Rick Wilson
O'Connor · Liberal Party · Australia
“Instead, it is being used to maintain primary health services that are a Commonwealth responsibility. Last week the Local Government Rural Health Funding Alliance hosted a workshop here in Canberra, with more than 30 councils from across Australia coming together with the Australian Local Government Association, the National Rural Health…”
“For many seniors in O'Connor, the cost of seeing a doctor is becoming almost as painful as the diagnosis. I'm running a survey of constituents aged over 65 and have heard from many people who are doing everything they can just to make ends meet only to find they pay more just to access the health care they deserve.”
“As the federal representative of 47 rural, regional and remote shire councils, I rise today to highlight an inequity that should concern all levels of government and all Australians.”
“These are the very councils least able to absorb those costs. The alliance's workshop revealed many more councils paying out hundreds of thousands of dollars per year covering housing, vehicles, medical premises, staff, locum doctor cover and even utilities.”
“But, in the bush, this Labor government expects some of the smallest and most financially constrained councils to carry a responsibility that lies with them. Meanwhile, these same communities see a Medicare underspend of around 50 per cent per person of what is spent on a city dweller.”
“For seniors in O'Connor, health care is becoming less affordable and harder to access. In regional Western Australia, a hospital is not just down the road, and specialist care can be hundreds of kilometres away, yet today there is still not one single urgent care clinic anywhere in my 1.1 million kilometre electorate, despite the Treasure…”
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“That's just for the WA system, so that's on top of the eastern market over here. In comparison, the total system cost of the coalition's plan to transform the entire National Electricity Market through to 2050, including nuclear energy, is $331 billion. This includes transmission lines, renewables, gas and nuclear. The nuclear part of the equation is around $120 billion, with nuclear making up 38 per cent of a balanced energy mix. Labor's 100 per cent renewables-only plan, by comparison, is 44 per cent more expensive and does not provide any firming baseload power for when the sun does not shine and the wind doesn't blow. The nuclear energy committee visited Collie, the site for a proposed small modular reactor, in my electorate. I thank all those who took the time to make a submission or give evidence to the committee.”
“No evidence was presented to the inquiry to challenge the Frontier Economics report, which put a price tag of $642 billion on the Labor Party's plan, and that's before factoring in the billions more for transmission lines, land acquisition and storage. Of course, the $642 billion—for those people from Western Australia who may watch this video—didn't include Western Australia; that's the eastern market grid. Western Australia, with the South West Interconnected System, is separate from that. In November last year it was quite revealing on ABC's Country Hour when a Jai Thomas, the coordinator of energy for a WA government initiative called Powering WA, estimated that the level of investment required for the WA system would be—and this is a direct quote—in the order of $200 billion over the next 20 to 25 years.”
“I return to the issue at hand, which is the potential for nuclear energy in this country and how it might solve some of the issues that we're confronting, which include some of the highest energy costs in the world, which are up to three times higher than equivalent jurisdictions. The Labor Party has never revealed the true cost of its renewables only plan through to 2050, and not even the market operator could advise the House Select Committee on Nuclear Energy of the total system cost of the renewables only plan, but we do see the cost to businesses and households soaring, with an up to $1,300 increase in the last three years alone, and, as I said, the highest energy costs of any similar jurisdiction in the world.”
“My good friend the member for Cook, who has only been in this place a little bit over 12 months, said during his contribution this morning that he came in here naively thinking that these committees were about going out, gathering evidence, considering that evidence in an unbiased and balanced way and then coming out with a conclusion that is supported by the evidence and in the best interests of the nation. But he was sadly disillusioned by the way that things panned out. I think back to my own experiences. I'm the Deputy Chair of the Standing Committee on Agriculture. In the middle of last year we had a report that was delivered that certainly wasn't backed up by the evidence that the committee heard over the period of its work.”
“I acknowledge, as I follow on from the member for Moreton, that that was possibly his last contribution in this place. He is just about quoted out; another couple of days. That probably isn't going to be one of your best contributions, unfortunately. I don't think it will age well. To the chair of the committee, the member for Hunter, I thank you for bringing the committee to Collie, in my electorate. It was good to give the people of Collie, and certainly some experts that appeared before the committee, the opportunity to have some input into the findings of the committee. Having looked at the evidence and looked at what was received, I find it difficult to see how the committee arrived at its conclusion, but it is the privilege of the chair to direct the secretariat to produce the report at the end of the day.”
“Farmers, truck drivers, shearers and their families will travel up to 800 kilometres to urge the Albanese Labor government to bin the ban. People will leave their businesses and their communities to once again highlight the impact of shutting down a legitimate and world-leading trade, a trade that provides food security for those countries who cannot produce their own. So I call on the good people of WA to keep on fighting for their regional communities. Whether you're from the city or the bush, show up and support the call to save the live sheep export trade and send a clear message to the Albanese government. It's time to vote Labor out and #keepthesheep.”
“Last night's federal budget was devastating for the bush. The lack of funding for regional Australia was once again on show for us all to see. There was no new funding for the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure program, there was no new funding for the Growing Regions Program, there was no new funding for the Stronger Communities Programme, and WA will get a pitiful 2 per cent of federal Labor's road and rail funding. And with 57 local governments across O'Connor, we are hit hard. This Friday 28 March is an opportunity to put regional WA back in the hearts and minds of our nation. Once again, Western Australians will take to the streets of Perth, united in their support for the live sheep export trade and the communities that depend on it.”
“Many of those farmers expressed the view: 'If the government hate us and if they hate our industry then why would I stick around? Why would I put in the hard yards?' There was one bit of good news and one bit of light on the horizon for Western Australian sheep growers when a delegation from the Kingdom of Morocco arrived in Perth on Monday. I had a day's leave from the parliament to meet them and to make the introductions. Morocco is a wonderful country of 38 million people in the north-west of Africa. They've suffered many years of drought. They have basically consumed their breeding flock for their own use and are here in Australia to buy the best sheep product that the world can supply, and I was very proud to be part of that process.”
“There hasn't been a lot of good news for Western Australian sheep farmers over the last 12 months, I have to say. Over the summer period, when many of them visit the coastal areas in my electorate like Albany, Bremer Bay, Esperance, where I managed to catch up with many of those farmers, the lack of confidence in the industry was palpable. Many of those farmers I spoke to were talking about having to head home next week or in the next fortnight to load the last truckload of sheep off their properties. What people don't understand is that the sheep industry is competing for acres against the cropping industry. While the cropping industry across my electorate in Western Australia has had a great season and things are going well, the government has smashed the confidence in the sheep industry.”
“Almost one in three services are charging above the fee cap as providers struggle to keep up with rising regulation and operational costs. We see this, I hear this from my constituents—”
“Since Labor came to power, the cost of child care has increased by 22.3 per cent. I'll just repeat that in case anybody missed it: since Labor came to power the cost of child care has increased by 22.3 per cent. At this rate, childcare costs will have soared by 124 per cent by March 2032. That is the equivalent amount of time, a decade, that the Labor Party are saying that under the previous coalition government prices rose by 49 per cent—which in hindsight we may look back on as the golden era for childcare costs. The last time Labor was in government the cost of child care rocketed almost 53 per cent in six years. Since Labor's cheaper childcare policy came into effect, out-of-pocket costs increased by 12.7 per cent.”
“The Productivity Commission's 2024 report A path to universal early childhood education and care costed the complete removal of the activity test at $2.3 billion per year. I'll repeat that: $2.3 billion, versus the government's costing of $426.7 million, over four years. The Productivity Commission's modelling suggested that the complete removal of the activity test would increase hours of early childhood education by only four per cent. They also estimated that it would lead to a 0.9 per cent decrease in hours worked by sole parents and primary carer parents in coupled families. These are not our numbers; these are the Productivity Commission's numbers. Some sections of the community have labelled the three-day guarantee a cost-of-living measure, but in reality it is nothing of the sort.”
“Again, hardworking families will not benefit from this change, but families who aren't working, studying or training will. It's similar to Labor's other policies. This rewards families who access child care, at the expense of those who aren't able to or choose not to. There is a significant discrepancy in costings. We believe the $426.7 million over five years is well and truly undercooked, and the true impact of removing the activity test will not be fully known. The department was unable to advise how many families are eligible for CCS but are not enrolling their children nor how many families are completely engaged with CCS. The government costing does not account for these groups.”
“Labor argue that their $1 billion BEEF policy will boost supply, but history tells us they will not be able to deliver. Families have the right to choose what their working family looks like, and the coalition respects this choice. Labor's three-day guarantee does nothing for families who choose to remain at home to raise their children until primary school or families who use flexible arrangements, such as grandparents or nannies. The bill also does nothing for parents who need flexibility, such as families who do shift work or non-standard work hours. Once again, across my electorate, there are a lot of shift workers—the mines that produce this nation's wealth run 24/7. There is nothing in this legislation for those families.”
“Over the last three years, Labor has failed to meaningfully address supply-side constraints. That's what I'm referring to, certainly, in the towns and cities in my electorate where there are massive constraints on supply. Modelling from the Productivity Commission shows that most children affected by the activity-test changes live in major capital cities. Families in thin markets and childcare deserts, such as the ones I'm describing across my electorate of O'Connor, who have little or no access to child care at all will be most disadvantaged. There is no point in having access to three days of care if there is no care available. Once again, Labor is dividing the nation—working versus non-working families and metropolitan versus regional families.”
“I see this across my electorate where childcare places are desperately short in our regional towns and cities, which haven't seen any new investment in childcare facilities. They are desperately short. These are the towns and the communities that produce this nation's wealth. Across the goldfields, for example, $14 billion of mineral wealth is produced from those towns, yet childcare places across the goldfields and, in particular, the major regional city of Kalgoorlie are desperately short. Families are leaving town because they can't access the sort of child care they need for both partners in the family to work and earn the money they need to earn in a high-cost regional town like Kalgoorlie. Once again, Labor is at war with aspiration. It's at war with working families, and it's actually at war with working mothers.”
“Despite the government claiming urgency and having the numbers to pass the legislation this fortnight, they have agreed to the motion in the Senate to refer it to an inquiry. Labor's three-day guarantee is fundamentally unfair and divisive. While it appears that this will only increase access for a small number of families, it will have a wide-ranging effect on all. Families who need early childhood education so they can work will be competing against families who now have extra subsidised access but may not be working, studying or volunteering at all. So, generally speaking, families already in the system are unlikely to be impacted, but working families about to enter the system or trying to enrol a new child will be greatly impacted.”
“The coalition's childcare subsidy reforms came into effect on 2 July 2018, including the activity test. Prior to this, parents and carers were required to satisfy a work, train or study test. The activity test was introduced to encourage labour force participation and to ensure priority of access was given to vulnerable and working families. Australia has a long history of priority access guidelines for child care, which this new legislation removes. This legislation brought forward with this timing is just a political game to create a wedge for the opposition. The policy was initially announced as an election commitment, along with a $1 billion Building Early Education Fund on 11 December, and somehow this legislation just popped up last week.”
“Parents and carers can access 72 hours a fortnight if they're receiving a care allowance. Grandparents and some eligible families accessing the additional childcare subsidy, including vulnerable children in the foster system and families escaping domestic violence, are exempt from the activity test. As part of the 2022 cheaper child care legislation, the Albanese government amended A New Tax System (Family Assistance) Act 1999 to provide Indigenous children with a minimum of 36 hours a fortnight of subsidised care. Removing the activity test for three days a week means parents who require the support of early childhood education while they work, study, train or volunteer will be competing with families who don't work or don't require support in order to work.”
“To calculate a family's hours of subsidised care, Services Australia uses the lower activity level of a couple, even if one of them has an exemption. In a single-parent household, only their activity levels are used to determine the number of hours of subsidised care. There are exemptions to the activity test in which parents and carers are eligible for 36 hours of subsidised care a fortnight, including, firstly, if you identify as Indigenous, and, secondly, if you're a parent pathways participant and receive an eligible income support payment. A parent or carer is exempt from the mutual obligations if they receive one of these payments: JobSeeker, the parenting payment and special benefit. Or they're exempt if they have a preschool-age child that attends preschool through centre based day care.”
“This policy was first announced by the Prime Minister on 11 December 2024, and it's been described as the next step in the Albanese government's plan for a universal early learning system. The government estimates that over 100,000 families will have access to more subsidised care and more than 66,000 families will be better off overall. This represents only about six per cent of all families currently engaged with the childcare subsidy system. Under the current activity test, parents and carers need to be looking for work or working, studying or volunteering to be eligible for subsidised care, noting that volunteering and looking for work only count towards the first 16 hours of your activity level.”
“This is also in stark contrast to the Productivity Commission's report estimating that the full removal of the activity test would cost $2.3 billion per year. The coalition will oppose this legislation. There are several issues with this bill, including the removal of priority access for working families. It disincentivises aspiration, increases access without addressing supply issues, does nothing to increase access or flexibility for families and does not address the current cost-of-living pressures. The bill has been referred to a Senate inquiry with a reporting date of 21 March. I'll remind the House that that is prior to the House being scheduled to return for the budget on 26 March.”
“I rise to speak on the Early Childhood Education and Care (Three Day Guarantee) Bill 2025. This bill amends the A New Tax System (Family Assistance) (Administration) Act 1999 and replaces reference to the childcare subsidy activity test with a three-day guarantee. The bill is set to commence in January 2026, and the three-day guarantee will provide all families with a combined income of up to $533,000 with access to 72 hours a fortnight of subsidised child care. For Indigenous families, this will be increased to a maximum of 100 hours a fortnight of subsidised child care. The legislation does not guarantee or prioritise access for working families over non-working families. The government estimates that the cost of these measures will be $426.7 million over five years from 2024-25, despite the policy not rolling out until January 2026.”
“When I met with the Moroccan delegation, I was proud to inform them that a Dutton led government would overturn this nonsensical ban and assist their pursuit for food security. A Dutton led government will continue to export sheep to nations that cannot produce enough food to feed their own people. We look forward to growing trade with Morocco. We will export our quality Australian genetics and nutritious protein to provide food security for their country. We can do this at the same time as supporting Australian farmers and regional communities, as we were elected to do. I urge all Australians at the upcoming election to #keepthesheep.”
“Well-regarded agricultural market analyst Episode 3 has also warned of the drastic impact that this would have on the sector, yet the government chose to ignore it. The government has also ignored Sheep Producers Australia's advice on the role of the transition advocate. Instead of providing genuine support to the sector it is destroying, the transition advocate is merely a mouthpiece for bad government policy. Why does this government continue to ignore the very industry it says it's trying to help transition? Even last week, the government failed to let industry groups and farmers know about its supposed co-design consultations throughout my electorate of O'Connor. It is yet another example of the contempt this government has for Australia's farmers.”
“This government is choosing to deny the Moroccan people a source of safe, fresh, disease-free and stress-free sheepmeat from some of the best farmers in the world. No sooner will we establish a new and trusted supply chain than those opposite will strip it away and cause irreparable damage to our international reputation. Those opposite will continue to argue that the live export ban doesn't come into effect until 2028 and farmers will have time to transition. That is both ill-informed and disrespectful to the sheep farmers and industry participants across the country. The President of WoolProducers Australia, Steve Harrison, said the wool industry was facing a crisis and the effects of the ban were already being felt across the country.”
“In my electorate of O'Connor, the WA live sheep trade is vital to my regional communities—the farmers, the shearers, the stock agents and the livestock transporters. As a farmer, it's about growing food and feeding not only Australians but the world. If I and many other farmers can help feed some of the 38 million Moroccan people, then we should, and we should take great pride in it. Those sitting opposite have claimed to be global leaders on issues critical to the world. When it comes to climate, they have not missed an opportunity to add a heavy burden to the Australian taxpayer in pursuit of being a global leader. When it comes to the fundamental job of putting food on the table for families not just here in Australia but around the world, this government has been found wanting.”
“Instead, the announcement was made by the Australian Livestock Exporters Council, while the Albanese Government chose not to mention it. This Moroccan delegation was about strengthening the relationship between our two nations and, in particular, supporting Morocco's food security. Morocco is a country of 38 million people whose national sheep flock has been decimated by years of drought. The delegation sees the live export of sheep from Australia as being integral to the reliable supply of high-quality protein for their 38 million people. As I met with the delegation I had a moment of clarity both as an MP and as a farmer that this is what it is all about. As an MP, it's my job to create relationships and opportunities for my constituents.”
“On Monday I met with a delegation of Moroccan government officials and importers who travelled to Western Australia following the recent signing of a new trade protocol. The signing between Australia and Morocco allows for the live export of Australian sheep, goats and cattle to the North African nation. This signing is a great step forward for sheep farmers, particularly in my electorate of O'Connor, who have been doing it tough following the appalling ban of live sheep exports by the Albanese government. Given the significance of the signing, you would be hard pressed to find any mention of the deal by the Minister for Trade and Tourism, Don Farrell, or by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Julie Collins.”
“In Albany before the 2021 state election, former premier Mark McGowan claimed seven times in one press conference that abolishing regional representation in WA's upper house was not on his agenda, yet one of his first acts on re-election was dumping regional representation. This is why my constituents do not trust Labor's plans or agendas and why I'm calling on Premier Cook to give an ironclad guarantee that Labor's current fishing bans will not extend further. I stand with shadow environment minister Neil Thomson, who will move a disallowance motion to reverse these bans when parliament resumes after the March state election.”
“I rise to address a scandalous claim by WA Premier Roger Cook that I lied about the widespread fishing bans of his contentious South Coast Marine Park. On 24 January Mr Cook slandered me during his whistlestop tour of Albany, where he is scrambling to save the state seat. Recently I wrote to environment minister, Reece Whitby, asking him to rule out a westward expansion of the marine park from Bremer Bay to Albany and Cape Leeuwin. He replied that he has no plans to extend the fishing bans. This is after four years of Labor attacking the fishing, farming and forestry industries on which Albany and other South Coast communities rely. Based on Labor's record, I'd take those weasel words with a generous grain of sea salt.”