aged-care funding is going up year on year. Well, of course it's going up—we've got an ageing population. The Morrison government is the first government that has seen that big shift of baby boomers start to come into the system. What matters is how people are being treated per capita. What we know is that funding is going down. As a share of people over the age of 70, we know that funding is going down for the people who are receiving home-care services under this government. Let's not mince our words here. We've got a government that has cut funding to this sector and that has had seven aged care ministers in eight years. They have neglected the people who live in aged care. They have neglected this issue as an important issue that faces the government. The question I have for the government—I'm glad to see the minister at the table here—is why, when they have been so much a part of breaking this system, would we ever trust them to fix it? 16:04 Mr HUNT 00AMV Flinders I'm actually pleased and delighted to be able to take on this MPI, for the simple reason that, for 23 days, the opposition has neglected to ask a single question in question time about this. I would have thought that on a matter as this, after the government has provided an initial response with $452 million, there would have been a single question. But then in many ways it's perhaps not a surprise because going into the last election there was no funding—zero dollars—for residential aged care or for home care. And then, after billions were spent in the budget in reply in a matter of minutes, in October there was zero funding from the opposition for aged care in terms of residential or home care. So there have been three opportunities and three failures. That does represent a form of neglect. But let me respond in a more positive way, and that is to— An opposition member interjecting— Mr HUNT 00AMV I gave you a fair chance. That is to say this: where we do agree is that we don't want to see the incredible work of those who have been supporting and assisting—carers, nurses, cooks, cleaners and personal care workers—be lost, because the vast majority of people in the Australian aged-care system are doing an extraordinary job. The vast majority of people in that aged-care system are helping to save and protect lives. That is something that's it's critically important we acknowledge right from the outset. Having said that, let me turn to some of the claims made before the royal commission and our response to the royal commission. Firstly, I think it's very important to understand that, in home care, funding has gone up at a time when there's been a 28 per cent increase on our watch in the over 70s, but our home-care packages have gone up by 230 per cent in that period. That's more than seven times the rate of increase compared with what it was under the previous government. Our funding has gone up by 360 per cent or 12 times the rate of growth than that which it was on a per capita basis under the previous government. That is a very, very important thing to understand. It's the largest increase in home-care packages and home-care funding in Australian history. It's gone from 60,000 packages to 195,000. I also want to deal with something that I think is somewhat beneath the opposition, and I am surprised that they would go there. I would make the point that, with our elderly Australians, no matter where they are, there will be, very tragically, the passing of those people. Ninety-eight per cent of those who are seeking home care or home support have been offered packages or received support. But, of those that are seeking higher packages, the loss of life is 4.7 per cent in any one year. The loss of life in the general population for the same age group is 5.6 per cent—significantly higher. So it's a dangerous, false and misleading comparison which is utterly shown to be inaccurate by the facts. I think that that is fundamental. Any loss at any time is agonising. The actual rate of loss is lower for those, and 98 per cent of those that have been assessed as in need of home care or home support have either received or been offered that support. So I think that's a fundamental part. Then, in terms of the overall increase, one very important thing that we have seen is that we've gone from $13 billion when the opposition was in government to, over the course of the budget period, $24 billion, $25 billion, $26 billion and $27 billion. That's a doubling of funding over this course of time. An honourable member interjecting— Mr HUNT 00AMV I will deal with exactly that point that's been raised on alleged cuts. And I will quote from the budget papers. I note: The Government will refine the Aged Care Funding Instrument to better align the funding claimed by aged care providers with the level of care being offered. This measure will allow $1.6 billion— except this is from the 2012 budget papers. This is exactly the thing that the member opposite has just claimed was a savage cut. But those were their words, with an identical outcome, from what was a demand-driven process, where there was change in that demand under ACFI—so, exactly their words, almost exactly the amount, yet a completely different representation of it. That brings me to the royal commission. This Prime Minister called the royal commission when no-one else had done this, on our side or on the other side. He called the royal commission to deal with what has been a generational problem. So, that was done, shortly after he came into the role. We said at the time that there would be challenges and that it would reveal things that would be difficult and shocking. But it should never undermine the extraordinary support that has been given by our carers across the country. Already we've said that there will be five pillars to our response, and we thank all three of the commissioners, including Commissioner Tracey, who has passed, for their groundbreaking and critical work, which has laid the pathway for fundamental reform in a way that has never been done before. Our response to that commission is across five pillars. The first is home care, where already we've set out that there will be an additional 500 audits. But, more significantly, we will take very transformative processes forward as part of the budget response. In particular, we're focusing on fraud and quality, as well as on that transparency, but above all else the capacity to assist people with places. The second is quality and safety right across but particularly in residential care, with 1,500 extra audits, $32 million, an Aged Care Quality and Safety Commission with regulatory powers for chemical and physical restraint, the appointment of a senior restraint leader and extension of the pharmacy program to 2025. The third pillar of the response is residential aged-care facilities, services and sustainability, with $280 million immediately put into this, including $190 million to extend the viability supplement, $760 per resident in metropolitan areas and $1,145 per resident in rural and remote areas. So, this is a major initiative, along with $90 million as part of that for the targeted support fund for providers facing stress. Then, importantly, there is workforce and skills: 18,000 places, with $91 million immediately made available to ensure that we can have better-trained staff and more staff and assist them in their journey of protecting older Australians. The final pillar is governance. This is all part of the interim response, and that is that we will respond by 31 May, as we've said, using the budget as our principal vehicle. Already we've allocated over $30 million for governance and training of 3,700 leaders in the field, to make sure that there will be a new aged-care act. But when we step back, there are three principles that we take. One is about respect, the second is about care and the third is about dignity. We said that in an ageing society, which has become a reality, where we've made these investments but we've gone to the next step, we knew this commission would present challenges. We knew it would be confronting. And we didn't shy away from it. We did what no-one has done before, because we wanted to make these changes. Those five pillars are our guidelines and our framework. They're the steps we put in place. But as we go forwards, they become the guiding framework for our response during the course of the budget. They set the path for the coming years. We've said five pillars, a five-year plan, as set out by the royal commission, and we're committed to that. So, it's our watch, and it's our time, and it's our change that we will work on, and we look to work constructively with the opposition, and I invite the opposition to work with us on that front. 16:14 Ms KEARNEY LTU Cooper 'Unacceptable', 'deeply concerning', 'weak', 'ineffective', 'besieged by neglect', 'unkind' and 'uncaring'—these are all words the aged care royal commission used to describe the aged-care system that is the sole purview of the government. These are not words that anyone with a loved one in aged care or in a nursing home wants to hear. The commissioners went on to say: … it has felt like the government's main consideration was what was the minimum commitment it could get away with, rather than what should be done … The aged-care royal commission report was an indictment not only of this government but of this nation. The system has failed our elderly, failed their loved ones and failed the nurses and carers, who have been left with impossible workloads and literally run off their feet. The member for Hotham very eloquently described the untenable situation for workers in aged care and the impossible decisions they have to make. There can be two carers for up to 50 residents. They have to decide whether they leave a resident in a soiled bed in soiled clothing to attend someone who is in pain, has had a fall or is distressed because of their dementia. A lot of aged-care workers have been in this House over the last couple of weeks and they've told us that there's no longer any time for that tender touch or a loving chat. The commission said that the aged-care workforce is underpaid and undervalued. That is an understatement. In my electorate a Blue Cross residential aged-care facility has announced recently that it is going to close. They have given the residents there until 25 April to find somewhere else to live. This is very distressing. The residents there have survived COVID, when many around them in that very facility died. They were locked up with other residents for months and months and now they have to move on apart. One family member rang us today and said that he's trying to find a new place for his mother and her friend, as they can't bear to be separated since they've all been through the COVID crisis. I suspect we will see more of this. The government needs a plan for aged care. It needs a plan with the residents, not just the providers, at its heart, and it needs it now. As the wonderful Sarah Holland-Batt wrote: Too often, Australia's aged-care sector fails to care for our elders with dignity and respect, and traduces their human rights. Too often, vulnerable older Australians experience appalling failures of care in their final years: physical and sexual assaults, dehydration and malnutrition, preventable injuries and deaths. Too often, the toothless regulator allows negligent providers to continue operating with impunity, and too often providers are driven by profit rather than care. Not all of them, I grant you. There are many very good providers out there who give very good care, but there are many who don't. Since the government was handed the report, we have hardly heard a peep from them on this seminal report. True to style, there was a crude press conference where journalists had no time to read the report and prepare questions. True to their style, there was an announcement and then nothing. This time they were hardly there for the photo-op at all, let alone the follow-up. It's reminiscent of their handling of aged care during COVID, when we saw the Prime Minister stubbornly refuse to step up to the job when his minister bungled through the whole affair. The PM, disgracefully, tried to blame the states for that. During the COVID outbreak in nursing homes, where nearly 700 people died, the Prime Minister commented, 'When it rains, everyone gets wet.' He told us he didn't hold a hose, and we know he didn't have any empathy then. He told us what he thought about our aged-care people, and he proved it. We have certainly seen his lack of empathy in these last few weeks. As Commissioner Briggs put it, the government must step up and embrace its responsibilities for aged care—no more shirking and no more empty promises or marketing doublespeak. Act now. Do the proper hard reform that the commission has demanded of you. A country can be defined by how it treats its vulnerable, and right now we are failing them. We can't wait any more. We need a government that genuinely cares about this issue and shows it through action. 16:19 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein It's a privilege to be able to speak on this motion because, like many other Australians, I understand directly the consequence of the impact of aged care and of making sure there is quality service provision, because we have all been in this situation with family members who need support because they're no longer able to live independently, and we want them to be able to do so with dignity and security. However, as the minister outlined, it is disappointing, given that the opposition claims to care so much about aged care, that it has taken them three weeks to move this matter of public importance. It was this government that established the royal commission because we identified very clearly the concerns in the sector and the need to address these challenges if we want a sustainable system that will enable older Australians to live out their years with dignity, security and health and wellbeing as best as they possibly can. There are shortcomings. We know there are shortcomings and not just those shortcomings that the royal commission has identified. There are shortcomings in making sure that families are fully engaged in the care of their elderly parents and seniors. Unfortunately, there has been violence and abuse against some of the most vulnerable people within our community—those who are least in a position to call out and respond. But we also should not ignore the thousands of people who work in the sector every day, many of whom, by the way, are members of unions allied to those on the other side of this chamber. They do an outstanding job in providing care and support to elderly Australians, and they deserve our thanks and our respect, as do those who manage aged-care homes and, of course, those who build them and who are part of making sure there's enough supply in the system. We've gone through a very difficult patch, not just because of the problems that have been identified because of the start of the royal commission but also because of the direct consequences of the COVID-19 pandemic. Like you, Deputy Speaker Kevin Andrews, I come from the great state of Victoria, and one of the tragedies of last year was that 95 per cent of deaths in aged care in our state occurred as a result of COVID-19, and that was because of community transition which made its way into aged-care homes. The royal commission has, rightly, identified a number of challenges in the sector, in making sure that people are able to go into aged care and get the touch, the sense of empathy and, critically, the support they need at their most vulnerable stage of life. The Morrison government has already delivered record investment across the aged-care sector of $13.3 billion in 2012-13 and that, of course, continues to grow thereafter. It's estimated that funding for aged care will grow to more than $27 billion by 2023-24. That's on average $1.5 billion of extra support for older Australians each year over the forward estimates. That's a significant cash injection. But the previous speaker, the member for Cooper, correctly identified that this is a discussion about responsibility, and it's about responsibility for everybody in the sector. It's about the responsibility of children and family members to their seniors in having an active role in supporting people in aged care and not simply using it as a vehicle to off-load their elderly parents. Everybody has that responsibility. It's a discussion about responsibility in terms of development of new aged-care homes and the capital contribution that needs to be made by individuals and by the private sector to invest in the growth of the aged-care system. It's a discussion about responsibility to make sure that individuals take responsibility in the management and operation of these aged-care homes so that people get the best standard of care and, of course, support from the government as well. It's also critical that government shares its responsibility in delivery of that care so that older Australians can go into aged care with confidence, particularly at the vulnerable stage when they're leaving their private home—often reluctantly, we need to acknowledge—and so that they can go to a place where they feel safe, secure and cared for so that they can live out their lives with dignity and with the support they critically need. 16:25 Ms McBRIDE 248353 Dobell I rise to speak on today's MPI with a heavy heart, especially after hearing the minister speak about those who lost their lives waiting for care as 'rates', not human beings; and it appears that he's read his three principles of 'care, dignity and respect' off the cover of the report. I lost my father, Grant, to younger onset dementia when he was 68 years old. I lost my grandma Molly to dementia. I promised my mother, Barbie, who cared for my grandma and my dad, that I would do everything I could in this job to ensure that other people and families would have good care. I was saddened but not surprised by the final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety because my experience of aged care, of substandard care, goes back to my first year as a registered pharmacist, in 1998, when I was responsible for the daily medication orders for several psychiatric aged-care homes in the inner west of Sydney. The shock I felt walking into a psychiatric aged-care home for the first time was overwhelming. I had to walk out, try to pull myself together and walk back in because people needed care and that day's medication order had to be delivered. And now, over 20 years later, the government has received a final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, shining the light on the abuse and neglect that has been going on for decades. The royal commission detailed 274,409 self-reported cases of substandard care and 32,715 calls to the My Aged Care hotline that went unanswered in just one year. Many people will remember that the government only called this royal commission because it was shamed by a Four Corners media scandal back in 2018. This inquiry, 'the most in-depth and thorough examination of Australia's aged-care system'—according to counsel assisting, Peter Rozen—held almost 100 days of hearings and accepted more than 10,500 public submissions. And the result? A tale of neglect. The interim report released in 2019 found that the aged-care system failed in its duty to support older Australians. I know that the minister is not in the chamber anymore, but I'm going to quote directly from the interim report. I think he needs to hear this after talking about older Australians needing care as 'rates', not human beings. The interim report states that the aged-care system 'does not deliver uniformly safe care for older people. It is unkind and uncaring towards them. In too many instances it simply neglects them.' This government has had nearly eight years to look after older Australians properly. It has had nearly 18 months to act on the urgent recommendations of the interim report. This crisis, as others have said, is largely of the government's own doing. The Prime Minister was Treasurer when the government cut $1.7 billion from aged care. Now there are close to 97,000 older Australians waiting for a home-care package during COVID, when many people and families are afraid of entering residential care. Those needing more support while waiting for level 4 packages are often waiting more than a year for the help that they and their families and carers so desperately need. Over 28,000 older Australians have died while waiting for a home-care package. They're not a rate, Minister; they're not a percentage to compare to the wider population. These are people; these are mums and dads and grandparents; these are people who matter. And you have reduced them to a rate or a percentage; that is a disgrace. In my community, on the Central Coast of New South Wales, one in five people are aged over 65 and there are currently 1,109 people waiting for a home-care package—people like Enid, who, at 96, was told she would have to wait 12 months for a level 4 home-care package. It's not good enough. Growing old is not easy. As the interim report observed—and I think it is important that this be read onto the record—'we avoid thinking and talking about it, leading to an apparent indifference where, left out of sight and out of mind, these important services are left floundering'. I know of people, some living with dementia, who, after a fall or a hospital stay, have ended up in residential care after their families and carers have become exhausted trying to keep them at home. I was with my Dad when, after an exhausting battery of tests, he was finally diagnosed with younger onset Alzheimer's dementia. He said to me: 'You will never leave me dribbling in a nursing home.' This is a very real fear for many people living with dementia, and I am determined to keep my promise to my mum, Barbie, that it will be better for other families. But kind words and good intentions won't help people like my dad's friend Steve, who was moved into residential care during COVID. It has to be better; it's urgent. What the government have done so far suggests that they don't care and don't know that it matters. 16:30 Ms LIU 282918 Chisholm When the Prime Minister called the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety, I think we all knew that the final report would deliver some home truths. We knew it wouldn't be pleasant reading. I'm sure that's one of the main reasons why the decision enjoyed such broad support from both sides of the House and across the political spectrum. That's also why it was so necessary that the Prime Minister acted in this way. You don't get anywhere by avoiding the big issues, and that's not what he did or what we plan to have happen. The stories we heard through the royal commission's hearings and the media are harrowing; in some cases, they are downright distressing. If I'm honest with myself, I thought we were better than that. The commissioners have identified substandard care across the aged-care system and have agreed that fundamental and systemic reform is required. Our comprehensive response to this report takes up this challenge. The response will be framed through five pillars: home care; residential aged-care quality and safety; residential aged-care services and sustainability; workforce; and government. In doing so, it will build upon our initial response announced at the start of this month, which included more than $450 million in funding in those areas. The government will commence work on a new Aged Care Act to ensure our reforms are built on strong foundations, with senior Australians at the centre and respect for individual needs at the front of our minds. That is the path ahead of us, but the Morrison government is already delivering record investment across the aged-care system over the forward estimates, with $13.3 billion in funding in 2012-13, growing to more than $23 billion in 2020-21. It is estimated that funding for aged care will grow to more than $27 billion by 2023-24. That is on average $1.5 billion of extra support for older Australians each year over the forward estimates. On top of this, government funding for residential care this financial year is $14.1 billion, up from $9.2 billion in 2012-13. Meanwhile, at the last election, Labor provided no additional funding in their costings for home care places and no additional funding for aged-care quality workforce or residential aged care. So, while I think we can all agree that aged care needs work, the implication of the member for Hotham's proposal, that the system would be any better under a Labor government, beggars belief. But we are not here to play politics; we are here to get the job done and to deliver for older Australians. Under the Morrison Liberal government, home-care packages are up, residential care places are up and, as mentioned, record investment is being delivered across the aged-care system. That shows a commitment on behalf of this government to aged-care quality and safety. It shows a commitment and a belief in humanity dignity in aged care. And it shows a commitment to doing better by our old Australians. If we can agree on one thing in this place, it's this: they deserve it. 16:34 Dr FREELANDER 265979 Macarthur I've got my speech in front of me but, if I can first just say, I am very upset by the complete dissociation of this government from any responsibility for what's happened in the aged-care system. They've been in power for over eight years. I was part of the standing committee that did an inquiry into aged care starting in 2016, which amply demonstrated the terrible neglect that was happening in aged care and the exploitation of people involved in the aged-care system, including residents in residential aged care and staff in aged-care facilities. So it is pretty disgraceful that this government walks away from any responsibility for what has happened. The government had to be dragged kicking and screaming to the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety after many reports—after our report, after the aged-care workforce strategy report and after some terrible exposes on Four Corners. For the government to say they have no responsibility for what's happened is disgraceful. These issues were before the pandemic; they have been magnified by the pandemic. But going back to 2016 and 2018, I spoke about the neglect that was happening in aged care in this House, as did many others, about how the Turnbull government had failed to deliver on home-care packages and people were dying before they could get access to home care, about the terrible neglect that was happening in some aged-care facilities while private profiteers—that's all you could call them—were reaping billions of dollars from the system. For those opposite to say 'nothing to do with us' is disgraceful and they should own up and take responsibility. The final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety cannot be ignored by this government; they know that now. But they are reluctant to make any meaningful changes. There were 148 recommendations of the aged care royal commission final report, but I would like to focus on what I think are the three main issues. Firstly, we must have an independent regulatory system. The aged-care system did have regulators in place by both the government and by private industry and they monumentally failed, demonstrably. For the initial report of the aged-care royal commission to be titled being entitled 'Neglect', surely there's a message there. The regulators failed in their duty to the Australian community, and the government failed in its duty to older Australians, so we must have an independent regulator. Clearly, the present regulatory system has failed. Secondly, we need to urgently increase the number of staff in residential aged care. We know that, in many places, in fact, the majority of places, residents were malnourished. They weren't given access to adequate pain relief, dementia care or physical care. Yet we allowed the administrators of these homes to reduce staff and increase profits at the same time as older Australians were suffering. The staff did the very best they could, and I am very grateful to all those that work in aged care for the work that they have done. I know how exhausting it is to provide personal care to people on a 24-hour basis. They're exhausted and they're stretched to their limits. They're crushed at the end of their shifts. Many work overtime, some unpaid. Aged-care workers deserve to be treated better. Lastly, they also need to be given appropriate training, because with appropriate training comes better care, better pay and better wages. We must make sure that our aged-care workers are looked after and want to stay in the industry because, at the present time, many are leaving the industry because they are exhausted and they feel that they are not listened to. The blatant disrespect and lack of humanity demonstrated by this government to aged-care residents and their staff is disgraceful. I repeat: it needs to change. The government needs to change its philosophy, needs to act urgently and needs to stand up for our older Australians because, at the present time, many people are reluctant to even consider residential aged care for their family members because of the blatant lack of care and neglect. (Time expired) 16:39 Mr LAMING E0H Bowman There is a common thread in this debate today, and it's great that aged care is being taken so seriously. Some of the more histrionic observations aside, there were generally excellent contributions from both sides, including the previous speaker. It's obvious, with a royal commission already having draft recommendations before us, that this is a government which is committed to action. I was working in aged care back in 1992, when I used to visit as a country GP and walked the wards of residential aged-care facilities feeling like I could spend an hour with every single patient if that were possible. There is the need to look after both those who work—those who provide the services—and the families, let's not ever forget this, who want the best for their loved ones. Ultimately, that's what home and residential aged care is all about. My second observation is that we still have one of the really extraordinary and high-quality residential aged-care systems in the world. As you travel the world you realise that Australia's blend of home and residential aged care is quite unique. We've already heard from the health minister about all the significant investments, adding up to nearly half a billion dollars. The health minister talked about this and referred to the $16 million, which is about raising safety and quality standards initially. And there's a focus on 18,000 new workers—that in itself is an investment of about $90 million. And there's $280 million for standards and services within residential aged care. A significant chunk of that is about supporting metropolitan and outer metro with individual payments per resident of $11.45 and $7.60. Then, of course, there are those who are at risk, particularly in regional areas of financial stress, through this period. We have two of the most eminent Australians writing the recommendations, and it's a chance for this very chamber to contribute ideas—to talk about how we address the issue of an aged-care nurse who isn't paid the same as a hospital nurse doing equivalent roles. Here's an opportunity for both sides of this chamber to work through the Fair Work Commission and to make sure that is addressed. The money paid has to bring in and retain the highest-quality nursing staff in the sector and they'll give great supervision to the rest. But the patently obvious observations are that those who run nursing facilities sometimes attempt to cut corners on ratios and not have that emphasis on face-to-face bedside time. Anyone who has worked in medicine knows that the temptation to sit back at the nurses' quarters and do the paperwork for hours doesn't count towards face-to-face time. Every family member deserves the right to know whether their loved one is actually getting that face-to-face time. It's not just about the total time or ratios if those caregivers are nowhere near the patient. We can talk about the six-minute goal to respond to a buzzer, but how many of us have ever stood for six minutes knocking on a door and had no-one answer it? Six minutes in and of itself is unacceptable for response times. When it comes to basic, fundamental nutrition and the provision of fresh food, if there's a provider out there spending six bucks per head per day on food and a guy down the road doing it for 10 or 12 then that needs to be recognised. In that sense, we need to be able to report honestly and frankly in the way that we now expect, with complete transparency of the performance of these providers. We're not here to run obfuscation and defence for providers who cut corners. There's always the risk of that happening and, in that sense, we need to act early and pre-emptively to help these providers before they get into trouble. It's not just about the spot checks without warning that might pop up two or three times a year. We don't want any more routine checks, we want unannounced visits, but we also want a constructive approach as regulators so that we address these concerns before they become major violations. Of course it's not as simple as a Tripadvisor website; we can't just put every complaint online, publically available, if it hasn't been substantiated—we need to protect good providers from malicious complaints, which are also a significant concern. We don't need a nuclear physicist to sort out the aged-care system. We need a bit of ticker from every person who sits in here and who represents dozens of aged-care facilities. We can work together to come up with a better system. There's no doubt that there is the commitment, no matter which party is in power, to put money into the aged-care system. Already, in the time that we've been in government, the population of those aged over 70 has gone up by 28 per cent but the aged-care places in the system have increased by nine times that. The funding is up by 360 per cent. There's no doubt that, per head, this is a different world to where it was in 2012 when the other side were nickel and diming the ACFI system and we are no more innocent of that either. But now is the time for serious solutions and welcome help from both sides to see those reforms by the end, if not the middle, of this year. 16:44 Mr ZAPPIA HWB Makin After eight years of coalition government, the aged-care sector is in crisis. The facts as reported by the royal commission are absolutely clear about that. There are 97,000 people waiting for a home-care package. There have been 274,000 self-reported cases of substandard care, 32,715 unanswered calls to the My Aged Care consumer hotline, 50 allegations of sexual assault every week and 100 reported assaults of all types every week—and we know that not all assaults are reported; in fact, we heard that in our own inquiry. Sixty-four per cent of private residential aged-care providers claim to run at a loss. Sixty per cent of aged-care residents are given psychotropic drugs when only about 10 per cent of residents need them. Two-thirds of aged-care residents are malnourished, and half of all aged-care residents have dementia or Alzheimer's and, therefore, need high care. So what does the Morrison government do in response to all that? It cuts $1.7 billion of funding from aged care, then kicks the can down the road by calling an aged-care royal commission when it knew what needed to be done because it had had over 20 reports over recent years about the problems in the sector. In fact, it had the Oakden report only a few months before it made its decision, which clearly outlined what was wrong with the aged-care sector, and it had countless complaints and submissions and reports made to it. Furthermore it had a report from this very parliament—from a committee that you, Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, deputy chaired—in respect of the quality of aged care in residential facilities in Australia. Given that some 64 per cent of providers claim to operate at a loss, and that some of the others, including the not-for-profit operators, put profits before people, the consequence is understandable. Drastic cuts are made by cutting higher-paid nursing staff and replacing them with fewer lower-paid and inadequately trained aged-care workers, who are then given impossible workloads. These are aged-care workers who are themselves abused, overworked and underpaid. They deserve to be treated much better. All of this leads to very serious neglect of vulnerable people who then further deteriorate and need higher levels of care. Along with all this, the federal agencies tasked with oversight and the care provided proved to be incompetent, inadequately resourced or simply indifferent to what was occurring. How can any responsible entity provide notice well in advance if it's going to do an inspection? Why were inspections never done after hours, when the lowest staff-to-patient ratios were on and when the problems were always the worst? It's clear that we need some drastic changes to the way the system is run. With respect to the inquiry that was carried out by a committee of this House, there were 14 recommendations made as a result of that inquiry. They were handed to the government in 2018. I haven't heard of a single one of those recommendations being adopted by the government. We knew full well, as a result of that very inquiry—and the royal commission simply reaffirmed what we had already found out and established—that there was an urgent need to fix the system. Most of us in this place have also had our own personal experiences with respect to aged-care centres. I could talk about countless stories that I have personally been associated with. The reality is that the government knew what needed to be done but simply didn't act; it just kicked the can down the road. We are dealing with vulnerable people who deserve the level of care we would all want for ourselves and for our family members. Sadly, and shamefully, they are not getting that care. They deserve better. They deserve real care, not just caring words, as we heard from the minister today, and not just more pieces of legislation that result in no changes to the care people get. The buck stops with the Morrison government, and it needs to deliver the care that every Australian deserves and is entitled to. 16:49 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong Thank you to the Labor Party for giving us the opportunity to speak about aged care. In Bennelong we have some of the best aged-care centres in Australia—in my unbiased view! Over the last decade I've visited every aged-care centre in the electorate, most of them on numerous occasions. I've had the pleasure of visiting them for the birthdays of residents, for the birthdays of buildings and for the opening of new facilities. I've taken delight in showing them off to aged-care ministers; I have taken aged-care ministers to multiple centres. The great thing about these centres is always the staff. They are caring, selfless, disciplined, loving and dedicated to the people they care for, often in trying circumstances. I remember visiting Opal Aged Care at Westside a few years ago to attend their staff awards, when I presented recognition of service to employees who had worked there for 15 years, 20 years and 25 years. And there were many awards to give. I marvel at the dedication of people who could do such a demanding job consistently for so many years. Working at an aged-care facility in Bennelong brings even more challenges. We are one of the country's most multicultural electorates, which creates challenges for people as they age. Deteriorating mental capacity often comes with a loss of language, and, for many, the first language to go is the most recent: English. San Antonio da Padova Nursing Home gets around this by having many bilingual staff who can speak Italian for those residents who have reverted to their mother tongue. The skills some of our carers possess are really incredible. The last year has been tough on our aged-care centres. COVID enforced their shut down for extremely logical safety concerns, but the restriction of visitors had real impacts on the welfare of people in these homes and on the families of residents. I had many calls from local residents who just wanted to see their mums and dads, but our restrictions put in place to save lives enforced a long segregation. If we need reminding of why, we just need to look across the electorate to Dorothy Henderson lodge. This home in Bennelong was the first aged-care centre to have an outbreak of COVID and, sadly, the first to have a fatality. But it was also the first to declare the all clear. Thanks to the incredible work and sacrifices made by the staff and residents, we avoided the level of tragedy that was seen in other aged-care centres. Critically, the experience of the people at Dorothy Henderson gave us a playbook on how to avoid these types of tragedies in the future. As we compare our aged-care centres to the devastation seen across the world, we can be confident we learnt the right lessons and implemented them correctly. That brings me to the aged-care commission. While most aged-care providers, services and homes are good, some need more support and some need reforms. It's not okay that we leave anybody behind at this age. So it was important that we had this royal commission to gather the facts about where we can improve. Now the report is in, the government has committed millions to address it with six recommendations put forward, which I'm confident will remedy the many shortcomings in the system. Like in the response to COVID, when crisis occurs we must learn from it to ensure it doesn't happen again elsewhere. The royal commission is critically important, but we cannot let its headlines distract us from the daily running of the aged-care system, which must continue through pandemic, flood and whatever else is around the corner. That is why I'm proud to be a part of a government that is delivering record investment across the aged-care sector over the forward estimates, from $13.3 billion in 2012-13 under Labor growing to $24.3 billion in 2020-21. On current projections, on average, there will be $1.5 billion of extra support for older Australians each year over the forward estimates, so aged-care funding will reach more than $27 billion in 2023-24. This government is funding aged care and acting on the results of the royal commission. We must remember that this all comes back to the family who entrust their relatives to the care of our aged-care system. It must always be about them, the resident. I commend the government for the reforms they are making to ensure—(Time expired) COMMITTEES 71 COMMITTEES Corporations and Financial Services Committee 71 Membership 71 16:55 Mr GEORGANAS DZY Adelaide I have received advice from the Chief Opposition Whip that he has nominated Mr Hill to be a member of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services in place of Mr Gorman. 16:55 Mr HOWARTH 247742 Petrie By leave—I move: That Mr Gorman be discharged from the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services and that, in his place, Mr Hill be appointed a member of the committee. Question agreed to. BILLS 71 BILLS Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 71 Second Reading 71 16:56 Mr STEPHEN JONES A9B Whitlam This bill has four schedules. I've spent a bit of time going through the schedules. I also foreshadow that in the course of my second reading reply I will be moving a second reading amendment, and I will go to some of the issues that I will be moving in my second reading amendment. The bill was referred to a Senate inquiry by the Economics Legislation Committee which reported on 26 November 2020. The Senate inquiry's final report, which was supported by Labor senators, recommend passage of the bill but it did recommend that the bill have some amendments made to it, and I will go to those issues shortly. Let me deal firstly with schedule 1 of the bill which amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to allow refunds of large scale generation shortfall charges to count as non-assessable income, non-exempt income, for income tax purposes. The purpose of this provision, sensible in our submission, is to clarify the operation of the income tax law for some affected power generators who receive refunds with shortfall charges when rectifying failures to meet their obligations under the Renewable Energy Target. It's a measure that makes sense to us and a measure which will enjoy our full support. Schedule 2 of the bill provides additional transitional measures to support the transition from the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority—the Australian Financial Complaints Authority being the successor body to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal by virtue of legislation of this place, if it serves my memory correctly, some 2½ years ago. The transition was previously agreed to by the government and by the opposition as a response to the Ramsay review into financial services dispute resolution. The great benefit of the Financial Complaints Authority is it is a non-judicial form of alternative dispute resolution, which enables ordinary citizens, without the cost and the burden of having to engage legal counsel, barristers at 30 paces, the capacity to seek redress for an alleged wrongdoing by one of the business entities—namely banks, insurance companies, finance companies, superannuation funds—if a citizen alleges a wrongdoing or a malady at the hands of one of those organisations. In the past, citizens would have to have taken those complaints, those issues, at great expense to themselves, to a court to seek redress. Having an alternative dispute resolution process provides affordable justice to members who have such a complaint. It's a no-cost jurisdiction, and for the participants within it, a low-cost jurisdiction, which in my submission fulfils an important role in ensuring justice for victims of financial wrongdoing. There wouldn't be a member in this place who, over the course of the past 12 months, has not had cause to refer a member of their electorate to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority to assist them in having their matters dealt with. It's not always perfect, but it's a lot better than a system that operated in the absence of such alternative dispute resolution procedures. Schedule 3 of the bill doubles the maximum possible penalties that can be set out in a prescribed industry code under the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. This will primarily affect the franchising code. The franchising code is incredibly important. Labor members of parliament have put a lot of time and effort into advocating a better code and improvements in the code. Two years ago we read the report of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. They conducted an inquiry into franchising in Australia. The inquiry heard from franchisees across Australia who had suffered from the misconduct of their parent companies. What we learned from that inquiry and what we learned through many of the complaints that led to that inquiry was that companies such as 7-Eleven, adversely mentioned in many media reports and the subject matter of many of the case studies brought before that inquiry, have profited from the misery of franchisees. Many of the employees of those franchisees were effectively working at below minimum wage rates, while huge profits were flowing back to the parent company. We also learnt that the fault was very often led by the parent company, because they were imposing conditions on the owners of those franchise operations which were only commercial. Those operators were effectively breaking the law by not paying their staff in accordance with the minimum standards operating within those industries or by cutting corners, regulatory and other. We heard the stories of franchisees like those of the Retail Food Group, owners of the Brumby's chain, Gloria Jean's and Donut King, who suffered under unfair contract terms that gave enormous power to the parent company and shifted huge liabilities to the franchisees. The report went on to make a range of recommendations, including significant increases to penalties under the franchising code—increases that, in our view, matched the significance of the offences that were being conducted and the penalties that were available in other areas of corporate misconduct. Given the background—given the stories of abuse and exploitation within the franchising sector---it was with great surprise and disappointment that we discovered, when this bill was introduced into the parliament last year, that it barely shifted the dial when it came to increasing those penalties. In effect, it was giving a green light to the egregious behaviour that had been uncovered by that joint parliamentary committee inquiry. Labor made it quite clear to the government that the bill that they brought to the House was not good enough. We flagged it in the other place through the course of the Senate inquiry into this bill. We made it abundantly clear that we would move amendments in this place and in the Senate to ensure that the penalties imposed through amendments to this bill were appropriate to the crimes and the offences that were being conducted. We did not want to see a repeat of the stories in 7-Eleven, Gloria Jean's, the Brumby's group, Donut King and so many other places around the country. The penalty must meet the offence. Like in so many other instances with this government, they've been dragged kicking and screaming to do the right thing. After exploring every other avenue to get out of doing the right thing, they've been dragged kicking and screaming by Labor to ensure that those penalties within schedule 3 of this bill are appropriately adjusted to meet the recommendations of the PJC inquiry. If my memory serves me correctly, Deputy Speaker Georganas, you actually served on the committee which conducted that inquiry, a matter that you would be fully aware of. I'm sure it's of great embarrassment to the government, but of great relief to Labor MPs in this place, that they are finally, after exploring every other alternative, going to do the right thing and sufficiently increase the penalties under this code. When they introduce those amendments to their own bill, they'll enjoy our hearty support. That deals with schedule 3 in the bill. I turn now to schedule 4 of the bill, which extends the operation of schedule 5 of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Act 2020, but, additionally, includes a mechanism for further extension of the operation of that schedule, enabling the designated minister to determine by legislative instrument a new date of repeal in response to the challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. I have to pause and say: isn't it interesting that, when the government needs to rush legislation into this place to deal with the adverse impact of the coronavirus pandemic, when they think it's worthy they'll do it? And isn't it interesting how deaf they are to the pleas of so many within the industry who are saying they are still being affected by the coronavirus pandemic? There is no relief in sight, yet the government will do nothing to meet their needs. I say something about that in my second reading amendment, which I'd like to quote from before formally moving it at the conclusion of my remarks. We won't be declining to give the bill a second reading; however, we'll be asking the House to note that the government: has failed to deliver sufficient economic support to Australian workers, Australian families, and Australian businesses during the coronavirus pandemic … Importantly, it: has not implemented the full recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services inquiry into the operation and effectiveness of the Franchising Code of Conduct report, particularly in relation to applying adequate penalties to franchisors who act improperly … And it: has consistently failed to deliver adequate support for jobs and businesses in the renewable energy sector— a point that we'll be making more forcefully. We've already introduced important policy in this area through Labor's Rewiring the Nation initiative. We'll have a lot more to say about that in the lead-up to the next election. They have consistently failed to deliver adequate support for jobs and businesses in the renewable energy sector. And didn't we see that again on display this week, when the minister, who bears the title Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, was embarrassed by the publication of an ANAO report which exposed the rorts and the dishonesty in the election commitments to the people of Collinsville in the promise, or the noise around making a promise, to commission a coal-fired power station in their town. All us who had a fairly detailed understanding of what it would take to commission such a power station—the economics behind it and the enormous burden that that would impose upon taxpayers, the fact that it would increase power prices—knew that this was a chimera, that this was a fraud, that this was a grossly dishonest exercise in an attempt to harvest votes but do nothing for the generation of new power. We knew that it was a fraud from end to end and the ANAO has exposed that and, once again, exposed this hapless Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, as quite possibly the worst minister in a Melbourne Cup field of bad ministers. He was exposed this week over $4 billion to a company that wrote to him and said, 'We cannot conduct this feasibility study. We do not have the skills, the know-how or the inclination to conduct this feasibility study.' But what did the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction do? He said, 'We don't care; we're going to give you the money anyway.' This is the Leppington Triangle circumstance all over again. 'How much is this parcel of land worth?' '$3 million'. 'Fantastic, we'll give you $30 million; what a bargain.' I would love to play poker against these guys any day of the week. If it wasn't so serious, it would be laughable. The government have consistently failed to deliver adequate support for jobs and business in the renewable energy sector and, by action after action, added to uncertainty and added to the increase in power prices in this country. My second reading amendment will also go to the issue of superannuation. We'll note on this side that the government continues to refuse to commit to implementing the solemn promise that it made to the Australian people before the last election to stick to the superannuation guarantee levy legislation. Its law, it's been legislated, they promised to do it and now they're walking away from that promise. They have been invited time after time after time to do nothing more sensational than confirm the promise and yet they still will not do it. So I will be moving that second reading amendment and I know there will be a lot of speakers on this side of the House who would like to join the debate discussing that issue. The bill does some things that will enjoy Labor's support but it falls short for the reasons that are outlined in my amendment. We know what lies at the heart of this government, which has been so on display this week. It has lost its way. Is it any wonder that the government hasn't got a plan for the country because it has lost its moral compass; it has lost its way. It is certainly not focused on the issues that are of concern to ordinary Australians. It is certainly not focused on the issues impacting households as they struggle with flat wages, increased costs and no relief in sight. It is not focused on the issues of those businesses along the East Coast of Australia, who have dealt with fire, who have dealt literally with plague. In fact, they have dealt with all the curses of the apocalypse—fire, plague, now flood, pestilence. They have dealt with all of this, and the government's response, in a few short days, will be to pull the rug out from under them, pat themselves on the back and say 'Job done on pandemic. You are no longer in need of the JobKeeper support.' The government is doing this because it is so focused on itself. It's dealing with the existential crisis at the heart of the coalition parties, both the Liberal and National parties, which goes to their relationship with women—and hasn't that been on display this week? It is their relationship with women within the ranks of their own parliamentary parties and their failure to understand the concerns and issues of Australian women. If you don't understand, the very least you can do is listen. There was a wonderful opportunity for the Prime Minister to walk outside those doors and listen to the concerns of the women of Australia on Monday last week. But, instead, he was hiding under the desk. If you can't listen, if you can't govern yourself, if you've lost your moral compass, if you are so distracted by the unspeakable affairs that have been going on inside your offices and inside your own party rooms, how can you be focused on the issues and concerns facing everyday Australians? The truth of the matter is this: this government is eight years old, it's tired and it has run out of ideas. Isn't that on display this week? The government failed, right from the very beginning of this pandemic, to grasp the fundamental link between a health policy response and an economic response. From the very beginning of this pandemic, we saw everybody within this government, from the Prime Minister down, hectoring state premiers, state medical officers and state health ministers when they took tough and sometimes unpopular but very effective and very responsible health measures to protect the citizens of their states and thereby the economies of their states from the ravages of the coronavirus pandemic. They were tough decisions and not always popular but always necessary. It is because of those decisions that those states and the country as a whole are faring comparatively better than most other countries around the world that didn't take a lot of those tough decisions. But the government never got this. They were always quick to criticise, always there to hand out the brick bats and always there to collect the bouquets, but never there to take responsibility for everything. Isn't that on display again this week? The government told us that by the end of the week there would be four million Australians vaccinated. Remember that? They said we were at the front of the queue and four million Australians were going to be vaccinated. Yet we discover this week it's not four million. You might give them a pass mark if we hit 98 per cent or maybe even 95 per cent. Ms Rishworth interjecting— Mr STEPHEN JONES A9B The member for Kingston, a more generous soul than I am, might say at 80 per cent you still get a pass mark. We're not at 50 per cent. We're not at 40 per cent. We're not even at 30 per cent. Ten per cent of Australians have been vaccinated when it should have been 100 per cent of four million people. What has this got to do with bills directed at the economy? It has everything to do with it. We said right from the very beginning that you can't get the economic challenges right unless you've got control of the health challenges. We have seen from the bitter lessons learned in other countries right around the world where they didn't take the tough decisions that, if you didn't get the health on track, you couldn't get the economics on track, That is why it is curious to us that the government is able to bring this bill before the House which extends certain coronavirus measures but not others. Why is it when we've only got 10 per cent of the population vaccinated that, in a few days, we're going to remove 100 per cent of the support that has been provided to struggling businesses and their workers. This matters and it matters a lot. I don't argue, and I have never argued, that JobKeeper should be an ongoing wage subsidy to every business in this country. I don't believe it. I never argued it from the very beginning. In fact, I was one of the very few who said, when JobKeeper was initially implemented, that there needs to be an activity test. That was because I wanted to ensure that, if a small business whose workers were getting JobKeeper—some of whom were getting more than they were pre pandemic—could safely have their workers come in and do meaningful work which was within their skill and classification and capacity and they could perform that work and that was justified and reasonable, then they should be doing it. I did not support a proposition that JobKeeper should be stay-at-home money. I thought that, if we were to stay true to the proposition that JobKeeper was about maintaining the relationship between the employee and the employer, then there needed to be an activity test. So nobody can fit me up with the argument that I said, 'JobKeeper is free money; it's sit-down money forever.' I've never argued that, not from the very beginning, nor do I argue that every business is out of the woods, because, quite simply, they're not. We've talked about the travel industry, and we've talked about the hotel and hospitality industry. I take a very, very simple approach to this that even members of the coalition would understand. If government says to otherwise viable industries, 'You are not allowed to operate; we are closing you down in the public interest for the public good,' then there is a moral and ethical obligation to then provide some support and assistance to those otherwise viable and good businesses, that you have said, in the public interest, are being shut down. This is exactly what has happened in the travel industry. If you're a travel agent or if you're running a business that almost entirely relies on international tourism, we have said to you: 'There is no market for you. We are closing your business down because it is in the national interest and in the public interest to do so.' How can we say to those businesses, 'At the end of the month we're pulling the rug out from under you, with no support for you and no support for your employees'? It beggars belief. I would think that, if you went through the ranks of travel agents in this country, you would find more coalition voters than Labor voters. It's just a hunch. Why has the coalition abandoned that group of businesses which have supported them so loyally for so long? The answer to that is quite simple. It is for the same reason that they cannot hear the pleas of Australian women who are saying: 'The culture in this place stinks. The culture in our workplace stinks. We need change and we need leadership from the top.' And the reason that Australian women are saying that, the reason that those travel agents are saying that, and the reason that people within the hospitality industry are saying that is that the government is not listening. It is not listening. It is so distracted with its own internal problems and so distracted with its own internal scandals that it cannot attend to the basic business of running a government and the basic system of providing some justice to the tour operators, to the travel agents and to all of those people to whom this parliament and this government has said, 'You're out of business for the foreseeable future.' There should be a second sentence: 'You're out of business for the foreseeable future, but we're going to look after you.' Instead this government says: 'You're out of business for the foreseeable future and you're on your own. Off you go.' We say that's not good enough, and our second reading amendment, which I now formally move, draws attention to that issue: 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: (1)has failed to deliver sufficient economic support to Australian workers, Australian families, and Australian businesses during the coronavirus pandemic; (2)has not implemented the full recommendations of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services inquiry into the operation and effectiveness of the Franchising Code of Conduct report, particularly in relation to applying adequate penalties to franchisors who act improperly; (3)has consistently failed to deliver adequate support for jobs and businesses in the renewable energy sector; and (4)continues to refuse to commit to implementing its election promise to deliver the legislated increases to superannuation". The bill, as introduced into this House, was deficient. The government has been shamed into addressing the deficiencies in schedule 3 of the bill by increasing the penalties that are imposed upon head franchisors for the crimes and offences that they perpetrate on small businesses. And that's what it's about, by the way. You might be forgiven for thinking this is just about the employees, but it's not, because there were two lots of victims in those franchising scandals. There were the small business operators and there were the employees of those small business operators, and we want to ensure that the penalties that are imposed fit the offence, and the bill, as we understand it to be amended by the government, will address that issue. With those very, very brief comments, I commend the bill to the House. The DEPUTY SPEAKER DZY Is the amendment seconded? Ms Rishworth HWA I second the amendment and reserve my right to speak. 17:25 Mr TIM WILSON IMW Goldstein It's always something to follow the member for Whitlam, least because he is the chief champion against homeownership in this country. He has moved an amendment that once again focuses on putting homeownership last and their mates in super funds first. You never hear the member for Kingston or the member for Whitlam complain about the tens of millions of dollars of bonuses that get paid to fund managers, who happen to be their mates—and I wouldn't be shocked if they donated to their campaigns as well. This is the fundamental problem. Labor's economic position is based on their interests and not on the interests of the Australian people. The Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 makes sensible and practical amendments to address fundamental issues around large-scale generation certificates. It makes sure that responsibility for superannuation complaints goes to AFCA. There are amendments around the Competition and Consumer Act and the industry code for franchising, and the extension of the modification power related to measures associated with the COVID-19 pandemic. This debate is on rudimentary legislation to address and manage the economic affairs of this nation, to put laws in place to make sure that consumers who are wronged have pathways for redress and to make sure that we can deploy renewable energy investment across Australia, but Labor want to turn it into not virtue signalling—because that assumes that there is virtue behind their agenda and there is no virtue behind their agenda—but what at best can be called self-interest signalling, with the amendment moved by the member for Whitlam. The member for Whitlam has form. The member for Whitlam will always choose those in big super ahead of aspirational Australians. The hard data is quite unambiguous about this. Up until 1992, on the entirely logical pathway of life, the biggest financial decision that young Australians made was to buy their own home. It fit in the slipstream of their life. They went to school and may have moved onto a skill, tertiary education or an apprenticeship. They saved for a deposit for a home with money they put away from their wages. They used that money to pay a deposit to buy a home. At that point the average age was 26. They got into the housing market and paid off their mortgage over the next 10, 20 or 30 years, so, even if it was a 30-year mortgage, by the age of 56—still a decade off the retirement age as it is set now—they had paid down their home while concurrently saving for their retirement. That was an entirely logical pathway to manage the challenges of life. Of course, once families had children off their hands, had reduced their costs and paid off their home, they were able to save and contribute more towards securing their financial security in retirement. What's happened since 1992 is that we've taken that entirely logical process—homes first and super second—and reversed it. We've engaged in a form of economic social engineering to feed the interests of the Labor Party and their friends in big super. Their friends, who are fund managers, get paid bonuses in excess of $13 million. At least some fund managers have boasted of up to $36 million. We have engaged in a form of economic social engineering to put super over homes, and the dreams and aspirations of young Australians have gone with it, for the perversion of the self-interests of the Labor Party so that they can stand up and scream self-interested virtue or signal their motivations and intentions. We know the consequences of this. The average age of purchasing your first home has blown out. Before I said the average age in 1980 of purchasing your first home was 26, but it was actually 24, and it has blown out now to 36. Young Australians' dreams have been thrown on to the ash heap by the Labor Party. We do understand why. It's because home ownership is the greatest democratisation of the ownership of this country. It is the greatest empowerment of young Australians in economic terms in this country. Superannuation is the greatest advancement of the concentration of the economic capital in the hands of the few associated with the Labor Party so that they can achieve undemocratic ends, manipulating capital to achieve things they can't achieve in this chamber because the people of Australia don't trust them. The Labor Party has actively undermined young Australians' dreams and aspirations to own their own homes. While they've done that, of course, the price of housing has gone up. They don't sit on the other side and scoff when big super invests Australian super to purchase homes that big super owns. They have no issue with that, because what they actually want to do is create a nation of Australians who are dependent serves to their own superannuation so long as they maintain control. If not, then the member for Whitlam would pass amendments to this bill to say that big super shouldn't be able to invest in housing. Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER DZY The members on my left will cease interjecting. There will be ample opportunities in this place to have your say when the member for Goldstein completes his speech. Mr TIM WILSON IMW If the member for Whitlam was sincere in saying that he supported young Australians owning their home, he would ban big super, in this amendment, from investing money in housing that they own with the hard-earned retirement savings of young Australians that they plan to rent back to them. But he won't, because we know full well that the playing field is not level. Retirees are able to use their super to buy their own home or to pay off their mortgage. In fact, 469,000 retirees over the past years have drawn down from their superannuation balance to either pay off their mortgage or renovate their home. Big super is allowed to use your money to invest in housing that they own to rent back to you, but they oppose you using your super to buy your own home. We know why. It's because there is nothing they hate more than the empowerment of Australian families through the economic democratisation of this country. It is the foundation of who we are as a nation. They've found a sneaky, tricky, backdoor campaign on how they can concentrate economic capital in their hands. Yes, members of the Labor Party will be horrified that somebody is calling this out, but it needs to be called out, because it fundamentally violates and risks our liberal democracy when big capital, big Labor, big government and big commodities are all sitting on the same side of the ledger against the Australian people. Some of us are going to stand up. Don't get me wrong; before the last election the same members scoffed and sneered at the idea that removing refundable franking credits would hit low-income Australians and push people below the poverty line. They took exactly the same attitude then and we all know what happened: the government was re-elected and it was a critical part of the national discussion. At least to his credit, the Leader of the Opposition came into this chamber after the election and conceded in public that it was going to hit low-income Australians. It was because they don't understand the consequences of the policies they put forward. Now they're making a dishonest claim that it's off the agenda, even though so many members of the Labor Party have said consistently that it's an issue which should stay on the agenda. It's necessary, as far as they're concerned, for the financial sustainability of the country. That is the Labor Party; so many of them have said it in the past and so many will say it in the future. We know that deep down they have a secret agenda to reintroduce a retiree tax later. We only need to look at their own words and repeat them. The shadow Treasurer has been quite unambiguous about his support for it. One member on the other side of the chamber said, 'You'd have to believe it was a con to think that this issue isn't going to come up again.' I agree with them—they're right. Labor has a secret agenda for a new retiree tax in the future. Every point and every decision—every economic and financial policy decision they make—is based on what will advance the concentration of economic capital into their hands. That's because, in the end, politics is actually about power, or, more critically, who has the power. The foundation of the mad socialist centralist mindset is to concentrate power in the hands of the few with the idea that their benefice and benevolence understands how better to run a society technocratically than to empower Australians and their families. The foundation of a liberal democracy is to democratise the ownership of the country in economic, social and political terms. It's for people to own their own homes, be enfranchised and, through the ballot box, exercise the democratic direction of their country. It's for rights and freedoms to be respected as part of a free society. We see a constant effort by those on the other side of the chamber, at the heart of their mad ideology, to shift power from Australians to themselves. They sell it on the lie that somehow it's better for the Australian people. Some of us are here to say, 'Not on our watch,' and I make no apology for that. There are of course people who disagree with that and think that we should continue prioritising super over home ownership, but I'm not one of them and I'll continue to call it out at every step of the way. Like with the retiree tax, those opposite sat in the chamber, smugly waiting for their day to sit on the government benches. The trade-off for their hubris and arrogance was that they went to the election and couldn't see what was standing in front of them: low-income Australians about to be pushed below the poverty line. They learned their lesson when the people of Australia went to the ballot box last year—sorry, it's now a year and half ago. They learned a lesson, but they've only learned the lesson on that policy and not on their attitude. They have not learned the lesson that hubris and arrogance are the consequences of the policy agenda they proposed. What they're doing by putting super over home ownership is making sure that young Australians' concerns about the economic future of this country are completely disregarded. They're denying young Australians the basic foundations on which to build security during their working lives and their retirement. They're saying to young Australians, 'Give up on the Australian dream because we think we know how to run your lives better than yourselves,' and, more critically, 'If we concentrate the capital of the nation in our hands, and that of our million-dollar fund manager mates, then we'll deliver a better country.' The people of Australia can see through this con, they can see through this lie and they can see through the misinformation that's put out there. I know Industry Super are now even spending tens of millions of dollars of your super to stop you owning your own home. This is how bad it has got and they feel that they are unaccountable. Now it is up to the regulators who need to rise to the challenge and call out this conduct. Where are you, APRA? Where are you, ACIC? Industry Super Australia is spending tens of millions of dollars on an ad campaign to deny Australians the chance at their own dream. How can they sit by and do nothing? I know that they're before the Senate estimates today and they're going to be before the House economics hearings next week. If they think that they can sit on their hands and not call out this conduct and this misuse of Australian superannuation savings, deliberately designed to undermine young Australians' aspirations and hopes of owning their own homes, they are kidding themselves, just like the Labor Party. 17:40 Mr KEOGH 249147 Burt Thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker Georganas, for calling me and putting us all out of our misery. Does the ego and the hypocrisy know no bounds? To rant across the chamber knowing full well that everything he just said, his own government disagrees with. Will we see the member for Goldstein put his money where his mouth is and move a private members bill to the effect of what he has been speaking? No, I don't think we will. Will we see him cross the floor against his own government? No, I don't think he will. But he did a very good job of promoting his new book, for people who might be interested in purchasing it. I suspect there are not many who want to dive into the diatribe any further by member for Goldstein. That was an embarrassing performance if ever there was one, because anyone with any form of economic literacy who is listening to it would have known straightaway just how error-ridden that contribution was. To turn to the actual bill at hand that we are discussing in the chamber today, the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020, I wish specifically to address schedule 3, which relates to the Franchising Code of Conduct. This is something particularly close to my heart, not only as the shadow minister assisting small business but also as a member in the last parliament of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services, which conducted an inquiry during the last parliament into this code. Unfortunately it has to be said that the government has completely dropped the ball on protecting small businesses and franchisees, refusing to defend the many mum-and-dad franchisees and, in particular, the auto dealers around Australia, from exploitive franchisors and car manufacturers. Fortunately, this parliament today though can ensure that Australian franchisees receive greater protection from these exploitive franchisors. However, this Morrison government proposal in the bill of only $133,000 maximum fine, otherwise known as a slap on a wrist, for those franchisors breaching the code, quite frankly, is laughable, when we consider what that represents against some of the profits being made by the franchisors in this country, indeed those that are owned overseas. Despite a bipartisan committee report, the report of the inquiry I referred to earlier, emphasising the need for a significant increase in penalties available under the franchising code, the government, until it has announced amendments to this bill, will effectively have done nothing. Only earlier this month, the Morrison government put out a press release saying that they would increase the available penalties under the franchising code from their woeful increase of $133,000 up to what Labor had been calling for—$10 million. In December last year, the minister delivered a voluntary set of principles, specific for car dealers, which failed to include any significant increase in fines for companies such as General Motors, Mercedes Benz, Honda, which the government knew were destroying decade-long family owned businesses across Australia. Car dealers across Australia described this voluntary set of principles as a 'do-nothing policy' and 'doomed to fail'. At the time, the minister hailed the voluntary based principles in a media release as the 'biggest' for the industry. However, they did not include any fines for car manufacturers. Worse still, the minister lashed out against car dealers who dared to speak out against a half-baked policy. After numerous reports of disruption within the coalition party room, though, and an in-depth Labor led Senate inquiry into the relationship between car dealers and car manufacturers, it was revealed last month that Minister Andrews, who had previously been responsible for this area of policy, had been sidelined and that her responsibilities for the car industry had been handed over to a separate minister. After the minister's removal, the government was left scrambling when Labor senator Deborah O'Neill moved a private senator's bill in the Senate on this very matter. It passed the Senate with the support of the crossbench, providing for an increase in penalties of up to $10 million so that companies like General Motors that have left General Motors dealers in Australia high and dry, in the way in which they have removed themselves from the Australian market, would face penalties of up to $10 million where they breached the code where it affects car dealers—or, even higher, up to 10 per cent of their annual turnover. Family owned Australian businesses deserve a government that is on their side, not a minister that has lost the faith of their own government to get the job done. This proposed increase in penalties was a recommendation first proposed by the ACCC to deter bad behaviour exposed by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services inquiry into franchising. The increase in fines was substantially more than that proposed by the Morrison government, until very recently, because for all their rhetoric about being the party of small business they were reluctant to bring forward legislation that would protect small business. The amendment to increase the available penalties up to $10 million received widespread support from the automotive sector, including from wronged franchisees who had been calling for small-business owners to have equitable access to justice, to ensure that the despicable acts currently acceptable in the franchising sector were stamped out. Labor will always fight to protect small-business owners across Australia. The franchising sector has been a breeding ground for unconscionable behaviour for decades. It's why we held the inquiry in the last parliament, and it's time to even the playing field. Peter Strong, the CEO of the Council of Small Business Organisations of Australia, has said that small-business owners, franchisees, might not know they are even being exploited by their franchisors until it is too late. James Voortman, the CEO of the Australian Automotive Dealer Association, said that the government's proposed $133,200 penalty wouldn't even cop a mention in the annual report of a large multinational car manufacturer, and that that is why they needed a penalty with teeth. The CEO of the Australian Association of Franchisees, Mike Sullivan, agreed, saying that the proposed fines put forward by the Morrison government in this legislation are barely a slap on the wrist. The punishment of up to $10 million will actually have a real impact on these massive scale operations. This government has so far failed to fix franchising. The regulatory environment it is operating in has manifestly failed to deter systemic poor conduct and an exploitative power imbalance. The Liberal government was set to completely squib many of the important recommendations of the parliamentary inquiry review into franchising. Even the new small-business ombudsman, Bruce Billson, who was the Minister for Small Business in this Liberal government, supports these further increases to the maximum fines of up to $10 million. In a recent press release, he said: Higher fines for significant breaches of the Franchising Code will act as a big stick that will force the larger players to think twice before acting unfairly towards their franchisees. That's right; that's absolutely what we've been calling for and trying to do. But the government has completely resisted doing that—until now, saying they will move amendments to their own legislation. It is about time that this government stood up for mum-and-dad franchisees, small-business owners who have been done over for far too long. The government has been shamed into now moving amendments to its own insufficient bill. This is a desperate move by the Morrison government to claw back some respect from the automotive retail industry. But the industry now know that only Labor is on their side. Only Labor is on the side of franchisees and the many thousands of Australians that they employ. 17:49 Mr FALINSKI G86 Mackellar Thank you, Madam Deputy Speaker. Are you an acting deputy speaker or just a deputy speaker? The DEPUTY SPEAKER 248181 My preference is to be called Deputy Speaker, but people struggle. Mr FALINSKI G86 We were having this debate in the Federation Chamber about whether deputy speakers are acting deputy speakers or deputy speakers, but you definitely look like more than a deputy speaker, Madam Deputy Speaker! It's very good to be here in the chamber as you president over it. Madam Deputy Speaker, the fact of the matter remains that the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 is clearly a sensible piece of legislation that is about reforming exactly the sorts of things that we need to reform. This is the sort of stuff that the parliament does day in and day out to ensure that we are delivering the sorts of services and creating the types of markets and providing the very incentives that we need so that ordinary Australians can get on with their lives. We are deep in the weeds on these ones. I heard the member for Burt's contribution to this debate. It was excellent, as always. However, it may have slightly been gilding the lily. I know the member for Burt has never been accused of gilding the lily previously to this; however, it really pains me to say that franchisees in this country know that this government has their back. Small businesses in this country know that this government has their back. We know the very engine room of economic growth, employment, competition, innovation and consumer choice lie with small businesses. We know that they're the ones that day in and day out get up, have their houses on the line, employ people. They're not just the ones at risk; their family and all their funds are at risk. They're the ones who have taken a punt on making this country a better place because they believe in the promise of Australia. And that's what this legislation goes to. This legislation goes to the fact that we are about trying to create a fairer and more equitable society, a just society, in this country by giving people more hope, more opportunity and more choice. I know that a lot of these things are deep in the weeds, but they're important. So when schedule 1 of this bill, which talks about removing the tax on refunds of large-scale generation certificate shortfall charges, it is a great way to solve the problems of insomnia that are prevalent in so many suburbs and regions of this country! However, it is important. It's important because these are the places where this parliament creates the framework that allows people to make the sorts of choices that make this nation a better place. As has always been the case, the Renewable Energy Target scheme, energy retailers and other liable entities are still required to surrender large-scale generation or pay a shortfall charge. This makes perfect sense. Should businesses later surrender outstanding certificates within the allowable time frame, they receive a refund of that shortfall change. Once again, this makes perfect sense. This was always intended to provide the flexibility to help these businesses manage the cost of complying with the scheme. So this is what schedule 1 continues to deal with. This schedule provides certainty that energy businesses will not be taxed on the amount of shortfall changes that are being refunded. This ensures that no anomalous situation occurs as a tax deduction is not allowed for the payment of shortfall charges. This will clarify the operation of the tax treatment and ensure the market for large-scale generation certificates works as intended: meeting targets for clean energy while minimising costs for consumers. The question that I have for those opposite is: Why are you opposed to this? Why has the member for Whitlam, Stephen Jones, moved amendments to this bill? If you are in favour of reducing emissions, if you are in favour of creating investment certainty so businesses can come into this market to reduce emissions, why wouldn't you support this? Why is the member for Whitlam once again putting the interests of producers ahead of those of ordinary hardworking Australians? The schedule makes it clear that there are no changes to the Renewable Energy Targets. There are no decreases in penalties for noncompliance. This measure will apply to refunds of large-scale generation certificate shortfall charges paid since 1 January 2019. It's estimated to cost $70 million over the forward budget. I quote the Assistant Treasurer from when he introduced this bill: Schedule 1 to the bill will amend the income tax law to ensure that no tax is payable on refunds of large-scale generation certificate shortfall charges. This measure will apply to refunds paid since 1 January 2019. Under the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Act 2000, energy retailers and other liable entities must surrender large-scale generation certificates or pay a shortfall charge. This shortfall charge can be refunded where the outstanding certificates are surrendered within the allowable refund period. This measure will therefore clarify the operation of the income tax law for energy providers and will ensure that the market for large-scale generation certificates works as intended, meeting targets for clean energy while minimising costs for consumers. Is this not yet another example of this government demonstrating that its interests lie with the interests of hardworking ordinary Australians and the environment? Schedule 2 talks about the transitional provisions relating to the repeal of the Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993. In 2017 this government, the government of the Australian people, agreed to the recommendation of the Ramsay review to establish the Australian Financial Complaints Authority to replace the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. That tribunal was closed on 31 December 2020. These amendments ensure that the closure of the SCT is smooth, that administrative arrangements are in place to allow ASIC to undertake ongoing management of SCT records and that any outstanding cases are appropriately passed on to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. The SCT will work to resolve all open complaints by 31 December. However, there may be a small number that cannot be resolved before then due to reasons outside the tribunal's control, including the impact of the coronavirus on business continuity. These cases will now be transferred to AFCA for resolution. Why is the member for Whitlam moving amendments to schedule 2? Why does he not want to protect the interests of Australian consumers? Is it because there is no greater spruiker for industry super in this place than the member for Whitlam? Why is he always looking after the interests of industry super and not the interests of its members? The complaints will not be adversely affected, as AFCA is now the primary external dispute resolution body responsible for handling superannuation related complaints and is appropriately resourced to resolve outstanding tribunal complaints. The AFCA Act will also be amended to allow for the transfer of the tribunal's records and documents to ASIC for ongoing records management and will also allow the Federal Court to remit appealed cases back to AFCA where previously these had been remitted back to the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. Schedule 2 to the bill will also introduce a rule-making power to the AFCA Act to allow the minister to prescribe matters of a transitional nature that may be required to facilitate the closure of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. There is no financial impact associated with this measure. Yet the member for Whitlam puts the interests of industry super ahead of that of ordinary Australians, ahead of their members. Deputy Speaker, I know that you are equally concerned about this matter. We are, at the moment, witnessing industry super spending hundreds of millions of dollars of members' money on themselves in threatening the elected government of this country that, if we do not do what they tell us to do, they will cry havoc and unleash the dogs of an advertising war. And whose money are they spending? Are they spending their own? Are they spending that of their trustees? Are they spending that of the union movement to whom they send hundreds of millions of dollars a year? No. They are spending the money of ordinary Australians. And who is standing up for ordinary Australians? This side of the House. What are those on the other side of the House doing? What is the member for Whitlam doing? The member for Whitlam is trying to neuter this proposal so that ordinary Australians have no redress for the complaints and problems created by the superannuation sector, a sector I might add that Australians have no choice as to whether they make contributions to. This parliament determined that they must contribute to it, and then it took away their choice in so many instruments. The Labor appointed head of the Fair Work Commission can preside over determining where hardworking Australians get to put their money, hundreds of billions of dollars, without choice and without discretion. This is appalling. It's appalling that the member for Whitlam would not come into this place and give full-throated support to such a measure to protect the rights and the interests of ordinary Australians. What's happened to the modern Labor Party, where they don't care about working Australians, where they only care about the interests of industry super and not those of ordinary Australians, who we have forced to make contributions and often give them no choice as to what fund they make those contributions to? I say that this is a very sad day. I would hope that the member for Whitlam would reflect upon what he has done and would come back into this place and withdraw his amendment to this bill so that ordinary Australians do have some right to make complaints and to seek redress when their money, as we speak in this place today, is being misspent by industry super on industry super. Let this House make it clear that superannuation exists for the people. It's provided by the people and should be of the people, not as it stands at the moment, where it is superannuation for the millionaire fund managers—for them, by them and of them. No. That is not what this parliament created when it created the retirement income system. I note that there is no-one on the other side that is willing to make those arguments. In the short time that I have left, I would also point to schedule 3 of the bill, which is the industry code panel under part 4B of the Competition and Consumer Act and changes that we are making there, which the member for Burt referred to. The member for Burt recognised that these changes are indeed brilliant, and I accept his congratulations of the government. I can add no more to it than that, because the member for Burt is far more eloquent than I, having been trained as a lawyer and indeed whose genius is often on display in this place. Schedule 4, which is extension of the modification power, is another important schedule. I will just briefly speak to this because I am running out of time. This measure will extend the power which allows responsible ministers to change arrangements for complying with information and documentary requirements under Commonwealth legislation in response to challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The extension of this power addresses continuing difficulties experienced by individuals, businesses and government agencies in complying with information and documentary requirements, including requirements to witness and sign documents. All determinations made under this power will cease to have effect when the schedule ceases to have effect. These are important changes to our law. It's important that this House deal with them. As Steve Crawford of Col Crawford motors and Bill Buckle of Bill Buckle motors have told me, these matters are critical for them in them supplying goods and services to the people of the Northern Beaches. 18:04 Mr THISTLETHWAITE 182468 Kingsford Smith Labor supports the principles of the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020. Schedule 1 clarifies the operation of the income tax law in relation to the renewable energy target, ensuring that generators are not taxed when they later rectify a failure to meet a target in a given year. Schedule 2 allows for the smooth transition of disputes from the existing Superannuation Complaints Tribunal to the new Australian Financial Complaints Authority. Schedule 3 allows for increased penalties to be applied to breaches of industry codes prescribed by the Competition and Consumer Act. Increasing penalties for breaches of the franchising code was expressly recommended by the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. Labor supports franchisees being protected by industry codes as recommended. But we don't consider that the scale of the penalties set out in the schedule aligns with the findings of the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services. To that effect, we will move amendments to the bill to increase the maximum allowable penalties for corporations that breach the franchising code and other industry codes prescribed by the ACCC. Schedule 4 allows for the extension of certain arrangements for meetings and documents which were put in place in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. We've seen 17 inquiries into the franchising sector in Australia over the past 30 years. The problems in the sector are well known. Yet this government has failed to take action to help protect small businesses from large corporations. In the most recent parliamentary inquiry, the franchising sector was described as having 'manifestly failed to deter systemic poor conduct and exploitative behaviour' and having 'entrenched the power imbalance'. We saw the despicable treatment of Holden car dealers across our nation when General Motors decided that they were exiting the Australian market. We all know why General Motors exited the Australian market. It was because there was no plan by the Morrison government to support an automotive industry in this country. They abandoned automotive industries—car making in Australia. As a result, in a situation where those larger international auto makers walked out of this country, those people—many of them mum-and-dad small businesses where people had mortgaged their homes to take out loans for their businesses to become franchises of Holden—were left in the lurch. And there was no requirement for General Motors to negotiate with those Holden dealers. I remember sitting in meetings down here in Canberra with those dealers, who had come to tell us how poorly they'd been treated by the General Motors head office in the United States. General Motors left their Holden franchisees with a paltry offer of $2½ thousand per car and expected dealers to change their business models completely. There was no negotiation. This government didn't make sure there was negotiation, because they'd ignored the previous recommendations of all of those inquiries about franchising in this country. Once again we see that what the Morrison government says about supporting small businesses and what they actually do are worlds apart. There are some really good franchisees out there, but there are too many like GM that are big, powerful players who put in place terrible contracts with unconscionable terms. The Morrison government has done nothing over the past three terms. That's eight long years, while hundreds of families have gone to the wall on their watch. Only the Morrison government would allow big companies to profit and dominate in an unconscionable manner, with unfair contracts, in this franchise space. Be it in 7-Eleven or one of the many other businesses throughout the country, we've seen small businesses treated appallingly by big multinationals because the protections weren't in place for collective bargaining and for a fairer deal for franchisees. When in comes to the COVID-19 pandemic and the recession that ensued, many big companies have been able to profit from the government's JobKeeper scheme and pay bonuses whilst cutting off vital support for small businesses and workers who actually need it to survive. We all know that the JobKeeper cuts will mean more uncertainty and anxiety for Australian small businesses already doing it tough. I want to mention one area in particular where franchisees are quite common, and a business area where businesses are going to struggle dramatically when JobKeeper ends, and that is the Australian travel agents and tourism business sector. The COVID-19 Consumer Travel Support Program that was put in place by the government completely misses the mark and perfectly highlights this government's inability to consult with small businesses and their operators about the support that's needed to make sure that they get through this COVID pandemic. Because of the way those businesses operate, many of them keep trust accounts with funds in those on behalf of the clients that they are managing, there's a discrepancy with the notion of turnover. Many of those businesses have failed to meet the requirements for eligibility for the consumer travel support scheme. So with JobKeeper ending at the end of this month many of those businesses are unable to trade as they would have pre COVID, because of government regulation that closes our borders and prohibits international arrivals and all of the associated travel that goes with that. These businesses in the travel agents industry and the tourism industry are being left in the lurch by this government. One of those operators said to me recently, 'What's the point in almost getting us through this recession and the difficulties associated with COVID-19? What's the point in getting us three-quarters of the way through only to allow us to fail at the final hurdle?' Their view is that once JobKeeper ends this month because their revenues can't be restored due to government regulation those businesses will end as well. Most of them are small businesses. The employment of many of those employees that work for them will end as well. That is the outcome that this Morrison government is going to deliver to many of those operators in the travel agents and travel business sector. It's simply not good enough. These businesses, these small business operators, deserve the support of this government to help them get through this pandemic. That is why Labor is calling on the government to look at targeted support, particularly for the travel industry, in the form of some form of JobKeeper or wage subsidy, to allow those businesses to continue to get through, hopefully only until the end of this year, so that they can maintain their businesses and keep people employed. That is the moral and the just thing for this government to do for those businesses in the travel agents and tourism industry. Of course, we know that not all sectors and industries have shared in the recovery. The great disappointment about the government's JobKeeper scheme is that there are many large Australian corporations that have profited from JobKeeper. They didn't need to. I'm speaking of businesses like Harvey Norman and Premier Investments which have turned profits. I don't know how they qualified for JobKeeper when they turned a profit, given that the eligibility criteria was that you had to demonstrate a downturn in your revenue of 30 per cent. Nonetheless, Harvey Norman had half yearly profit of half a billion dollars. What do they do with it? Well, they return it to shareholders as a dividend, subsidised by the $22 million that they pocketed from the Australian taxpayer. Yet this government is going to allow travel and tourism operators to go to the wall. A big business like Harvey Norman or Premier Investments is going to be able to pocket that JobKeeper that they didn't need without having to return it to the Australian taxpayer. That stinks, that is wrong and that is not a government that supports small business at all. That is why Labor is calling on this government to look at extending that payment. They should be making those bigger companies that have profited from JobKeeper return those taxpayer funds that they didn't need. But even if they don't do that, they should still be looking at providing support for small businesses who, by virtue of government regulation, can't trade properly in this COVID environment, particularly in the travel agents and tourism sector, to ensure that they can get through this pandemic, and that is what Labor is calling on the government to do. 18:15 Mr SIMMONDS 282983 Ryan I am very pleased to rise in the chamber to support the substantive Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 today. Unfortunately, the Labor Party's attitude to this bill speaks volumes about why they have become so disconnected from Australians and particularly from Australian business. This bill should be a no-brainer. It's a very simple package of amendments that we are making to provide certainty and to make important changes to provide more security for small businesses and medium businesses. Why? So that these businesses can create jobs. At the end of the day, we want to create more jobs coming out of the COVID-19 pandemic. We want to create more job opportunities for Australians, and who is going to do that? Not government, but the private sector. Properly supported and with enough certainty, the private sector can make the investments in their people which they need to. That's part of what this bill provides. By standing and speaking against it, Labor MP after Labor MP has shown that they don't get what it takes to make an investment as a small or medium business to employ somebody. They don't get what it takes to provide the certainty from government to allow small and medium businesses to invest. I'm very proud that the changes provided in this substantive bill today will help to do just that. That's because, regardless of the pandemic and especially in the case of what we've been through with the COVID-19 recession, a good government, like the Morrison government is, will always be looking for ways to streamline processes and to improve them to achieve better outcomes for Australians and Australian businesses, to help to provide them with that certainty. No change is too small, in my mind. Everything that we can do to make the lives of small and medium businesses better potentially means an extra job and an opportunity for an Australian family. The measures outlined in this bill help provide some of that certainty to a number of industries and bodies as we move forward. I just want to take this opportunity to support those directly in the House. The most important part of the bill amends the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to make refunds of large-scale generation shortfall changes nonassessable and non-exempt income. To give some context of what we're talking about to the House: one large-scale generation certificate is equal to about one megawatt-hour of eligible renewable electricity. As has always been the case with the Renewable Energy Target scheme, energy retailers and other liable entities are required to surrender large-scale generation certificates or pay a shortfall charge. If the business later surrenders outstanding certificates within the allowable time frame, the business will receive a refund of that shortfall charge. This bill will now provide the certainty to energy retailers that they need, that they will not be charged for the amount of the shortfall that will be refunded. Again, that certainty in the energy market is exactly the type of change that we're looking to make, and it's important. Importantly, we have gone about this in consultation with industry. This amendment supports a submission received from the Australian Energy Council. Again, for those Labor members opposite, that's what good governments do: they consult with industry, they take a considered view and then they act and see those changes shepherded through this House. I'm a very passionate spokesman when it comes to renewable energy in this place, particularly for my electorate of Ryan. I'm very proud to stand here as a member of the Morrison government who is committed to meeting our targets—targets that we have already met in relation to Kyoto and that we are on track to meet and beat for our Paris targets. Only yesterday, I was speaking about the importance of how we get there as much as when we get there. The importance of how we get there makes a difference to these industries. It provides certainty and it makes a difference to people's lives—whether their jobs are going to be there. Our approach has, and will continue to be, about technology not taxes. I know that's one that the Labor MPs turn their noses up at, because they like the more ideological approach of targets without properly explaining to the Australian people how they're going to achieve those targets. The concept and importance of achieving those targets, as this government is doing through technology not taxes, I think has really brought it home to me in the work that we are doing right here in the Ryan electorate, which I have the pleasure of representing. For example, the CSIRO in Pullenvale is doing some extraordinary work that I've had the pleasure of seeing. They're developing hydrogen as a renewable energy source. They're doing the work not just on stabilising hydrogen as a clean energy source but also on stabilising it to be exported. Here is an opportunity for us not just to meet our own targets but to export clean energy to the world to help them meet their targets. We've spoken before in this place about how, with our percentage of global emissions, we alone are not going to be able to achieve the real action on climate change that we want and are ambitious to achieve in the world, but we can be proactive partners with the rest of the world and some of the world's largest emitters, in terms of reducing their emissions, by leveraging our significant know-how when it comes to technology and our significant research capability, like what is being undertaken in the Ryan electorate. In this case, I am very optimistic of the confidence that those who are undertaking this research are showing that, in the not too future, we will be able to undertake significant exportation of clean energy hydrogen to not only meet our own targets but also help others around the world to meet theirs. I have digressed, so I will bring myself back, but I am very passionate about that work that we are doing and that some of the smartest minds in the Ryan electorate are doing to shape our future. Another part of this bill that I'd like to draw to the House's attention is the amendment to the Competition and Consumer Act 2010. It speaks to what we are doing to bring fairness to our franchising sector. Like the previous Liberal speaker on this bill, the member for Mackellar, I too have heard from the motor dealers in my electorate who have spoken about the problems that they have had as franchisees in dealing with large multinational companies based overseas and the difficulties that they have with very restrictive contracting and with large costs that are imposed on them. This has been something that I, and the member for Mackellar, the member for Longman and other backbenchers in the government, have been speaking about repeatedly—about the need to provide more fairness to those motor dealers and to franchisees in particular. I really want to commend the work Minister Sukkar and Minister Cash have done on the franchising sector to make it more fair, more effective and more accountable, particularly to address some of the power imbalances that we have seen present in it. Not every franchise business will succeed, and we know that, but, where people take risks to take on a franchise—they give it a go and they put in their sweat, tears and significant funds to achieve it—we don't want to see them weighed down by unfair franchise practices. Those franchisees make an incredible contribution to the Australian economy and, importantly, to supporting jobs right across Australia. They are mum-and-dad businesses. They employ locally, as do a lot of the car dealerships that I've spoken to. They employ local people, give local people an opportunity and are willing to invest more, if given the opportunity, to employ more Australians. As the Prime Minister has often said, we on this side of the chamber unashamedly will stand in support of Australian businesses. With these amendments, we back Australian franchise businesses by finding the right balance between the franchisees and the franchisors to ensure continued development and success of the sector. We're committed to a number of amendments in the franchising code. This is in response to the Fairness in franchising parliamentary report. A particular amendment contained in this bill will increase the maximum penalty amount for breaches of provisions across the industry codes, because, as well as reducing red tape, we really want to make it clear that doing the wrong thing is not acceptable by these small businesses and these mum-and-dad businesses in Australia and that the penalties for those who choose to do the wrong thing will be significant. They'll be so significant that they won't be able to be dismissed as the cost of doing business for these multinationals, particularly these overseas multinationals. They will be significant and they will impact the bottom lines of these franchisors if they do the wrong thing by the mum-and-dad franchisees. If they wilfully breach the franchising code, the penalty will not be small. It will be felt. It will be a strong deterrent. During the COVID pandemic the Morrison government has acted quickly and decisively to respond to a situation that is rapidly changing. I think Australians, particularly Australian businesses in my electorate of Ryan, now recognise that Australia and Australians have done an extraordinary job in responding to the COVID pandemic and the COVID-19 recession. We are the envy of the world, and quite rightly so. The fact that we've been able to take our time to get the vaccine rollout right is testament to the fact that we have been able to keep the number of cases of COVID-19 down and have been able to keep businesses open as a result. Because we've been able to keep businesses open as a result we've been able to see the economy bounce back to the point where there are now more jobs than there were prior to the COVID-19 pandemic. Just like this bill, that is great news for Australian businesses. I think Australian businesses are pleased that the Morrison government, having facilitated that economic recovery and having facilitated that outstanding response of all Australians to the COVID-19 pandemic, is now turning its mind to these kinds of important changes. As I said at the beginning, these important changes are giving businesses certainty and confidence to invest in their businesses, to create more jobs and to create more opportunities for Australian families so that they in turn can create opportunities for their kids. That is why it has been so important to act swiftly and put in place vital support measures for COVID-19. It's so important that this bill now pass the chamber so that we can continue to support small businesses. I know that small- and medium-sized businesses in the Ryan electorate know that the Morrison government is always there to support them. It has their backs now during COVID and going forward. 18:27 Dr MULINO 132880 Fraser I rise today to speak to the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 and in particular I rise to speak in favour of the second reading amendment moved by the member for Whitlam. This bill contains four schedules. In saying that, this is a bill that is far less substantive than one might think for a bill with four schedules. As is so often the case with bills brought to this place by this government, it is less than the sum of its parts. More importantly, this bill is far less than what is needed, given the predicament this nation faces. We can look at each of the schedules in this bill and find minor measures, most of which are fairly unobjectionable, particularly after the government very belatedly included amendments in relation to franchise measures. What is most galling about this bill is not that it's one in a succession of bills that contain almost no content but that it does so at a time when this nation is at a fork in the road and needs so much more. We are at a point in time when so much of this nation is being flooded and is facing natural disaster risks. We are at a point in time when the vaccine rollout is occurring far slower than this nation needs. What we see in this bill is a complete lack of economic vision. This government should be bringing so much to this chamber, but instead it is withdrawing so much support. I will deal with schedule 4 of this bill first because to me it is the most egregious part of the bill, mostly because it reflects what this government is not doing. Schedule 4 of this bill extends the operation of schedule 5 of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Act 2020. Schedule 5 of that bill provides for temporary mechanisms for responsible ministers to change arrangements for meeting information and documentary requirements under Commonwealth legislation, including requirements to give information and produce witnessed and signed documents. That's all fine. The hundreds of thousands of workers out in the community who are unemployed and the additional hundreds of thousands of workers out in the community who are at risk of losing their jobs will be saying, 'That doesn't really seem like enough at this point in time.' We're now going to be discussing in this bill schedule 5 of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Act 2020, but what we're not going to be talking about—because this government isn't offering it—is anything substantive to provide support to those hundreds of thousands of workers who have lost their jobs already or are at risk of losing their jobs because support is being pulled. I want to go back to the single biggest measure that this government has introduced. It was something we supported. They brought it in after some weeks of us calling for it. It was JobKeeper. I will talk about a couple of aspects of JobKeeper which we would have liked to have seen done differently, but I want to talk about the rationale for JobKeeper. The reason I want to talk about that is the rationale for JobKeeper hasn't disappeared. Indeed, over recent weeks the rationale for JobKeeper in many areas of Australia has strengthened. We are pulling out JobKeeper holus-bolus at exactly the worst time. What are some of the key rationales for JobKeeper? This is not an exhaustive list, by the way. One is—and this is something that the member for Whitlam spoke about at some length during his contribution—that there is a moral obligation on the government of the day to assist businesses and the employees of those businesses where the government, through legislation or regulation or edict, shuts those businesses down or shuts an industry down. Everybody in this chamber agrees that many industries did need to shut down for a period of time during the start of the pandemic. The point is, because it was a recession brought on by the government shutting those industries down, there was a moral obligation for the government to help the businesses and the individuals in those industries. I think that that rationale for JobKeeper would be agreed on by people across this chamber. The second rationale for JobKeeper and for wage subsidies in general is that it is important to keep a connection between employers and employees, particularly where businesses are likely to be sustainable in the long-term. Because of the significant search costs, the significant cost to individuals and businesses of losing that connection, it made perfect sense to maintain that connection where it was highly likely that a business would survive the pandemic. Many of the costs of having an unnecessary separation of a worker and a business would be irrevocable; those would never be connected again. So it was absolutely critical that we kept workers and businesses together where it was clear that businesses were only under financial stress because of the necessary regulatory impositions in response to coronavirus, and that businesses would be able to get back on their feet once those impositions had been lifted. Another rationale for JobKeeper and for the wage subsidies contained within that program was need. Many individuals, many households and many regions had lost incomes for considerable periods of time. So another rationale for that program was to provide people with support during a time of need. Finally, a key rationale for JobSeeker was macroeconomic stability and supporting aggregate demand. Here, it's critical to acknowledge that one of the key reasons we needed JobKeeper, and we still need JobKeeper in many areas, is it's the spending power of people receiving JobKeeper that supports so many other businesses. So it's not just the people who lose JobKeeper that are going to suffer when those supports are pulled out; it's all of the other businesses and individuals that those people spend money with. It's that interdependence within the economy that is a key rationale for JobKeeper. Those four rationales are important to spell out, because, as I'm going to outline in a moment, those four rationales still exist in this economy and, indeed, have arguably become more urgent over the last month. As I said, we supported JobKeeper. We called for JobKeeper for some period before this government implemented it. We thought that some aspects of JobKeeper weren't implemented as well as they could have been—for example, the fact that a number of businesses, a number of extremely wealthy people, have lined their pockets unnecessarily through the payments that were made. That's a debate which is still going on in our community. We felt that the scheme should have been better designed. In fact, if it had been better designed with that issue in mind there would be more money now for people who are truly in need. Secondly we felt that a number of businesses were excluded. I can point to dnata and a number of other businesses as cases in point. I have spoken about dnata a number of times in this chamber. Many, many employees in my electorate and, of course, right across Australia suffered greatly because they were, in my belief, arbitrarily excluded from the JobKeeper scheme. Then, of course, there were a number of other scope issues which, I think, were material and arbitrary. For example, casual workers were excluded if they had 12 months or less of continuous service. There were many instances where people had longstanding connections to an industry or discontinuous but longstanding connections to a business. Many of these people had dependants. The scheme wasn't well designed for those instances. I want to return to the situation we find ourselves in now and the fork in the road we are now facing. Is now—31 March—the point in time when we should just be taking this scheme away entirely? The answer is clearly no because the rationales that I outlined before remain. In fact, there are a number of ways in which our economy and our society have become even more vulnerable over the last month. The floods are damaging the economy and, more than anything, societies—communities, individuals, households, property and livelihoods—and they are putting people at risk. Those floods make it even more difficult for many communities to deal with a sudden withdrawal of income support. The vaccine, as we know, is being rolled out slower than expected. I won't go into all of the reasons why that might be the case. That's a separate issue. But the reality is that that is what is happening. We're at 10 per cent of the government's target, and we know that the health outcomes are intimately intertwined with the economic outcomes. We cannot get the economy back on a full footing until we have our health outcomes on a proper footing. So we know that we should not withdraw the economic supports until we are more confident about the vaccine rollout and about getting the health outcomes onto a firmer footing. We also know that, while the recovery in aggregate terms has been stronger than expected, it is still very patchy. It is patchy in terms of geography; it is patchy in terms of sector. That ought to make us a bit more careful about withdrawing this significant support package in its entirety. I want to look at a couple of examples, which have been raised by a number of others in this chamber, both in this debate and also over recent weeks. One is travel agents. It's a very good example of where those initial rationales still exist. The first rationale was that, where the government has—through necessary regulation, but through regulation—shut down the operation of a sector, there is a moral obligation on the government to provide some kind of support. For travel agents, particularly those relying on income from international tourism, that is still the case. The borders are closed, so that rationale still exists. The second argument, which is that we should be keeping a connection, where possible, between employers and employees where a business is sustainable, still exists. International tourism will, at some point, return. These travel agents are sustainable businesses. We ought to be putting in place arrangements which allow for sustainable businesses to maintain themselves until regulations are lifted. And the need for the JobKeeper program, which was the third rationale that I talked about before, still exists. It certainly still exists in the case of travel agents. One can look at a number of other sectors, such as international aviation and related businesses, and, in terms of those first three rationales, the boxes are all ticked. I want to look at the fourth rationale, in terms of the overall economy. There are, clearly, individual sectors where not enough is being done by this government and where the original rationales for JobKeeper are still there. What about the overall economy? Macroeconomic considerations were central to JobKeeper. It was meant to be a support for aggregate demand during a very difficult time for the economy. What has happened to aggregate demand over recent weeks and months? We have a massive natural disaster right up and down the east coast. We have many communities that have been shut down and are fighting to survive. We have incredible uncertainty over the vaccine rollout, and, as I outlined earlier, this is absolutely central to the economic recovery. As many, many prominent economists here and overseas have said, the two are absolutely intertwined; one cannot have a full economic recovery until one has a full health recovery. So the macroeconomic considerations have actually worsened, and the need for aggregate demand support is, if anything, more urgent. Now, because of some announcement made many months ago under entirely different circumstances, the government is proceeding with this plan nonetheless. An additional consideration I think is worth mentioning is the sheer uncertainty around the current circumstances. It is true to say that the recovery that we have seen in the labour market over recent months has been stronger than just about all forecasters had predicted, whether they be public sector forecasters in government agencies, whether they be private forecasters or whether they be academics. The whole point is that forecasting the macro economy in circumstances such as this is extremely difficult. What that says is that it is just as possible that the forecasts which are currently saying that we can get through withdrawal of JobKeeper could be wrong also. The point is, with worsening macroeconomic conditions, we should erring on the side of caution. When the livelihoods of so many communities, when the livelihoods of so many sectors, when the livelihoods of so many individuals and households are at stake, we should be a bit more humble and accept the fact that our forecasts might be wrong, the other way this time. Were that to be the case, were our forecasts in relation to GDP, were our forecasts in relation to commodity prices, were our forecasts in relation to the labour market wrong—the other side—and we pulled the entire JobKeeper scheme out as a whole, it would be an absolute disaster for many of our most vulnerable individuals. We can use that set of arguments around the need for aggregate demand at the regional level because they apply there also. We are going to be pulling support out for many vulnerable people in communities like Cairns, when so many other small businesses are relying on individuals who currently have that support. So what is that going to do to communities like Cairns? We simply can't be so bold, we simply can't be so foolhardy, as to rely upon one set of forecasts when they could be wrong and when so many people could be adversely affected. This is a bill with four schedules. As earlier speakers have said, we on this side don't have an objection to most of them. But the egregious thing is this government is bringing such a trivial set of schedules to this place when so much more is needed at a time of so much dire need in our community. 18:42 Mr ALEXANDER M3M Bennelong I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020. Whilst it might not sound like the most glamorous bill to come before our parliament, it's an important one comprised of a number of streamlining and integrity measures. Schedule 1 of the bill will amend the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997 to make refunds on large-scale generation shortfall charges non-assessable, non-exempt, for income tax purposes. Why is this important? Well, it will provide certainty that no tax is payable when energy retailers and other liable entities receive a refund of the large-scale generation certificate shortfall charge. This will enable the market for large-scale generation certificates to work as intended, meeting targets for energy while minimising cost impacts ensuring affordable electricity for consumers. Now, more than ever, affordable energy is crucial as we look to recover from the economic impact of COVID-19. This government has always been focused on ensuring energy is affordable and reliable for households and businesses whilst at the same time honouring our commitments to reduce emissions. Importantly, I note there are no changes to renewable energy targets, no decrease in penalties for noncompliance. It will simply provide certainty for taxpayers so that they are not inadvertently disadvantaged when they receive a refund of shortfall charges. Schedule 2 of the bill addresses the transitional provisions relating to the repeal of the Superannuation (Resolution of Complaints) Act 1993. These amendments will ensure that the closure of Superannuation Complaints Tribunal is smooth, that administrative arrangements are in place to allow ASIC to undertake ongoing management of Superannuation Complaints Tribunal records and that any outstanding cases are appropriately passed on to the Australian Financial Complaints Authority. It was in 2017 that the government agreed to the recommendations of the Ramsay review to establish the Australian Financial Complaints Authority, AFCA, to replace the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. The review's recommendation was that there be a single external dispute resolution body for all financial disputes—that is, AFCA. AFCA are there to assist consumers and small businesses with fair, free and independent dispute resolution for financial complaints. They are impartial and independent, and I have encouraged my constituents to reach out to them when they have been unable to resolve complaints directly with their financial services provider. Turning now to schedule 3 of this bill, which considers industry code penalties under part IVB of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010, the government will establish a more effective enforcement regime to encourage greater compliance of the franchise code by amending the Competition and Consumer Act of 2010 to increase the maximum civil pecuniary penalty available for a breach of an industry code from 300 to 600 penalties points and increasing the civil pecuniary penalties for breaches of the franchising code accordingly. I note that it is in response to the Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services report FairnessIn Franchising that the government has committed to increasing civil penalties available for breaches of the Franchising Code of Conduct. It is imperative that we provide a strong deterrent against breaches of the franchising code across the franchising sector. Such penalties in the code are appropriate and necessary. Having sufficient penalties will allow the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission to help protect prospective vulnerable franchisees against exploitive behaviour by their franchisors. In recent times I've been contacted by local car dealership franchisees raising concerns regarding how they were treated by their franchisor. Like many small and family businesses, Australia's automotive dealers are vital pillars of our local communities, major employers and part of the lifeblood of our economy. However, the power imbalance between new car dealers and manufacturers meant it could be difficult for dealers to negotiate terms and receive fair compensation at the end of an agreement and effectively resolve disputes. That's why it was great news when the government announced an automotive franchising reform package to support Australia's hardworking automotive dealers. We want to deter exploitive behaviour and ensure Australia's largest franchisors do not see fines as merely a cost of doing business. Lastly, I will speak about schedule 4 of the bill, which addresses the extension of modification power. This measure extends the power which allows responsible ministers to change arrangements for complying with information and documentary requirements under Commonwealth legislation in response to challenges posed by the coronavirus pandemic. The extension of this power addresses continuing difficulties experienced by individuals, businesses and government agencies in complying with information and documentary requirements, including requirements to witness and sign documents. It is important to provide the flexibility to temporarily adjust information and documentary requirements in order to ensure the continuation of business transactions and government service delivery. Australia has done a fantastic job in navigating through the COVID-19 pandemic over the last year. Australians have all played their part and we should be very proud of our efforts, particularly when you look around the world and see how other countries have been unable to effectively control the virus. We are now able to reap the rewards of our sacrifices and efforts as we get back out there and enjoy our wonderful, safe and prosperous country. We have already seen the tremendous way in which our economy has bounced back, which was made possible because we got COVID-19 under control. However, we must not get complacent, with many businesses doing it tough following the economic hit of the pandemic and, hence, the necessity of providing a mechanism to extend the operation of the temporary mechanism. The mechanism allows for further extensions in response to the coronavirus pandemic to occur more flexibly and in a timely manner should the coronavirus pandemic continue to cause difficulties in complying with information and documentary requirements. This provides continued flexibility to enable necessary temporary adjustments to legal obligations. Understandably, it is important to allow further extensions to occur more flexibly and in a timely manner should the coronavirus pandemic continue to cause difficulties in complying with information and documentary requirements. As I noted when I rose, these matters are vital and necessary in streamlining and integrity measures. 18:50 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley Member for Bennelong, I note your sincere commitment to better working relationships between members of parliament. I heard your 90-second speech today. I'm sorry I couldn't make your lunch. It is a good thing, and I know that you are genuinely committed to people treating each other with respect. I rise to speak on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020. I will primarily speak to the second reading amendment. I'm very concerned about our economic recovery from COVID. I'm concerned about jobs for Australians, including people in my electorate of Dunkley. I am concerned about the effect of the collapse in investment in renewable energy in this country on the ongoing growth of the economy and the protection of the environment. We know that renewable energy investment has fallen by 80 per cent since 2017. In August last year, the Clean Energy Council told us that $600 million was invested in large-scale renewable energy projects in the second quarter of that year, which was a drop of almost 50 per cent from the previous quarter. The Reserve Bank has put out analysis showing a peak of 23 per cent for the renewable energy investment target. It would appear that the government has been resting on its laurels, because that has been declining ever since. According to the CEC, there hadn't been a large-scale energy storage project commissioned for 12 months as at August last year. Members in the House might recall that Tilt Renewables told its shareholders in August last year that urgent reform was needed to manage the transition to clean energy—urgent reform. And not only have we not seen urgent reform; we haven't seen any reform. That is a disservice to the economy, to jobs and to the environment. It's also the case that investment in the electricity transmission network has not kept pace with the deployment of wind and solar farms. Quoted in a Guardian Australia article in August last year, CEC chief executive Kane Thornton said: 'Investors don't have a clear view on what the federal government's long-term strategy and policies are—that's challenging.' I think Mr Thornton was pretty polite with that quote—'that's challenging'. It's devastating. 'Investors don't have a clear view on what the federal government's long-term strategy and policies are'—and we're talking about investment in renewable energy, we're talking about reducing the cost of electricity and we're talking about growing jobs and the economy. If I've heard the Treasurer of Australia say 'growing jobs and growing the economy' once, I'm pretty sure I have heard him say it a hundred million times. It is supposed to be the priority of this government. It's what they talk about over and over and over again. But yet there is a problem in the ranks of the Liberal and National Parties that means that they appear to be incapable of accepting that growth in jobs and the economy will come from investment in the renewable energy sector and investment and upgrading of the transmission network to allow that to occur. What is the government's energy policy really? Is it coal? Is it nuclear? Is it gas? It's not the future, that's the one thing that's clear. Before someone from the opposite parties yells at me about reliable energy, because of course reliable energy is important, I want to remind the House that AEMO's plan for what an optimal national energy market would look like to 2040 found that renewable energy could at times provide nearly 90 per cent of electricity by 2035 and that there would need to be major investment in new transmission lines. In June of last year WWF-Australia did a review that suggested that economic stimulus programs that focused on clean energy would create three times as many jobs as new fossil fuel projects. So put aside what likes to be a screaming debate about fossil fuel projects and just focus on the fact that if we invest in renewable projects there will be three times as many jobs. Why wouldn't you do that? Even if you wanted to look at other sorts of projects, why wouldn't you also invest in renewable energy projects? Three times as many jobs, it's better for the environment and it helps the economy grow. University of Sydney analysis says that up to 11,000 jobs could disappear from our renewable energy industry under this government's policies. It was pretty generous to say that they have policies. Under this government's policies up to 11,000 jobs could disappear from our renewable energy industry. That's 11,000 people. So when we hear the Treasurer and the government are talking about the wonderful investment that they've made to set Australia up for the recovery, we should be also remembering the absolute lack of investment in the future of energy, the renewable energy market, in this country and the disservice that it is doing to all of those students around the country who are going to be looking for jobs in the next 12 months, 24 months, five to 10 years. They've have been encouraged to go and study STEM. They are involved, active and understand the science about climate change. They want to not just have a job and an economy but also have a clean, healthy and sustainable planet to live in. If this government isn't going to do it for our generation then they really, really need to do it for the generations that are coming after us. This issues in this bill before the House were the subject of a Parliamentary Joint Committee on Corporations and Financial Services inquiry into franchising in Australia two years ago, which looked at some of the issues that this bill covers. As colleagues of mine already said, that inquiry heard from franchisees across Australia who had suffered from misconduct at the hands of parent companies. We know that franchising companies like 7-Eleven have at times profited from the misery of their franchisees and also from the underpayment and exploitation of employees. People that own and run franchises often work for incomes that are below minimum wage as they're trying to get their small business, their franchise, working, but profits flow up to parent companies. We know, from the work that was done in that inquiry, that stories of franchisees, like the retail food group that owns Brumby's, Gloria Jean's and Donut King, suffered unfair contract terms that gave enormous power to parent companies and shifted huge liabilities to franchisees. That joint committee parliamentary report made a range of recommendations, including to significantly increase penalties under the franchising code. It was to increase penalties so that they matched the significant penalties available for other corporate misconduct. When this bill was introduced to parliament last year, it barely shifted the dial in terms of penalties. It barely shifted the dial. Labor was going to move amendments to match the bipartisan recommendations of the parliamentary joint committee, but now the government has decided that it accepts the findings of that inquiry. It distributed late amendments that increase the penalties available to the regulator. That's a good thing; it's always a good thing to accept your mistakes and fix them. I'm not sure if there's been an explanation as to why there's been that late acceptance that the bill was inadequate. Hopefully there are members on the other side that pushed the case that it was inadequate. Perhaps they were going to be brave enough to vote with Labor's amendments—who knows?—but I guess it is a case of better late than never. What isn't better late than never, or won't be after Saturday, will be any late realisation from this government that it is taking away JobKeeper payments before the job is done. There have been signs of recovery in the economy, which is terrific, but it's not an even recovery across geographic locations, across industries or across businesses. Everyone in this place should know that, just from talking to the businesses and the workers in their electorate. I've got businesses in my electorate of Dunkley who are coming to me saying that they just don't know how they're going to survive after JobKeeper goes. This government promised in an announcement to the country that JobKeeper would go when the vaccine was rolled out. We don't have any hope of meeting four million vaccinations by the end of March, and there's a host of reasons for that. It's not going to happen, and yet JobKeeper is going to go. There's almost 10,000 people—not numbers, people—in my electorate who are still on JobKeeper. About 3,200 businesses in my electorate still rely on JobKeeper. What's going to happen to them after Saturday? What's going to happen to the people that are going to be made redundant, much to the heartache of their bosses, particularly in small businesses where their staff are like their family. What's going to happen to those people who are going to be made redundant? Are they going to go not onto JobSeeker but on to Newstart, which is still not enough money to live on, let alone to support a family on or to go out and find a job on. It's not surprising that travel agents in my electorate contact me every day saying that yet another day has gone by and they don't know if they're getting any assistance and they can't survive. It was right and necessary to close the national borders to protect this country from the public health crisis of COVID. But it's also right and proper to support the people whose life work has been decimated because those borders are closed—and they are still crying out for help every day—let alone the businesses that are contacting me to say that because of anomalies in the way JobKeeper was rolled out they fell through the cracks. They have received correspondence from government members saying, 'Yes, we rolled it out quickly, and, because of the way it was designed, not everyone's been supported.' Businesses are showing me those letters and saying, 'We have been struggling, and we are still struggling, and we are not getting the help we need.' The government can't just say, 'Job done; let's walk away,' because there is so much more work to be done for the small businesses that they purport to represent and for the people who work in them. 19:05 Mr CRAIG KELLY 99931 Hughes I'm pleased to speak this evening on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020 and do so in my first contribution to this parliament from this position. Firstly, since we are talking on a money bill: about 11 years ago, when I first came to this parliament, I sat in that seat over there, just a few places from where I am now. At that time, we were most concerned that the debt the federal government had run up was approaching $100 billion. We ran around with our debt trucks and complained about how bad this was and how we would work hard, if we came to government, to get that debt back down to where it was before. The last estimate is that this parliament, since I've been here, is heading for a debt of $1.3 trillion. It's very hard for people to get their head around how big a trillion dollars is. But $1.3 trillion is $1,300 billion, or $1.3 million million. That is where, after a decade of my being in this place, our national debt is headed, as a result of expenditure that has been approved in this chamber, where I now stand. That is the debt we are leaving future generations to pay. It also means that in every budget for years to come the largest government expenditures will not be on health, on education or on aged care or for kids with disabilities; one of the largest expenditure items in the budget will be interest, because of the debt that we have run up. Getting back to the specifics of the bill, schedule 1 of the bill, it says, will amend the income tax law to ensure that no tax is payable on refunds of large-scale generation certificate shortfall charges. That's wonderful! But let's be very clear about what we are talking about here. It goes on to say that under the Renewable Energy (Electricity) Amendment Regulations 2007 energy retailers and other liable entities must surrender large-scale generation certificates of pay a shortfall charge. Let's call a spade a spade. This shortfall charge is not really a shortfall charge. It is a green tax on the production of energy in this country that makes the generation of electricity higher. It goes onto the bills of every Australian small business, and it goes onto the bills of every household. This year, if my calculations are correct, the current renewable energy target is 33 million megawatt hours, and the current certificate price is around $34. That means we have a billion-dollar green tax on electricity in this country. And I hear speakers from both sides of this chamber saying that this is somehow a good thing—that it is somehow a good thing that we add a billion dollars of tax to the production of electricity in this country. And what is the result of that? The result of that is that, as a nation, we import more and more solar panels from China. The current imports, on the last numbers from the Parliamentary Library, show that close to 90 per cent, by dollar value, of the imports of solar panels to this country come from China. So the ultimate winner in all these policies—and as we add these green taxes on the production of goods in Australia, which don't apply to the production of goods in China—is the People's Republic of China. These policies we have are nothing more than a wealth transfer out of this country and straight into the People's Republic of China. And what is China doing? Let's just have a look at a report from a couple of weeks ago. It says that last year China put 38.4 gigawatts of new coal-fired capacity into operation. Let's put that into some perspective: Australia's total capacity of coal-fired generation is something around 24 gigawatts. So last year alone, in 2020, China added 50 per cent more to its fleet than the entire fleet of Australian coal generation plants. Another way to equate that is to say that a coal generator, somewhere like Liddell or Yallourn, which are scheduled to close without replacement, is around 1.5 gigawatts, so, last year, China built the equivalent of a new Liddell every 14 days and yet we're closing these things down. I have more about what China is doing at the moment. Not only did China build another 38 gigawatts of new coal-fired capacity it also approved a further 36.9 gigawatts of coal-fired capacity. That was approved to be built in the years to come. So China now has 247 gigawatts of coal power under development. That's 10 times more than Australia's entire coal fleet capacity. That isn't what they have today, that's just what they have under development. And do we think that we're going to change the weather by putting a billion-dollar tax on small businesses and households through generation of coal-fired capacity? We think we should get some great credit, because if they pay that tax as a shortfall charge and they then actually pay the money out to buy the certificates we're going to give them a refund of the tax that they've paid elsewhere. So we applaud and clap ourselves. I could go on. I would also like to comment on the member for Goldstein's contribution to this debate. I agree 100 per cent with him. The mistaken ideology that we have in this country, when it comes to superannuation, is that the money seems to grow on trees. Every single dollar that a worker earns in superannuation has to be earned by the company that he's working for. It's different in the government sector; they just tax the private sector. But every small business out there working in the private sector and which pays their workers superannuation, compulsorily, has to earn that money. That worker has to earn that money. So the money you put into superannuation is taken out of that worker's pockets. It means that they have less disposable income than they otherwise would. The problem with this is that it makes it so difficult for young Australians to save a deposit for their home. We're saying to every young Australian, 'You have to take 9½ per cent of the money that you earn, of the wealth that you create, and put it into a superannuation fund, and you can't touch it until you're 65.' We have to understand that it makes it so much harder for that person to save for a deposit on their house. The great irony of this current policy is that when someone gets to 65 they can take all their superannuation money and go and buy a house. Surely it would have been better to allow that Australian citizen to use that money to put down a deposit for their house, to help them save throughout their life, because there is nothing like having a mortgage when it comes to a form of compulsory saving. Everyone here in this place that has taken out a mortgage will understand that you scrape, you scrimp and you find that money to pay that mortgage. That is what you do first. For most of us of my age and my generation, that has been the best investment we have ever made. Yet we are denying that to an entire generation of Australians. Sir Robert Menzies, one of our longest-serving and greatest prime ministers, knew this most of all. I'd like to finish with this quote from the 'Forgotten people' speech: I do not believe that the real life of this nation is to be found either in great luxury hotels and the petty gossip of so-called fashionable suburbs, or in the officialdom of organised masses. It is to be found in the homes of people who are nameless and unadvertised, and who, whatever their individual religious conviction or dogma, see in their children their greatest contribution to the immortality of their race— Then, the important line— The home is the foundation of sanity and sobriety; it is the indispensable condition of continuity; its health determines the health of society as a whole. He went on: The material home represents the concrete expression of the habits of frugality and saving "for a home of our own". Your advanced socialist may rage against private property even while he acquires it; but one of the best instincts in us is that which induces us to have one little piece of earth with a house and a garden which is ours; to which we can withdraw, in which we can be among our friends, into which no stranger may come against our will. It should be the obligation of this parliament to do everything it can to make it as easy as possible for young Australians to buy and own their own home. We are forcing them, through the superannuation system, to put their money aside in an account and not invest in a house until they are 65. That policy is highly mistaken. 19:17 Mr SUKKAR 242515 Deakin I thank all members who have contributed to this debate on the Treasury Laws Amendment (2020 Measures No. 4) Bill 2020. In recapping, schedule 1 to the bill amends the income tax law to ensure that no tax is payable on refunds of large-scale generation certificate shortfall charges. This measure will clarify the operation of the income tax law for energy providers, ensuring that taxpayers who receive a refund of shortfall charges are not inadvertently disadvantaged. This will enable the market for these certificates to work as intended, meeting targets for clean energy while minimising cost impacts for consumers. Schedule 2 to the bill amends the Treasury Laws Amendment (Putting Consumers First—Establishment of the Australian Financial Complaints Authority) Act 2018 to facilitate the closure of the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal and any transitional arrangements associated with the AFCA replacing the Superannuation Complaints Tribunal. Schedule 3 to the bill amends the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 to encourage greater compliance with industry codes of conduct by increasing the maximum civil pecuniary penalty for breaches from 300 to 600 penalty units. For the franchising code only, the maximum penalty is being increased to the greater of either $10 million, three times the benefit of the breach or 10 per cent of annual turnover. Schedule 4 will amend schedule 5 of the Coronavirus Economic Response Package Omnibus (Measures No. 2) Act 2020 to re-implement a temporary mechanism which allows arrangements for complying with information and documentary requirements to be altered under the Commonwealth legislation, including requirements to give information in writing and to produce, witness and sign documents. The temporary mechanism was previously in place from 9 April 2020 until 31 December 2020. The reimplementation of this mechanism responds to the continuing challenges posed by social-distancing measures and restrictions on movement and gathering in Australia and overseas introduced as a response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Social-distancing restrictions, as members will know, are expected to continue to cause difficulties in complying with information and documentary requirements under Commonwealth legislation both in Australia and elsewhere, which requires this extension. In recognition of the importance of continued business transactions and government service delivery during the pandemic, this measure provides that a responsible minister may continue to determine that provisions in Commonwealth legislation containing particular information or documentary requirements: (1) can be varied; (2) do not apply; or (3) prescribe that another provision specified in the determination applies for a specified time period. The responsible minister must not exercise the power unless they are satisfied that the determination is in response to circumstances relating to COVID-19. This mechanism is again temporary and will be repealed at the end of this year, at 31 December 2021, and any determination made under the mechanism will cease to operate when the temporary mechanism is repealed. I therefore commend this bill to the House. The SPEAKER 00APG The original question was that this bill be now read a second time. To this the honourable member for Whitlam has moved as an amendment that all words after 'That be omitted with a view to substituting other words. So the immediate question is that the words proposed to be omitted stand part of the question.

The House divided. [19:26]
(The Speaker—Hon. Tony Smith)

 67 AYES Alexander, JG Allen, K Andrews, KJ Andrews, KL Archer, BK Bell, AM Broadbent, RE Chester, D Christensen, GR Connelly, V Coulton, M Drum, DK (teller) Dutton, PC Entsch, WG Evans, TM Falinski, JG Fletcher, PW Flint, NJ Frydenberg, JA Gee, AR Haines, H Hamilton, GR Hammond, CM Hastie, AW Hawke, AG Hunt, GA Irons, SJ Joyce, BT Kelly, C Laming, A Landry, ML Ley, SP Littleproud, D Liu, G Marino, NB Martin, FB McCormack, MF Morrison, SJ Morton, B O'Brien, T O'Dowd, KD Pasin, A Pearce, GB Pitt, KJ Price, ML Ramsey, RE (teller) Robert, SR Sharkie, RCC Sharma, DN Simmonds, J Steggall, Z Stevens, J Sukkar, MS Taylor, AJ Tehan, DT Thompson, P Tudge, AE van Manen, AJ Wallace, AB Webster, AE Wicks, LE Wilson, RJ Wilson, TR Wood, JP Wyatt, KG Young, T Zimmerman, T 55 NOES Albanese, AN Bandt, AP Bird, SL Burke, AS Burney, LJ Burns, J Butler, MC Butler, TM Byrne, AM Chalmers, JE Champion, ND Clare, JD Coker, EA Collins, JM Conroy, PM Dreyfus, MA Elliot, MJ Freelander, MR Georganas, S Giles, AJ Gorman, P Gosling, LJ Hayes, CP Hill, JC Jones, SP Kearney, G Khalil, P King, CF King, MMH Leigh, AK Marles, RD McBride, EM Mitchell, BK Mulino, D Murphy, PJ Neumann, SK O'Connor, BPJ O'Neil, CE Owens, JA Perrett, GD Phillips, FE Rishworth, AL Rowland, MA Ryan, JC (teller) Shorten, WR Smith, DPB Snowdon, WE Stanley, AM (teller) Swanson, MJ Thistlethwaite, MJ Thwaites, KL Vamvakinou, M Wells, AS Wilson, JH Zappia, A 12 PAIRS Buchholz, S Chesters, LM Coleman, DB Claydon, SC Conaghan, PJ Templeman, SR Gillespie, DA Husic, EN Goodenough, IR McBain, KL Hogan, KJ Fitzgibbon, JA Howarth, LR Keogh, MJ Leeser, J Payne, AE McIntosh, MI Watts, TG O'Brien, LS Dick, MD Porter, CC Aly, A Vasta, RX Mitchell, R

Question agreed to.
Debate interrupted.

 ADJOURNMENT 93 ADJOURNMENT COVID-19: Higher Education 93 19:30 Dr LEIGH BU8 Fenner Since the start of this pandemic 17,000 university jobs have been lost as a result of the government's failure to support one of our most important sectors. We have seen the Australian National University forced to close its neuroscience institute named after Mr Eccles, the ANU's first Nobel laureate. We have seen Monash University cut its theatre studies and musicology programs. Macquarie University will have no Bachelor of Mathematical Sciences taught this year, nor will the Bachelor of Advanced Science, the Bachelor of Advanced Information Technology or the Master of Mechanical Engineering be taught. We have seen the Australian National University downgrade its art schools, Newcastle and La Trobe universities abolish their drama departments and the University of Tasmania cut courses, including arts and humanities. From nearly every university we've seen reductions in arts, languages, science and maths courses. It didn't have to be this way. When JobKeeper was put in place the government deliberately changed the rules, no less than three times, to exclude public universities from JobKeeper support. Private universities were the only ones who received support. According to Universities Australia, this sector has lost an estimated $1.8 billion in revenue in 2020, compared to 2019, and a further $2 billion in 2021. That means that there is a cumulative impact. A student who doesn't enrol in first year this year is lost in the second, third and fourth years. We've seen a range of experts speaking out against the decisions that the government has made. Andrew Norton, a former higher education adviser to the Liberal Party, has estimated the funding gap to maintain our current research output is around $4.7 billion. He said: The timing of Dan Tehan's higher education reform package could not have been worse for the university research sector. He said that these changes 'put at risk Australia's research gains of the last 15 years'. More than 40 per cent of university students will be paying more for their degree as a result of the deal that the government did with crossbench senators to get its university package through. If you're studying commerce, humanities, communications or law, you'll pay more than a dentist or a doctor for your degree every year. The cost for art students has increased by 113 per cent—going to about $58,000 for a basic four-year degree. This is exactly the opposite approach that Australia took in the early 1990s recession, when we encouraged students to finish year 12, to take the opportunity to do more learning at a time when earning was more difficult. Education is our fourth biggest export industry and yet it is being decimated under the Liberals. Our universities will now receive 32 per cent less to teach medical science students, 17 per cent less to teach maths students, and 16 per cent less to teach engineering students. The Chief Scientist has estimated that 7,700 research jobs are at risk. Under Robert Menzies we had the Colombo Plan, which welcomed overseas students to Australia. Under the Morrison government we've had, 'It's time to go home.' That was the Prime Minister's message to international students when COVID hit. They failed to recognise the crucial role that international students play not just in providing revenue to universities but also in enriching the student experience for all students at Australian universities. It's true of faculties too. Universities are struggling to access the international talent pool on which they draw so deeply. When I was director of the economics group at the Research School of Social Sciences at ANU, I was one of only a couple of Australian-born researchers in that group. Our universities are international and they deserve respect, which so sadly they are not getting from the government today. COVID-19 94 19:35 Mr CONNELLY 282984 Stirling Every Australian who hasn't had the opportunity to work inside parliament or government sort of sees a few things on question time or television or might hear them on the radio but doesn't get to see what it's like behind the scenes. Today I would like to take our viewers and listeners on a little bit of an expose as to what it's like to observe as a member of parliament and watch our leadership team, our Prime Minister and our ministers, manage through a crisis. Decisiveness is one of the most important principles of managing through crises well. I had some experience in this, firstly, through serving as a military officer for about a decade and then, secondly, through a decade and a half in business, where I worked in crisis management and business continuity. So I've seen the importance of taking decisions early and making them with the best information that you can. One of the very earliest decisions taken by our Prime Minister and cabinet was to close the international borders to limit the spread of the coronavirus and that played such a significant role in keeping Australians safe. The second measure was declaring the spread of the virus a pandemic. That occurred two full weeks before the World Health Organization did the same. That assertive forward-leaning action went a very long way to getting us ahead at the very start of the crisis. I will talk a little bit now about our Minister for Health, Greg Hunt. He has obviously been under immense pressure but has almost performed amicably if we are to assess him in terms of crisis management performance. Minister Hunt, the Minister for Health, has a mind a bit like a steel trap and is famed for being able to remember the names of complex medicines which save and enhance lives, many of which have been listed on the PBS under this government. He also has demonstrated a deft ability for decision-making. In September last year, one of the most important decisions that has been made during this crisis was taken. It was then, in September last year, that the decision was made to generate the capacity to manufacture vaccines at scale here in Australia. Right now that contract is taking great effect. In fact, the TGA has just approved the release of the first on-shore manufactured AstraZeneca doses. Indeed, 832,200 of those doses will now be rolling out of CSL's Melbourne plant. A further 2½ million doses have already been manufactured and are undergoing quality control ahead of rolling TGA approvals. Imagine where we would be had that early decision not been taken to manufacture at scale vaccines here in Australia. We have seen the disruptions to the global supply chain of vaccines and, thankfully, we are not now exposed nearly as badly as we could be to those risks. Next I will talk about perseverance under pressure. It is no secret and no shame that when you are in a leadership position during a crisis you are under immense pressure. I don't think that the Treasurer will mind me admitting that one Sunday night whilst we were still unable to travel between Canberra and, in my case, my electorate of Stirling in Western Australia, I was in the ministerial corridor because I had to come in and do some work. On that Sunday night, the Treasurer was coming out of the cabinet room. Normally, the Treasurer is a bright and chirpy fellow and quite personable who says 'G'day Vince, how are you?' However, this time, he marched out of the cabinet room, used the disinfecting station there. I could see not only a look of determination on his face but incredibly red eyes as he marched past without even seeing I was there. I didn't feel too bad that I wasn't acknowledged. We later learnt that he was spending many, many sleepless nights with Treasury designing what we now know as the JobKeeper package. We know that JobKeeper has been a massive benefit for all Australians. It has kept Australians in jobs and it has protected Australian businesses. In my own electorate of Stirling, businesses like Cordingley's Surf in Scarborough Beach and El Greco Cafe in Stirling really have reaped those benefits. We are also leading, adjusting the plan and being compassionate. We've seen that in PNG, where we've released eight million of our own vaccine doses and are continuing support to our wonderful Pacific island neighbour. JobKeeper Payment 95 19:40 Mr NEUMANN HVO Blair This is a government that has lost its way. Every day there's another scandal, a rort or the axing of a service, on top of a trillion dollars worth of debt, a dud NBN service, dodgy land deals and 40,000 Australians stranded overseas. It's a government that seems to be protecting its own interests and not the interests of the nation. It's a government which is overseeing real wage levels go down while childcare costs have risen. It's a government that has paid JobKeeper so they could fund million-dollar bonuses for their millionaire CEOs in companies and their billionaire shareholders, in terms of dividends and profits, while, at the same time, refusing to back 600 meatworkers in my electorate, who have lost their jobs, with JobKeeper. In just four days, the government will axe JobKeeper, leaving working Australians and small businesses anxious and uncertain about their future. Over a thousand businesses across Ipswich, the Somerset region and the Karana Downs area will lose that vital support. It will be ripped away from them. That is support that has kept workers employed and connected to their places of employment. I'm referring to targeted financial support to keep workers out of unemployment queues while businesses find time to adapt to the changes and challenges of COVID-19. There are just over two million Australians unemployed or underemployed—far too many of both in my electorate. They might even have a job, if they're underemployed, but their hours are insecure, inadequate and unpredictable. I hold mobile offices regularly and make a point of calling residents as well. Local people are telling me they are losing full-time and permanent jobs and are being forced into casual or temporary employment. Recently I had a well-qualified registered nurse come to my office. She had gone to Far North Queensland to follow a job through a labour hire agency because hospitals, aged-care centres and the like were moving away from full-time, permanent staff. She relocated, only to find that the job didn't last beyond three months. A highly qualified experienced nurse cannot find permanent employment. It's hard being a middle-aged woman either getting back into the workforce or seeking more secure work. That's their personal life experience. It's hard being a labourer aged over 55 who can no longer do the level of physical work he once did. These are people languishing on JobSeeker or picking up casual or temporary work. This week, 21-year-old Nick came to my office. He was injured and unable to work his two casual jobs until at least May. He recently moved back in with his unemployed father to help him pay the rent. Since his surgery, this young man can only get youth allowance of about $300 a fortnight, as he lives with his dad. He's got no sick leave entitlements nor savings. These are people in the Blair electorate who are not captured in the job figures. When JobKeeper ends, how many more will join them in the search for too few jobs? The government's ideas of supporting workers was to allow them to raid their superannuation, a staggering 4,350 workers in my electorate wiped out their entire retirement savings because of the government's early release of superannuation. Almost 30,000 people living in Blair raided their super funds to the tune of $218.5 million. The government needs to commit to the legislated superannuation guarantee increases from July this year until it reaches 12 per cent in 2025—not optional superannuation increases but real increases. It's appalling that those opposite and so many of them on their back bench rail against this measure while earning 15.4 per cent superannuation themselves. There's a massive disconnect between this government and what's happening outside of these walls. While JobKeeper will end in a few days, many businesses and sectors didn't even get to start. Meatworkers in my electorate are competing with those in the industry using labour hire firms—still collecting JobKeeper. JBS was punished for hiring their own staff. Let's not forget those who work for local authorities, local councils, child care, the university sector, temporary migrants and even casuals with less than one year of employment with one employer. Let's not forget tourism. I understand the government is supporting the aviation industry to get Australians travelling to what look like marginal, winnable seats for the coalition across Queensland and Western Australia, with tourism destinations many thousands of kilometres away that residents cannot travel to. And what about travel agents—how is this helping them? Accommodation in our capital cities or in safe Labor seats, events and conference organisers. It doesn't help the entertainment industry or the arts sector. This government has failed so many people. Axing support too early will hurt families, local jobs and businesses. It's time this government stopped looking after itself, stopped looking after the few, and started governing for the many. Undocumented Workers 96 19:45 Mr DRUM 56430 Nicholls I want to acknowledge a report entitled Out of the Shadows that has recently been released by Associate Professor Joanna Howell from the University of Adelaide. In this report, she tackles the very real issue of undocumented workers. She says that the pandemic, the crisis that we have at the moment, may be the opportunity we need to regularise the status of these undocumented workers. Who are these undocumented workers? This report says undocumented farm workers are migrants who may be working in the agricultural industry without the entitlement to work. This includes migrants on visas without work rights, such as tourists; migrants who have visas that have expired; and migrants who have valid visas with work rights but who work in breach of the conditions of their visas. Professor Howell talks about the National Agricultural Workforce Strategy and the fact that they have strongly recommended that the government introduce this one-off regularisation process for undocumented farm workers. It is estimated that there are somewhere between 60,000 and 100,000 undocumented workers who are currently in Australia and have been in Australia for many years. They form a critical part of the harvest workforce, but they still haven't been enough to help our farmers through the last six months. The substantial presence of undocumented workers can no longer be ignored, and Professor Howell talks about four compelling reasons why. Firstly, if we have between 60,000 and 100,000 people in Australia who effectively don't exist in terms of the medical system then they are going to be unable to come forward to receive a vaccination for COVID-19. So there is going to be a whole cohort out there who will be too petrified to go anywhere near any type of medical centre to get the jab and, therefore, this whole cohort will be unvaccinated. If we are serious about vaccination, we need to look at regularising these people. The second reason is that incentivising undocumented workers will help our labour shortages. It is not going to create more people, but, by giving these people legal status, you are going to enable them to work from farm to farm, to cross the borders and to become much more efficient and effective. This improved mobility will be a huge boost for the horticultural sector, which has been so let down by the Victorian government. The third reason for this one-off regularisation is the need to stop exploitation. People who are opposed to overseas workers continually raise the concept of 'we bring these people out here and they get exploited'. We already have people out here that don't exist, these people without status. The opportunity for them to be exploited is absolutely rife. We need to acknowledge this. We need to acknowledge that these people are here. Whilst the vast majority of farmers who are using undocumented workers are doing the right thing—paying them correctly and organising every other payment that they would normally have—it does create the possibility that these people will be exploited. The fourth reason to introduce a one-off regularisation is simply the crisis that we have on farms right now. Hundreds of millions of dollars has been lost due to the fact that states decided to close their borders with a couple of days notice. Obviously, Australia has closed its borders to the working holiday makers. What we have now is this urgent and immediate labour crisis. By doing this right now, surely it would create an efficiency that would be a significant boost. As of early February, losses were listed at $45 million and that has certainly increased now. We now have the situation where many farmers are being exploited by pickers who are standing in front of them and demanding that they be paid 60 to 70 per cent over and above the normal accepted wage for fruit picking. The exploitation has totally swung around and we need to act, as a government, to bring these people into legal status. Parliament House: Staff 96 19:50 Ms McBAIN 281988 Eden-Monaro What a week! Or, should I say, what a month! Is it just me, or does it feel like Thursday night? The reality is that it's only Wednesday night. The other harsh reality is that the distress caused over the last four or five weeks by the sickening conduct by some in this place has been laid bare. Light is a disinfectant, and as hard as the news has been to hear and as hard as this is for survivors, this is a necessary and powerful conversation we need to have in order to drive change. In saying that, it's critical that those charged with leading this change move forward with empathy and a willingness to learn and listen. The old saying that we have one mouth and two ears, and that they should be used in that ratio, rings true. It's an honour and a privilege to be a member of this parliament, but I'm disappointed that the service I have come here to fulfil has been overshadowed by a dark culture weighing down our work. This workplace needs to supercharge the reforms needed so that we can truly serve every Australian. After hearing the Prime Minister's attempt at a mea culpa yesterday, Nick from Carwoola wrote to me with his thoughts: 'As my local MP for federal parliament, I would like to share with you some news for our PM regarding the treatment of women in the workplace. I work in a large private sector firm and I can assure the PM that the activities of LNP staffers in women's offices and ministers' offices do not occur in our workplace. The PM and the LNP need to do more to support and nurture women in parliament.' Nick was not the only one who has written to me in recent weeks. This discussion has stirred people in a way that only adds further to my advocacy on this matter. Tracy from Murrumbateman wrote: 'I was horrified to read today that the Prime Minister appears to be taking no action about a rape allegation. The PM really needs to read the room and understand that trying to brush things under the carpet is not going to work.' And David from Jerrabomberra said: 'I am writing to you tonight to express my dismay with the federal government's handling of recent incidents. This is not just about what goes on in parliament. Federal parliament needs to help resolve this toxic culture in Australia.' And then there was Phil, 'Why is the rule of law deemed to be so powerful that by challenging the way it's administered one is at risk of being turned into a pillar of salt?' The women and men of Eden-Monaro are shaking their heads and calling for action. These sorts of emails started landing in my inbox four weeks ago and we finally saw a glimmer of understanding yesterday from the Prime Minister. But it lasted just a few minutes before the switch was flicked back to the aggression, denial and self-interest that is such a blockage in taking action and, I'd suggest, also part of the problem that denies women justice, denies women a voice and denies women equality. Mixing amongst the women, both young and old, who gathered on the lawns in front of this place last week, I was struck by the depth of emotion, the level of lived experience and a thirst for shame; it's a shame that our Prime Minister missed it. During my career as a lawyer, some people assumed I was a secretary. As Bega Valley mayor, some people assumed that I was the mayor's PA. I have had to fight for my salary, which was less than that of a male colleague with less experience, because, 'He sold himself better,' even though I had proven my work ethic and commitment over two years. I've had to fend off an unwanted advance in a confined space during a work commitment and then hear that it was because he, 'hadn't eaten dinner and had had too much to drink'. And I haven't even bothered to go into detail about the email campaign launched against me during the by-election by a man I had never met, calling me inexplicable names and accusing me of training paedophiles. And I concede that I've gotten off lightly. Speaking to those on the parliamentary lawns last week, and with other friends and colleagues, I know that women have been subjected to so much worse, and I rise to let those women know, 'I hear you, and I'm here to add my voice to yours so that the Prime Minister might hear you too.' For those listening and those reading between the lines, something else is also emerging. The ABC's Leigh Sales pulled those threads together last week in Sydney. She said: … it is sickening to see this constant situation where powerful people and institutions exploit less powerful people. You can imagine the applause she received, and I encourage anyone who hasn't read the transcript to do so. This workplace is like no other, but that is no excuse to behave differently to other workplaces. The government of the day sets the standard, and many in my community feel those standards have been dropped—not just that they are slipping and not just in treatment of women but also in the treatment those most in need. The people in my electorate rebuilding their lives after drought, bushfire, COVID-19 and flooding are saying that they feel left behind. When we leave one person behind, we are all drawn backwards. Thank you to those who have raised their voice. I hear you. Australian Broadcasting Corporation 97 19:55 Ms FLINT 245550 Boothby I wish I did not have to keep coming back into this place to continue to record my experience as the ultimate case study in why so many women, especially Liberal women, conservative women, Centre Right women, choose to stay silent on their treatment in public or political life. Last week I gave two emotional speeches to parliament. The first called out the double standards and hypocrisy of the Labor Party and hard left-wing groups like the unions and GetUp, who claim to value and fight for women's safety, just not for women like me. The second recorded the vile, highly sexist abuse I received after my speech from the online trolls and haters and the fact that GetUp and journalists like Paul Bongiorno reduced my experiences to a political smear campaign rather than acknowledging the real fears for my safety I held during the last election campaign and the toll the ongoing abuse, particularly sexist attacks, have taken on me. Perhaps I am showing my age by channelling an old TV advert, but I am sad to say, 'But wait: there's more.' Attacks on me were continued by Samantha Maiden on news.com.au and on ABC Insiders on Sunday. I want to introduce Ms Maiden to a concept—that of secondary victimisation, which occurs when a victim suffers further harm not as a direct result of the criminal act but due to the manner in which institutions and individuals deal with the victim. Ms Maiden needs to clarify if she is claiming that I was not stalked and that Georgina Downer was not stalked, because on Insiders she seemed to be. As she was not on the campaign trail with either me or Georgina, I ask her: how do you know? Georgina and I know the truth of what happened to us; she does not. I note the man who she claims was terminally ill managed to follow me around my electorate from event to event and post multiple posts to social media on a daily basis either attacking me or liking attacks on me. This was obsessive behaviour. It was not directed at the other female candidates, just at me. He was a nasty little creep and he was dangerous. The police issued him with what they described to me as a stalking order for my protection after I had asked him to stop and the AFP had asked him to stop. The Advertiser reported this as a stalking caution. I will be forever grateful to the SA Police because their actions made his behaviour stop. Ms Maiden also said the following on Insiders: 'I think it was a very traumatic experience she had and I think it was unacceptable in terms of graffiti calling her a whore and all the rest of it, but the simple truth is—which does not make it okay—just because you are criticised as a female MP does not make it sexist.' Well, if being called a 'whore' is not sexist then I really don't know what is. The fact this has occurred on our public broadcaster, the ABC, says it all. After all, they have form when it comes to being associated with sexist attacks or comments about me. ABC's Q&A has never apologised to me about when Mike Carlton live-tweeted: Never have I admired Jimmy Barnes so much as tonight. How does he not leap from his seat and strangle the Liberal shill on his right? Yet ABC's Insiders recently issued a correction and clarification to Mr Carlton for not getting a recollection of that particular tweet quite right. ABC's Peter Goers has never apologised for his attack on my appearance he penned in a column for The Sunday Mail, criticising my appearance and my smile. Then, on Sunday, Insiders ran the segment featuring Ms Maiden that I've just mentioned. So I ask the ABC: Is this balanced coverage? Is this fair comment? I want to finish on issues ABC's Insiders and the rest of the ABC should actually be covering. Today, I heard two proud and strong Aboriginal women, Jacinta Price and Cheron Long, speak of their frustration that the mainstream media will not cover their stories and will not report their truth. So I say to the ABC: get out of the Canberra bubble, get out of the Sydney and Melbourne CBDs and get out to the regions to cover the stories of women like Cheron Long, who I never want to hear say the following words again: 'We have to live with an Aboriginal rape culture. Sexual abuse is accepted as normal in too many Aboriginal communities. When I have been interviewed by the media, I have been told not to use these words because they demonise Aboriginal men. The media don't want to hear the truth. But white feminists are allowed to say whatever they want. Why is it that Aboriginal women and children suffer the most, but they won't let us have our own voice when it comes to violence and sexual abuse in this country? Why won't they let us tell our story?' House adjourned at 20:00 NOTICES 98 NOTICES

Wednesday, 24 March 2021

The DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Goodenough) took the chair at 09:59.

CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS 100 CONSTITUENCY STATEMENTS Electric Vehicles 100 09:59 Mr THISTLETHWAITE 182468 Kingsford Smith Australians are missing out on the opportunity to buy cheaper model electric vehicles. It's a result of state and federal government policies which clearly discourage Australians from purchasing EVs. The Electric Vehicle Council of Australia says that Australia is the most hostile market environment for electric vehicles in the world. The managing director of Volkswagen Australia says the federal government's policy settings are 'embarrassing'. It means Australians aren't able to buy popular mid-priced models of electric vehicles sold in North America and Europe. That's because demand for electric vehicles outstrips supply in the bigger markets that are more supportive of a transition to cleaner technology. Some of the big car manufacturers say they don't want subsidies from the federal government; what they want is policy certainty around cleaner vehicle emissions standards in Australia, while from state governments they're looking for planning guidelines that make sure new public buildings come with charging stations. Australians are now missing out on the opportunity for cheaper motoring and a cleaner environment. Only 0.12 per cent of vehicles registered in Australia are EVs. That's just over 20,000 on our roads. Even New Zealand has more EVs registered, with over 25,000 cars. We know that, in 2020, electric vehicles made up just 0.75 per cent of new car sales in Australia. That's way below the global average of 4.2 per cent last year. By comparison, the United Kingdom EV sales were 10.6 per cent of new car sales last year, with similar sales in the European Union. In Norway, more than half of the vehicles that were sold in 2020 were electric vehicles. It's clear that the handbrake is being put on electric vehicle sales in our nation. Those Australians who are buying EVs are paying too much for them, because there is no federal government plan to encourage the transition to cleaner vehicle technology. Australians pay more in taxes for EVs than people in just about any other country in the world. There is also very little public infrastructure to support EVs, with only 1,219 charging sites throughout Australia and only 157 fast chargers. In contrast, California has 32,000 charging sites, while the United Kingdom has 13,000. There is no national plan to encourage and deal with an increase in EVs. That's seen some of the states introduce retrograde taxes on electric vehicles that discourage purchases of the new technology. The Victorian and South Australian government's 2½c per litre tax on EVs with assessment through logbooks provides no incentive for motorists to purchase an EV. We need leadership through the federal government. This means a national plan for a transition to electric vehicles. Australia needs better emission standards, support for public charging infrastructure and encouragement for manufacturers to supply in Australia. We also need national coordination on road user charging, to avoid variations in state taxes, along with changes to planning laws. (Time expired) Curtin Electorate: Sculpture by the Sea 100 10:03 Ms HAMMOND 80072 Curtin I've spoken before about my deep admiration for art and artists, while also recognising my complete lack of artistic ability or creativity. The ability of artists to capture ideas, moods, feelings, people or places and then evoke responses from people is absolutely incredible. Whether it be in music, dance or literature, the way that we are challenged by those with creative souls is absolutely incredible. I was lucky once again this year that Sculpture by the Sea was run, for the 17th time, on the Cottesloe foreshore. It ran from 8 to 22 March, and there were 70 works of art from 13 countries, including—something I was most pleased about—34 artists from WA. There was a huge Kimberley-inspired giant boab tree on the beach. There was also an impressive eight-metre-high structural wave that came off the end of the rock jetty. One work that particularly resonated with me, which I saw in miniature before seeing down on the beach, was a piece called Tenants, and it was aluminium and steel wire, galvanised wire, aluminium wire, all twisted around. It was the artist's response to being locked down during COVID. It was an absolutely incredible piece. It captured that sense that we all went through last year of being near people but also distant from people. Sculpture by the Sea is open to everybody in our community. As I said, it was the 17th time it was run this year. It has traditionally been and still is a free event. But because of restrictions in funding and decreases in funding across all levels of government and the Australia Council not refunding, Sculpture by the Sea last year and this year was actually asking people to donate money—$5 or $10—to go and visit the sculptures. People did do that. As it's only just finished, I'm yet to find out the exact sum that was raised. But I do hope that it's enough, because we want to keep Sculpture by the Sea in Western Australia. To David Hanley, the irrepressible founder and organiser, who was still assisting getting sculptures put in their spots the day before the exhibition opened, thank you. Congratulations to you again, David Hanley, to your board, and to all the staff and volunteers who work tirelessly every year for the benefit of our community in highlighting our amazing artists. COVID-19: Young People 101 10:06 Ms McBRIDE 248353 Dobell I grew up in Wyong and went to high school in Tuggerah. It's always been tough for young people growing up outside big cities as they leave school to look for work, find an apprenticeship or traineeship or secure a place at university. The pandemic has made this tougher, and the government's patchy response in the outer suburbs and regional Australia has only made it worse in my community. Recently the shadow minister for youth, Amanda Rishworth, and I heard from young people on the coast about their experiences during COVID, of the challenges of schooling from home when you're sharing devices, can't afford data or have poor internet interconnectivity. We've heard of increasing anxiety and depression and struggles to access support services because of long waiting times or stigma towards young people seeking help. The government talks about its commitment to younger Australians and claims that there are over 200 initiatives that directly or indirectly benefit them. The question from young people in my community is, which young people and where do they live? While there are some green shoots of recovery, it's patchy, and there are many challenges ahead. The pandemic has had devastating impacts on regional coastal communities like mine, built on retail, hospitality and tourism. The impact on many young people has been severe. At the peak of the pandemic there were 36 jobseekers for every vacancy on the coast. Young people deserve more support from this government, not less. Yet at the same time as around 11 per cent of young people on the coast are looking for work, we're experiencing skills shortages—of welders, bricklayers, hairdressers and engineers. Since this government came to power, the number of apprentices and trainees in my electorate of Dobell has dropped by 602. That is a 25 per cent fall in young people getting a start, getting a qualification they need for a steady job and good career. The position across Australia is worse: a drop of over 35 per cent in the number of apprentices and trainees, including a fall of 140,000 apprentices. Sadly, it's not surprising, given that before the pandemic this government had cut around $3 billion from TAFE and training. I want to turn now to two specific COVID related initiatives, a Commonwealth scholarship program for young Australians, a federal government initiative where young people in my community have been overlooked. As I mentioned earlier, young people are asking, 'Who's benefitting from these government initiatives and where are they?' I recently wrote to the Minister for Education and Youth regarding the Commonwealth Scholarships Program for Young Australians. This program remains exclusively open to residents of the former Gosford LGA and Robertson, but not those living in the former Wyong LGA and Dobell, despite the councils being amalgamated back in 2016. That, as has been reported, effectively locks out half the coast's employers and jobseekers from the $82 million program. There is no reason young people in Dobell should miss out on these scholarships. It's just the same with the industry training hubs announced in the 2019-20 budget, which aimed to improve opportunities for young people in regions with high unemployment, targeting Year 11 and 12 students. A hub has been announced in Gosford, on the south of the coast, but the south of the coast has again missed out on this $50.6 national program. This pandemic will have a long tail, especially for young people. We can't afford to leave behind a generation of young people living outside big cities in the outer suburbs and the regions. They deserve a fair go. Water Infrastructure 101 10:09 Mr HAMILTON 291387 Groom Australia is a land of extremes, and when it comes to the weather, as we've seen over recent days, we do extreme well. Our hearts go out to all those affected by the wild weather that has washed through New South Wales and South-East Queensland. But a few hundred kilometres from the coastal flooding, my electorate is still hoping that the rain will signal a change in fortune and relieve them from the grip of what could be called a green drought. In the Toowoomba region, the rain has been enough to add colour back to our parks and paddocks, but not enough to restore deep moisture reserves after years of dry weather. The reality is that the Toowoomba region's dams are still only sitting at 30 per cent capacity, despite this week's very welcome falls. In my region, water is the key to life, and, without it, our health, our economy, our people and our communities suffer. We're seeing all of these challenges in real time in the town of Clifton, just outside of my electorate, which has required drinking water to be trucked in since supplies ran dry in late 2019, at a cost of more than $90,000 a month to the Toowoomba Regional Council. It's an expensive exercise and demonstrates why water security is an issue being addressed locally by all levels of government. Five southern Queensland councils and one New South Wales council have joined to form a regional water alliance to look at solutions to this critical issue—solutions that could potentially traverse the invisible line that is the Queensland-New South Wales state border. I wish the new alliance—which includes the Toowoomba, Western Downs, Southern Downs, Goondiwindi and Lockyer Valley regional councils as well as the Tenterfield Shire Council, south of the border—the very best in determining projects that will bring water security to this very productive region. I'm also actively looking to engage with the state government to ensure the Toowoomba region isn't overlooked in water infrastructure planning. Earlier this year I wrote to Queensland water minister, Glenn Butcher, to outline my concerns relating to water security on the Darling Downs. I also asked about discussions between the National Water Grid Authority and the state government about a local water supply security assessment on the Darling Downs. I'm very pleased to place on the record—and credit where credit's due—that $9 million has been allocated by Minister Butcher's department for three regional water assessments, including the Southern Downs and the Darling Downs. These assessments will seek to identify water supply challenges as well as opportunities for stimulating economic activity across each of the regions and across the various sectors of their economies. The assessments will also seek to identify water supply options that could—subject to the outcomes of more specific and detailed assessments—provide the water needed to meet those challenges and opportunities. It's crucial that we continue, across all levels of government, to collaboratively engage with this issue going forward. Water security is not a challenge that can be overcome in isolation, while we wait for rain to fall into our catchment areas. I'd like to take this opportunity to thank all of the members of the Toowoomba Regional Council, who I met with in their chambers earlier this year, for their engagement on water security. It's very crucial that they are focused on this, and I think the people of the Toowoomba region expect this. So thank you, Mayor Antonio, for all of your good work. Indi Electorate: Inland Rail 102 10:12 Dr HAINES 282335 Indi Today I pay tribute to the individuals working tirelessly to enhance the Inland Rail upgrades in our electorate of Indi—those fighting hard to make sure that decision-makers think bigger and see the potential in this project. Country people see all too often what happens when people making decisions that affect us do not understand us—do not understand our needs or understand what we are capable of. But not this time; not with us and not with Inland Rail. The Deputy Prime Minister saw this when I brought him to Indi last week. I want to recognise some of the people leading this visionary community movement. The thing about Indi is that we don't sit back and wait for someone else to solve the problem. We get busy; we show up. More than 200 people showed up last Friday. In Euroa: Jim Shovelton, the spokesperson of Euroa Connect, who presented to the DPM on Friday; John Simpson, the chair of Euroa Connect; Kathi Clark-Orsanic and Zvonko Orsanic, skilled local architects who developed the design concept; Richard Hughes, an engineer who ensures engineering specifications and solutions for community designs really stack up; Shirley Saywell, an amazing community networker who works to keep locals engaged and active in decision-making affecting the Euroa area; and the other members of Euroa Connect, who assist at pop-up community consultations, contributing their expertise and speaking up for a better future for their town's railway precinct. In Benalla: Suzie Pearce, Chair and Spokesperson of Better Benalla Rail; David Moore, a technician and community communications expert; Phil Rees, who provides hands-on experience about the functioning of the station; Alana Johnson, a highly skilled community organiser; the volunteer Better Benalla Rail members and the Save our Station volunteers, who run a pop-up shop to inform Benalla residents of the Inland Rail project; and Bill Dewing, the last stationmaster, who I was honoured to meet last Friday. In Glenrowan: Deborah Kemp, a heritage adviser providing volunteer advice on the preservation of the National Heritage listed Ned Kelly siege site; Helen Senior, who volunteers hard for the Glenrowan Improvers to get the best possible outcome; and the many local businesses adjacent to the site who I've spoken to about their concerns about this project and the viability of their businesses. In Wangaratta: David Maroney and his team, who volunteer tirelessly to improve the safety and functioning of the Wangaratta Railway Station Precinct. As a community Independent, I am proud to walk alongside these people as their representative in this place. I call upon the government to honour their passion, their talent, their incredible skills and their commitment to a better future for our region, with assurances that the Inland Rail upgrade will deliver what the community wants. Swan Electorate: St John Urgent Care 102 10:15 Mr IRONS HYM Swan Since Monday 15 March this year, locals living in southern Perth, in my electorate of Swan, have had a new way to get urgent help for non-life-threatening injuries: through the new St John urgent care centre in Cannington. The member for Cowan and yourself, Deputy Speaker Goodenough, being from WA, will be aware that St John WA is a charitable, non-profit humanitarian organisation teaching first aid to the community and delivering the state's ambulance services, while also shaping and leading the sector nationally. St John has been servicing and operating as an integral part of the Western Australian community for more than 130 years. St John's purpose is to serve humanity and build resilient communities through relief of sickness, distress, suffering and danger. It makes first aid a part of everyone's life, delivering high-quality and cost-effective ambulance services to Western Australians and providing appropriate, timely and equitable access to the health system for unscheduled care. The new urgent care centre in Cannington can treat all sorts of injuries that would normally send someone to the emergency department. They can treat sprains or broken bones, minor ear and eye problems, minor burns or scalds, insect and animal bites, sports injuries, or cuts that need stitches or glue. The Australian government provided $28 million, through the 'Guaranteeing Medicare—strengthening primary care' 2019-20 budget measure, to St John WA to trial urgent care centres to see how effective they were in reducing ambulance ramping and the demand on emergency departments. Highly trained doctors and nurses will treat possible sprains or broken bones, minor eye and ear problems, minor burns or scalds, insect and animal bites, sports injuries, cuts that need stitches or glue, and, if necessary, will provide X-rays, pathology and follow-up treatments such as plaster and urgent dental care. The St John urgent care centres do not require appointments and will bulk-bill when a patient is on a relevant benefit. Together, seven urgent care centres—four new and three existing—are expected to treat 231,000 patients a year in WA. Approximately one-third, or 77,000, of these patients would normally present at public hospital emergency departments. The Australian government funding will help to evaluate how effective the urgent care centre model is in providing high-quality care and reducing pressure on emergency departments. This funding will see four new centres in WA, with Midland opening next month and Osborne Park and Mandurah soon joining the Cannington site. St John WA has another three sites, located in Joondalup, Coburn and Armadale, already operational. Together, the seven sites will form an integrated network across the Perth metropolitan area. The urgent care centre in Cannington will deliver on the government's commitment to ensuring all Australians can access quality health care from 8 am to 10 pm, seven days a week. I congratulate the government on this funding and trial. Werriwa Electorate: Austral 103 10:18 Ms STANLEY 265990 Werriwa The south-west Sydney growth area takes in several suburbs in my electorate of Werriwa, including Austral. I recently held mobile offices in Austral with the Liverpool City councillors Nathan Hagarty and Charishma Kaliyanda. Urban sprawl has inevitably caught up with Austral, once a semi-rural community on Sydney's fringe. What hasn't caught up is the critical amenities to support it. The state government is happy to collect millions in stamp duty and contributions but it's not delivering on much-needed services and infrastructure. Many new residents move to Austral to start young families. At present, there is one single public school. While the government have earmarked sites for future schools, inexplicably they have decided one site for a high school is no longer needed and they will instead double the capacity of another. Parents are frustrated and concerned that their children will have a 30-minute walk not just to get to school but to get to the nearest bus stop. Other families are forced to battle congestion and traffic along Fifteenth Avenue. Each morning, including on weekends, the gridlock stretches for kilometres. Despite being the main east-west route through Austral, Fifteenth Avenue remains a local council road without kerbing and guttering. Residents tell me they were happy to pay a premium because of promises made in the glossy brochures and by salesmen. They are disappointed that the reality is so different. I know Liverpool Council has lobbied for the upgrade of Fifteenth Avenue for years. Planning for this upgrade started nine years ago, when I was a councillor. I remember being invited to those preliminary meetings. Fifteenth Avenue was identified by the state government for upgrade as part of its Growth Areas Special Infrastructure Contribution. But, to date, they've only approved funding for design work. The people of Austral and surrounding suburbs cannot wait any longer. Construction of an upgraded Fifteenth Avenue must start now. Shamefully, failure does not end there. Sadly, 50 years ago, the former member for Werriwa Gough Whitlam committed to connecting Sydney's outer suburbs to the sewerage network. We are going backwards. The Liberal state government is happy to let the development rip. Appalling, it will not deliver sewerage to large parts of Austral until after 2025. Even with the strong objections of council, the state's Land and Environment Court has approved housing developments in Austral with pump-out sewerage—in 2021, 15 kilometres from Liverpool's CBD! In the coming years, Austral will see construction of up to 17,000 new dwellings, putting its population on a par with some of New South Wales' biggest regional cities. Wagga Wagga has 14 public schools, five post offices, a Centrelink and Service NSW. These places are well-connected and they deserve all of the things that they have. But Austral, in my electorate, deserves its fair share as well. Western Australia: Hospitals 104 10:21 Mr GOODENOUGH 74046 Moore Today The West Australian reports: WA's health system has reached an unprecedented breaking point, with two of Perth's major hospitals declaring code yellows, saying they are unable to take in emergency patients. According to the Australian Medical Association WA president, Andrew Miller, the hospitals concerned are Royal Perth and Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital, with Fiona Stanley Hospital nearing the code yellow threshold. At midnight on Monday night, there were about 80 patients waiting for treatment in the emergency department of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital. Perth metropolitan hospitals have experienced record ambulance ramping delays of 4,135 hours in January—the time between an ambulance arriving at an emergency department and patients being admitted. It is time that the McGowan government addressed the health crisis. The electoral honeymoon is over. In my electorate, at Joondalup hospital, the emergency department is also experiencing significant ambulance ramping. It is not uncommon for patients to endure waiting times of four to six hours for treatment. It is concerning that the construction of the extension to the hospital has not yet commenced, despite it being a 2017 WA state Labor election promise. In 2019, the then Leader of the Opposition, the member for Maribyrnong, also visited the hospital and promised an expansion. We are still waiting for construction to commence. By contrast, for its part, the federal government has delivered on its $158 million commitment to expand Joondalup hospital to a total capacity of 1,020 beds. However, the funds have been sitting idle in the state government's coffers. The only good news is that Multiplex has been awarded the early contractor involvement tender for the construction works. Population growth in the northern coastal suburbs is placing greater demands on Joondalup hospital from suburbs further afield. Even the planned medical centre at Yanchep will not be sufficient in coming years to meet the growing demand caused by residential growth in the northern coastal catchment. We must act now to be proactive to avoid future ambulance ramping and avoid an increase in waiting times. Visionary forward planning is required for a major hospital based in the Yanchep region to meet the future healthcare needs of a rapidly growing community. The census later this year will confirm the need for additional medical services for a growing population. Nolan, Mr Laurie 104 10:24 Ms SWANSON 264170 Paterson In the pitch dark of night on 6 January 2016, seven crewmen aboard the Port Stephens marine rescue vessel the Danial Thain ventured into the night. At 2 am, the 32-tonne rescue vessel was hit by a wall of water in cyclonic conditions which tipped the boat onto its port side, throwing the crew on the deck off their feet and causing the boat's propellers to lift out of the water. As the boat righted itself, a second large wave hit, engulfing the crew in water and knocking them off their feet. This is where Laurie Nolan comes into the picture. He is one of the two brave people who have been awarded the Star of Courage today in Australia. Laurie was knocked off his feet by that wall of water. He regained his footing and worked to prevent crew members from being further entangled in safety lines and dragged under the water. He then went to the aid of a crewman who had sustained a shoulder injury, by untangling the safety line and moving the injured man off the deck and into the safety of the cabin. Realising another crewman was pinned to the deck by tangled lines, Mr Nolan grabbed a knife from his belt, severed the line and pulled his colleague to his feet inside the cabin, preventing him from drowning. A third large wave then struck the boat, knocking it over and causing one of the engines to stop on the Daniel Thain. As the boat righted itself, Mr Nolan and the battered crew were able to restart the engine, clear ropes away from the propellers and then begin the arduous five-hour journey back to Port Stephens, battling large waves, cyclone-like headwinds, injuries and severe seasickness. The crew of the race yacht that they went to save made it safely to shore, thankfully, in a life raft. Today, I want to acknowledge Laurie Nolan, who was described as 'such a courageous individual' by our Governor-General David Hurley, who said: These awards recognise the courageous actions of individuals who, in a moment of danger or peril, chose to act. They were brave, they did not hesitate, and their actions made a difference. Laurie, you are outstanding, as are Noel Corcoran, Ian Drummond, Michael Duggan, Suzanne Freeman, Senior Constable Matthew Grey, David Jack, Kenneth Johnson, Senior Constable Nicholas Leach, Ron Lighton, Peter Merlino, Richard Pizzuto, Paul Sullivan, John Thomas and Nigel Waters. Without you choosing to be part of Marine Rescue Port Stephens, without choosing to act on that treacherous night, lives would have been lost. They have been saved. I've never been more proud of my local organisation, Marine Rescue Port Stephens. Thank you for volunteering to make our world a safer place. Ryan Electorate: Witton Barracks 105 10:27 Mr SIMMONDS 282983 Ryan In the heart of the Ryan electorate sits Witton Barracks, a unique military facility that was utilised in World War II as an interrogation prison by the allied forces. The three prisoner-of-war interrogation cells inside the Witton Barracks site at Indooroopilly are the only surviving examples of purpose-built wartime prison cells after the commencement of the Pacific War. For too long, this historical landmark has been underutilised and locked away from the local community, despite its prime location in Indooroopilly, on the banks of the Brisbane River. I'm proud to inform the chamber that that is due to change. The Whitton Barracks will be underutilised no longer, thanks to the advocacy and the work of the Morrison government and the Brisbane City Council together. During my tenure as a Brisbane City councillor for the Walter Taylor Ward, I successfully lobbied the federal government to release the Witton Barracks to Brisbane City Council and place the land back into the hands of local residents. Following the successful acquisition of the site, I, along with Brisbane City Council, developed plans to transform the site into a green space for community use while preserving the historical heritage of the site, but also opening it up as a park, playground and community space, and as a landing point for the bikeway. As part of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program, Phase 2, the Morrison government has committed $850,000 to facilitate the transformation of the Whitton Barracks, and I'm pleased to see that this project is now well underway. Like me, the local councillor James Mackay is committed to ensuring that our longstanding plans for the Whitton Barracks site become reality for our local community. Both Councillor Mackay and I know that the Brisbane City Council and Morrison government are right behind the local community to ensure this project is successfully completed. Brisbane City Council are currently funding the bikeway, with its landing at the park, and we look forward to opening that very soon. When it comes to preserving our proud military history and opening up some of these sites to the local community, as a park and green space, the Morrison government and I are committed to ensuring that this happens. To see this unique riverside precinct, in the heart of Indooroopilly, which is a growing suburb in a growing area, opened up for community use rather than locked away is a significant success for both the Morrison government and the Brisbane City Council, for myself and Councillor Mackay, and for our local community. I am passionate about preserving our local history in our area and giving our families more opportunities to enjoy these riverside locations. I'm so proud that, thanks to the funding of the Morrison government, this project is finally becoming a reality. The DEPUTY SPEAKER 74046 I understand that it is the wish of the Federation Chamber that constituency statements continue for an additional 30 minutes. Are there any objections? There being no objections, I call the honourable member for Moreton. Moreton Electorate: Inland Rail 105 10:30 Mr PERRETT HVP Moreton The current plan for the coalition's boondoggle project, the Inland Rail, ends at Acacia Ridge in my electorate. This will mean more trucks on suburban roads in Moreton. There will be more congestion on our roads, more noise and more air pollution, as A-double trucks—in fact, trains—bringing in coal from New South Wales will be driving through the southern suburbs of Brisbane. There will likely be an extra 3,000 A-double trucks each day on our suburban roads, and that number is expected to increase to 11 million truck movements per year by 2040. So, the LNP, 'Team LNP', have announced a half-baked plan to build tunnels from Acacia Ridge to the port of Brisbane. I say it's 'half-baked' because there's no detail and no costings. What we do know is that the shortest route from Acacia Ridge to the port of Brisbane is 30 kilometres. The Cross River Rail comprised twin tunnels, six kilometres in length, at a cost of $5.4 billion. Tunnels for double-stack trains—because that is what the Inland Rail is about—will need to be bigger than the Cross River Rail tunnels, leaving aside the important fact that the cost of building 30 kilometres of the same-sized tunnels to the port of Brisbane, based on the Cross River Rail costs, will be about $25 billion to $30 billion at today's prices. That's not even allowing for the cost increases over time, because it will be about 10 to 20 years before the tunnel is actually dug. The LNP are saying they want two eight-kilometre long tunnels going to the port. The LNP have said that. That would mean double-stack trains going above ground through suburbs in my electorate. Even on the LNP's crazy plan, the tunnels alone would cost at least $13 billion to $15 billion. To put this into perspective, the total cost of the Inland Rail from Melbourne to Acacia Ridge, which isn't the port of Brisbane, is $15 billion, and that's for a 1,700-kilometre long track. That's about $9 million per kilometre of track. Importantly, the most expensive part of the project is getting the track down the range from Toowoomba to Acacia Ridge. Government members interjecting— Mr PERRETT HVP The cost of the LNP thought bubble just doesn't stack up. That's why they're bleating like stuck pigs at the moment. It just doesn't stack up. Eight kilometres of tunnels and above-ground trains through my electorate, not through Bonner, would cost almost as much as the entire project already. Tunnels all the way from Acacia Ridge to the port of Brisbane would cost more than 150 per cent of the cost of the entire project from Melbourne to Acacia Ridge. A far cheaper option would be to take it from Toowoomba to Gladstone and to the deepwater harbour in Gladstone. Brown & Hurley Group 106 10:33 Mr HOGAN 218019 Page I would like to acknowledge that the Brown & Hurley Group, a family business which started in my community, is celebrating their 75th birthday this year. The business was started by two mates, Alan Brown and Jack Hurley, after their discharge from the Army after the Second World War in 1946. On 1 June 1946, Brown & Hurley opened for business as a bike shop in Kyogle. They began selling and servicing bikes, but eventually word got out that they both had experience in working on trucks, and, from 1948, just two years after opening as a bike shop, they began selling trucks. The business kept growing, and other branches started to open. In 1965, the Brown & Hurley Group sold their first Kenworth truck. To date, they've sold 17,000 Kenworth trucks across their 13 locations around the country. This once small country garage now employs over 460 staff. The strong working partnership between Alan Brown and Jack Hurley became the Brown & Hurley Group, which is regarded as one of the country's biggest and most respected suppliers in the road transport industry. Family has been at the centre of everything the business has done. Both the Brown and Hurley families are still central to the day-to-day running of the business. Jack Hurley and his wife, Thelma, had five children: Joan, Doug, Kevin, Jim and Una. Jim took over the role of the Kyogle dealer principal in 1986, with his wife, Clare. Jim's son Paul is the CEO of Brown & Hurley, and his other son, Tony, is the general manager of sales. Doug Hurley was the dealer principal at Coffs Harbour, and Kevin was joint managing director of the group. Doug's son Dylan Hurley is also involved in the business. Alan Brown and his wife, Lil, also had five children: Rob, Jan, Carole, Bev and Joy. Rob has been the joint managing director for Brown & Hurley Group, and Carole's son Jack is now a diesel fitter in the business alongside Jai Slater. The Brown & Hurley Group and the families have also always been strong community contributors. In 2017 they hosted their 44th annual charity golf event. The tournament raised $30,000 for a number of local charities. Since the inception of the golf day 44 years ago, they have raised in excess of $400,000, which has all been given back to local community groups and charities. Along with Brown & Hurley celebrating their 75th birthday this year, Kenworth are about to celebrate the 70,000th truck made in Australia this Friday, and Jim will be handed the keys to that truck. I'm looking forward to being there to celebrate with you, Jim. Congratulations to the entire team and all the staff that have worked at Brown & Hurley over many years and congratulations on the jobs and the contributions that the group has provided to our community. Aged Care 106 10:36 Ms MURPHY 133646 Dunkley Today I want to speak about Wayne, who lives in Frankston, and his mother. Wayne's mum was on a level 2 aged-care package, which is an allowance of about $14,000 a year. She used that money for home visits, a few meals and, most importantly, a daily visit by a nurse to administer her medications. Sadly, Wayne's mum's needs have increased, so she's now got a level 3 package. Wayne, his family and his mum thought—as anyone who is thinking about getting a higher-level package would think—'That's great; it means she's now got an allowance of $34,000 a year and can get the assistance that she needs.' But in fact she is now worse off, because administration fees calculated as a percentage of the package are now about $8,000 a year out of that package, with Wayne's mum not getting any further administration support than she was previously getting. And, extraordinarily, the fees for the nurse to visit to administer those medications daily are calculated as a percentage of the package, and now are nearly $28,000 a year, when they were $3,800 a year. The service hasn't changed. Wayne thought this must be a mistake, and he went to My Aged Care. What was he advised? He was advised that there was no mistake but that this is a constant problem. This federal government knows that there is a constant problem—that people on home-care packages who go up a level because of their increased needs are in fact having that extra money taken away by extra costs, without more services. So now Wayne's mum is in a situation where she has a home-care package and medication fees that exceed her allowance, and the $18,000 increase has actually meant she is worse off. She is more in need and has less support. We hear day after day after day about problems in the aged-care system and problems in aged-care facilities. We hear about the 100,000 people on the waiting list for a home-care package and how long it takes to get a home-care package and the tens of thousands of people who have died waiting for a package. Now we're hearing about a system where the greater your need—for people like Wayne's mum—the less support you're getting. It's past time for this government to fix the system for our oldest Australians. Calare Electorate: Australia Day Awards 107 10:40 Mr GEE 261393 Calare Today I rise to acknowledge the citizens and organisations across the Calare electorate who were honoured on Australia Day for their wonderful contributions to our communities. In Canowindra, Anne and Mark Ward were recognised with Australia Day honours by receiving Order of Australia Medals for over 50 years of work across an array of local organisations. In the Cabonne shire, awards were also presented to Melissa Campbell, Kylie Toberty, Tommy Jeffs, Helen Colman, BronFlick, Frances Anderson, Joan Brooks, Bob Sullivan—well done, Bob—Stuart Brisbane, Joanne Davis, Marnie Adams, Zali Armstrong, Laura Harvey, Joanne Wright, Hannah Betts, Arthur Morrisson—well done, Arthur—Boudicea Blatch, Cameron Wild and Beau McKenzie. Awards were presented to the following organisations: Orana House Trust Committee, Cargo Common Committee, Cudal Central INC, Eugowra Community Children's Centre, Molong's Pantry, Mullion Creek Public School, Mulga Bill Festival, the Manildra First Responders and the Cumnock Long White Lunch Committee/ In the mid-western region I would like to recognise Dr Alexander Ghanem, Dr Gary Moore, Max Beechey, Des Kelly, Ellen Riley, Charlotte Wilson, and the Kandos Street Machine and Hot Rod Show. From Oberon, there were Craig Gibbons, Peta McGrath, Justin Reynolds, Clare Mawhood, John Brotchie, Oberon Tigers Men's Open Rugby League team, the Oberon Tigers' Can Assist Foundation charity event, the Burraga Ag Bureau seniors lunch, Oberon Public School, St Joseph's Yerrushagardens and the Oberon District Museum volunteers, including the 'Rusty Restorers Group'. In Bathurst, Australia Day Achievement Medallions were awarded to Gwendoline Laird, Donna Sollorz, Jan Hudson, Darren Sturgiss, David Sherley, Bernadette Sinclair, the Eglinton Rural Fire Service, the Bathurst Seymour Centre and the Bathurst division of NSW Ambulance service. For their work on the Bathurst Regional Youth Council, I would like to acknowledge Jennessa Eggins, Grace Lynch, Natalia Burgess, Benjamin Davis, Travis Barrie, Jack Lynch, Angus Cooke, Joshua Borland, Bonnie-Skye Wright, Tristen West, Zoe Peters, Maddison Sufong, Bethany Donaldson and Nyoaki Pearce. In Wellington, awards went to Gay Bennison, Gerhard Meisch, Rod Althofer, Daniel Mezes and Cory Sutherland were recognised for their work. In Lithgow, Alisha Cook, Kas Hilton, Thomas Ebersoll, Owen Sharwood, Adam Sharwood, David Peters, and Sharron Bowman for the Live'n'Local After the Fires event, and the RFS Clarence/Dargan Brigade. From Orange, there were Jordyn Wright, Bev Rankin, the City of Orange Eisteddfod committee, the Light up Orange New Year's Eve laser show and Kennards Hire, Orange. In Blayney, those awarded were Ian Tooke, Fiona Bottom, Alicia Gersbach, Anthony Bright, Rachel Burke, and the Millthorpe Virtual Garden Ramble. Congratulations to all of those honoured. I'd like to place on the record the gratitude of the Australian parliament for the Calare community's work in building our strong and vibrant communities, and acknowledge those efforts here today. Euthanasia 107 10:42 Dr LEIGH BU8 Fenner Last night, Tasmania's parliament passed voluntary assisted dying laws, a bill introduced by Independent legislative councillor Mike Gaffney. The vote was not close. It passed the Legislative Council unanimously, and, in the lower house, 16 MPs voted in favour of it and six against. This follows Victoria and Western Australia passing voluntary assisted dying laws. The Palaszczuk government promised before the last election that it would introduce voluntary assisted dying laws in Queensland, and the Queensland Law Reform Commission is currently exploring the issue. This stands in stark contrast to the situation in 1997 when the Andrews bill was passed by the Parliament of Australia, preventing the territories from legislating on euthanasia. We are now at a stage where three out of six states have passed voluntary assisted dying laws, and yet the territories are even forbidden from even debating the topic. This makes no sense whatsoever. Voluntary assisted dying is supported by a vast majority of Australians. Most surveys find it is at least three in four, but a Vote Compass survey in 2019 found 87 per cent supported the statement 'terminally ill patients should be able to end their own lives, with medical assistance', up from 75 per cent in 2013. Support for voluntary assisted dying included 79 per cent of Liberal-National party voters, 84 per cent of One Nation voters, 77 per cent of Catholics, 78 per cent of Protestants and 71 per cent of people with another religion. We've seen other countries move to introduce voluntary assisted dying laws—Switzerland, Belgium, the Netherlands—and a handful of US states have enacted it. In the ACT, important preparatory work has been done on the safeguards that would be necessary. Former MLA Mary Porter and current MLA Tara Cheyne have done critical work on ensuring that these safeguards and frameworks are in place. This parliament must repeal the Andrews bill. In the last session, Luke Gosling, the member for Solomon, and I introduced a bill which would repeal the Andrews bill, but the government would not bring it on for debate. They are scared of Australian public opinion. They know that Australian public opinion is strongly favour of euthanasia and is strongly in favour of territories having the right to debate this issue in the manner in which states have done so already. It's time for the Andrews bill to go. It's time to restore democratic freedoms to the ACT. La Trobe Electorate: Telecommunications 108 10:45 Mr WOOD E0F La Trobe I've got a very clear message when it comes to Telstra, Optus and Vodafone: you must sort out your mess. I feel so sorry for the residents in Clyde and Clyde North, Berwick and Casey Fields, with the empty promises made when it comes to mobile-black-spot reception. Back in 2019, I and the then communications minister had a forum at Lifestyle Berwick Waters in Clyde North. There were representatives there from Telstra and Vodafone and they explained to us how we had this growth coming in, in Clyde North, and they said they would put some towers up and give the reception required to residents living there. It has been a false and empty promise—or you could even say a lie—for this simple reason: it has never happened. It has never occurred. At the moment, you have two towers out there. There's one at 585 Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Clyde North, which Telstra manages; it's kind of half-proposed and half-built. The other one is at 160 Berwick-Cranbourne Road, Cranbourne East; this is owned by Vodafone, and Telstra needs to co-locate there. It's like a deliberate action by the telecommunication multinationals to give the worst possible service to the local residents. I've had meetings in the past with Minister Paul Fletcher's office, and they've been given assurances which have been given to me. I know the state Labor members have also had these assurances from Telstra. It's an absolute disgrace that promises have been made to the community and the towers are there and they won't be turned on. I feel so sorry for those residents. Every time they, like me, get told: 'Hey, it's about to be switched on,' and it never occurs. People keep waiting. It's very unsafe if a person is in an emergency situation and they don't have that reception. When it comes to, for example, kids doing their homework, it makes it, again, exceptionally difficult. During the COVID-19 pandemic, when it came to running businesses from home, again, it has been incredibly tough for them. So my assurance to those residents is that I will fight tooth and nail against Telstra and Vodafone and Optus—though I feel a bit sorry for Optus because they're not in the game but the residents are telling me they should be. It's a disgrace that this is happening to people in the south-east of Melbourne, in my electorate of La Trobe, in the fastest-growing growth corridor in the electorate. Since 2016 it has grown by 8,388 people and soon there'll be 70,000 people. This is an absolute disgrace. They need this service and they need it now. Corangamite Electorate: Traditional Owners, Corangamite Electorate: Proposed Division Name 108 10:48 Ms COKER 263547 Corangamite Last Friday, I had the enormous honour of attending a ceremony marking the transfer of land from Boral back to the traditional owners, the Wathaurong people. It was an incredibly moving and humbling experience that marked the first time land has been returned to the Wathaurong. This parcel of land, almost four hectares, has a significant role in the lives of the Wathaurong. Local Wathaurong leader Corrina Eccles brought a tear to everyone's eye when she spoke with such passion about the land's torrid history. It was heartbreaking to hear. In 1861, the land was reserved for what was described as 'Aboriginal purposes'. Its location in modern-day Waurn Ponds was deliberately chosen to make it difficult for the Wathaurong to visit their heartland in Geelong. Unsurprisingly, the stories and accounts of the Aboriginal people who lived there are heartbreaking. For many, the land was a place of despair and anguish. The legal title for the 3.6 hectare property will now be transferred back to the Wadawurrung Traditional Owners Aboriginal Corporation. It's not every day that we get the opportunity to help heal the past. On Saturday night, I was at the Midnight Oil concert only kilometres from where the parcel of land is located. Wathaurong man Barry Gilson addressed the 13,000-strong crowd about the land's history. In his welcome to country he described how colonists had enslaved and murdered his ancestors. 'This is a true story up around here,' he said, 'but things are slowly changing.' There is still a long way to go on Australia's reconciliation journey. We cannot pretend that handing back one parcel of land is enough to make up for centuries of injustice. But we must acknowledge that this is a significant act, a worthy first step in recognising the Wathaurong people as the original custodians of the land, and that this land was never ceded. I congratulate Boral on this groundbreaking gesture. I hope this decision inspires other companies to do the same—to move towards reconciliation and transfer land back to the traditional custodians. As a nation, we can heal only by recognising our past and the hurt and sacrifices of our First Nations people. On Monday I stood in this place and spoke about the potential renaming of my electorate as Tucker, after Aboriginal activist Margaret Tucker. Honourable members: Hear, hear! Ms COKER 263547 I wholeheartedly welcome the change. Of the 151 electorates in this place, only seven are named after First Nations leaders. I'm proud that the renaming of Corangamite, my electorate, will be a shining beacon, hopefully one of many electorate name changes to honour women and our Indigenous leaders. Only through such recognition will we move forward on a voice in the Constitution, treaty and makarrata. Petrie Electorate: Jobseeker Boot Camps 109 10:51 Mr HOWARTH 247742 Petrie According to psychology professor David Blustein, studies show that when people lose their jobs there is an increase in mental health problems, and, when they're re-employed, those problems decrease. It's actually the same with homelessness—the same study shows the same thing. If a person is unemployed for a period of six months, they feel the same level of grief as they would because of a bereavement. Jobseeker boot camps, which I started back in 2014, are an employment initiative I have been running in Petrie for a while now. I bring together local employers who are responsible for hiring and motivated jobseekers in a welcoming and honest environment. I have two boot camps coming up: one on 31 March at the Hog's Breath Cafe at Mango Hill Market Place and one on 5 May at Bracken Ridge Plaza. Coffee Club franchisee Jeanine Berry and Glenn Cullen, from All American Drive Line and Auto Parts, at Clontarf, will be there talking straight about what they look for when hiring. The Mango Hill Coles manager will explain Coles' new online recruitment. SANDBAG, which is the Sandgate and Bracken Ridge Action Group, will discuss some low-skilled opportunities for work with social enterprises. And we will have Kylie Chown, a social media guru, to talk about how important your online reputation is when looking for work. Because more and more job interviews are being done online, with Teams and so forth, people need to think about their backdrop—what's behind them when they're being interviewed online—and the clothes they wear. Exercise sociologist Samantha Morris and psychologist Eloise Gibson of MAX Solutions are two women—great women—I recently met at MAX Solutions, Kippa-Ring. At the Bracken Ridge boot camp, they'll be discussing how essential it is to be physically and mentally prepared for the jobseeking journey, which, as you probably know, Mr Deputy Speaker, can be disheartening at times if you get knocked back. You have to keep your mental health fitness on track for the challenge. Work and jobs have dramatically changed. I remember my first job at Toombul Music, when I was first employed. Since then, the way things are done has changed, but there are some things that remain the same—things like relationships, who you know. The first job I got was through my uncle. He introduced me to Barry Bull, the owner of Toombul Music. Communication is important, as are good presentation, and preparation around what to wear, backdrops—as I said—and a little bit of information on the company. Morrison Government 109 10:54 Mr BURNS 278522 Macnamara The office of the Prime Minister is the most important office in this country, yet the occupier who currently sits in the chair diminishes it and reduces the office of Prime Minister to political commentary and a partisan, childish, schoolyard political office. Australians saw the true character and the leadership style of this Prime Minister when the nation was literally on fire. He went on holidays and returned with that famous saying: he doesn't hold a hose. Then Victorians got another sense of it when we were in our darkest days, locked down, unable to see our families. What did this Prime Minister use the high office that he occupies to do? He wrote a press release saying we should be more like New South Wales—not talking about how he was going to support Victorian health authorities, not talking about how he was going to support Victorians during this global pandemic but talking about how New South Wales and the New South Wales Liberal government were his favourites. We were confronted with a new crisis before the Prime Minister when literally thousands of Australian women marched outside this parliament, asking the Prime Minister to use his high office to meet the moment that they created—to meet the moment that Australian women turned up for, to say that enough is enough. If he really cared, if he really wanted to meet that moment, he wouldn't, day in and day out, go into the House of Representatives and refuse to answer questions about whether the office of the Prime Minister of this country backgrounded Brittany Higgins' partner when she came forward with a rape allegation, backgrounding to the media. That's how that office used the office of the Prime Minister. And, worse, yesterday the office of the Prime Minister was once again used by this Prime Minister as a deflection. He literally made up a sexual assault complaint that didn't exist in order to weaponise it, because he felt uncomfortable by a question from a journalist. This country needs leadership. This country needs a Prime Minister that respects the office of the Prime Minister, and the Prime Minister who currently sits in the chair in the office does not hold a hose in that office that we so desperately need leadership from. (Time expired) The DEPUTY SPEAKER 74046 There being no further speakers, the time for members' constituency statements has concluded. COMMITTEES 110 COMMITTEES Agriculture and Water Resources Committee 110 Report 110 10:57 Mr GOSLING 245392 Solomon Before I turn to the substantive issue, I just want to concur with the member for Macnamara and his fine words that ask the Prime Minister to either start leading or resign immediately. When you've had a difficult week like this one has been, and continues to be for those who work in this place, the business of politics can be quite dispiriting. The important work we do here in parliament can seem devalued, but discussing important and considerable pieces of work such as the report that we have before us today is an important reminder of the important work that does happen in this place. It reminds us that, apart from anything else, the work of this parliament and the people who work here is valued. I want to put on the record my thanks to all the staff here at Parliament House and, in particular, in relation to the tabling of this report, those who work in the secretariat and assisted us to finalise this report and make good recommendations. It is a pleasure to rise and speak on this report. I was very proud to participate in the work of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture and Water Resources to produce it. Aussie logs for Aussie jobs is a product of an inquiry which began in June last year. We held five public hearings and took 31 separate submissions. We took submissions from experts, industry and government agencies at the state and federal level. The process of our inquiry and report preparation was ably chaired by the member for O'Connor and even more ably co-chaired by my friend, the member for Lyons. They work well together—the chair and deputy chair. The title of our report, Aussie logs for Aussie jobs, is absolutely apt. Through our inquiry, we sought to find how we could achieve precisely what the title conveys. How can we use our own natural resources to create jobs here in Australia? How can we expand the sustainable timber industry to expand employment? When we are discussing the forestry industry in Australia, we are talking about an industry with considerable economic impact. The forest products industry has an annual turnover of $24 billion and contributes 0.5 per cent to Australia's GDP. The Bureau of Statistics tells us that, in the year 2017-18, there were 76,200 people employed in the forest products and forest manufacturing industries. Breaking that figure down, that means jobs in logging, sawmilling, paper and converted paper products. That's significant. The Australian Forest Products Association told us that they estimate that around another 100,000 people are supported by the economic activity generated by the timber industry. We've seen as well that the impact of this industry is disproportionately felt in regional areas of Australia, like the one that I represent in the far north. In the Northern Territory, the forestry industry employs only 170 people at this stage, but there's clearly room for us to grow this figure, and I'll return to this in due course. The backbone of the timber industry is the national plantation estate. It covers an area of 1.93 million hectares. To put that figure in perspective, forests overall cover 134 million hectares of Australia. That's 17 per cent of our landmass, and plantations make up only a small part of that. The forestry industry of the Northern Territory manages 42,000 hectares of plantation estate. The industry harvests each year $115 million worth of products for domestic and international markets. Altogether, the gross value of the forestry industry in the Northern Territory is $10 billion. It's fair to say that, despite the size of the economic impact of the industry and the breadth of the plantation estate, the timber industry in the Northern Territory could grow more, but it needs more support. In 2016, the Forest Industry Advisory Council advised the federal government to establish forestry industry hubs in areas 'with varied, high-quality wood resources that are close to wood processors, pulp and paper mills or expert facilities.' The purpose of each hub is to bring together industry and different levels of government to plan and develop strategies to support the growth of the forestry industry in its respective regions. This includes considerations such as: identifying new plantation opportunities, adding value to existing processing and infrastructure assets, engaging in community participation, encouraging local mills to invest in expanding capacity and efficiency, and exploring opportunities for new product manufacturing. The hub model is a good one. The government agreed as well and announced the creation of nine hubs. But these nine hubs that the government has committed to ignore some significant opportunities to further strengthen and expand the forestry industry. Our inquiry considered this, and our recommendations reflect the need to seize new opportunities. Indeed, the recommendation of greatest interest to me is recommendation 1: The Committee recommends that the Australian Government establishes two additional Regional Forestry Hubs, in the north part of the Northern Territory— That's the area that I represent, with the member for Lingiari— and in south eastern New South Wales. We came to this recommendation after engaging with industry groups and hearing from them about where we could facilitate industry growth. In particular, I'm grateful to the Forest Industry Association Northern Territory for their work with us on this question. On the opportunity of a regional forestry hub for the Northern Territory, the association told the inquiry: A founding priority of the hub will be to establish a taskforce to analyse the factors that are limiting productivity and efficiency in the sector … The forestry hub will facilitate the Territory to achieve a CFI certification and will therefore allow the industry to participate in the Emissions Reduction Fund (ERF). There is already great work being done in the forestry industry in the Northern Territory. Last year, during another inquiry of this committee, which resulted in the report on growing Australian agriculture, I spoke to Mark Ashley, a general manager of the Tiwi Plantations Corporation. He told me about the Tiwi Plantation and how it is exporting 16 shiploads of timber to established global markets. When we spoke, he was also exploring interest from potential Indonesian markets. Mark spoke to me about the significance of forestry as a major source of jobs and economic activity on the Tiwi Islands. Importantly, this means local jobs for local people through their harvesting operations. In 2019, forestry paid approximately $6.8 million in wages, including $2.3 million to employees on the Tiwis, making it a major commercial employer on the island. The plantation itself manages 32,000 hectares of Acacia pulpwood. The forestry product exported is primarily woodchips for pulp and bioenergy markets. The plantation includes woodchip processing and wharf facilities on Melville Island. There is an interest in replacing the pulpwood with hardwood to increase the yield and export value of the forestry product harvested from the Tiwi Islands. The example of the Tiwi Plantations Corporation is a single example of the success of the forestry industry in the Northern Territory. The inclusion of a regional forestry hub in the territory will be a tremendous value-add for our industry. I'm excited about the prospect of expanding the Northern Territory forestry industry and the creation of new jobs for Territorians. I want to thank the executive of our Forest Industry Association Northern Territory, including Frank Miller, and also the work of Paul Burke. It's going to be great for the Territory moving forward: new jobs for Territorians in harvesting those logs. I want to congratulate the chair and deputy chair of the committee for this report, and for really backing the Northern Territory forestry industry with recommending that a forestry hub be established in the Top End of Australia. It will be great for us to be able to harvest those Territory logs for Territory jobs. 11:08 Mr PASIN 240756 Barker Whenever I'm in this place talking about the wood fibre industry, I like to start with a statistic, so that colleagues understand the scale and scope of this issue. It's hard to believe that Australia is a net importer of timber. I'll say it again: it's hard to believe, but Australia is a net importer of timber—or, more precisely, of wood fibre. In a nation as broad as ours, so blessed with natural resources, it is literally hard to believe. I grew up in a timber town. I live in a timber town. I came to this place in 2013 and I spent 12 months embedding myself in the agripolitics of the federal parliament. At one point I stopped and reflected and said to myself: 'I hear a lot about farming. I hear a lot about farming production systems.' And that's quite right. It's quite right, in a nation like ours, with the diversity of agricultural products and our reliance on agricultural industries, that we spend a lot of our time discussing issues relevant to Australian farmers. But what I was struggling to come to terms with is that we spend almost no time talking about Australian forestry: about foresters and sawmillers, the people that take that fibre and turn it into value-added products. Over time, I'm pleased to say—not just because of my efforts, but because of the efforts of many members who represent timber communities like mine in this place—we have raised the voice of the Australian forest industry in parliament. A lot of credit goes to the members of parliament and the industry peaks who have achieved that. But, in the lead-up to the 2019 election, I was experiencing a deal of frustration in my electorate. My electorate includes the communities of Mount Gambier and surrounds, which is a softwood hub. Pinus radiata is the timber we grow. It's the pine that goes into the timber frames of houses, but it is also used for other treatments. What I was experiencing was a situation where sawmillers, the downstream processors, weren't able to get access to sufficient logs to meet the demand. Instead, they were watching truck after truck after truck of viable sawlogs being transported to the port of Portland, the deep-sea, bulk seaport, 100 kilometres from Mount Gambier. You can imagine the frustration. I had sawmillers telling me that they had demand for sawn timber products and that they had the capacity to increase the number of people employed in that manufacturing sector but that they couldn't do it because they couldn't get access to the fibre—not because the fibre didn't exist, but because the fibre which was being grown in our community was being exported to be processed overseas. I'm incredibly grateful to the Prime Minister, who at the time acknowledged my frustration and my concerns and who, as you heard from the member for Solomon, committed to a pre-election promise that, should we be elected, we would undertake an inquiry in relation to timber supply chains in this country. I remember at the time a number of the sawmillers in my electorate said, 'Thanks, but no thanks,' on account of the fact that they were pretty confident we wouldn't win the 2019 election. Thankfully, at least for the purposes of this report, we did, and the report has been undertaken. I'm not a member of the committee, but for my sins—and given my advocacy and, effectively, my demands that we undertake this work—the Prime Minister seconded me to the committee. I want to take this opportunity to say how much I appreciated and enjoyed my time serving on the committee for the purposes of this report. The chair and deputy chair, but in particular the chair, my good friend, the member for O'Connor, did a magnificent job. He did a significant amount of work, which included personal travel to timber communities, quite separate to committee travel, where he got a deep understanding of the issues at play. This report will go a long way towards addressing the concerns. In 2019, when we made the commitment that we would undertake this inquiry, we thought we had a set of problems, and we did. Little did we know that, by the time we reported—as occurred yesterday in the other place—there would be a whole series of other problems. The bushfires that were experienced last summer have significantly impacted our softwood timber industry. It's a pain that I don't think we've fully grasped as a nation as yet, but it makes it doubly important that we understand the need to put more trees in the ground and that we put the right trees at the right scale in the right places for the right purpose. For me, the right purpose has always been Aussie jobs, so I'm really pleased not only that we have developed these recommendations but that the report is titled Aussie logs for Aussie jobs. Unlike other processing facilities in the agriculture space, this isn't a crop that grows in 12 months. You can thin trees; you can achieve some of the fibre as the tree in the plantation is growing; but the reality is that this is a crop that takes around 33 years to grow. So when you talk about long-term planning, you understand the importance and need for it in this industry more than others. It needs the right government policy measures. It needs political will. It needs an understanding that we sacrifice, effectively, that land to this purpose, not just so we can grow the tree but, importantly—and this is the history of forest and the state development over our nation's history—for the downstream jobs. We grow the trees because we want to process them. That's where the real rubber hits the economic road. I started by saying that it's hard to believe that we're net importers of timber in this country. I'm going to conclude with an observation. As hard as that is to believe, it's even harder to accept—which we have to at the moment—that unless we change the settings in this country as it relates to this industry, we are tracking in the wrong direction. We are net importers, and those terms of trade are going to continue to deteriorate, because that's the long-term trend we're on. We've got to change that. I want Australians processing Aussie fibre and Aussie logs in Aussie mills for Australian consumers. In the time I've got left, can I just give a shout-out to sawmillers across the country. The HomeBuilder program has been a runaway success, if you just ask the minister. It has meant that we've seen gargantuan demand for building products. One of those areas that's seen unprecedented demand is timber framing. Right now there are sawmills all over the country that are working beyond capacity to meet that demand. I don't think people in these sawmills perhaps understand how important their role is to our national economy, but let me just send a thank you out there to them. Because without these timber frames we can't put these houses up. Without the frames going up, you can't employ the carpenter, the tiler, the plumber, the person selling the furniture and fixings, the carpet layer, the landscaper. You are so important right now to the economic recovery that's being driven through lots of sectors, but in particular the construction sector, and I want to take this opportunity to say thank you. Sitting suspended from 11:18 to 16:00 BILLS 113 BILLS Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021, Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021 113

Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021

Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021

Second Reading 113 16:01 Dr WEBSTER 281688 Mallee The COVID-19 pandemic has resulted in the most severe global economic crisis since the Great Depression. However, in Australia our economy is fighting back, and we are experiencing clear signs of recovery. In the September quarter, real GDP increased by 3.3 per cent, ahead of market expectations. This is the largest quarterly increase since 1976. Over seven months, from May to December, over 784,000 jobs were created. Ninety per cent of the 1.3 million Australians who either lost their jobs or saw their working hours reduced to zero are now back at work. Technically, Australia's recession may be over, but our economic recovery is not. There remains a monumental task ahead in rebuilding our economy and supporting jobs. The 2021 Commonwealth budget will be crucial to our ongoing success as a nation, and the people of Mallee stand to benefit from further investment by the Morrison-McCormack government. Infrastructure investment is crucial to lives, businesses and communities in Mallee. Since coming to office, I've made a point of keeping in close contact with the leaders of each of the 12 shires in my electorate. I know that regional councils often don't have cash left over from their budgets to fund every project that their communities need, which is why the federal government's support is so important to them. Local councils in my electorate have achieved great success through the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program. This program, announced at the height of the pandemic, has provided the stimulus and support that regional councils have needed to do their part in the economic recovery of our regions. This money is funding vital projects right across Mallee. I was pleased to announce almost $90 million to my 12 local government areas in Mallee in the first round and another $17 million in the extension of the program. The councils have determined how they spend their funds, and it has been creative. Swan Hill Rural City Council is using $350,000 of its funding to build new change rooms for the netball courts at Riverside Park in Robinvale and another $152,000 for competition-standard lighting for the netball courts at Alan Garden Reserve in Swan Hill. Horsham Rural City Council is spending $150,000 to upgrade Horsham Town Hall for live performances and is putting another $150,000 towards a $3 million effort to revitalise the footpaths in town. Mildura Rural City Council is using $1.63 million to upgrade its streetlights with energy-efficient LED bulbs. It has also put a further $1 million towards the Mildura sports precinct, which has previously received $17.5 million from this government through two previous rounds of the Building Better Regions Fund. These are just a handful of 99 projects that are underway or completed in the 12 local government areas in Mallee. All of my councils still have several high-priority projects that are ready and waiting to be funded. I have sent a detailed list of these projects to the Deputy Prime Minister and the minister for infrastructure to advocate and show just how much potential there is in Mallee for further effective investment. I trust that our local council organisations will continue to be supported through direct funding support, whether that's through another round of the Building Better Regions Fund, a further extension of the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Program or other financial assistance for regional councils. I'm fighting for more funds in the 2021 budget to support our local communities to deliver their much-needed projects. Our potential in Mallee is great and it's being matched by investment from the Morrison-McCormack government. In recent months, we've seen huge demand for the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund. In Mallee, I was contacted by several businesses that were excited to lodge their applications. Australian Eatwell has applied for new processing technologies for an all-new innovative product range of tofu products at their Donald facility. True Foods in Maryborough have applied for funding to expand their facilities for a new product line, and Australian Premium Dried Fruits in Sunraysia have applied for new equipment for their Merbein facility to take their processes to highly advanced levels which will enhance their export possibilities. These are exciting projects, but I'm aware of how popular this round of funding has been and how oversubscribed it has been. Sadly, many worthy projects will miss out. For this reason, I'm calling for another round of the Manufacturing Modernisation Fund to be included in the 2021 budget. We need to continue offering support to these expanding innovative industries that will continue to drive jobs into the future. In Mildura, we are benefitting from the Commonwealth government's Recycling Modernisation Fund, part of the Australian government's $1 billion transformation of Australia's waste and recycling industries. Major co-funded investments across Victoria will double the state's domestic glass recycling capacity, increase our plastic recycling by 40 per cent and create 350 jobs. Mildura will see the construction of a million-dollar glass processing and sorting facility, processing 4,900 tonnes of material each year. This is a huge win for my home town and will create jobs and all the flow-on benefits for industry, community and the environment. In the upcoming budget, I'm fighting for further commitments to Australia's energy security and renewable technologies. The Technology Investment Roadmap, the National Hydrogen Strategy and continued investments in our nation's transmission network are all welcome. We need to expand on these investments to support our growing renewable sector. On several occasions, I have spoken in this House of my desire to see Mallee become a leader in renewables, hydrogen and biofuels, and this dream is quickly becoming a reality. A local research organisation, the Mallee Regional Innovation Centre, has received funding to take part in a nationwide hydrogen cluster through National Energy Resources Australia, NERA. This cluster will advance research on new hydrogen technologies to help develop this emerging industry. I am thrilled that my advocacy for the new Interconnector West, VNI West, to go through Kerang was successful. This will allow the solar energy sector in the north Mallee electorate to flourish and expand. It took a lot of lobbying to the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction, Angus Taylor, but I'm really glad we were able to get this project over the line. The state government now needs to step up and agree. Private investors in the renewable industry have had their sights set on Mallee for years, but some have lacked confidence due to the lack of transmission capacity. The VNI West project supports investment and increases our capacity to generate renewable energy and create jobs. The VNI project and other key transmission projects, such as Marinus Link, have been backed by a $250 million investment by the Morrison-McCormack government. A healthy environment is key to commercial success in Mallee, and this is particularly true for the waterways that embody the soul of our region and support our livelihoods. Recently, it was a pleasure to host the minister for water, Keith Pitt, in Mallee on his tour of the Murray River region. From Cohuna to Gunbower and all the way to Mildura, the minister heard the voices of concerned locals, community groups and farmers. The $6 million Murray-Darling Healthy Rivers Program as well as the changes to the Water Efficiency Program—which has made $1.33 billion available for state led off-farm water efficiency projects—means no more water will be taken from our irrigators. This is news that has been widely welcomed. The Morrison-McCormack government is working to protect the health of our vital waterways and delivering on our commitments to the environment while providing farmers and irrigators with certainty that no more water will be taken from the consumptive pool. With massive levels of investment in infrastructure, manufacturing, recycling and energy and in the environment, we need to ensure our nation has the skills to match our ambitions. I continually hear that the biggest challenge holding back businesses in my electorate is that of appropriately skilled workers. Through several measures, the Morrison-McCormack government is working to ensure we have the skills that our thriving industries need. Speaking to business owners in Mallee, I know that apprentices and trainees are the future of our industries. My favourite days as an MP are getting out in the electorate and hearing from businesses, tradies and apprentices. Recently, I stopped by Casey's Truck & Tractor centre in St Arnaud. I was sorry to miss my good friend Bernie Casey, but it was a pleasure to meet his son Dale and his grandson Dylan. Dylan is a fourth-generation Casey working in the business and one of several apprentices that are on their way to becoming diesel mechanics. Lachie, Ryan and Dylan are all showing the dedication needed to excel at their trade, and Casey's is supporting them to be the best that they can be. The Morrison-McCormack government's Boosting Apprenticeship Commencements is making a difference to businesses like Casey's with a 50 per cent wage subsidy for all new or recommencing apprentices and trainees. In October 2020, the Morrison-McCormack government announced that it would invest $1.2 billion to support 100,000 new apprentices or trainees through the subsidy. Amazingly, these 100,000 new apprenticeships have been taken up by businesses in less than five months. In Mallee alone there have been 627 apprentices registered. Due to the overwhelming success of the subsidy, the Morrison-McCormack government has lifted the cap on places under the program, extending the subsidy to a full 12-month period for new apprentices and trainees who begin before 30 September this year. The government and Australian businesses are backing opportunities for Australians, particularly for our young people, and I am fighting to see this support continued in the upcoming budget. But it's not just apprentices and trainees that are desperately needed in Mallee; we also need a focus on higher education opportunities. This year, I've been working on two exciting proposals, with leaders of two universities with a footprint in Mallee. I have worked with Professor John Dewar, Vice-Chancellor of La Trobe University, to develop a proposal to extend La Trobe's successful Rural Medical Pathway—currently based in Bendigo, Albury-Wodonga and Shepparton—to Mildura. John and I took this proposal to the ministers of health and regional health. The Rural Medical Pathway is a partnership between La Trobe and Melbourne University and was an initiative of the Murray-Darling Medical Schools Network. It aims to offer students medical training in regional areas in order to increase student retention, following the 'train local, stay local' mantra. La Trobe is seeking $6.25 million over four years in the 2021 budget, with a commitment of an additional 17 Commonwealth supported medical places from 2025 for postgraduate students. Included in this request is $2.2 million for a new laboratory at the Mildura campus for the new students. Another proposal has been made by Geoffrey Lord, the head of Wimmera Campus of Federation University, based in Horsham. In conjunction with Wimmera Health Care Group, he aims to construct a new state-of-the-art training facility, to expand Federation University's Bachelor of Nursing offering in Horsham. Geoffrey predicts that this proposal would lead to an ongoing 120 student enrolments at the Horsham campus, which would aid the region to attract and retain a viable nursing workforce. These proposals have the potential to revolutionise medical training in regions that are lacking qualified medical professionals. Beyond this, they will expand higher education offerings to students in Mildura, Horsham and surrounding communities, giving students more choice and flexibility. In this way, they will support the sustainability of higher education delivery in our regions. Increasing opportunities for training in medicine, allied health, science and engineering will help our regions flourish and go from strength to strength into the future. On several occasions now, including in my very first speech in parliament, I've spoken of the need for greater access to quality health care in regional areas. My coalition government delivered $18.6 million for border oncology research in last year's budget to add the Mildura Base Public Hospital as a new site for the Regional Trials Network, Victoria, and I know that countless cancer patients and their families were thrilled to learn that a brand-new radiation oncology service will be established in Mildura at the private hospital. Our government committed $6.5 million to purchase state-of-the-art equipment for this vital project. It will mean that cancer patients in Mildura and surrounding areas won't have to travel long hours, far from their homes, in order to receive lifesaving radiation cancer treatment. To complement the new facility, the town needs to invest in accommodation for patients who still need to travel to Mildura. This is something I am fighting for now. I've been working closely with the local health organisations to better understand the needs of our community and how we can address the maldistribution of our nation's health workforce. That's why I'm fighting for Medicare provider numbers for new graduates to be attached to areas of need, based on the Modified Monash Model. As I have said, local training is key to our long-term success, but more can and should be done to address these challenges. (Time expired) 16:16 Ms VAMVAKINOU 00AMT Calwell I also rise today to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2020-2021. Deputy Speaker Zimmerman, I'm sure you'll appreciate this, but, being in the chair, as we are, often, I get the opportunity—and so do you—to hear many contributions from honourable members, and so it has been in the last couple of days. I have had the opportunity to hear government members speak to the appropriation bills, and—quite rightly, I guess; they are government members—they talk about this government's delivery to their electorates; they talk about the government listening and about lots and lots of visiting from ministers; they talk about shovel-ready projects, gearing to go. And I sit there wondering: 'That's all well and good, but what about my constituents, who are waiting for this government to deliver on urgently-needed projects and investments in our region and in my seat of Calwell?' I want to begin—as always, when I am thinking about my electorate—by speaking about the decline of manufacturing in Calwell. When examining the advances or failings of the budget and the economy, you have to measure the rhetoric against the realities on the ground. The single most important thing is to look at whether the policies of the government are skewed away from benefiting the people in my electorate who I represent in this place, because, where there are budget or policy gaps, it is almost always the case under a coalition government that these failings impact the people in my electorate first and, quite often, the hardest. These failings are visible and they're real. The former site of the Ford factory in Broadmeadows stands testimony to the fact that we're fast becoming a nation that no longer makes things. The reason is that this government has been, on this issue, missing in action and its record is filled with delays. What more evidence do we need of the fact that local manufacturing is critical to our national and economic security than what was revealed to us during this very difficult year of the COVID pandemic? This global pandemic highlighted to us the precarious nature of the government's policies. The government has long outsourced our manufacturing capabilities to a world that all too readily closed its doors on the globalised nature of trade and access to vital goods as soon as the crisis hit, leaving us vulnerable and dependent. We've seen that in the case of the purchases of the AstraZeneca vaccine from Europe. But this isn't just about access to imports. It has long been about so much more, and, especially, the flow-on effects for the people in my electorate. It's about the contribution of manufacturing to Australia's GDP, its contribution to employment and the creation of new jobs around the total supply chain and the contribution of manufacturing to business expenditure on research and development. In stark contrast to the government's attitude, we on this side of the House have a plan, and I'm very proud of this plan. It's a plan to secure jobs through a future made in Australia—a plan that speaks to the needs of the many in my electorate who find obstacle after obstacle thrown in their way, especially the younger people who are disadvantaged when trying to seek out, in this instance, their first-year apprenticeships or traineeships. The residents of Calwell are not a peripheral community of Melbourne. We are, by any measure, Melbourne's gateway, with a strong logistics infrastructure that includes Melbourne Airport, Melbourne market and Hume Freeway, along with the portfolio of road, rail and infrastructure. We have one of the strongest food and beverage manufacturing sectors in Australia, including famous household names and brands, such as the former Schweppes site, which is now the Asahi factory. But it isn't just the traditional manufacturing base that is a part of our local economy. In my electorate, since the decline of heavy manufacturing such as Ford—which was a victim of this government's short-sightedness—businesses, small to medium sized in particular, have had to diversify to create new opportunities and jobs. With the commitment and investment made by the previous Labor government, we were able to achieve this. Melbourne's north continues to undergo its transition from a traditional manufacturing and heavy industry base to one centred on high-quality advanced manufacturing, on knowledge based industries and on services. The demographic figures for the region are staggering. One in three Victorians and one in 12 Australians live in Melbourne's north and west. Together, the north and west of Melbourne have a population of approximately two million, with 980,000 persons being added by 2036, representing a 50 per cent growth in population over that time. This means the local population will be 50 per cent larger than the entire population of South Australia, and the proof of this is in the fact that, in the last two terms, two new federal seats have been created in Melbourne's north-west. That is why we need jobs—to match the increase in population and to meet the needs of the community. Not for a moment has my community stood still in the face of this growing reality, and I want to pay tribute to my local council, the Hume City Council, and serving mayor Councillor Joseph Haweil, because they are a key partner in the north and west Melbourne city deal. In the closing days of the 45th Parliament—in fact, just before the 2019 federal election was called—NORTH Link, which is a network of businesses in my electorate, received a letter from then Minister Tudge informing them that our region was being offered a city deal. There was very little detail at the time from the minister, but a north and west Melbourne city deal proposal was developed and launched by the north-west alliance in August 2020. It produced a wish list of 66 major projects that run across the two regions. For my local council, the Hume City Council, its list of priorities—envisaged to add to the economic growth and the creation of jobs in the electorate and in the region—includes the commercial development of Hume Central; the redevelopment of the Broadmeadows Railway Station; an advanced manufacturing centre for assistive technology; the outer metropolitan ring transport corridor, the E6; the Kangan Institute TAFE Broadmeadows campus redevelopment; improved interchanges between the Hume Freeway and major arterial roads; the redevelopment of the Maygar barracks; the Bulla Bypass; the Somerton Road duplication; the Mickleham Road duplication; the duplication of Sunbury Road between Melbourne Airport and Bulla; and the Beveridge Intermodal Freight Terminal. These projects are waiting for the federal government to come to the table and progress the formal memorandum-of-understanding arrangements. Our local city councils—in particular, my local city council of Hume—are ready to go. Our state government is ready to go. So my question to the government in this chamber is when will you be ready to go? When will the government be ready to come to the party, come to the table and engage in the formal memorandum of understanding? I'm very concerned, as we all are in my electorate, about the slow progress from the government in relation to these proposals, and there's still a great deal of uncertainty about future prospects. I have had these discussions with my local city council, and they are very worried about future prospects and viability. Will these projects ever eventuate? So let me just say to the government: without a city deal, our region and my local community face a real crisis with the compounding set of problems brought about by the decline of industry and the effects of COVID on the economy, particularly the resulting decline in the community's employment numbers and falling gross regional product figures. These are sound, concrete project proposals that would serve as transformative and enabling projects critical to our economy. We need real movement and action from this government, and we need it fast. This not only delivers to a region that has had the least infrastructure funding of all greater Melbourne regions, on a population growth basis—which is a shame in itself—but delivers for all Victoria. Funding these projects delivers for all Victoria and all Australia. These projects would not only address the significant and longstanding congestion and lack of growth but enable the shift to an innovation and knowledge economy that is best placed for advanced manufacturing, that strengthens an enviable connectivity and supply chain, and that harnesses active and vibrant job corridors. I call on the government to move with urgency on this. It must invest in our regions' infrastructure and show it is committed not only to my electorate but to the communities that live in the north-western areas of Melbourne. As I've said, these proposals—if the government funds and delivers on them—will create the jobs of the future by bolstering transport connectivity and health and wellbeing, and they will add to a significant increase in the livability standards of our residents. However, what my community has seen in relation to this government is that it tends to leave things for another day when it comes to non-government-held electorates. The only things it doesn't leave for another day are cuts. For this government, the cuts never wait; they just keep coming. The premature end to JobKeeper is a particularly painful example of this for the people in my electorate. At a time when the rollout of the vaccine is progressing more slowly than expected, by the government's own standards and the timetable it has set itself, the government isn't even trying to formulate an economic response that would see JobKeeper applied in a so-called 'tailored and targeted' way. The government's approach is simply to ditch JobKeeper altogether. In Victoria we went through a very difficult period. It was a long and hard lockdown. Not only were many people in my electorate the most affected; they will be the hardest hit when JobKeeper comes to an end this week. In my electorate of Calwell, 13,274 workers and 4,313 businesses will be impacted by cuts to JobKeeper, according to Treasury figures. I expect that when this happens at the end of this week, and once the cuts come into effect in the weeks that follow, we will see many businesses go under and people unable to make ends meet. With 60 Australians on JobSeeker for every entry-level job, Mr Deputy Speaker, how many do you think we will end up with if JobKeeper is removed early, as we're told will happen at the end of this week? It's no good getting someone through the pandemic only to abandon them as we edge closer to the pathway out of this crisis. There's a lot of angst and uncertainty in my community and the industries and businesses still struggling to stay afloat. In the time I have left, I'd like to talk about CSL in Broadmeadows. CSL has an iconic presence in Broadmeadows. Australia's way out of the pandemic and towards reopening again is through the AstraZeneca vaccine program, and our local community is very proud that the AstraZeneca vaccine is being manufactured at CSL in Broadmeadows. I had the opportunity to visit CSL in Broadmeadows last year, in November, with the then shadow minister for health, the member for McMahon. I've been through CSL on many occasions, but this was a very special visit. We were taken through and shown where the AstraZeneca vaccine would be manufactured. I spoke to CSL about their process. I even asked them whether building such an enormous manufacturing capacity would be impacted by any work shortages, and they were very confident that they would be able to pool their resources with CSIRO and other areas across their business to ensure that there would be no possibility of work shortages impacting on their capacity to deliver the 50 million-odd vaccines. Simultaneously, CSL will also be producing the flu vaccine. We have in this company a wonderful example of Australian medical and scientific excellence, and we're proud that it's in our electorate. I am aware that some of our clinics are already online and advertising for people to log on to be vaccinated. I just want to say to all my constituents: we've done it tough—the pandemic has been a problem for us especially—but it is absolutely critical that everybody takes the opportunity to receive the AstraZeneca vaccine. We need to ensure that as much of our population as possible—and certainly my electorate—is vaccinated. It's a vaccine that we should be proud of. It will be an Australian-manufactured vaccine. I encourage everyone in the federal seat of Calwell to log on, make a booking and, when their time comes, have the AstraZeneca vaccine. 16:31 Ms CLAYDON 248181 Newcastle I'm very pleased to rise to make a contribution on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and to acknowledge the fine efforts of previous speakers here today. In doing so, I am very conscious of the fact that this is the last sitting week before the federal budget comes down, so I would like to take a moment to reflect on some of the needs of my electorate of Newcastle and to remind the government of some of the really critical projects—particularly infrastructure projects but not exclusively infrastructure projects—that are in need of funding from the Commonwealth coffers. This is a time in which many people across the nation have been hurting, in the wake of a global pandemic. People have faced job losses. There is a need to reactivate our regional economies. I'd like to direct the government's attention now to some of those key projects that would help enormously to provide some impetus, to help drive regional economies so that we can ensure that people retain their jobs and also create new ones. There are some pretty tried and tested ways that you can drive local and national economic activity and spur economic life back into our communities, and one of those is around new infrastructure builds. I noted with regret in this House last year that the government had failed in their budget to support some of the really key infrastructure projects that my community of Newcastle has been asking for for some time. In Newcastle we are looking to put forward projects that will diversify and strengthen our entire regional economy for decades to come, not just for now but to set us up for the future as well. Regretfully, the Morrison government really turned their noses up at the University of Newcastle's proposal for a STEMM Regional Transformation Hub, which had significant job creation potential and the capacity to position our region as a leader in the critically important technology based industries of tomorrow. But the last budget also failed to support the Port of Newcastle's $1.8 billion deepwater terminal, despite the fact that this project would create 15,000 direct and indirect jobs and transform the entire regional economy. It sounds like a big ticket item—$1.8 billion—but they were not seeking government money. They were seeking the support of this government to help unblock the obstacles being put in place by the New South Wales Liberal government, which has consistently put a foot on Newcastle's neck in terms of being able to diversify our port of Newcastle, leaving us in a vulnerable situation. We should be the centre of an important freight hub in the region. Botany is choked. I can assure you that there'd be a lot of National Party people up north who would appreciate being able to freight their produce and grain out of the port of Newcastle rather than having to take it all the way down to Botany, where they face massive congestion. But I'll come back to that in a moment. The other project that was sadly overlooked—and, again, is critical if you're trying to put together an important freight hub for the northern region, the north of Sydney—is the shovel-ready project to extend Newcastle's airport to code E standard. What did we get in the budget? We didn't get any of the things we were actually asking for or any of the priorities from the different local governments, the Committee for the Hunter and the business community. Everyone had a very united voice about the projects that I've just spoken about. But what did we get out of the budget? We got a commitment to splash $360 million to fund the Newcastle inner-city bypass, a project, I want noted, that the state government had already promised to fund! What in fact has happened is that the Commonwealth has just gone and let their state mates off the hook from funding it. Don't get me wrong: this is an important project. It's a much-wanted project, and we will rejoice seeing the project delivered earlier, if this means a pipeline of funds coming through. But letting your state Liberal mates off the hook from funding it isn't a win for my region; it's just allowing one level of government to cost-shift to another. Frankly, you're letting off the New South Wales Liberal government from honouring their commitment and their promise to Newcastle whilst they collect all the royalties from our region. Some $2 billion in royalties went to the New South Wales government in 2018-19. It's been estimated that $1.8 billion in royalties out of the resources sector is going to go to the New South Wales government, but not a cracker is coming back into the electorate. Mine is one of many electorates in which that wealth has been generated, so it is time that the state government recognised the enormous economic output from Newcastle and the Hunter region and started channelling some of those very precious royalty dollars back into funding key projects. Accordingly, the federal government should not be letting the state off the hook when they make a commitment to fund a project. I do hope, if federal dollars are going to fund the Newcastle inner-city bypass, that it comes with a caveat. The Morrison government should tell the Berejiklian government in New South Wales that they need to ensure that, if they've been let off the hook from paying $360 million, they will spend that amount of money on other key projects in our area this is. Let me take you through some of those projects. As I said, there was a proposal for a STEMM hub at the University of Newcastle. It's a terrific project. We all know how important it is for the next generation of Australians to be coming through training in STEMM, particularly women—and girls. We know we need to encourage and support them to take on STEMM subjects at school and then engage in STEMM disciplines in their tertiary education so that they can go into the workforce with the skills and expertise required. I'd like to quote the vice-chancellor of the University of Newcastle, Professor Zelinsky, who said: "STEMM skills will power global economies long into the future and are the lifeblood of emerging knowledge-based industries such as … advanced manufacturing… "These skills also underpin the competitive advantage we need for our established industries like agriculture, healthcare and resources… "This investment … will reinforce our place on the research and education world stage …" That's the kind of commitment I want to see. I want to see the Commonwealth government backing in regional universities, like the University of Newcastle, who are punching way above their weight and are leading the field in so many areas. I want to see them properly supported. I want to see the Commonwealth put some money towards critical projects like an industry-led STEMM hub that has been proposed for the Newcastle university. I want to see this government back in the Port of Newcastle to enable us to build a container shipping terminal in the seat of Newcastle. That is how freight is transported around the world. The fact that the New South Wales Liberal government did a dodgy deal when it sold off the three ports of New South Wales and effectively prohibited Newcastle from being able to have a container terminal is unconscionable. This is a matter before the courts and the ACCC. Seriously, it really warrants the New South Wales government cutting through the obstacles that it has put up at every opportunity to disable the port of Newcastle from growth. It needs to put aside those weapons now. It needs to drop those ridiculous cases and back in a group that has so many infrastructure projects in the pipeline and ready to go, if only they were allowed to develop the port of Newcastle. I will quote the CEO, Craig Carmody, who says: ... the Port is ready to go. He also says: The Newcastle Multi-Purpose Deepwater Terminal ... will deliver more jobs in regional NSW, a reduction in ... road and rail movements in and out of Sydney, and cheaper freight costs for importers and exporters across the state. …   …   … We have cost effective landside connectivity, interested shippers and a deep channel port that is operating at less than half its capacity. With freight growth in NSW expected to double by 2040, a fully utilised Port of Newcastle with a world-class container terminal will provide efficiencies and competition to meet the future logistics and freight task. The federal government need to find a way to work with their state counterparts to remove the cap on containers so that this shovel-ready project can go ahead. As I said at the beginning, the Port of Newcastle are not asking the Commonwealth for money. In fact, they are the body in town that has money and is ready to create jobs and diversify our economic base in the Port of Newcastle. The only thing that's in the way is the New South Wales Liberal government and the ridiculous obstacles they have put in place—the anticompetitive, unfair obstacles they have put in place. They need to go. The Prime Minister recently visited the region and said he's backing in the Port of Newcastle. He needs to tell the New South Wales Premier, Gladys Berejiklian, that, because the state government are the ones in the way. Any support that the Prime Minister could lend would be gratefully received. I want to move on to the other project, Newcastle Airport. There is a critical need now to ensure that the runway at Newcastle Airport is upgraded. The project has a value of $119 million. Sixty-five million dollars is required for a Code E runway upgrade and $54 million is required for the airport terminal expansion. The Commonwealth will fund the upgrades for the Defence Force. It is an airport that is utilised as a civilian airport but is also a strategically important Defence airport. Defence must undergo repairs and works on the runway, so we have a time-critical period. It's essential that the runway is widened to enable international flights to go in and out. It would be senseless not to undertake this work, at the same time as Defence is doing work on the runway anyway. So there is a very small window of opportunity for the Commonwealth to come in and support the building of critical runway infrastructure that will enable development and growth at Newcastle Airport. We cannot miss out on this opportunity. It's a project that has to be funded now. I want to see it in the budget, if not before. Finally, I want to point to the issues that have been not just before this House but before the nation, and that is matters around women's place in our society, the ongoing inequities that exist and that are fuelling the levels of gendered violence in Australia, and the matters before us that we see how this also impacts workplace culture. This House is very much the focus of that discussion in the nation right now. I want to see a government with a plan of action to not just stop gendered violence in Australia but address what has been a growing inequity between men and women in Australia for some time. I want to see a plan of action. I want to see some recognition around these matters. I want it understood that gender inequality is one of the primary drivers of family, domestic and sexual violence in Australia. If you're serious about stopping violence, you're going to address gender inequality. I want to see this Prime Minister have the courage to introduce a gender equality act for the whole of Australia. That's my gift to you, Prime Minister. That's my suggestion. Please take it up. The women of Australia will be forever thankful. 16:46 Ms SHARKIE 265980 Mayo My community, like many others, is bracing for the impact of the business-saving JobKeeper wage subsidy ending this Saturday. Despite my advocacy and that of many in this place, the government has made it clear that the pandemic assistance measure will end. The government is buoyed by recent economic indicators, but the devil is always in the detail. In South Australia our unemployment rate is unacceptably high. Meanwhile, the funding subsidy for the COVID unemployed, the COVID assistance measure, is also coming to an end. The COVID supplement of $150 a fortnight will be gone next Wednesday. In its place, a new rise—I appreciate it's a permanent rise—of $50 a fortnight. But that takes the base rate of JobKeeper to around $310 a week. Retail data shows that it was the low-income households who supported our economy with extra spending during the restrictions. Ending both measures at the same time, I believe, is a very high risk decision. The removal of the supplement will put the brakes on our economy by cutting the income of those who are most likely to spend. This is going to have a huge impact on our small businesses. Looking at the statistics in my electorate, 7,962 people received JobSeeker in Mayo last December and 780 received youth allowance. Exactly a year ago there were 4,572 people on JobSeeker and 474 on youth allowance. That represents around a 75 per cent increase for JobSeeker recipients and a 65 per cent increase in the number of people on youth allowance. Not all of these people would have secured work in the first months of this year. Next week many of those employees who are still on JobKeeper will need to transition to JobSeeker, but that is only if they're eligible. The eligibility criteria have again been restricted. I'm concerned that the government's insistence on forcing the end of JobKeeper at the same time that it removes the coronavirus supplement will see a real contraction of our economy. I think we're in for a very difficult landing. When that happens, we have to ask ourselves, what was the point of the last year if we allow the wage subsidy to end prematurely and the businesses we are trying to save fall at the very last hurdle? What was the point of it all? The announcement of the aviation relief package and ticket incentives for the tourism industry is welcome, but our visitor economy is much larger than airlines. In our community, these measures won't help the travel agents, the small tour operators and the boutique businesses that relied on international and interstate visitors. It's estimated that the end of JobKeeper will have an impact on the future of some 400,000 jobs in travel, tourism and events. Some tourism businesses across Australia have seen an uplift in revenue from domestic visitors; however, many regional and remote tourism businesses that depend on international markets are in a very precarious situation. I spoke to one chauffeur operator in my electorate who, when COVID hit, lost most of their business taking small group tours to the wineries. They have attempted to diversify, but that hasn't covered their costs, including their loans on high-end vehicles. There is also a business that used to organise festivals and entertainment events. It will struggle to continue with restrictions still in place, as will the art galleries and hospitality venues that are still in recovery mode. It has been widely reported that Australians working in the arts industry have lost more than $25 million in income because of bushfires and the pandemic. Cinemas are also affected. We have the wonderful Wallis Cinema chain in South Australia, including in my electorate of Mayo, at Mount Barker. The combination of last year's lockdowns and delays in studios releasing A-list movies has significantly affected audience numbers—and this is an industry that was already hurting thanks to streaming services. More than 99 per cent of the businesses in my electorate are small businesses. Construction makes up the highest proportion, but there are more than a thousand businesses involved in the tourism, arts and recreation sectors. I'm very concerned that these specialist businesses will shed staff and possibility close down forever. If they lay off staff, they lose those people's expertise and their established relationships with them. The government has made its position clear, but the government, I believe, has shown it can react quickly if situations change. If the economic situation rapidly deteriorates, the government needs to act so it doesn't undo all the good work of JobKeeper and the $70 billion that Australian taxpayers have spent on that program. JobKeeper showed that the government can respond quickly in crisis. Sadly, there is no denying the aged-care crisis we are in right now in Australia. I'm heartened by the final report of the royal commission into aged care because it sets out pathways to a system which will treat older people with care, dignity and respect, and I think that's really the key to it all. If we have the will, we can act decisively and we can act now. The commissioners have called for a new aged-care act and system, and I think that's a matter we can all agree on, but the Prime Minister has indicated a five-year time frame for a new act. The government must act now on key recommendations, because older Australians can't wait any longer. We don't need a new act to act on some of the key recommendations. Lengthy delays in providing aged care at home must be addressed immediately. Many elderly people qualify for care in their homes but are left on a merry-go-round for months or years, searching for providers—and that's after being on the waiting list. Their health can deteriorate to a point where they are hospitalised or need residential care prematurely. It is not what they want, it's not what their families want and it costs individuals and taxpayers far more than in-home care. The system is broken and it can't wait five years to be fixed. The commissioners have called for immediate improvements to food and nutrition. They heard evidence that 68 per cent of residents in 60 Melbourne nursing homes were either suffering from or at risk of malnutrition. Nearly seven out of 10 residents were at risk of or suffering from malnutrition. That is horrific. I just can't believe that that is the Australia we live in. We need to make sure that the government's initial per-resident funding boost for providers really delivers to the individuals who are in aged care. We need to make sure it delivers nutritious meals. The second recommendation for immediate action relates to people living with dementia. Recently members would have heard from Dementia Australia that the aged-care system lacks consistent quality support for people with dementia. Dementia is now the biggest killer of women in Australia. More timely dementia diagnosis; pathways designed for people living with dementia, their families and carers; and a supported, skilled workforce cannot wait five years for a new act. Thirdly, the commissioners called for immediate better controls on restrictive practices. I am pleased the government has initiated some of these measures. Lastly, the commissioners called for palliative care to be core business. Advocates advise of the improved patient outcomes and economic benefits of integrating palliative care with aged care. We need to be providing more compassionate care for people nearing end of life—at home if they wish—rather than emergency hospitalisations. The commissioners' core recommendations give shape to the top 10 things that peak bodies have identified through consultation and that most older Australians want. The commissioners agree there needs to be increased funding for aged care, with greater transparency and accountability of how individuals' and taxpayers' funds are spent. Older Australians say they want to see transparency, informed choice and greater control over their funds. I call on the government to immediately progress measures based on previous Centre Alliance legislation proposals. Aged-care providers must be required to disclose their income and what they spend on food and medication, staff and training, accommodation, administration and payments to parent organisations and directors. Australians can't believe that this information is not required to be provided to the Australian taxpayer, to the government. It's all under cover. It's all under a shroud of secrecy. Nobody knows how much an aged-care facility spends on food. Nobody knows how much they spend on staff. Nobody knows how many staff are in a residential facility. It differs wildly. There are no ratios. There is no transparency of ratios. It's really quite appalling. The commission recommends improved access to quality care for older Australians. Really, that's just quite simple. Minimum time guarantees with personal care workers and nurses are one way to ensure everyone receives the care they need. You know what else needs to happen? We actually need to pay care workers properly. I have met wonderful care workers in recent weeks here in parliament who are earning $22 or $23 an hour. They can get more stacking shelves and yet they are looking after our most vulnerable people and they are racing from room to room with just minutes to shower and dress a person. In many cases, if the person has dementia, if the person has incontinence issues, they are needing to shower them many times during a day. They are stressed, they are exhausted and they are an older workforce of mainly women, and we treat them as poorly as we treat the residents in aged care. Older Australians call for recognition and support for family and friends who act as carers and volunteers. This is also recommended by the commissioners. All agree aged care must be more inclusive, culturally safe and sensitive. The government has allocated $452 million to its initial response. Of course that is really welcome, but I think the Australian community needs to know that that's just around three per cent of the total annual budget for aged care. This must be just the beginning of some funding changes. This initial investment must be followed by decisive action now. Significant investment must be made in the May budget and sound commitment must be made over the long term. The royal commission sets out the reasons and the road map for an aged-care system which acknowledges our older community and the right of all Australians to have care, dignity and respect as we age. I urge the Australian government to seize this opportunity to make meaningful change for the better, commencing immediately. We can't wait five years for a new Aged Care Act. No Australian deserves to wait five years for a new Aged Care Act. While we've been deliberating and discussing appropriations in here for days, it's just another wasted opportunity. I would happily sit through winter break—summer break, every break—so that we can actually make some meaningful change in this place to aged care, because our older Australians deserve much better. 17:00 Mr KHALIL 101351 Wills The past week we have rightly had a spotlight on the issue of treatment of women in this place and in society more broadly. The Prime Minister yesterday said that he wanted to listen to the women of Australia and that he wanted women to have every opportunity that men have in our country—to do what they want to do, to succeed and to live the lives they want in every way. While we've heard a lot of words from the Prime Minister, I'm going to ask this very simple question: where are the actions necessary to make those goals a reality? There are no shortage of ideas to help end systemic gendered bias, discrimination and harassment, and, worse, sexual assault and violence within our society. There is of course not one thing, program or fund that will fix everything, but there are countless ideas—policies, programs and potential funding commitments—that do exist, that are ready to go and that would be tangible action that this government could commit to right now that would make a real difference to women's lives across the country. This is not just talk; it's action. Prime Minister, here are just a few ideas. Launch an independent inquiry into allegations against the Attorney-General. Introduce quotas for women in the Liberal Party. The Prime Minister says he's open to it—just do it! We did it, in the Australian Labor Party, and we have almost 50 per cent women MPs. Accept and implement the 55 recommendations of the Respect@Work sexual harassment national inquiry report of 2020, which has been gathering dust on the Attorney-General's desk for almost a year. Launch a national education program to teach our young people about consent. Properly fund domestic violence prevention campaigns. Properly fund domestic violence support programs for survivors. Invest in women's sport at the same rate as men's sport. Invest in programs to get more women and girls into sectors that are more highly paid and—surprise, surprise—tend to be male dominated: science, technology, medicine and the trades. Raise the pay and standards for sectors that are often dominated by women: teaching, nursing, aged care and hospitality. Close the gender pay gap once and for all. If the Prime Minister doesn't know how to approach this one, take some ideas from Labor policy. We will give him bipartisan support. We will support him if he puts these ideas into action. Legislate so that large companies have to disclose their gender pay gap publicly. Prohibit pay secrecy clauses, giving employees the right to disclose pay. Take action to address the pay gap in the Australian Public Service. Strengthen the ability of the Fair Work Commission to order pay increases for workers in low-paid female-dominated industries. These are just a few ideas for the Prime Minister. If the Prime Minister was really listening—and if he has been listening, as he says he is—to women, then this is what he would have heard from women sharing their stories. Last week, I listened. I listened to women at the March 4 Justice in front of Parliament House. I thought it was important, as a man, to be there, to listen, to acknowledge and to better understand the injustices that women face every day in our society and in workplaces around Australia. I listened to ANU student association president, Madhumitha Janagaraja. She said: 'Disabled and First Nations women are proportionately much more likely to be survivors. This is not because they are inherently more vulnerable. It is because they are much more likely to be targeted because they are the groups with the least access to resources and often the ones with the least community support.' She ended with a powerful quote by Audre Lorde: When we speak we are afraid our words will not be heard or welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak. I heard women say that they have advocated for gender equality and for an end to gendered violence and abuse for decades. They have been working on this for decades. These are women who've been campaigning and fighting for this cause for decades, and they were all there, out in front of Parliament House and around Australia, in protests in all of our cities and in our towns. They've said very clearly that, in another decade's time, they don't want their daughters and their granddaughters to have to come out and march for the very same thing. I've also listened to my colleagues who spoke out in parliament. The member for Cowan, my good friend Anne Aly, said: I have somebody who regularly writes to me addressing his letters to the 'ISIS whore', sending me vile racist material directed at Labor female MPs. Enough is enough. The member for Cooper, my next-door neighbour in electorate terms, Ged Kearney, spoke about her experience running for parliament in 2018. She said: Placards with my face, in fact, corflutes of mine that were stolen for the very purpose, were defaced and painted over. Markings were drawn across my face making me look like a pig and a witch. I also listen to my own staff. I'm going to name them: Laura, Anna, Lucy, Lauren and Katerine. They told me: 'It doesn't matter where it happens. It doesn't matter which party. Gendered harassment, assault, violence, bullying, coercion, discrimination is wrong, no matter what. It doesn't matter who it is or where it's coming from. If there are people found to be mistreating women in this way in our political party, in any party in this place, they have to go. There should be zero tolerance for this behaviour. We need to change this place and every workplace where gender discrimination exists.' Everyone has been engaged in this subject in a way where we're reflecting, we're thinking and we're talking about it. Everyone's been saying that there's a toxic culture in Canberra and that the bad behaviour can be attributed to the culture of this place. What people rarely ask is: what actually is the culture of this place, what do they mean by that, and why is it so bad? It's a strange place, because 5,000-or-so people descend on this building for a couple of weeks. There are late working hours, long hours. There's a mix of power—clearly political power but also power imbalances—alcohol and a lack of accountability. In the very place where the laws of the land are made, are passed, there is an absence of legal mechanisms and HR structures to deal with harassment, bullying and assault. There's your recipe for a bad culture. When people in this place do the wrong thing, who deals with the problem? It's actually us, the MPs and senators. There are actually 227 offices, effectively little fiefdoms, here that deal with transgressions, assaults, harassment and bullying. I and some of my colleagues have worked in the public service and in the private sector. I was surprised at the lack of an independent body to look at these HR issues and to have those legal mechanisms in place. I was surprised by it, because in my working experience and in my working life, whether it was at the Department of Defence, DFAT or SBS, there was an independent, arm's length body and mechanisms that dealt with these issues in that workplace. But here it's an absolute monarchy in every office. There's no independent arbiter. There's no arm's length process. There's no real HR department as such. Frankly, this structural deficit is an enabler of bad behaviour and bad culture as well. We've got to ask ourselves the questions: why are we different to other workplaces, why are we so special, why should we be so special, why should the rules be different for us, the rule makers? This is the place where laws are made, on this hill, in this chamber, this pinnacle of law making in our democracy. Yet there is an absence of adequate workplace laws in the very place we make those laws. Changing culture is more than just talking about it. It's more than just words. We have to match that rhetoric with action, substantive action. As law makers, we need to change the structures and set the standards that people can abide by. We should have high standards. Our standards should be higher than any other workplace in Australia. We should at least match the basic minimum standards of other workplaces. We're not even doing that. It is because we don't have those standards and those structures that the bad behaviour and the bad culture that we have been reflecting on has permeated our workplace. It's become accepted. It's become the norm. I think it's probably true to say that every woman in this building deserves better than that, whether they be an MP, a staff member, one of the cleaners or one of the hospitality staff. They deserve better than a world where there's an absolute monarchy, where might is right, where power dominates and where there is no accountability of that power. That is basically what this place is like, in that context of workplace structures—or lack of them. This goes beyond partisan issues; I think I share with all of us here in the chamber the view that this should go beyond partisanship and go beyond politics. The government needs to take this seriously. What I mean by that is that this is not a political attack. I mean it's got to go beyond words. It's important to listen. It's important to acknowledge and understand, but you have got to go beyond that and actually take substantive actions. So, unlike the previous report that I alluded to, the Kate Jenkins report that will come out of her inquiry should not be left on the shelf to gather dust, like the other reports. The sex discrimination report has been shelved by the Attorney-General, since, effectively, over a year ago. The Prime Minister cannot let that happen. This is a moment in time when he needs to lead—in the true sense of the word—and take those actions. He made a start yesterday by acknowledging—listening and acknowledging; he talked about that—but there was no substance; there were no actions that came out of that. It's not just about us here—the MPs, the staff and the Parliament House workers in this place. As important as this place is, it does set a standard. I'm not diminishing the importance of doing what we need to do here. But it's really about every woman and every workplace in Australia, and what we think needs to be the standard across our society. So our job here won't really be done until every woman is safe in every workplace, in every home, in every school; is equal in every place; and has the same opportunities as a man in everything that she wants to do. Our job won't be done until we can actually say that: that we've set that standard and we can say we are progressing towards that goal. I think it is achievable, if we work together. 17:11 Dr HAINES 282335 Indi The last few years have been tough for parts of regional Australia: the prolonged drought, the worst bushfires in history, the worst floods in memory, the tourism industry smashed and border communities cut in two during COVID-19. But, even before this, regional Australia got a pretty raw deal from federal government. The metrics tell us so. Regional Australians have lower life expectancy, lower incomes, poorer health outcomes, poorer education outcomes and less access to child care, aged care and job opportunities than our city cousins. The brutal truth is that none of this has changed in years. The National and Liberal Parties represent most places in regional Australia, and they have been in power for most of the last 30 years, yet still nothing has fundamentally changed. Why not? I want to give you a sense of some of the guff that's going on, guff that regional Australians are mighty sick of. In parliament we have this thing called the regional Australia committee. When I came to this place I couldn't wait to join it. I really thought, 'This is the committee that I need to be on to do something tangible for regional Australia.' The point of the committee is to hear from witnesses about what they think the regions need; to make official visits all across the country to factories, farms, workplaces, hospitals and all sorts of places; and, ultimately, to make policy recommendations to the government. In the previous parliament, the regional Australia committee held public hearings in every state and territory and received a total of 196 good faith submissions. It produced a report that made 13 recommendations to government, including establishing a white paper for regional Australia. I expected when I came here that I'd roll up my sleeves and get right into the results of that white paper. A white paper is supposed to set out a broad policy framework for an issue that is bipartisan and can guide the actions of governments for many, many years. Without an overarching strategy like a white paper, we have no real direction. What industries does the government see as underpinning the economy of regional Australia in the future? How do we build the population of our regional towns and cities and make the right investments in housing, health, education and transport, so these communities are not overwhelmed? These are the types of questions that a white paper would give answers to. But the government took no action. Instead, a new committee was set up to review the recommendations of the previous committee. Then, when the second committee finished its report in March 2019, the government refused to release it, because they didn't want to implement any of those recommendations. When I was elected to parliament, just two months after that report was finished, I asked the government, in good faith: 'Can I see it?' Not only did they refuse but they actively covered up the report. I had to resort to forcing the government to release it through a Senate order in July 2020, almost 18 months after it was first written. As I suspected, none of the recommendations had been actioned. The big one—to develop a white paper for regional Australia—had been completely disregarded. But the worst part is that the regional Australia committee of this House is now conducting a new, third, pretty much identical inquiry into regional Australia. So let's be clear about this. The last parliament did a review into regional Australia; that report was ignored. The government then called for a review of that review, and that review was ignored. Now they're conducting a third review. And what do we expect they'll do with that one? That'll be three reviews into the exact same thing over five years, with none of the recommendations actually implemented. It's exasperating! And if you think I'm frustrated, how do you think regional Australians are feeling? It's a massive slap in the face to every single person in regional Australia who took the time to write to those inquiries or to front up—often nervously, but filled with hope—to speak to a committee hearing. Do you know what I hear from people when I travel around my electorate of Indi? They think that politicians just care about grandstanding and talkfests and never-ending politics just for the sake of it. Well, it's little wonder. And I hate to say that, after spending almost two years in this place, more and more it feels like they're right. And I hate that. This isn't true about all politicians, to be sure. But I really have to ask the question: really, how much do we truly care about regional Australia and how much do our regional MPs really care enough to stand up to the government, to not be silent and to actually call for recommendations to be put in place when they are made? People tell me they don't believe that government really understands what life is like in the regions and that decisions are made by people who neither know us nor care about us. And seeing legislation and policy get made up close, I'm fearful that at times they're really right about that. An example of this is the prolonged border closure that was inflicted on our communities by the New South Wales government. It's a most painful and recent example. The New South Wales Premier shut the border, with very little notice, and promised there would be a permit system, but, when we woke up to a closed border, the permit system was a complete shambles. People's lives were totally torn apart. Then, over the next few months, as the New South Wales government slowly added postcodes to the list of border communities, it was extremely clear that decisions were being made in Sydney about how our local communities worked without asking us. Frustration and despair—despair—still permeate as a result of those decisions, and businesses are still suffering from border closures. When the government announced the bushfire recovery fund, it said that small businesses in the Towong and Alpine shires were eligible for those $10,000 bushfire recovery grants, but not small businesses in other severely impacted bushfire communities like Indigo, Wangaratta or Mansfield who'd had a huge impact from these fires. Again, what stings about this is not just that they got it wrong but that they didn't ask the people who lived there and were impacted by the fires. It took months of work with local mayors to unpack that and finally get it right. And I'm really pleased that we finally did get it right. Then we saw the government call a royal commission into the bushfires, talking big about how we could never again let the disaster of last summer happen. But then, when the commission actually delivered its report, the government offered what really looked like a mealy-mouthed response, about 'noting' recommendations for an aerial firefighting fleet or supporting 'in principle' the recommendation for a single national bushfire warning app, or supporting in principle 'the objective of' the recommendation for a national register of firefighting equipment. Do you know what all that bureaucratic-speak actually means? Well, I do, and I reckon a lot of regional Australians do too. 'Noting' recommendations or supporting them 'in principle'—well, that actually means no. It means no sovereign aerial firefighting fleet. It means they're not developing a single national bushfire warning app. It means they're not creating a national register of firefighting equipment. It means that, after 240 inquiries into natural disasters, this is just another way to happily disregard recommendations when those recommendations get hard. The government don't even have the courage to look bushfire survivors in the eye and tell them straight up, 'That's a no.' We see the Deputy Prime Minister flying into Wangaratta last Friday literally so he could announce that the long-awaited $235 million upgrade to the North East Rail line is complete. Well, hurray! Except it's actually not complete and it won't be complete for another few months. And, even once the infrastructure works are complete, the new trains, which are really the things that are going to make a difference to the reliability and the quality of the service, won't be operational for months after that. We have to get the signalling right. We have to get the testing right. This is not complete yet. And there's still no guarantee from the Deputy Prime Minister that the maintenance of this line will be taken care of—no guarantee at all. We could be standing on that same train line again in a few years time, with the same old problems, because the Deputy Prime Minister will not give a guarantee that it will be maintained at the level that we need. In Wangaratta, the DPM told us his cute story once more that you could live like a king or queen in regional Australia, with five bedrooms, three bathrooms, a three-car garage and a huge backyard. It sounds incredible—except Wangaratta is a town where house prices have gone up 13 per cent, or $40,000, in a single year. With the influx of cashed-up people from the cities, there is not much room for locals left trying to buy or rent a home. This means locals are desperately looking for rentals. It means there's a real problem for our workforce, who cannot find anywhere to rent and live. Okay, sure, it's a two-way street. This will be good news for anyone who already owns a house. But, for young families or single young people looking for a place of their own, this just means they're pushed out of the market. If you'd been saving, say, $30,000 for a 10 per cent deposit, then the price of your house has just gone up by that amount. To see the Deputy Prime Minister celebrating this just showed he was completely out of touch, and plenty of people told me so. Where is the housing strategy for rural and regional Australia? We saw the Minister for Health swooping into Wodonga in the immediate wake of the fires, promising $500,000 to fund two mental health nurses in the Upper Murray region. And yet, over a year later, that promise has turned out to be completely empty. No money has ever come through. I've followed up and followed up, as has the CEO of Corryong Health, and we're still waiting. In a region where it's basically impossible to get mental health support, where it is chronically underfunded, to come in chasing the spotlight with an announcement and then exit stage right when it comes to delivering is completely inexcusable. We see a government that, when our community was torn in two by the border closure, didn't even pretend to care. In fact, they played politics about the Victorian government. Because the New South Wales state government are a Liberal government and it was them who closed the border, the federal government didn't say or do a thing. Instead, they bashed Victoria. I wrote to the Prime Minister. I begged him to do something at national cabinet about border closures, but there was silence—silence about the lived reality of border communities. Those communities are still hurting. They have not forgotten. It's caused anxiety and huge trauma, and crippled local businesses. Our young people are hurting. Okay, so the government funded some help, the HeadtoHelp service in Wodonga, as a COVID measure, and I was pleased about that. But again it's a reaction and it's a drop in the bucket. That service and all the mental health services in Wodonga are totally oversubscribed. I cannot begin to say how concerning this is, how worrying this is, what a blight this is on our society, that we cannot give people the mental health support that they so desperately need. There is an extreme lack of support for people with eating disorders. If you're on the border and you have an eating disorder, then you need to go to Melbourne. There is literally zero subacute mental health care for young people anywhere in our region. So where are the federal government? Where is the plan for this for regional Australia? Where's the rural health strategy that our overworked doctors and nurses and allied health professionals have been calling for? Where is it? We're not asking for much. We just want to have a fair go. We want a level playing field, because too often the regions miss out on the absolute basics, and it's putting our families and our communities under stress. Just today, I met a woman who told me that she left her rural community for good. Because she had breast cancer and needed treatment and she could not get the treatment she needed in her rural community, she has moved to the city, and she said she won't be coming back. What a loss. But she did that to save her own life. We don't want a government that does everything for us. But we do want a government that takes the reins when they need to. When the going gets tough you need to turn up. In my submission to the federal budget coming up in May, I recommended dozens of clear and practical actions that the government could quickly take to do better by our region, positive actions that drive prosperity. I have talked in this place before about the Australian Local Power Agency and the opportunity for the regions to truly benefit from renewable energy. I have talked in this place before about the tourism opportunities, opportunities like the Winton raceway and its proposed museum and heritage centre for the Holden Museum—a name that survives in the state where it all began. We could do this. But a little museum in a country town is not that groovy. It gets ignored. It's these kinds of things that make a difference to a local community. We could fund, right now, if the government had the will to do it, community based mental health services in towns like Myrtleford, King Lake, Alexandra, Wodonga. A program like Be Well in the Ranges, which wound up in December due to a lack of funding, should absolutely have been funded. In the grand scheme of the budget it would cost tuppence. The government could immediately provide home-care packages for everyone accessing one, and it could do something about the workforce that I know we need to make those home-care packages a reality. It could do more for young people to get them in the workplace. Right now the government's flagship JobMaker scheme has got just 500 people into jobs across Australia. How about we put some of that $4 billion into our local regional workforces, train mental health professionals, train aged-care workers, train more tradies and really give a boost to regional Australia? How about funding the Wodonga TAFE youth foyer, which could provide homes for young people who right now are choosing not to go into tertiary education because their families have been smashed by the disasters of the past 12 months and they can't afford to leave home? We need to do something about it. I came here as a regional Australian to do something about it. I call on the government to work with me and other regional MPs. Stand up, be heard, and let's do something for regional Australia. 17:27 Mr BURNS 278522 Macnamara This government only cares about this government. They don't care about the Australian people. They are obsessed with themselves. They are obsessed with covering the backs of each other. They are obsessed with talking about each other. They are obsessed with covering up and dealing with the political scandals that riddle this government each and every day. But I tell you what this government is not doing. They are not dealing with the serious issues that confront Australians each and every day. Issues like aged care, child care, stagnant wages, the gender pay gap. Issues like the fact that our vaccine rollout is rolling at a snail's pace, when we needed to be acting urgently to have it rolled out across this country. We have an emerging crisis in the Pacific. We have emissions going up under this government. We have a housing crisis in this government, not just in social housing, but also in young Australians being able to get into the housing market. JobKeeper is ending. We have hundreds of thousands of jobs that are on the line. Mental health: we are not funding our mental health system at anywhere near the level we need to. And what is this government doing? Instead of talking about the issues that affect Australians, instead of offering a vision for this country, instead of offering some sort of hope to Australians, they are stuck in the political cover-ups, in the defence of their mates, in the jobs-for-the-boys scheme, and in dealing with the political crises that rock it each and every day. It is not just this latest political crisis that this government is dealing with. They have form. There are dozens of crises that this government has taken the same approach with: 'We have got to get through the media cycle; we've got to manage this politically.' But they don't actually deal with the crux of the problem. We're talking about an appropriation bill. I might talk about some of the ways in which this government deals with taxpayer money. Why don't I start with the $100 million sports rorts scandal. Hardworking Australian volunteers, mums and dads on the weekend, literally give up their time to make our local sporting clubs work, and, instead of treating them with the respect and dignity that they deserve, what did this government do? They spent $100 million trying to win Liberal Party seats. They spent $100 million, as a Liberal Party slush fund, instead of recognising the applications that Australian mums and dads put in. They spent $30 million on an airport that was worth $3 million. The land was worth $3 million and they spent $30 million. What did the Deputy Prime Minister say? He said it was a bargain. Those $30 million Australian taxpayer dollars were flippantly used and flippantly covered up by this government. Of course, there was the Jam Land scandal, watergate. The minister for energy said he downloaded the travel records from the City of Sydney website. It turned out he didn't. Who knows how the minister for energy got those figures. There are the Safer Communities grants, overseen by the Department of Home Affairs—grants that are designed to improve community safety with CCTV, lighting and gates to make communities safe. What did the government do with it? They were all about making their seats safer. That's what it was. It wasn't about safer communities; it was the 'safer seats program', under the Minister for Home Affairs. Despite all of these things, they cut $14 million from the Audit Office, from the very government agency that uncovered all of these scandals. One of the most egregious ways in which this government used taxpayer dollars was the way they issued over $720 million of illegal and mostly incorrect robodebts to over 400,000 vulnerable Australians, which then cost them $1.2 billion in the class action. Did they apologise? Did they have any contrition whatsoever? It was only at the 11th hour that they grumbled out some sort of half-baked apology. When companies were using JobKeeper to pay executive bonuses and dividends, the Treasurer accused this side of the House of somehow not wanting to support profitable businesses. Surely, we're better than this sort of schoolyard name-calling in politics when we raise a legitimate concern about the government using millions of taxpayer dollars to underwrite executive bonuses and dividends for people who do not need them. We say that you should probably use that for the thousands of Australians who are actually in need of the JobKeeper subsidy. We're still in a pandemic. Instead of just name-calling Labor and blaming everything on Labor, maybe you should actually use the government funds, the taxpayer dollars, to support hardworking Australians. Instead, what do we get? We get a government that is obsessed with itself, a government that is about the mates, a government that is about the Liberal Party first and Australians second. I could go into all the other scandals, and there is a long list. I don't have time to go into all of them. The point of the list of scandals the government have is that, over the last few weeks, while they have been dealing with the political crises, the truth is that, over the last eight years—but, more specifically, since this Prime Minister took over—they have dealt with crisis after crisis, political scandal after political scandal, all of their own making. When the Prime Minister is issuing 11 pm apologies about a made-up sexual assault claim that he weaponised and created out of thin air, he's not dealing with the serious issues that confront Australians. If you cut $1.7 billion out of aged care, you're going to have a shortage of investment and inadequate care for our older Australians. And what are we seeing? We're seeing a lack of investment. Instead of dealing with it, the Prime Minister calls a royal commission. We know what the issue is. There is a lack of funding. But what are the government doing? Are they addressing aged care? No. They're talking about themselves. They're issuing apologies at 11 pm and dealing with the scandals that are rocking the government. There's child care. Women especially are being held back from the workforce or from working full time. Too many Australians are working fewer hours than they want to work, and one of the big factors is child care. Women are doing a disproportionate amount of the care in the family home, and the fourth and fifth days of child care are just unaffordable. Instead of talking about getting Australians, especially women, back into work, what are the government doing? They're talking about themselves. They're talking about the scandals, talking about protecting each other, covering up for the Attorney-General, covering up for the Minister for Defence, covering up for the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. Wages in this country have stagnated. Where is the government's ambitious agenda for wages? Young people are working in insecure and low-paid work. Where are the government's efforts to bring wages up in this country? They are completely distracted by talking about themselves, talking about the cover-ups, talking about the political management of the scandals, talking about protecting the boys in the Liberal Party. The gender pay gap is not closing at the rate it should. The fact that there is still a gender pay gap in this country is a national shame. The Labor Party has put a number of policies out there, including public accountability for large companies and making sure that industries that traditionally are lower paid are dealt with properly. But, instead of actually talking about the gender pay gap, what are the government doing? They're talking about themselves, talking about the scandals, talking about the cover-ups, talking about protecting the Attorney-General. As for the vaccine rollout, it's simply not good enough that we are going at a snail's pace in this country. The premiers of this country took responsibility in a time of crisis and got the number of coronavirus cases down to zero community transmission. It was no thanks to the $78 million Commonwealth app, might I say. Do you remember that ticket to freedom that this Prime Minister sold us, Mr Deputy Speaker? It wasn't thanks to that; it was thanks to the state premiers. Just because the state premiers have competently led this country, that doesn't mean that the Australian federal government shouldn't be acting with urgency to get the vaccine rolled out. Having companies in the rollout not turn up to aged-care homes isn't good enough. Having vaccines wasted isn't good enough. Having the rollout delayed isn't good enough. The broken promise of having four million doses of the vaccine in Australians' arms by the end of March isn't good enough. Why are the government incapable of actually delivering the vaccine rollout? Because they're focused on themselves, focused on their Liberal mates, focused on protecting the Attorney-General, focused on protecting this scandal-ridden Prime Minister—they're focused on themselves. For our Pacific family, 8,000 vaccines is not good enough. Yes, there are some good things that this government is doing around PPE and other things, but 8,000 vaccines is like putting a drop of water in the middle of the ocean. There is a crisis on our borders and, make no mistake, it will find its way to Australia. The economic crisis that will follow this health crisis will be devastating for Papua New Guinea, and sending 8,000 vaccines over there is, frankly, embarrassing. We need to do better than that. The government is not talking about bringing down Australia's emissions. We literally are coming out of one of the worst flooding episodes after one of the worst bushfire episodes. In this country we are at the forefront of climate change. Australia is at the forefront of a global temperature rise, yet we are at the back of the pack in emissions reduction. It's hardly surprising, because what is our minister for emissions reduction more focused on? He is more focused on waging war with the Mayor of the City of Sydney. What an unedifying reduction of the office of the Minister for Energy and Emissions Reduction. What a way to use the privilege of being a minister of the Crown in this country—spending your time trying to attack councillors for travelling overseas, with something that was completely manufactured, completely made up. Instead of dealing with the issues that confront Australians, all this mob are doing is talking about themselves, protecting the Attorney-General, protecting each other, covering up political scandal and covering up this Prime Minister. The other looming crisis that we have on our hands is JobKeeper ending on Sunday. The Treasurer might like to say that the momentum is with economic growth. In my electorate of Macnamara, there are 20,000 workers who are currently on the JobKeeper subsidy. Each and every one of them is not going to be comforted by a macro-economic sweeping statement from an ivory tower by the Treasurer of this country. These are Australians who are working in industries that are deeply affected by the fact that we are in a global pandemic. If we were not in a global pandemic, these jobs would be safe and secure. We have gotten them to three-quarter time, and the government are walking off the field, because, instead of dealing with the issues that face Australians, they are just protecting themselves, protecting the Attorney-General, protecting the Prime Minister, protecting the jobs for the boys. But we must be better than that. This country must be better than that. Government must be better than just the 'jobs for the boys' attitude that this government is so focused on, better than just political management. Government should be used as a tool for good in this country. Australian governments can do great things, but this government and this Prime Minister are reducing government and the office of Prime Minister to the very smallest of things, and we need a change of government immediately. (Time expired) 17:42 Ms ROWLAND 159771 Greenway I want to firstly acknowledge that many in our community, right across New South Wales, are doing it tough at the moment in the aftermath of the devastating floods that have been occurring over the last few days. As we learnt only recently, we have had a tragic loss of life in north-west Sydney. There has been damage caused to some local homes in my area, and it has been confronting over the last few days to have seen warnings from the SES along very familiar routes that I and many other residents take every day, including warnings by the SES to residents to prepare to evacuate by 3 am, Monday 22 March. I received this warning in the Riverstone, Schofields and Quakers Hill area, along roads that I take every day. I also want to acknowledge that this has been a very confronting time for our local institutions—in particular, our schools. Across many schools in my community, there has been the option for school to be attended if students are able to, but unfortunately many of the bus services have been cancelled because the bus depot in north-west Sydney was flooded. These schools have had to put up with, unfortunately, the flexibility that had to be applied during COVID. They have taken care to meet the expectations of parents and manage teachers and students during these past couple of days. It could not have been easy, so I want to do a big shout-out to those schools in my local area, including across Schofields, Riverstone and Vineyard. More than 160 schools have been closed across New South Wales due to flooding and severe weather, but I'm very pleased to see that some of them, including Schofields Public School, will now be open tomorrow. That of course is very good news. I also want to pay very special tribute—and I'm sure my colleague the member for Werriwa will agree with me—to my electorate neighbour just down Old Windsor Road and Richmond Road, the member for Macquarie, Susan Templeman. She isn't in parliament this week, for very obvious reasons. She is being the best local member that she can be. She is out and about in her community lending a hand. With the energy and ferocity that she brings to the role, constituents in the electorate of Macquarie could ask for no-one better. In the case of the member for Macquarie, unfortunately, a year ago parts of her community were being ravaged by bushfires and now we have the other half of her community under water. I think people need to understand that the majority of the images—at least what I saw on the TV news last night—are in the Hawkesbury, Windsor and Sackville areas of her electorate. You only have to look at her social media posts. She is right there in the middle of it. She's there at the Richmond Club having dinner with the Xie family, who were helicoptered out of their property. She's showing the rows of tractors that were moved up to Don't Worry Oval in Windsor, the highest point in the town. She's there with emergency services personnel making sure people stay off the bridges, including the relatively new Windsor Bridge, which I noticed was underwater. I have every confidence that the member for Macquarie will continue to be the strongest advocate that anyone could wish for in her community, as they hope for a bit of relief. Hopefully that is coming very soon. In the aftermath, I'm sure that she will be there to examine the lessons learnt from disaster management. She'll work with claimants and insurers to ensure fair treatment for those who will be building again. I want to extend a very special thanks to all of our SES volunteers—and they are volunteers; they do this of their own volition and they do it in very difficult circumstances. I want to note the very many local community groups who've reached out to my office saying that they want to assist not only the volunteers but also those who have been impacted. They are a wide cross-section of our community, be it religious organisations or cultural groups. I want to give a shout-out to just two of them who contacted my office—I'm sure there are many, many more—the Australian Sikh Association and Charity International Australia. We put them in touch with the SES to help feed and assist volunteers and those in need. As the member for Werriwa will well know, this is exactly what happened at the height of the pandemic: we had local community groups coming forward. With the cooperation of councils, for example, they were given spaces to enable them to assemble hampers for people in need. They did such great outreach, irrespective of culture or religion. It really does bring out the best of humanity. So I want to thank all of those groups, thank our SES and pay very special tribute to the member for Macquarie. Your friends are here. We miss you, but we have been watching you and our very best wishes are with you and your community at this really testing time. I also want to make a few points, as I have done on countless occasions, it feels like, over the past 10 or so years in this place, about the infrastructure deficit that continues to plague Western Sydney, north-west Sydney and south-west Sydney. As outer metropolitan Sydney continues to grow at a massive rate, it still remains the case that we do not have our fair share when it comes to infrastructure, be it hard infrastructure, if you want to call it that, in terms of roads and other services to support the commute and public transport, or be it other infrastructure such as the best communication services like broadband and mobile coverage in our outer metro areas. I do want to thank the fourth estate, and in particular The Daily Telegraph. I'm participating in their Best of the West forum on Friday, because it not only serves to highlight that deficit but also puts pressure on all levels government to work together to resolve these very serious issues that arise—I'm sure the member for Werriwa would have very similar issues to me—in terms of health, the commute and education. The things that impact on the quality of life in our communities are those things that they experience every day, be it the disproportionally high rate of tolls that need to be paid every day in order conduct a commute where public transport is simply not an option; or be it parking at local commuter hubs for heavy rail in order to make that journey out of their areas. Unfortunately, it remains the case that too many jobs are located in areas which are outside these local government areas: outside Blacktown, outside Liverpool, outside Cumberland. So it is still not an option for so many of our local community to work, study and live in the same local area. This needs to change. It is not going to change overnight. However, we have seen work patterns change, and not everything will go back to the way it was. There will be a new normal, in terms of working from home. But, of course, this requires access to the highest-quality broadband services in order for that to happen—in order for students to be able to study from home and in order for those people for whom working from home is an option to be able to do that. Again, this is not some chip-on-the-shoulder mentality. The reality is this—and I'll highlight some quotes from the growth in Blacktown: the annual change in the estimated resident population in 2019 in Blacktown was 2.29 per cent. The rate of change in New South Wales was 1.37 per cent. The rate of change in Australia overall was 1.53 per cent. You can see that even in one local government area in west and north-west Sydney the population growth far exceeds that of New South Wales and that of Australia. That will not go down when we are having more housing moving into the area around the Western Sydney airport and we are having more housing releases happening in areas of mine that were once farmland, where you can drive through it one week and the next week there are rows and rows of new houses being built. I welcome new housing going into our areas, but what needs to be remembered is that you have to have the corresponding infrastructure in order for these new residents to enjoy an adequate quality of life. That includes education. It includes building schools where, in a matter of a couple of years, you don't have demountables taking up entire parking areas or kids' playgrounds. That is exactly what is happening around the new areas of The Ponds in my electorate. It's completely unacceptable. It's also completely unacceptable that we still have school areas of such high disadvantage that teachers are running breakfast clubs in the morning just to ensure that their kids are able to start school with some food in their bellies. It highlights the lack of forward planning that has been happening at a state level for quite some time in New South Wales. We talk about announcement versus delivery. Nowhere could this be more true than this New South Wales government when it comes to issues such as providing adequate education and transport opportunities. They've promised time and again that they would deliver a multistorey commuter car park at Schofields Station. We have learnt that not only was it not delivered by the end of last year, as promised; they're now proposing an at-grade car park. Bear in mind, for those who don't know, Schofields is smack-bang in the middle of what I just described in terms of the explosion in growth. People need to travel outside of their communities primarily in order to access work and study. The other thing that I have highlighted, not once, not twice—this will, in fact, be my third time highlighting it—is the disparity when it comes to health services in our local area. A week ago I raised in parliament a national scandal, where we have had six babies die unexpectedly in Blacktown Hospital over the past two-or-so years. I was born in that hospital. The residents of the Greater Blacktown area, for which Blacktown Hospital is the only public hospital, deserve to have confidence that they will have the same level of care for themselves and their families as anyone who lives on to the North Shore or in the eastern suburbs. I made representations late last year to the minister, seeking an urgent briefing about what was happening here. I don't come here as a complete novice. I'm previous non-executive director of the Western Sydney area health service, so there are a couple of things I understand about the pressures and about hospital administration. I didn't receive a reply for a month from the New South Wales government in response to that request. I didn't receive a response from the minister. I had a response from his understudy basically saying nothing that we didn't already know. Call me crazy, but I'm just saying that, if a local MP gets up for the third time in parliament and raises the issue of the inadequate services being provided at Blacktown hospital and the disgrace of having parents go home without a live baby, in unexpected circumstances, you'd think you'd want to contact them. You'd think you'd want to contact them. But, no—nothing from this minister or this government. And I remain very ready for whatever is needed to be done, whatever advocacy is needed to be done. I have met with the nurses and midwives—nurses and midwives who decide, that is, make a conscious decision, to spend their shifts being dehydrated because they can't even afford the time to go to the toilet on their shifts. It is absolutely outrageous. They've got nurses in very high-end obstetrics who are not properly trained being required to perform tasks which they shouldn't be. But there is simply no-one else to do this task. This type of administration cannot go on. It cannot go on. Again, I say to the Minister for Health in New South Wales: 'You need to be transparent about this. You need to be open with the Blacktown community about what's going on. And, while you're at it, maybe you can deliver on your promise to deliver a new hospital at Rouse Hill.' You have to go back to 2015 for this, when the then Premier Mike Baird announced a $300 million hospital at Rouse Hill. Four years later, it was announced it required some land to construct a substantial hospital. As at 1 March this year, the land proposed has still not been purchased and studies for the site have stalled. Talk about all promise and no delivery when it comes to health services! This is in one of the fastest-growing regions of Sydney, if not in New South Wales and if not in Australia. It is high time. I will be raising these issues and many others at The Daily Telegraph's forum on Friday, and I thank them for their interest in promoting the needs of Western Sydney residents and a forum by which these issues can be ventilated, because, quite frankly, it is not good enough. The people of west and north-west Sydney are not going to tolerate it for a minute longer. 17:57 Mr BANDT M3C Melbourne How was your 2020? Did you buy a new jet? Did you go on holiday overseas? Or was it more Zoom meetings, homeschooling and doomscrolling your bank account? Well, while your year was tough, billionaires in Australia did better than billionaires anywhere else in the world. They made out like bandits. Gina and Twiggy did better than Bezos and Gates. And now The Australian newspaper thinks they're celebrities. That paper's rich list last weekend revealed just how much these billionaires have made. But it failed to share what they did with it. And what did they do with it? Well, Gina Rinehart spent millions of dollars on Trump's corona cures and denying climate change. Clive Palmer spent millions trashing the vaccine rollout, money he surely could have paid to his workers. Gerry Harvey pocketed millions in taxpayers' money intended to help small business survive the lockdown periods. And Kerry Stokes took millions from the taxpayer, cut his workers' wages, made a few billion and bought a new jet. We've seen the photos of the billionaires in their pools, in their planes and on their islands, and giving money to their charities. They think they're better than everyone else, but being extremely greedy isn't something that we should celebrate. What we haven't seen is them paying much tax. How can they claim to be proud Australians if they don't even offer to split the bill, let alone pick up the tab? One of the reasons that these people are on this rich list is that they're always first in line for public handouts yet they refuse to pay their fair share of tax. It's time to call games up on this game of greed. Extreme wealth leads to extreme power. We saw who was looked after during the pandemic, who society is geared towards. The list of wealth-mongers give millions of dollars each year to politicians who, frankly, suck up to billionaires, meaning that the power balance in this country is all out of whack. And because they have too much power, they think that they don't have to follow the same rules as everyone else. What has happened over the past year, where billionaires have made massive profits while everyone else couldn't go out to have dinner with their family, is outrageous. It distorts the economy and it damages our democracy. But we can turn it around. Right now in this country inequality is at a record high. As a result, wages are too low, work is too insecure and climate change is getting out of control. We need a bigger tax base to provide people with jobs, make essential services free, and ensure that everyone has a home. The age of extreme greed will come to an end. By putting the Greens in the balance of power and making the billionaires pay their fair share, we can put that money to ensuring that everyone has a well paid, secure job, education is free again and dental and mental health care are part of Medicare. We can afford this if we have the courage to make the billionaires pay their fair share. There is a reason that we are one of the richest countries in the world but millions of people live below the poverty line, can't get enough work and have to pay too much for basic services. That reason and the people who form part of that reason are all listed on the pages of The Australian. By making the billionaires pay their fair share every Australian can have a better life, not just the greedy gluttons of wealth and privilege. 18:01 Mr DICK 53517 Oxley I want to focus on a few remarks today about the current economic trends and forecasts that our nation is dealing with and some of broader political impacts of the government's decisions. Whilst we know that the government has no plan to tackle the jobs crisis, no plan to help struggling families and no plan to save small family owned businesses who are crying out for help, our country is facing a cliff in a week when JobKeeper will end. We know that many companies were given JobKeeper subsidies when they didn't need it: $10 billion to $20 billion may have gone to businesses whose profits actually rose during the pandemic. Let's just think about that for a moment. JobKeeper's there to support the hard-working businesses that suffered as a result of the COVID pandemic. It was put into place, supported by this side of parliament, after the Morrison government initially refused to offer support, by working constructively with members of parliament. It was a unification period in our nation's history, when we were able to look at income support for businesses who needed it. But what were the consequences of that? When asked 'Will it be targeted?' the government said yes. When asked 'Will it go to the people who need it' the government said yes. But what has been revealed—I think it is shameful—is that around $10 billion to $20 billion may have gone to businesses whose profit actually rose during the pandemic. And to make it worse, it has now been revealed that this money was used to pay for executive bonuses. I have no problems with companies making their own decisions. I have no problems with companies rewarding shareholders. I believe in free enterprise. But to have taxpayer assisted government schemes where bonuses are awarded, at the expense of businesses, does not sit right with me or the majority of Australians. Meanwhile, when we see businesses being left behind, we only need to look at my home state of Queensland, where a matter of weeks ago I stood with the leader of the Labor Party, Anthony Albanese, as he launched Labor's pandemic recovery jobs taskforce. We met with industry groups and leaders from marine technology and marine production companies. They were struggling to stay afloat. As a result of international border closures by the Morrison government, which we supported, the tourism industry in Cairns, of which 70 per cent relies on dollars from overseas, has almost collapsed. They have been crying out since February for a targeted relief policy for their industry, and, quite frankly, the government has ignored them. Closer to home, in my electorate of Oxley, in the south-western suburbs of Brisbane and Ipswich that I proudly represent, there are currently over 5,000 JobKeeper recipients, and I've spoken to many of them and I've spoken about them in this chamber. One I'll highlight again was the owner of a Cineplex, an independent cinema, Sam Catalano. Cineplex is a wonderful family-owned business. One of their businesses is at Redbank, at the Redbank Plaza shopping centre where people will go and have a great night out. He's a great business owner. And that business is looking at a cliff due to JobKeeper ending. Cinema owners across Australia, who've lost around 70 per cent of their revenue, also have been crying out for help, and the government has ignored them as well. I met with Sam and some of his staff and they explained to me the impacts of JobKeeper coming to an end. He said to me that he will not be able to keep all of his employees. That means those employees will then move to other forms of income support, relying on the taxpayer. They'll lose their jobs. It's that simple. In Queensland alone, there'll be around 50,000 people in the same boat. As I said, many of them are from the tourism sector and the entertainment industry—industries that have suffered blow after blow since the pandemic began. The people I've spoken to own small and family businesses. My family owned a family business, a small business. My father and my uncle were in businesses for many, many years, so I have a small business background. I grew up in a butcher's family, understanding how difficult it is, week to week, month to month. Some weeks were good; some weeks were bad. Depending on whether we got the crumbed chops or the rump steak, we could determine whether it was a good week or a bad week. If it was sausages, we really knew that the shop was struggling that week. My mother had an indicator in the chest freezer about what the cost of living was in our family. So I know what it's like, and I understand that small business is the backbone of our economy. Small business provides the engine room of our economy. When small business does well, the economy does well. As someone who is a proud supporter of small business, I know what it's like for those families that are worried about what happens next week or next month—or, indeed, whether they'll be there at the new financial year. A lot of people have done everything right. They have cut back; they have really pushed their budgets to the bottom line. And now they are finding themselves, in my opinion, being punished by the Morrison government. We are on a trajectory to a net debt of $950 billion that this country owes. That's almost a trillion dollars worth of debt. We've heard a lot of lectures on debt in the time I've been following politics, over the last 20 years. I even go back to the John Hewson days, when he had a debt truck driving around talking about Labor's $40-odd billion worth of debt. Now we're up to a trillion dollars worth of debt, and we don't have a proper plan to manage that debt. We don't have a proper plan to reduce that debt. And, as a result of that debt, we have one million people unemployed and growing—one million people unemployed—and businesses, as a result of the government's decision to end JobKeeper, fearful that they won't survive. So those are the challenges facing our country. Sadly, this week we have seen a government mired in sleaze, sex and cover-up—that would be my way of describing this week. I don't think it has been a good role model for people wanting to enter politics. We've seen the Prime Minister under pressure. We've seen him having to apologise for, I guess, making things up—that would be the only way I could say it. Yesterday he had to issue a midnight apology for making things up at live press conferences. Whilst all these issues are swirling around, in my electorate of Oxley the 13,000 businesses that I represent are looking for economic leadership in this country. On top of that we have, as we come out of the COVID pandemic, the twin issues of a health crisis and an economic crisis still facing our nation. The promise of the government's slogans and media announcements was that four million Australians would be vaccinated by the end of March. When the residents and businesses I speak to hear the Prime Minister of the day, during an economic crisis and a health crisis, claim that four million people will be vaccinated by the end of March, they believe it. They take the Prime Minister at his word, because it is a privilege to lead this country. Even the experts realise we're not sure when the vaccine rollout will occur. We were told everyone would be vaccinated by October, but then the slippery, tricky language came in and we were told, 'That's not really what we meant; we meant something else.' But, despite the COVID-19 vaccine promise being broken, there is one promise that the government is keeping—that is, to end JobKeeper. I wish, amid their announcements about the vaccine and their other announcements, that they would break their commitment and actually talk about a plan to deal with the businesses that are going to suffer as a result of JobKeeper being on the chopping block. We know that this government isn't on the side of Australians. It is setting them up to fail. I've spoken time and time again in the parliament about the debt crisis and the small-business crisis that people talk to me about. I know that in my home state people are looking at the debt crisis they're facing in their own lives because of the rising cost of living, job insecurity and flatlining wages. As at December last year, people in my home state had an average of $4,038 unpaid on their credit cards at the end of each month—well above the national average of $3,000. The decisions that happen in this parliament and the decisions the government makes have real impacts on the way families manage their budget and how much pressure they're under to make payments and make sure the rent is paid on time. The unstable job market plus the impending end of JobKeeper is giving some people no choice but to live with a bank account that's in the red, putting them at risk of being preyed upon by loan sharks. This is something I have spoken about before. I am glad the member for Whitlam is in the Chamber. I know he shares, as do the member for Werriwa and the member for Parramatta, my deep concern and fear about the government not standing up to the loan sharks in this country. We on this side of the Chamber are united about doing something to protect vulnerable Australians. We hear the stories all the time, every member of parliament. If you do a street corner meeting or visit a shopping centre, you'll hear from people who are fearful about losing their job, who want more hours or who know someone who has just lost their job. Someone from Westlake, a mental health worker, recently told me that some payday lenders were charging borrowers more than 407 per cent interest per annum on payday loans. Just last month I spoke about this issue to the Consumer Action Law Centre, who told me that this isn't as bad as it's going to get. Think about what debt situations people are in, Mr Deputy Speaker. When JobKeeper ends, in a matter of one week, these figures are expected to significantly increase. So, whilst there are issues surrounding scandals within the government, in my time today I'd simply say: focus on the people, not on yourselves; focus on the people and the small businesses who are worried about what will happen as a result of government decisions that aren't in their interest. They are decisions that aren't in the interests of millions of Australians who are looking over that cliff, who are worried and living from pay cheque to pay cheque. The cost of living—the cost of child care, the cost of education, all of those things—is spiralling out of control. They are looking for a government that is on their side. That's why I'm so proud to stand as part of Anthony Albanese's Labor team that has laid out a framework and has laid out economic policies and social policies to deliver essential support to people, not only in my community but also right across Australia. Child care is an important issue in my electorate and I know it's an issue close to the heart of the shadow minister for child care, Amanda Rishworth, and the leader, who have constantly, since the budget last year, campaigned on this. In a matter of months, the budget will be delivered in this country. I once again call on the government to listen to what is happening to the sector. During the pandemic, we saw the sector heavily punished by this government. The first workers punished and taken off JobKeeper were childcare workers. There's still no explanation as to why that decision was taken. I come back to my earlier remarks. All of the decisions that the Morrison government has taken have a huge impact on working families. While there are internal challenges that the government faces, scandals of its own making, I simply say today: please listen to what your decisions are doing to the community. Think about those actions and make sure that the economic conditions in this country don't keep hurting working Australians. 18:16 Ms OWENS E09 Parramatta I've been in this place for a while now—16 years. When the Abbott government was first elected, I watched the government push the pause button. It was as though everything stopped. All the action, all the things that we needed to do on climate change, the changing nature of work and the cost of living pressures on families, went on pause and nothing happened. Day after day, we watched speeches made in the main chamber that usually would be pushed to the Federation Chamber because important bills had to be debated. There were times when we almost ran out of legislation. There were times when virtually nobody on the government side had anything to say. It went on for month after month. And then we had the Turnbull government and it continued. We still had endless changes to energy policy but nothing substantial. There was no real action on climate change, there was destruction of the NBN, no real action on aged care and no real closing of the gap. Incredibly important things went on the backburner. There were lots of reports but no action; nothing. There was very little happening in the parliament. Then we had the Morrison government, and it's even worse now than it was under the first two versions of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government. My emotional state went from sadness over the opportunities that the country was missing and then it went to frustration and even despair. But I'm surprised, I have to say, at the level of anger I have now. I don't get angry. I've lost my temper twice in my life. It's not my natural state, but I'm now angrier than I've been in a long time at what is happening in this parliament and what is not happening in this parliament. Today, I want to talk about the failure of this government to listen and hear the voices of people out there who are crying out in despair, crying out in need or crying out in hope and passion. We have a government that is completely oblivious to it all. The three big issues that come to the fore when I think of that are the women that gathered outside last week, the Indigenous people who are crying out to be heard, and veterans, who also met on the grass this week, asking for a royal commission into veteran suicide. I want to start with women. This has been an extraordinary week. I'm going to start by saying I am not a victim of sexual abuse, though one in five women are victims of sexual abuse after the age of 15. There are many victims before that, but one in five are victims of sexual abuse over the age of 15. That's a lot of women. Large numbers of them gathered outside this place in anger and rage at the allegations that had been made against members in this House and allegations of things that had taken place in this House, asking the government to hear their rage and their anger and act. The independent inquiry needs to take it seriously. People who had been silent for years have been contacting my office saying; 'This isn't good enough. Something else has to change.' Instead, we've had some of the most extraordinarily offensive statements being made by members of the government. I'm going to touch on a couple of them, because I think that, sometimes, when the statements are made, the people who made them and some of the people who hear them don't hear them from the perspective of women who lived, as I did, through the age of Germaine Greer. I was told that I wouldn't get a job in radio unless I married a rich man and bought a radio station or learnt to type. I did get a job in radio. I've known men who demonstrated absolutely that they could do whatever they damn well liked if they chose to, and they made it perfectly clear. We have lived through being trivialised, ignored and spoken over for decades—and lived with most of it—and then we get statements that the government doesn't need to worry about this because it is an issue that only white, university-educated women care about. Let me tell you what I think when I hear that, because I am a white, university-educated woman. I have never heard anybody say that we don't have to care about something because it's an issue that only white, educated men care about. I have never heard the opposite said. When that is said, the people who say it and the people who perpetrate it are saying that white, university-educated women are trivial, that they don't matter, that they're just off on the side somewhere; they're doctors wives that have a second job for their husband. It reminds me, and women of my age, of how many times I was told in interviews that I wouldn't get the job because the man who came in before me had a wife to support. It reminds me of how many times we are discounted and put aside because we are women and for no other reason. That's what we hear. Then we hear a minister suggest that there are lots of false allegations of rape: 'We believe the man here. It's probably a false allegation.' If it were true that there are lots and lots and lots of false allegations of rape then the chief of the Army would be pulling in the men in the Army and saying to them: 'In order to avoid being falsely accused of rape, don't go out with women after midnight, don't get drunk, don't be too friendly, don't smile.' But they don't. They call the women in. They call the women in, because one in five women in Australia have been sexually assaulted after the age of 15. Then the Prime Minister says something. Again, I accept that he may not have meant it this way, but let me say what I heard. I heard the Prime Minister say, 'If they were in another country, they'd be shot for this.' I add the next sentence: 'Oh, they were just raped and not heard. Oh, that's fine.' That's what I hear, because I have lived through decades of this sort of stuff. I have lived through decades of it. Any woman my age is going to have exactly the same response that I am having at this point—all of them. I talk to them every day. This has to change—and the behaviour of men. I now walk down the corridors of parliament, having lived a life where I don't walk home in the dark alone. I go to town sometimes where I never see a woman walking alone; I only see a woman walking with a man. I see men walking alone but not women. You live in a world where you hold your keys in your hand. You don't leave too late. We live in a world where we have to assume that the men we see in the street are dangerous. Now we find out that there's a bunch of blokes in this House, walking around these corridors right now, who think it's perfectly acceptable to perform a sex act on their female boss's desk. That is a statement that absolutely says, 'I'm powerful, and I'm more powerful than you, and this is my right.' That's what it means to me and that's what it means to women. I am walking around this place as furious as I can be that I am in a position where I know that there are men in this place who knew it was going on, who shared it on Facebook and who said and did nothing. What is their attitude to me and the other women in this place? That's what women hear, because we have lived this for decades. Enough is enough. If the men on either side don't get it then they need to get out more and talk to more women, because this is just not right. Another issue I really want to talk about is the Indigenous voice to parliament. It's another case where this government demonstrates that it cannot put itself in any life that it hasn't lived itself. They cannot empathise or imagine or conceptualise a life that is not theirs. Women? No, sorry, don't get it. Indigenous people, who have lived lives of incredible loss and grief, poverty, lack of housing, all sorts of other things, and a lack of hope. And this government, when faced with the Statement from the Heart, don't hear it. It's as if they are incapable of putting themselves in the shoes of somebody else and looking at the world from another perspective. I'm lucky: I live in one of the most diverse communities in the world, in Parramatta. It's incredibly diverse. When you live in a community that diverse, you don't have the luxury of assuming that your view is the norm and everybody else has to persuade you. You live in a world where people have come from different places and lived different experiences. They have different religions; their languages are thousands of years old; they have concepts that they can express in one language but not another. You live your life in a community like that knowing all the time that you have to keep open and bend and trust that the people you're talking to are coming from a place of good, as most people do. But this government can't do that. Whether it's women, whether it's Indigenous people, whether it's veterans, they cannot put themselves in the place of someone who's life experience they have not shared. A bunch of veterans met out the front this week to talk about veteran suicide. I haven't been in a war zone. My father was. I lived in an army suburb, so I saw the men come back from Vietnam and I saw their families fall apart. It was a shocking thing. I was a teenager, and there were a lot of really traumatised men who came back at that time. It's a shocking thing. Since the Afghan war we have lost 41 soldiers in combat, and we've lost over 500 to suicide. This is an indictment on all of us who sit quietly and accept that our soldiers go to war, and when they come back they take their lives in their hundreds and we don't act. When those veterans come to us with their life experience as a group and say, 'This is what we need', we should be able to trust them. I recognise that the government didn't oppose the motion that was passed in the parliament the other day. But it's about time that the government supported it and did this. They are clearly saying, 'Give us the royal commission and then give a permanent structure to look at what the solutions might be.' They are telling us that there are things that have to be exposed, that have to be uncovered, that have to be said, and they need a safe place to do that. Let's listen to them. We thought enough of them to send them off to war. We should think enough of them to trust them to know what they need now they have come back. It's an absolute indictment on this government that it can't even hear the people that it claims to be the great voice of. And then you get to the rest of it. Aged care: honestly, they called the royal commission into aged care after being shoved for months. When finally there was going to be an expose on mainstream television, they finally called a royal commission into aged care the day before, having rejected it and refused to do it for months. They did it. They ignored 21 other reports that raised similar issues, doing nothing. They didn't hear it. They didn't hear people talk about their malnourished parent lying in faeces, being left in a bed all day, being left in a chair. They didn't hear any of that until the crisis of image—their image—hit and they called it. They ignored 21 other reports. Then, when the royal commission put out their interim report, called Neglect, they didn't hear that either. There were 100,000 people on the waiting list for home care. There are still 100,000 people on the waiting list for home care, years later. They do not hear the voices raised in pain and anger. They do not hear it and they do not act. They are too slow, they don't hear it, they try to avoid it altogether. It is only when the crisis of public opinion hits that they do anything at all. Look at the COVID response to all the things that the federal government had responsibility for. Visas; people stuck overseas unable to re-enter Australia. A couple is overseas, the wife is pregnant, the man comes back to work, she stays for a couple of weeks to be with her mum, the borders close and she's then too pregnant to fly home. Eight months later, the father hasn't met his child. That's what I'm hearing. How can this government have gone on for a year and not heard that? I've got people coming to me every day of the week telling me stories like that. People have been separated for months—literally, a father who hadn't met his child. Can you imagine that? This is what I'm hearing. This government is oblivious to this level of pain. They're oblivious. It's as if they can't hear anything. We've had people screaming out in unison, people on JobSeeker—previously Newstart and the dole—and all the business organisations in the country, saying, 'You have to increase this. You have to increase this.' And what do we get? We get three dollars and something a day. It's irrelevant, right? It's irrelevant. There are organisations in my electorate that have really come to the party. They're delivering food. I delivered food to a two-bedroom house that had three families in it, and one of them had a newborn that had only come home from hospital the day before. That's a great start to life! You get quotes like this from one of our charities: Our services are about to be avalanched with people who cannot pay their bills, people who cannot afford their food, people who cannot afford to live in their rental accommodation anymore … That comes from Claerwen Little, the national director of UnitingCare Australia, a big organisation. And that's what I'm hearing. Anybody who is out there in the community would be hearing similar stories, and yet the government does not act. In fact, it is worse, because JobKeeper goes at the end of this week, and many, many more people will go on to JobSeeker. Please listen. It's your job. Just listen. (Time expired) 18:31 Mr STEPHEN JONES A9B Whitlam I think it's fair to say that, this week, parliament has been pretty much focused on itself and the goings-on inside this building. It's equally regrettable to be saying that when outside of this building, in a place where I come from, a place that many people in this House come from, we've seen volunteers lending their efforts, time and energy to the crisis facing flooded communities and landscapes. On display has been the very best of what Australia stands for, whilst in this place we have seen some—too much, too much—of the very worst, and that's a matter of deep regret. There have not been many times over the last 10 years that I've walked into this place feeling a little bit of shame about the place that I work, and I have to say, regrettably, that this week I have felt that, and I know that I'm not alone. I want to spend a little bit of time in my response on the appropriation bills to do the very opposite—to look outwards and to celebrate some of the great things that are going on in my community. I want to take the opportunity to congratulate the numerous people who were recognised and received awards during the recent Australia Day ceremonies. I want to congratulate Don Martin, who was the Shellharbour Australia Day Citizen of the Year, and Charli Ryan, who was the Shellharbour Australia Day Young Citizen of the Year. Don is best known for his work locally with Legacy. He was also a founding member, however, of the Foreshore Improvement Group and is an advocate for the cockle moratorium and the local environment. For those not from my area, the cockle moratorium is about putting a stop to the unsustainable harvesting of cockles from the Lake Illawarra foreshore. When Don's not improving our local environment, he is regularly raising funds for and then distributing them—but, more than that, distributing kindness and company—to war widows throughout the Illawarra. Charli Ryan, over the last 12 months, has made a huge difference in her local school and her local community. In 2020 she participated in the New South Wales kids parliament, discussing the issues that were facing young people—and 2020 was a very special year for all kids who were contributing to the New South Wales youth parliament. Charli noted that the emerging need for face masks within the community was not being met, and she set about purchasing materials for homemade face masks, which she distributed amongst the elderly people in her community and to the Salvation Army. She wasn't alone, and when she accepted the award she reached out to one of her schoolmates and said, 'This could equally have gone to her and many of the others that were involved in that project.' I want to pay tribute to the great work of Charlie and her school compatriots. I want to give a shout-out to a great mate of mine, who I've known for over a decade now. He is Chaplain John Kewa from the Mission to Seafarers. John wasn't born in Australia. He was born in the hills of Papua New Guinea and he still has a lot of family back there. I know he is very anxious about what's going on with the spread of COVID-19 in Papua New Guinea at the moment. But it really was a wonderful day when we were able to celebrate John and recognise him and his great contributions through his faith and his work with the local seafarers by making him the Wollongong City Citizen of the Year. It's an absolutely brilliant story. He accepted that award alongside young Thura Sabbar, the Wollongong City Young Citizen of the Year. I want to say a few words about John. John is a chaplain and manager at the Mission to Seamen at Port Kembla. During the COVID-19 pandemic, during the worst of the pandemic, John showed compassion for the 1,200 crew members who were stuck on the Ruby Princess. Remember the Ruby Princess? It seems like forever ago. They sailed out of Sydney Harbour, they had no port anywhere, and they were taken into Port Kembla Harbour, trapped on board. I want to pay tribute to John and the local community, my colleague Sharon Bird, the member for Cunningham, and the member for Wollongong, Paul Scully, who together with others organised a workshop to bring food hampers and care packs to the crew on board the Ruby Princess. They will never forget the kindness that was shown to them by the City of Wollongong. John Kewa was at the very heart of it. John and his team delivered over 13 pallets—not packages, pallets, and that's a hell of a lot of care packages—and hundreds of letters of support to the crew. He's at it again. He is providing support for the seafarers stranded off Port Kembla Harbour who have been at sea for months and months. I want to say something about this, because we are literally witnessing a humanitarian crisis. There are nearly half a million seafarers stuck on ships across the globe. They've been stuck on those ships for over a year, and they've essentially been forced into indefinite service. They can't go home, and often they can't go into the ports which their ships are moored off. Seafarers are performing a critical role. They transport food, minerals, medicines, farm produce and other supplies around the globe. A trading nation like Australia, where over 90 per cent of our goods come to us or go from us on a ship, is incredibly reliant on the seafarers and the ships that they staff. We've paid a lot of tribute to the people who work in our hospitals, our essential services workers and our front-line workers in the retail industries, because they're very visible. The people who aren't visible are the seafarers. I think we need to do more, as a nation which is so reliant on seafarers, to ensure that half a million people who are stranded on ships can be safely brought home, that their ships can be safely attended to, and that these forgotten seafarers are provided the care, attention and the safe passage home that they so rightly deserve. I've mentioned Thura Sabbar. She migrated to Australia in 2009—another great migrant story. Since she arrived in Australia, she and her family and friends have been repaying what they see as an enormous debt back to the community ever since. In many respects, I think the debt is ours to them. Thura has organised and volunteered in heaps of fundraisers, including Zonta birthing kits and supporting organisations such as Need to Feed for the past four years. She has also been offering a free translation service for refugees from Arabic-speaking countries. She is a sensational young woman, and we can see hope for the future with young leaders like her coming through. In the Wingecarribee Shire Council, we saw Catherine Constable named the Australia Day Citizen of the Year and Charlotte Gillespie named the Young Citizen of the Year. Catherine Constable is a long-term advocate for and supporter of senior citizens across the Southern Highlands and has served for more than 17 years on the board of Wingecarribee Adult Day Care Centres. I want to congratulate Catherine but also recognise the staff and volunteers at the adult day care centres in the Southern Highlands, throughout my electorate and throughout the country. They provide an absolutely essential service for those Australians, many of them living with dementia, and also their carers, who are provided some respite through the services that they provide. Good on you, Catherine. We owe a great debt of gratitude to you. I also want to pay tribute to Charlotte Gillespie, who was nominated for her community and volunteering work, which includes regular visits to the Harbison day care and The Abbey nursing home, bringing joy and delight to the residents of those services. There are a bunch of people I'd like to recognise for their services to the community, and I won't be able to get through them all in the time that I have available. But I ran into a bloke at my regular community outreach—I do them every weekend, as many members of this place do—and I was reminded of him on Sunday, because, as you'd know, Deputy Speaker Irons, Sunday was World Poetry Day. UNESCO has named 21 March as the day when we recognise poets around the globe. In recognising poets internationally, UNESCO makes the point that poetry reaffirms our common humanity by reminding us all of the common feelings and emotions that we feel right around the globe. I was reminded of this when I caught up with Dr Mark Tredinnick, who was given an OAM the year before last for his contribution to poetry and to education. I want to thank Mark for the great work that he does and recognise the contribution that poets make to our community. Barely a week goes past when we're not quoting one of them in this place, to add gravitas and a bit of intellectual calibre to our otherwise tawdry contributions to the Hansard. Mr Joyce interjecting— Mr STEPHEN JONES A9B I'm not referring to you, Member for New England. Everything that you contribute to this place is always poetic! An honourable member: The Banjo of parliament! Mr STEPHEN JONES A9B The very Banjo himself. I want to spend a bit of the time I have left paying tribute to the great work of the women—volunteers and paid workers—of the Illawarra Women's Health Centre, led by Sally Stevenson, who is a remarkable local leader. They are a great team. I'm hoping to get them down to parliament to talk about not only their great work but one of the projects that they are dearly hoping gets funded at the next federal budget. As with most valuable services during the COVID-19 pandemic, demand for but also access to the services provided to women experiencing domestic and family violence significantly increased—it's a great tragedy—as did the need for mental health services and sexual and reproductive health services. For example, during the second quarter of last year, the centre had almost four times the number of domestic and family violence contacts that it did in the first quarter of last year. Last year the women's health centre supported over 1,300 individual clients and had over 20,000—I'll say that number again: over 20,000—client contacts throughout the year. Despite the challenge of COVID-19 social restrictions, they had an ever-increasing demand for their services, and their doors remained open. The centre is leading the way for an innovative and Australia-only service for people who are recovering from domestic violence. They also do preventative programs within local schools and local community organisations. They're in their third year of the Mothers and Sons program, which offers a unique child-rearing program that gives mothers the techniques to help their sons deal with emotions and express themselves in a healthy way. I commend this program to other members in this place. I want to raise awareness of the centre's proposal to establish an Illawarra domestic violence and trauma recovery centre. We have spoken a lot over the last fortnight about Brittany Higgins' allegations, the horrible circumstances and allegations of rape, and the stories that have been unleashed by other members and staff in this place. They have caused us all to take a step back and say, 'Are we doing enough? Are we providing the right sort of example to our communities? Are we actually doing enough to provide the services and the support that our communities need?' I want to take the Prime Minister up on the challenge that he gave to all of us. The words that he said a few days ago were that he wants to do more, he wants us to do better and he wants us to do more. We've got a budget coming up in a few weeks. This is a great opportunity for the government to fund the Illawarra domestic violence trauma recovery centre. It will cost $10 million over three years, but the cost is nothing compared to the benefits that it will provide to the community. I call on the government ministers who are responsible for this area of policy development. I think of the things that we've spent $10 million on. I think of the waste that we have seen through the JobKeeper program going to profitable companies, paying bonuses and dividends when they didn't need it. I see the Leppington triangle and the waste. Here's something we could spend a little bit of money on and get a lot of benefit. (Time expired) 18:46 Ms BUTLER 248006 Griffith The previous speaker, a good friend of mine, mentioned in his contribution that, at the weekend, it was World Poetry Day, so I thought I might open by citing a few lines from a very famous poem that I suspect has been brought to the minds of many women across Australia over the past few weeks, and that's Christina Rossetti's Goblin Market. It's a very long poem. I'm not going to read the entire poem, but it's a poem that has themes about women and about the importance of sisterhood between women. It ends: For there is no friend like a sister In calm or stormy weather; To cheer one on the tedious way, To fetch one if one goes astray, To lift one if one totters down, To strengthen whilst one stands. It's very true in this place that the spirit of sisterhood and sorority among some of the women MPs has been particularly important in the past few weeks. It's been a salutary reminder of the importance of having women in politics. The other thing that's become very clear in the past few weeks, and particularly in very recent days, are the dangers in talking about representation, in talking about women's participation in politics, of seeking to derive an 'is' from an 'ought'. What do I mean by that? Well, there's been some debate about the importance of the Liberal Party and the National Party increasing female representation. Some people say, 'You shouldn't have quotas. The best person for the job should be selected.' I say 'derive an "is" from an "ought"' because, of course, the best person for the job should be selected, but the question is: is that the reality in the Liberal and the National parties right now? Is the best person for the job being selected? I think most people would agree that, if the best person for the job were selected, you'd already be at 50 per cent female representation. You can't seriously argue that the men that are in the Liberal Party room and the National Party room are of such intense merit that they completely outstrip and outweigh the women that might have been in their place. There are some structural impediments to women being selected, and, if there were already great processes that made sure the best person for the job was pre-selected, you'd already be at 50 per cent women. This isn't something that just gets fixed by accident. It's not something that you just cross your fingers and hope will be improved. It's something that you have to deliberately change. You have to do that through making conscious, deliberate decisions about your rules, your structure and your culture. I'm not lecturing you because I think the Labor Party has throughout its history been pure; I'm saying this because I've been a member of the Labor Party for most of the time that we have been changing our rules, our culture and our structures. We didn't get to the point that we're at now, where around 50 per cent of our caucus is women and 50 per cent of our shadow cabinet are women, because we hoped for the best and thought that if we kept doing what we were doing things would just change by themselves. It didn't just happen. It happened because women insisted and it happened because men agreed. It happened through argument, debate and decades of constant lobbying and advocacy. That's how we got here. So I say to the women in the Liberal and National parties, to those women who are worried about being accused of being quota fillers or being told that they're only there because there's a quota and not because they've got merit, to think about this: all of those women that have got such merit and who aren't there—why aren't they there? Do we really think it's because they are not as meritorious as the men who are there, or is it possible, just possible, that there needs to be some structural change to allow them, to allow that merit, to shine through and to be recognised and accepted? It wasn't easy in Labor either. There are the arguments being proposed by some in the Liberal Party now: we couldn't do that because then people would use the quota-filler line—the argument that you're there just to fill a spot—against the women that we do have in the parliament and we don't want that to happen. Certainly those arguments were made on occasion in the 1990s in the Labor Party as well. But what really brought people around was the demonstration effect. It was seeing that it really did make a difference. Do you know what happened when the rules changed? We didn't need to use them, because suddenly all the excuses—'Women don't really want to run,' 'Women aren't really interested,' 'We can't find good women who are willing to run'—fell away. All of a sudden, when there were rules requirements that would have given female candidates a structural advantage—although they were really just levelling the playing field in actual terms—all of these women were able to be found! An opposition member: Who knew? Ms BUTLER 248006 Who knew that there were all these women who were willing to run for parliament? For many, many years, in my own state of Queensland, we had some rules, but they weren't used. They were not called on to be used. What happened was people said; 'Do you know what we've got to do? We're going to tap on the shoulder of that incredible woman and ask her to run.' That is why we've had some really fantastic women from Queensland in Labor—and I'd particularly like to pay tribute to my female colleagues from Queensland, past and present, in the federal caucus—but also, of course, our wonderful state MPs and ministers and premiers. We've had them because we took a deliberate step. It took a long time. It was hard fought. Compromises had to be made. Changes had to be made. It wasn't ideal. It wasn't always pretty. But we got there because we fought for it. We saw the demonstration effect. There's more to do. Of course, there's more to do. But we got moving on it and we changed it. This is not a criticism of the idea that you want to have a good contest in your preselections or that you want to find who will do well in the parliament through putting them to the test of local preselections, of the consideration of their skills, their experience and their qualities. It's just about saying: 'Hang on a minute. If we're not already at 50 per cent women, why? Why aren't we there? Is it really because they don't want to run or because they don't have the same merit as the blokes? Is that really what it is, or is there something else there?' I didn't have the benefit of the affirmative action rules for the Labor Party for my preselection. They didn't apply at the time because it was a casual vacancy. I came in in a by-election. But the decades of cultural change meant that I didn't face the same structural impediments to preselection that I would have had I been standing during the early nineties instead of the early-2010s. So I just wanted to make that point and to say to people in the Liberal Party: there's nothing to be afraid of. I know that there are some in your own party who will adopt the position that somehow affirmative action rules might lead to a lower quality of representation. In fact, I was reminded on the way here of a quote from Senator Eric Abetz from 2018—and let me give you the exact quote, Deputy Speaker, because I'd hate to mislead the parliament—in which he said: 'Look at the Labor Party side of the parliament and you can see what quotas do, and it ain't a good look.' That's what he said in September 2018. I tell you what: if you stack our women, right now, up against Senator Eric Abetz, I'll tell you who 'ain't a good look', Deputy Speaker, and it's not the women of the Labor Party caucus. This sort of attitude contributes to the structural impediments; it doesn't help them. Of course, Senator Eric Abetz has also been engaged in some other controversies today which we don't need to go into right now. So let me say to the women of the Liberal Party: 'There is no friend like a sister,' to quote Christina Rossetti. And let me say to the men of the Liberal Party: now is the time to share your power, address your structural impediments and work together, because we need more women in politics. We need a critical mass of women in politics. We need that, to have a culture that is not just welcoming for more women in politics and future women in politics but to set the tone in our national parliament about the sort of country that we are and the sort of country that we aspire to be, and that's a country in which it is safe to be a woman, in which it is safe to be a woman in the workplace, in which it is safe to be a woman participating in the public square, in which it is safe to be a woman in a male dominated industry, in which it is safe to be a woman in a private home—in the confines of the home. We need a country that is safe and in which people can have full participation in all areas of society. To quote another little bit of poetry, let me say this. I'm from the labour movement. I've always been a unionist; I've always been someone in the labour movement. And there's a really classic piece of poetry which became a song in the labour movement, which is 'Bread and Roses', and it is women unionists saying, 'Give us bread, but give us roses.' They're saying: 'We want to have a good quality of life and a good stable income, but we also want to have beauty and art'—that's the significance of the line—and what that is about is the ability to participate in all areas of life, not just to subsist. Subsistence of course is fundamental—you want to have that—but on top of that you want to have a good quality of life, and, to get to that point where women have bread and women have roses, we have to have full participation in all levels of Australian life. That's what we need to get to. This isn't a personal criticism of any man in the Liberal Party—I mean, it was one of Senator Abetz, I admit, but not of any other man in the Liberal Party or the National Party. These issues are structural, and structural changes are needed, and, when you get structural changes, you will also have cultural changes. But a good start is preselecting more women and electing more women. And having women in politics matters. I also wanted to mention a few other things in contributing to this debate. First let me say this. My community is deeply anxious about what's going to happen at the end of this month when JobKeeper is cut—when the Prime Minister and the Treasurer cut JobKeeper. We're talking about thousands of working people in my electorate and so many businesses who've been reliant on JobKeeper to stay afloat. We had to drag the government to a wage subsidy during COVID. They said it was a dangerous idea—and then they adopted it. We were happy when they adopted our proposal that there be a wage subsidy. But now we're in a situation where we're heading towards the cliff and people are going to fall off it, and they are gravely concerned about what the impact on jobs is going to be once JobKeeper comes to an end. There are plenty of people in my electorate who've been crying out about it. I've been particularly receiving a lot of incoming correspondence from travel agents. Of course, the tourism sector was hit so hard—it was absolutely trammelled—by COVID. The tourism sector has been really struggling in my state of Queensland, in my home town of Cairns and, of course, throughout Queensland, including in my electorate, which is in the south-east corner. Travel agents who have been calling us are at the end of their tether because they're so concerned that the government is not giving them certainty about their future. They didn't get the benefit of the aviation package. They don't know what's going to happen to them in the future. The government needs to support these workers and it needs to support all workers who are terrified about what's going to happen once we get to the JobKeeper cliff. I want to mention the unemployment payment, which is now called JobSeeker. The government needs to recognise that people are crying out for support. We must address poverty in this country. At a time when there is a lot of uncertainty about the future of the labour market, of course we need to address the situation we find ourselves in, which is that so many people rely on JobSeeker, and the arrangements for JobSeeker aren't working to ensure those people have the best chance of a future secure, decent, well-paid job. Finally I want to mention traffic congestion. It's a very prosaic issue, but, honestly, the quality of life for my constituents is directly affected by how much traffic congestion we have, because the more time you spend on the road, the less time you spend with your kids or your elderly parents or on leisure activities. This has a direct impact on quality of life. I have called on the government before to address the traffic snarl that is the Cavendish Road level crossing at Coorparoo in my electorate of Griffith. In a previous budget, the government committed $87 million to the level crossing in the neighbouring electorate of Bonner, but they've not committed a cent to this level crossing. I really do encourage the government to take action on traffic congestion. There has been a lot of complaint across a long time about the fact that a lot of Liberal Party initiatives in government go to Liberal-held or Liberal-targeted electorates. It's not good enough. People on the south side of Brisbane deserve support and they deserve a real commitment from this government when it comes to busting traffic congestion. It will assist people to the east of my electorate as well. The government need to have a good, serious, hard look at this. (Time expired) 19:02 Ms THWAITES 282212 Jagajaga After eight consecutive years of the Abbott-Turnbull-Morrison government, this country has been left without a plan for the future. There is a void where there should be leadership. We have a conservative government that's more interested in running a protection racket for poorly behaved cabinet ministers than it is in acting in the national interest of the Australian people. The government are in chaos. They just move from one crisis to another. Our communities deserve better. They deserve a government that is on their side. The government is failing Australians by failing to tackle climate change. We can see the evidence of this on our TVs right now in devastated communities in New South Wales and Queensland. This week we've witnessed catastrophic flooding across New South Wales that has destroyed thousands of properties and cut off towns, and unfortunately today, as we've heard, there has been a fatality. I can only extend my sympathies and thoughts to all of those people who are now trying to rebuild their lives. These floods follow the disastrous bushfire season of 2019-20. We keep getting all these events that are meant to be one-in-100-year weather events—droughts, floods, fires. They're hitting more often and more quickly, yet this government fails to tackle climate change. It fails to recognise the link between these catastrophic weather events and global warming. It is because this government has a bunch of deniers on its backbench. How can they take action, how can they be the government we need for this country's future—a government setting up the clean energy jobs of the future and making sure our children will have a future—when they're full of deniers? They are failing our communities, our country. This government fails to acknowledge how climate policy is intrinsically linked to jobs, and that the failure to act on climate change will inevitably end up costing our economy. Labor's spokesperson on this, Chris Bowen, put it very well. He said: I'm worried about what will happen to the planet in thirty years without real action on climate change. I'm worried about how many Australians, and how many people around the world, will die in natural disasters, heat waves and other health impacts of climate change. But I'm also worried about what the employment prospects for people in our suburbs and regions will look like if the nation continues to neglect the economic transformation that is good climate change policy. I represent a suburban electorate. My electorate is in the suburbs of Melbourne. People there always talk to me about the need to act on climate and the need to secure people's jobs. The idea that there is some kind of massive gap in what our communities in the suburbs want and what our communities in regional areas want is a massive light being spread by the climate change culture denying warriors on other side. Our communities in the suburbs and in the regions want the same thing. They want a decent, secure future for them and their children. But this government of climate deniers preys on fear. It is not doing the work to create the jobs of the future. It's selling workers and their families out. It's selling families in my communities out and it's failing everyone's future. I was just in a briefing with Labor's Environment Action Network, the AMWU and the ETU. These are groups that are doing the work. They are on the ground in the Hunter, a region where jobs will need to be found for the future, and they are doing the work with the community there about what those jobs look like, about what it looks like if Australia is a global leader in this area instead of the global laggard we currently are. Australia is increasingly being isolated from the rest of the world, and we will miss out on the jobs and opportunities that come from clean technologies and from being a leader in this space. We're not going to get there without action from this government. Look at what's happening in the United States. The centrepiece of Joe Biden's energy and climate proposals is a call for $1.7 trillion over 10 years promoting a portfolio of clean energy technologies: supporting electric vehicles, building a national vehicle charging network, accelerating the smart grid and battery storage, scaling up tax credits for renewable technologies, and nurturing next-generation energy sources like hydrogen and advanced nuclear power plants. That's a government with a plan. That's a government that is investing in the jobs of the future, that is putting its country on the right track. What have we got in this government? A bunch of deniers who are doing nothing, who are pretending they're acting but who are failing to make the commitments and the investments that we need for the future and that our children need for their future. We can't have a few people in the Liberal National party backbench holding Australia back. Australia is losing economic opportunities. We should be and we can be a renewable energy superpower for the world. Labor can achieve this. This government is failing. Our aged-care system is in crisis. The final report of the Royal Commission into Aged Care Quality and Safety has found that the aged-care system has failed to support older Australians. There have been almost two dozen reports on aged care in the past decade, and more than half of them have been public since the current Prime Minister has been both Treasurer and Prime Minister. Yet the Prime Minister has cut $1.7 billion from our aged-care system. I saw firsthand in my community the devastation caused by Scott Morrison, the Prime Minister, failing to protect people in aged care in our community during the worst of the pandemic last year. The Federal government is responsible for aged care, but the Prime Minister was nowhere to be seen when people were dying in our aged-care homes in my community. The Prime Minister was nowhere to be seen when families in my community were coming to me worried, unable to get the information they needed about their loved ones, worried about what the next step would be, whether there was PPE in the home where their loved ones had gone, how many cases of COVID there were in a nursing homes. This government was absent. There are almost 100,000 older Australians waiting for home-care packages, and many of them are waiting for years to access the support they need. Older Australians in my community deserve better than this. Last year I held an aged-care forum in my community. So many constituents shared with me their stories of navigating a failing system. They shared with me the worry they have, not just for their own future but for the future of their parents. They told me that they don't want to be part of the system, that they are afraid of putting their parents into the aged-care system, that they are afraid that their parents are going to end up on a waiting list without the support they need to age in their own homes. It's not good enough. We are failing older Australians. This government is failing older Australians. From the experience in my community, I can tell you that older Australians, their families and those of us who know that sometime soon we will be looking to support parents in aged care—we are worried about this, and we know that this government has not done its job. So I am fighting for the Morrison government to urgently fix our aged-care system, to provide more home-care packages and to provide older Australians with a secure future. The Morrison government's plan to implement NDIS independent assessments has absolutely blindsided Australians with a disability. It is a betrayal of everything the NDIS stands for—the idea that people would not have to tell their story over and over again, the idea that people with disability would be looked at for what they can do in life and the support they need to lead a decent life. Instead, this government is reducing them to a tick-a-box assessment activity. I've heard from so many people with disability in my community, from the parents of children with disability and from disability providers in my community—all of them are worried about the proposal for independent assessments. They ask me how a person they've never met before can carry out a tick-a-box exercise on them and understand their complex needs. It can't be done. And, as I said, it goes against the very fundamentals of what the NDIS is meant to be about, which is personalised support for people with disability. I urge this government to rethink the independent assessments. I urge this government to listen to participants, listen to their stories and listen to the experience of people who participated in the trial. I heard from one group that works with children with disability. They were telling me parents were really concerned about the way assessments on children who participated in the trial were carried out. They told me that it seemed as though there was the possibility that the way the assessment was done would reinforce for the child the sense that they were different and that they had a disability, rather than being the experience it should be, where children feel like they get the chance to lead the best possible life they can. I heard from people with disability. One woman in my community spoke to me about her fears about independent assessment. She talked to me about how, for her, with her complex needs, retelling her story was one of her triggers. It was traumatising for her. She's worked for many years with specialist health professionals who know her, who know her disability and who know her needs. She has managed to, with that support, build a career for herself. But she told me of the times in her life when that fell apart. She is worried that she will now have to go to a situation where she has to retell her story, where she has to retraumatise herself by telling that story to someone with no understanding of the complexity of her needs, no understanding of what her life might be and no understanding of actually what the NDIS should be doing for her, which is allowing her to be a wonderful, productive member of our community. This proposal is not supported by people with disability. It is not supported by their families. It's not supported by any of the providers that I've spoken to. It is supported by a government that doesn't get the NDIS, a government that's failed people with disability and that does see the NDIS as a tick-a-box exercise rather than something that empowers people with disability. It's not good enough. It shouldn't be rushed through. The government's conducted a tiny trial, as I understand it—not much consultation. Disability groups are saying it's not good enough. It's time for the government to listen to them, to make the NDIS achieve the promise that Labor set it out with—knowing that people with disability should be full members of our community and supporting them to be full members of our community. That's the promise the NDIS has. That's the promise we have to see realised from this government, because what is happening at the moment is not good enough. I want to take the chance to wish everyone in the community of Jagajaga a happy and relaxing Easter. The last year has been one that we have never seen the likes of before. I've been reflecting on the fact that, at Easter time last year, my community was heading into lockdown for the first time. We certainly had no idea at that time what was ahead of us. I have been so proud to serve a community that has shown such resilience. They've looked out for each other and have done everything they can to keep jobs going and keep businesses going. There is a community full of wonderful healthcare workers at the Austin hospital, Banyule Community Health and healthAbility who have reached out and made many people's lives better in what has been such a difficult year since last Easter. So I hope that, for every family and every person in my community, this Easter is filled with chocolate, hot cross buns, love and family, and that they have a chance to celebrate what they have been able to endure over the past year and have a chance to reflect on the strength and resilience of our community. From me to you, happy Easter and thank you. 19:15 Mr GEORGANAS DZY Adelaide I too rise to speak on Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2020-2021 and cognate bill. There's no doubt that this year has been unprecedented. We've had a horrendous year with COVID hitting at approximately this time in Australia about a year ago, in early March. This pandemic is certainly a crisis like we have never seen before in our lifetime. It's not surprising that the 2020-21 MYEFO forecast shows a $197.7 billion deficit just this financial year, $456 billion in cumulative deficits over the forward estimates, and the list goes on. But it is worth noting that, in 2008, when we were hit with the financial global crisis, the coalition, then in opposition, criticised the Labor government for its spending to get Australia through that crisis. I have to say, I was here at the time and I recall very well what it took to get the then opposition over the line to support our measures to ensure that people didn't lose their jobs and that life went on as normal as could be. The two are very different events, but it just shows the difference in the political parties. In this particular crisis, the Labor opposition was willing to support and help the government in every way we could, because we knew this was a crisis and we had to do everything to protect ourselves from both the health angle and the economic angle. Back then, during the global financial crisis, we were criticised, as I said. There was the debt truck. The Liberal opposition's truck was driving around every marginal seat, showing the debt et cetera. You see none of that from this side, and that's because we understand that good government needs to be able to protect its people, whether it be health or the economy. We have seen that many people have lost their jobs and have gone onto JobKeeper or JobSeeker, and many more are about to lose their jobs. Very soon, JobSeeker will be ending. What will happen to those people? What will happen to those people who still haven't gone back to work or whose industries have been decimated or don't exist because they had to shut down because of COVID-19? It is another measure of where we are and the difference between the two political parties that vie to govern this country. I'm not here to score political points, but it's so important for Australia and Australians. We know that budgets are much more than just numbers; they are about priorities and the vision that governments may have for Australia, and, ultimately, they're about people and caring for people, ensuring that people have a job and can earn a decent wage—enough to pay their bills, put food on the table, pay their medical bills and send their children to school—and knowing that the government is protecting them from whatever it may be. We all know that this pandemic provides us with a unique situation and an opportunity to reset the agenda, to establish a fairer Australia for all. As Anthony Albanese, the Leader of the Opposition, said in his budget reply speech—and we really do: We have a once-in-a-generation chance to rebuild our economy and our country for the better. To launch a recovery that delivers a stronger, fairer and more secure future, for all Australians. Unfortunately, I don't see too much evidence of that under the current government, especially when it comes to Australian workers and working families. Just in the last week of parliament, we saw the industrial relations bill put through which had a focus, from the very start, on diminishing wages for workers, diminishing workers rights and diminishing the opportunities to negotiate in a fair way for wage increases and the future of their workplace. It is quite evident and clear, and we see it every time in every coalition government that's elected, that one of their priorities is to diminish workers rights. We see it over and over again. We saw it in 2007, under the Howard government. We saw it again, early on in the piece with Abbott, during his time in government. Now we're seeing it again—basically, Work Choices mark 2 has come out. Let's face it, the Australian economy was already struggling before COVID. Under this government, Australia was already facing a jobs crisis, low productivity and low wage growth, including growing casualisation, insecure work, underemployment—in other words, people who were perhaps working part-time in one or two jobs who wanted full-time employment—stagnant wages, and falling skills and training levels. The pandemic has resulted in over 1.3 million Australians today surviving on unemployment benefits or some form of welfare payment, and that includes JobSeeker and youth allowance. Two million Australians are looking for work or looking for more work because they don't have enough hours to get by. And, as I said, at the end of the month— A division having been called in the House of Representatives— The DEPUTY SPEAKER 203092 Order! There's been a division called in the House. It being nearly 7.30, the debate is interrupted. The debate is adjourned and the resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next day of sitting. Federation Chamber adjourned at 19:22