Kevin Hogan
Page · National Party · Australia
“Deputy Speaker, you know and we all know on this side of the chamber that Australian families, Australian businesses and Australians generally are despairing right now. We've had 15 interest rate increases under this Labor government. The average mortgage costs have gone up—not total, they have gone up—by $30,000 a year.”
“As I've said earlier, every member over on that side of the chamber should hang their heads in shame by deceiving every single one of their electorates at the last election. You know that, Speaker, and I know that.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, you said that families will be better off under your government, but, under Labor, interest rates have increased 15 times, meaning an average new mortgage holder is around $30 a year worse off.”
“We have always been the country that has driven trade deals, and we have been very successful at it. Members have been talking about fuel security. I want to remind everyone in this chamber right now that we sell about $650 billion worth of stuff overseas every year, and there are four big ones: coal, iron ore, gas and food/agriculture.”
“This is not me saying this; this is actually in the budget paper, so I assume it's Treasury saying this. Why do you think it's a good idea, when we don't have enough housing stock, that tax proposals you announced on budget night will mean that 35,000 fewer homes will be built over the next 10 years?”
“I have about three or four questions to the government and to the minister, and the first one is: why did you deceive the Australian public? There's an issue of integrity that's really important here. I understand that people might have opinions on certain policies and might want to do stuff.”
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“Of course, now what happens within national parks—what they're doing in New South Wales—is that those fire trails aren't kept up. Those companies would often, too, donate and give their equipment when there's a fire on to help fight fires and to go in and do management of that. That all disappears. So you can't get access to these places when you're trying to do firebreaks or you're trying to contain a fire outbreak. You can't get access to them. Of course, what you've also done is—our Indigenous brothers and sisters were mentioned earlier—the things that our Indigenous brothers and sisters would do all the time, what we call cultural burns. All Captain Cook, as he was sailing up the coast, was talking about was the fires he saw. They were doing that as a land-management process, which we do.”
“Weeds start to grow. We have a weed in our area called lantana. It takes over. There's actually scientific proof of this. What happens to koalas? They leave the national parks because they can't get around anymore because it's not kept. When they come down a tree, they can't go around the ground and go up another tree, so they actually leave the area. The numbers of koalas in that area—I'll show a report I saw just last week from the New South Wales government which supported that. So the desire of what they're trying to achieve is perverse to what they're getting. The other thing that harvesters do, when they go and maintain fire trails, is maintain a system whereby, when there are fires, it's easy to manage and to do that.”
“The type of timber that they get from this is very different from that from plantations. Everything the previous speaker said about sustainability, about enhancing the industry, is true. But what the state governments have done is exactly the opposite of that. Now, there are the other perverse effects of this, because what the state governments are doing is locking it up. They're saying to loggers and harvesters, 'You can't go into these areas and you can't selectively harvest hardwood timber.' What does that mean? That means they're not going in there and doing this. So the result of that is that it's not kept. I've got many areas in my regions. I invite anyone opposite who speaks against this private member's motion to come and I'll show you exact examples in my patch. It's not kept. So what happens to it straight away?”
“You'll drive past them, and they're flawed. You'll see hundreds of acres where that plantation has been cleared. That's the difference between what you call plantations and what we're talking about here—hardwood harvesting. And what that is is that they're going into more diverse areas and biodiverse areas. In Australia, the forestry industry with departments have done this exceptionally well—world-leading, environmental best-standard. A logger can't just go in and start randomly cutting down hardwood. These trees are identified, they're selected in advance, and it's done in a very scientific, very environmental, best-science way. It's been going on for a long time. The foresters themselves—believe me—know that they need this industry to be sustainable.”
“If only what the previous member said was true. What she said actually sounded quite reasonable to the naked ear if you were just listening to that debate. But what she was remiss in saying was that the state Labor governments and what they're doing here—it's exactly the opposite of what the previous member just said. I commend the member for Gippsland for bringing this debate on. Firstly, I think we need to get clear—for people who may not know—the distinction between what a plantation is and what hardwood-selective harvesting is. Many people would have driven through the most common of pine plantations. You drive past them. They're planted. They're not biodiverse; they're literally planted for the timber that they produce. They grow for the next 20 or 30 years—however long it takes—and then they are just harvested.”
“This area has been locked up because of, supposedly, koalas. I'd be happy to show anyone opposite that, where the place is locked up, what happens is lantana grows, weeds grow and the koalas leave. There's scientific proof of that. They literally can't move around on the ground, because of all the weed growth. It also causes these areas to be a tinderbox. You stop having the industry keeping fire trail access open. They do a lot of weed harvesting, but that all stops as well. The trails become more dangerous because of the fire danger that they are. The last thing is we still need the hardwood, so guess what we do as a country because those opposite don't let us use our own? We import it all from countries who don't have the same environmentally sustainable standards we do. Shame!”
“One group of workers Labor don't fight for is forestry workers. We have the federal government making bad decisions, but, unfortunately, we have a lot of state Labor governments making bad decisions as well. We've had a recent decision by the New South Wales Labor government that is basically going to shut down most of our forestry industry in New South Wales. A lot of people don't understand the difference between a plantation and selective hardwood harvesting. Plantations are what they are. You can see them, they're felled at the end, and they make a lot of difference. There's no biodiversity there, just a monocrop. With hardwood harvesting, we go in and select, very scientifically, using environmental best practice, and take hardwood timber out of there—very sustainable and very renewable.”
“The other thing is that the locked-up areas will now become weed infested and feral-animal infested. In fact, koalas will leave because those areas will be too weed infested. They will become tinderboxes, putting our communities in danger. The elite city MPs over there have demonised our forestry industry. They've demonised our farmers for the water they want for growing food and fibre. They've demonised our sheep farmers for live exports. They've demonised our coal miners and our gas industry workers. Their hypocrisy and sanctimony is very obvious over there. (Time expired)”
“Since we last sat in this chamber, New South Wales Labor have gutted another regional industry. The industry they've gutted this time—and that they've all but wiped out—is the forestry industry. Thousands of jobs have been lost. Timber mill workers have lost their jobs—forestry workers, people who drive trucks, haulage workers who are supported by that industry. Again Labor is selling out blue-collar jobs for Greens preferences. The worst thing, for the thousands of people who are going to lose their jobs, is that the announcement was made on Father's Day. On Father's Day, thousands of men found out they were going to lose their jobs. This is a sustainable and renewable industry. And do you know what? Now we will be importing hardwood from countries that do not do it in the sustainable and environmentally friendly way we do.”
“I will move on to the Export Market Develop Grants program. Round 4 was nothing short of a debacle. These grants obviously help our exporters. There were high ineligibility rates, a chaotic first-come first-served system and months of uncertainty. As the shadow minister, you do a lot of stakeholder engagement. I have spoken to a lot of very cranky exporters who applied for that. They tell me that the system is a debacle. The system crashed when people were trying to log on. It was first in, first served. They've had to go through months of waiting to see whether they got their funding or not. It's very disappointing. There's a lot of work to do there. I could go on. I know my time's going to run out, but there's a lot more to talk about with the mismanagement by this government.”
“We need to negotiate that. We know one in four jobs in Australia are related to the export industry. We are a trading nation—$650 billion worth of goods and services were sold last year. I remind this chamber that over two-thirds of that comes from regional Australia. For everyone who is a city MP, I know you respect the fact that our farming and mining communities and industries are driving the wealth of this country. The royalties, the taxes and the revenue that we get from the coal, gas, iron ore and farming areas are almost unparalleled with the terms of trade for those things and are driving that. My question is: if the UK can secure a 25 per cent tariff rate on steel and aluminium, why hasn't the Prime Minister committed to getting the same deal and exemptions from these tariffs for us?”
“On a positive note, the opposition obviously supports the Australian prime minister in his negotiation over there. There is bipartisan support that what the current US administration is doing is not a good policy. The US tariffs, I believe, are bad policy. The Australian government believes it is bad policy. We have supported the Australian government's response in some senses—that there aren't retaliatory efforts on the table. We're trying to say that the US tariff policy would damage US consumers, but it obviously also does damage to Australian exporters. So there is bipartisan support for that, but we're seeing a lack of will from the Australian prime minister. Indeed, I don't know what job the Australian ambassador to the US is doing, but he doesn't seem to be getting the results that we would like. We wish the Prime Minister well.”
“The UK Labour prime minister, indeed, Keir Starmer, has met with the US president a number of times and has, especially with steel and aluminium, secured a carve-out. That tariff was initially 50 per cent for them. The UK prime minister has got a carve-out, and the aluminium tariff for the UK is 25 per cent. That's the benchmark we need to judge that meeting by—that the Australian prime minister gets a physical meeting, makes it a priority, and has a KPI and a benchmark that he gets that tariff lowered for the Australian aluminium and steel workers. There are other issues. We know that with the pharmaceutical industries. We've had some things around the film industry. The Australian prime minister needs to make a very firm representation to the US president.”
“Some 30 world leaders have had meetings with the US president. He was elected last November, so he's been in power for quite some time. Some 30 world leaders have met with the president, and some have got carve-outs for the deals that they need, especially for steel and aluminium. One must ask the question: have past remarks by the Australian prime minister and, indeed, the Australian ambassador to the United States, who's made some quite unfortunate remarks about the current US president—I don't think it has helped the relationship. The result that we need, or one of the first results we need, from the Australian government, with a meeting, when they get the meeting with the US president—hopefully that will happen soon—has been set. The bar has been set.”
“There are lots of challenges in the trade, investment and tourism space. It probably doesn't surprise you—it doesn't surprise me—that much of it is being mismanaged at the moment. One of the biggest challenges we have in the trade space at the moment is our relationship with the United States—obviously a strong ally, historically, with national security; obviously a very strong economic partner and also a trading partner with us. In fact, when the free trade agreement was signed with the United States 20 years ago, the coalition was in government. One of the issues we have with this relationship—and the trading relationship has been damaged because of it—is that the Prime Minister has no relationship with the US president and doesn't seem to have an interest in forming one, which is very disappointing.”
“I reckon we need more of that again.' Even after selling one of his shops in 2013, he was soon back behind the counter, because, as Jim said, it's more than just a business; it's part of who he is and of Woolgoolga itself. So thank you to Jim and to his wife Brigita; his daughters, Ruth and Karen; his grandson, Stephen; and team members Arthur and Declan. Enjoy your retirement, Jim.”
“I'd like to acknowledge one of Woolgoolga's local legends, Jim Reynolds, and the remarkable contribution he and his family have made to the community through their family business, Woolgoolga's Finest Butchery. For more than four decades, Jim has been more than just a butcher; he's been a mentor, an employer and a supporter of countless community initiatives. At 82, Jim is still behind the counter, sharing his wisdom, hard work and community spirit with his customers and the community. Jim's children and grandchildren have all worked behind the counter after school. Jim often says: 'You learn a lot working with your family. You learn how to work hard, show up, take pride.”
“The co-op has a deep connection in our region, with retail outlets in Maclean, Yamba and Iluka, along with the Prawn Shack, all being local landmarks. I'd like to congratulate the current general manager, Dee Zahra, and the chair, Tim Small, and acknowledge all the current and former members, directors and staff. I'd like to specifically recognise a few people—namely, the two longest current members, Peter Anderson and Noel Everson, who have both been members of the co-op since 1958 and are still fishing, and also current staff Kevin Ellem and Sandra McGrath, who've been there for over 50 years. Congratulations on over 80 years for this wonderful business in our community.”
“I'd like to congratulate Macee Harris, Amelia Morrell, Ayla Eggins, Theo Backman, Townes Evan-Wood, Gurjaap Singh, Taj Cruise, Archie Tobin and the agricultural teacher, Gavin Whitburn, for they won the award for Best Presented School in New South Wales at the challenge, taking out the title among 78 competing schools—a great achievement and great recognition of the hard work, skill and teamwork of the team. Congratulations to all the students, staff and families involved in this. I'd like to acknowledge the Clarence River Fishermen's Co-op, which this year celebrates 80 years. Since 1945, the co-op has been an icon of the Clarence Valley, supporting generations of local fishermen, providing employment and delivering high-quality seafood across Australia and, indeed, the world.”
“I'd like to acknowledge an outstanding achievement by Woolgoolga High School at the 2025 New South Wales School Merino Wether Challenge. Over four days in Dubbo, the high school's agriculture show team worked tirelessly, caring for 420 sheep from 70 schools, preparing them for judging and partaking in workshops with industry leaders. Despite heavy rainfall and other challenging conditions, the students represented their school with exceptional dedication and professionalism.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, the New South Wales police have publicly confirmed they are working with the Commonwealth on the return of ISIS brides to Australia. Are you calling the New South Wales police deputy commissioner David Hudson a liar?”
“What greatly concerns me is that there are increasingly times when we are seeing the Australian flag being burnt at protests in our country. What concerns me about that is what is going on inside that person 's mind. Is it the values that we represent as Australians that they don't like? Is it our democracy that they don't like? Is it the freedom of the press that they don't like? Is it the freedom of religion that they don't like? Is it the independent judicial system that they don't like? I think, if anyone burns the Australian flag, two things should happen. If they're not an Australian citizen, they should be deported. They obviously don't respect our country. If they are an Australian citizen, they should be charged.”
“Our Australian flag unites us. I know that, when a lot of people in this chamber and millions of people around our country see the Australian flag, they feel proud of it, whether it be flying above the Sydney Harbour Bridge, whether it be at an international sporting event or whether it be at an international political event, which some of us have had the privilege of being a part of. When you see the Australian flag representing us internationally or indeed in our own communities—whenever I drive past or see one in any of those contexts I am extremely proud of our country. I'm proud of our country because of the prosperity that we have. I'm proud of our country because of many of the things this great country has done and the freedoms people have.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, given the challenging security arrangements at home and abroad, what steps has the Prime Minister taken to repair our deteriorating relationships with Israel and the United States?”
“Jack Torrance won Outstanding Employee and Kya Gaiter, Daniel Simpson, Kylie O'Reilly and Lynn Snyman also won awards. Congratulations to them all.”
“APRACS won Excellence in Trade, Construction & Manufacturing; the Casino Artisan Gift Shop won Excellence in Creative Industries; Casino Beef Week won Outstanding Visitor Experience; Casino Neighbourhood Centre won Outstanding Community Organisation; Connect Business Solutions won both Employer of Choice and Excellence in Business & Professional Services; Fetch Pet Resort won Excellence in Retail and Personal Services; Kookaburra Early Learning won Excellence in Sustainability; Summerland Support Services won Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion; the McAuliffe School of Dance won Excellence in Micro Business; Richmond Mushrooms won Excellence in Agriculture & Primary Industries; Star Fit won Outstanding New Business; the RodnReel Hotel & Brewery won both Excellence in Small Business and Excellence in Innovation; and Summerland Bank won Excellence in Sustainability.”
“Corbyn Michael Johnston won Outstanding Young Business Leader; Cameron Webster won Outstanding Employee; Daniel Winkler-Maloney won Outstanding Trainee/Apprentice of the Year; and Tracy Anne Ward and Damian Chapelle were recognised as outstanding business leaders. Again, congratulations to all the winners that night. I'd also like to congratulate the winners of this year's Richmond Valley Business Awards. Congratulations to Richmond Valley Aquatics, who won Business of the Year as well as Excellence in Health, Care & Wellness Industries, Excellence in Large Business and Outstanding Visitor Experience.”
“Evolve Healthcare and Halray Brake Reconditioning were joint winners of Excellence in Micro Business; Beyond Barriers Support won Outstanding New Business; Joel Jensen Constructions, PJs Fruit & Veg and Terania Consulting were joint winners of Excellence in Small Business; and Tracy and the team at the South Lismore Post Office won Excellence in Business & Professional Services. Silt Studio and the Levee Lounge and Bar were joint winners of Excellence in Creative Industries; PJs Fruit & Veg, again, won Excellence in Retail and Personal Services; Summerland Bank won Excellence in Sustainability; Our House won Outstanding Community Organisation; and Newton Denny Chapelle won Excellence in Large Business. I would also like to acknowledge the individuals who won awards that night.”
“I'd like to congratulate all the winners of this year's Lismore Business Awards. Congratulations firstly to Natasha and Brendon from PJs Fruit & Veg, who were named Business of the Year. Rainbow Roos won Excellence in Health, Care & Wellness Industries; Joel and Britt from Joel Jensen Constructions, and Terania Consulting were joint winners of the Employer of Choice—20 Employees and Under; Social Futures won Employer of Choice—21 Employees and Over; and the Bell family of Mountain Blue won Excellence in Agriculture & Primary Industries. The 187 Cantina won Outstanding Visitor Experience; Boost My Business 247 won Excellence in Innovation; Joel Jensen Constructions, again, won Excellence in Trade, Construction & Manufacturing; and Indigo Rose Disability Support Services won Excellence in Diversity and Inclusion.”
“During this time he was featured in documentaries like the Stockman's S trategy and S unny and the D ark H orse , sharing his life and love of the land with a wider audience. Sunny's life wasn't always easy, but it was full of grit, love and unforgettable stories. He was a bushman, a horseman, a mate, a father, a grandfather and a storyteller. His legacy will live on in the memories he shared and the land he loved. Sheryl summed up Sunny perfectly at his funeral when she said: Whether you knew him for a day, or you knew him for a lifetime, once Sunny touched your life he was never forgotten. Rest in peace, Sunny.”
“I'd like to acknowledge and remember the incredible life of Sunny Bancroft. Sunny was a very much loved Indigenous leader from the Clarence Valley, who recently passed away at the age of 76. He attended Baryulgil and Copmanhurst schools as a child but left school at the age of 14 to work alongside his family at Collum Collum station, where he was mentored by his grandfather. Over the years Sunny worked a number of jobs, from cutting railway sleepers and breaking in racehorses to working in mills and managing stations. Wherever he went, he left a very strong impression. In 1979 Sunny moved his family back to Baryulgil and worked on Yulgilbar station before taking up the position of manager of Collum Collum station.”
“It's interesting to observe that there's a stark contrast between city and country Australia at the moment. I make that as a casual observation.”
“They were all just amazing speeches. There were themes in the three speeches, too. They all spoke of the importance of family and community to them, they all professed a belief in their Christian faith and they all spoke about their experiences as children and as adults in small business, and the importance of small business—and family businesses for some of them. So I just want to acknowledge those as well. I did this in the MPI, but, to go back to the election results—and I don't say this with any pride or arrogance—I make the point that the divide in election results between the city and the country is quite interesting, as a federal Nat MP. The Nats haven't lost a seat in the lower house in a federal election since 2007. We've won seats back since then and haven't lost them through the period.”
“I want to get up to talk about a few things in my adjournment speech tonight. Firstly, I will acknowledge those opposite. The Australian Labor Party obviously had great success at the recent federal election, in the sense of the number of seats they won, so I certainly acknowledge that. I do make the point, though, that the primary votes of the Labor Party—because of the preferential voting system we have in Australia—are interesting. Thirty-four per cent to the coalition and 31 per cent to Labor isn't that stark a difference. But obviously the preferences and the way they work were very advantageous to them. I want to acknowledge, too, that there were three first speeches this afternoon by three of my colleagues, federal Nat colleagues. I want to acknowledge the three of them: Alison Penfold, David Batt and Jamie Chaffey.”
“I said, 'Good on them!' They wanted to walk their talk. The member, when approached by the local newspaper, said it wouldn't be environmentally or culturally—the area's too sensitive for that. An honourable member: Oh, really? Really. Then, when we say we have issues with the rollout in our communities, she has the hide to say that we're scaremongering. This is the sanctimony and the hypocrisy that we hear from this government, the teal crossbenchers and the Greens crossbenchers. Our voters and our communities in regional Australia get it. They know that's what's happening. There is this big dichotomy. Regional Australians have worked this lot out. They know that the government are not on their side. They know that the government don't support what we do and don't like some of the things that we export.”
“Again, it's because of the environmental policy of those opposite who think fishing is bad. I know that the member for Gippsland is passionate about hardwood timber. We do forestry very sustainably, but, under the Victorian state government, for example, you can't do it at all now. So we are now importing hardwood from overseas. Our communities know this because they work in these environments, they work in these industries and they see that those opposite are sanctimonious. It's a sanctimony. There's also a little bit of hypocrisy. With the renewable energy rollout, where's all that happening? It's all happening in the regions. I have an example that I've mentioned in this chamber before. The member for Warringah had a proposal from a climate change group in Warringah to put a hectare of solar panels and six wind turbines on North Head.”
“There was a program we had called the distribution priority area and, if you were foreign trained or had a Commonwealth scholarship, you had to do times in areas that were more remote. They abolished it almost straightaway. We lost doctors overnight. You can literally live in Rose Bay and have a practice in Hornsby and qualify now under the distribution priority area classification. Our people know this. The government bans industries. They ban things that we do in the bush. They banned live exports, which was devastating to some of the communities in our patch as well. There are lots of other things, too, that are a great shame. Some of our state Labor colleagues are at fault for this. We now import more fish into Australia than we fish ourselves. We're surrounded by a coastline.”
“The Roads of Strategic Importance program, the Building Better Regions Fund, the LRCI program and the Stronger Communities Program were all dumped. We had great disappointment in my room—and, I know, in those of some of my Liberal colleagues—when the minister for the environment took water out of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan and took money out of our communities, who are growing food to feed us and to feed the rest of the world. She took water out of the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, which was a great disappointment. They took away our doctors. I mean, seriously? You have doctor ratios in some of the city suburbs of one doctor to every 500 or 600 people. There are communities in the bush that have one doctor for every 5,000 or 6,000 people.”
“I'll tell you if you don't know—you may well know this, and I humbly apologise if you already know this—regional Australia is the economic powerhouse of this nation. We export about $650 billion worth of stuff overseas every year. Over two-thirds of that is from the bush, from regional Australia. Those exports include coal, which we're not ashamed of; iron ore; gas; and food. Regional Australia is the economic powerhouse of this nation. We're proud of that. We're here to advocate very strongly for it. There are some things this government has done in the previous parliament which are why I think the results are very different in the bush from the cities. They cut infrastructure spending straightaway.”
“He travelled 36,000 kilometres—if you look at the size of his electorate, that's not hard to do—and doorknocked 24,000 homes. He had some interesting experiences. There was a staffy dog in Dubbo that had him jumping over a fence, and in Broken Hill there was a goat that chased him out of the gate as well. He's more nimble and more fleet of foot since he's been a candidate as well. I give them a big shout-out because of the great regional MPs they will be. We know, on this side, that regional Australia is the economic powerhouse of this nation. It's great to see some new members opposite—well, it's not great to see that you won your seats, necessarily, but it's great to see that you're here.”
“I went up and spent a day pre-polling with David. I was there for about five minutes and knew he was going to win with the reception that he was getting during pre-polling. Handing out flyers for him was a great joy because it was very easy. He has come into this place, and when he talks about his community—there's a percentage of retirees in the seat of Hinkler—he tells me he has pensioners in his electorate that are turning the fridge off at night because they can't afford their energy bills with the increases that havehappened there in the past three years. He's got a big fight, and he's here to have that fight for them. The last one is the new member for Parkes—the boilermaker from the bush! I've spent a few days with him in his electorate.”
“Within days of her becoming member-elect—not even the sworn-in member, not even declared through the Australian Electoral Commission—her electorate had a natural disaster of great proportion. I went down to see her about a week later, after the water had receded, and she was doing it tough. Her community was doing it tough, and I want to give her a shout-out. She emotionally connected to them, advocated for them and was in the mud with them from day one, and I have great respect for her advocacy and her emotional connection to her community. She was under great duress not only because of the disaster it was but because she had no office support given she was only the member-elect. I want to give a shout-out, too, to David Batt, the new member for Hinkler. He was a late starter for this; the previous member retired.”
“I also want to acknowledge that we've seen a great assault from the teals on some city seats and seen them have success in the city. I acknowledge my friend and colleague in Cowper who had a huge assault from a teal Independent. It was roughly $1½ billion, probably more, from the teal Independent there, and my colleague got a swing to him in that seat. I also acknowledge we had a great candidate in Bendigo. We got a swing of nearly 10 per cent to that candidate for us in Bendigo, giving the member for Bendigo a great fright. It's interesting. I don't say it with any hubris; I just say it as a factual electoral result. I want to give a shout-out, before I go on, to three new MPs in this House. The first one, a good friend of mine, is Alison Penfold, the new member for Lyne. Alison's had a really tough introduction to this place.”
“They are the seats of Flynn, Dawson and Capricornia; my own seat of Page; and the seats of Lyne and New England that were held by teal-type Independents. They would write them down, because that's what happened in 2007. In the National Party in 2007 we had under 10 House of Reps seats, and over the next two elections, in 2010 and 2013, we won back all of those six seats that I just mentioned. The interesting thing is, as with the Liberal Party when they've won between seven and 30 seats in the country, especially in regional areas, we haven't lost any of those six seats. I don't say that with any hubris and I don't say that with any arrogance. I'm just saying that it's an interesting dichotomy—the differences in the city and regional Australia right now—and I think there are some real reasons for that.”
“I highlight to them that I think this large majority is very much built on a house of cards. As I said, there's been a dichotomy between the city and the country. I am going to give a bit of a shout-out later to some of my Nationals country MPs who are new members, but I point out to my colleagues in the Liberal Party how well the regional Liberal Party did as well, with their members and the number of new members—the member for Monash, the member for Grey and the member for Forrest as well. There are many more. I want to highlight that, if you'd said to the Labor Party in 2007, 'You're going to win a bigger majority in 2025; write down the seats that you're going to have in 2025 with as large a majority as you got in 2007,' there would be six seats—or friendly teal-type Independents—that the Labor Party would write down on that list.”
“I look forward to talking to this matter of public importance. What I'm going to point out today, which is quite obvious when you look at electoral results from the last election, is the dichotomy between city and country Australia. I acknowledge the result opposite, the result of the Labor Party at the last election and the increased number of seats that they obtained. It's quite obvious they picked up a lot of seats, the majority of them in city Australia. They did very well in that sense, but it's very interesting to observe that that was on a very low primary vote. The primary vote for the Labor Party at the last federal election was 34 per cent and for the coalition parties it was 31 per cent, so there was not a big difference in primary vote, but they did very well with preferencing.”
“To give you some examples—and I'd be happy for the member for Flinders to interject to tell me which ones she was involved with—we ratified the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world's largest free trade agreements signed with Korea—”
“Just to remind the House, Deputy Speaker Chesters, as you would be well aware, I think one of the great unsung achievements of the coalition government between 2013 and 2022 was the work done by our trade ministers. In fact, what happened during that period was that goods and services covered by free trade agreements covered 25 per cent of goods and services exported in 2013 and went to 80 per cent by 2022 with the last two deals. I know the good member sitting next to me, as a staffer back in those days, worked on some of those deals and did some good work, so I thank and commend the now member for Flinders for her work previously in this building to help some of those deals happen. The last two deals, with the UK and India, were done just before we lost government in 2022.”
“JSCOT received 45 formal written submissions from bodies such as the Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, the National Farmers' Federation, the Australian Industry Group and Australian Grape & Wine. Stakeholders from the agricultural industry, industrial exporters, and education and financial service providers welcomed the agreement and found it would enhance recognition of Australian degrees in the UAE and support the expansion of current operations in the UAE. Other stakeholders also expressed a desire for CEPA to further investment from the UAE into Australia. This is a good week. We commend the government for closing out this agreement. We actually initiated the agreement when in government, back in March 2022.”
“The amendments also insert new schedule 16 to specify the phasing rates of customs duty for certain UAE originating goods that will incrementally reduce to 'free' by the fifth calendar year after the agreement enters into force for Australia and to maintain rates of customs duty imposed on certain alcohol, tobacco, fuel and petroleum products which are equivalent to the rates of excise duty payable on these goods when locally manufactured. Additionally, the amendments in the bill amend schedule 4 to maintain customs duty rates for certain UAE originating goods in accordance with the applicable concessional rates. The Joint Standing Committee on Treaties supported this agreement.”