Pat Conaghan
Cowper · National Party · Australia
“Yesterday, we heard Labor spruiking their changes that came into effect with the new financial year, and there was a lot of chest beating and oversimplified statements around the standards of living that would make anyone not living in the real world think that things have never been better.”
“Small businesses, we haven't forgotten you. We know that your input costs are already through the roof and your profit margins are even slimmer. We know that the number of annual insolvencies has tripled this financial year when compared with 2022.”
“Insurance is up 42 per cent. Household electricity bills are up 38 per cent. Gas is up 37 per cent. Rents are up, and your weekly food shop is up 17 per cent.”
“Australians deserve honesty. They don't deserve to be treated like mugs by their own government. But yesterday we saw the Prime Minister call those on this side of the floor 'the axis of grievance' while evading giving an actual answer to any question posed by the opposition on behalf of those we represent.”
“As representatives, we are here to make sure that the collective grievances of our constituencies are heard by those opposite—that their legitimate and real pressure points are being expressed and considered in the policies we create and not swept aside by spin and gaslighting.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister: I refer to another mean-spirited act by the Prime Minister—cutting the private health insurance rebate for Australians aged over 65.”
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“Without sewer, you can't build it. It's as simple as that. Similarly, applications for the Valla Urban Growth Area in the Nambucca Valley were again rejected despite funding setting up the shire to be able to build new homes. This funding could have opened up up to 7,700 lots. That would make a world of difference for my electorate and those people living there to get a roof over their heads. There was the recent rejection of ShoreTrack's application, which would have enabled their amazing youth training program to continue for another two years. This inspirational community minded organisation has a 93 per cent success rate of training youth who have disengaged with traditional schooling and who are at risk.”
“In the past three years, we've seen nothing but cuts to funding streams that the Nationals introduced to protect regional interests and to ensure their growth—projects like the Building Better Regions Fund, which was unceremoniously axed and replaced with a program that promised less than one-tenth of the coalition's funding. I meet with my mayors every month, and I've heard from every single one of them, from the councils, that, during the last three years, their applications for funding have again been rejected. Projects that I'm talking about include the Bellingen Shire Council's Sewering Coastal Villages project, which would not only maintain the current system and ensure that it meets the EPA and environmental standards but set the shire on a course to be able to build new homes that our region desperately needs.”
“My constituents, particularly older constituents, often talk to me about government no longer governing with long-term vision or for nation-building projects. Last night's budget was one of the worst examples of a 'sugar hit' budget in living memory. By sugar hit, I mean small, meaningless examples of instant gratification rather than long-term health of our country. Labor are focused solely on the next five weeks, not the next five years and certainly not the next 50 years. They continue to ignore the regions, instead pouring their focus into marginal seats in metropolitan suburbs around the country. We've heard the saying, 'NSW does not stand for Newcastle, Sydney and Western Sydney.' The Nationals in government are the only champion of the regions and what we actually need right now.”
“For a child going to school today in kindergarten, we need to travel with them until they reach university, to educate them in respectful relationships, not just men but men and women, to understand what good relationships look like, and that will take a generation. We need to fund prevention and intervention, dollar for dollar, as we do response and recovery. Again, I'd like to thank all the witnesses. I'd like to thank the committee, and I'd also like to thank the secretariat for their excellent work. I commend the report to the House.”
“I've said that despite these efforts, despite the funding, only 17 per cent of the some $5 billion goes towards prevention and intervention. And whilst we need the adequate funding for the response and the recovery, until we adequately address prevention and intervention, dollar for dollar, then unfortunately these committees and these inquiries will continue. That funding needs to address men because, let's face it, men are the problem, but men can also be the solution. We need a nationally accredited men's behavioural program, and that needs to be funded. We need a specialised workforce trained in delivering men's programs—men educating men—and we also need a national curriculum in respectful relationships.”
“We heard through the inquiry that things such as real-time updating still don't exist in 2025. Failures in the system between states and territories, and the lack of communication, allow for abuse to continue in the system. Failures in the act allow for abuse of procedure to continue the trauma of victims. The procedure at court fails to protect and prevent further trauma or harm to victims-survivors. These are the things that we heard from you, and these form part of the recommendations to strengthen those systems and provide the protections for those suffering from this horrible scourge. I do note that there was no dissenting report; it was unanimous. The committee worked well together because we all understand this issue is above politics. We cannot be partisan when trying to rid Australia of domestic violence.”
“by leave—Firstly, I'd like to thank the member for Macquarie for her fine words in relation to this report. I'd like to thank all the witnesses and particularly the victims-survivors who gave evidence. It is unimaginable, as a male, to be able to understand what many of you have been through. Thank you for putting yourselves out there to enable us to act on your behalf to make these important changes that are needed. Your evidence was incredibly valuable but, sadly, unsurprising. Despite the changes over the past few years, there are failures within the system, and it is still lacking. The system does not provide the supports that are required to ensure that other victims-survivors and other victims are receiving the protection and the attention that they so desperately need.”
“They brought it forward. They had no consultation with the community. It's a $100 million industry, and they say: 'We've got $160 million to cover that. You'll be right. Go on and do something else. Find another industry.' These are generational farmers, generational families who have had their legs cut out from underneath them because of ideology. We have the best animal practices in the world. I'll take the interjection from the member for McEwen, because the next thing I was going to talk about was a new truckie and ute tax on diesel vehicles. Hang on—what do you think the member for McEwen did between 1998 and 2002? Guess what he did. He sold truck parts for diesel trucks. The chameleon! Yet he is servicing his paymasters and putting a diesel tax—a carbon tax—on four-wheel-drives, mum-and-dad SUVs.”
“They just don't understand the damage that they do, because they don't understand the industry. They attempted to slug farmers with a new $150 million biosecurity protection levy which would force farmers to pay for the biosecurity risks of international competitors. For those of you at home who might not have understood, our farmers are having to pay a biosecurity levy here for what people overseas are sending here. How is that fair? They're already paying over half a billion dollars in biosecurity anyway through other programs, and this is a cash grab by this government because it doesn't care about farmers. 'We're just going to reap the rewards. We'll just bring that money in on another $150 million biosecurity levy.' One of the most disgusting things I've seen in this term is also the shutting down of the live sheep industry.”
“This motion moved by the member for Hunter would be comical but for the damage that this Labor government has done to the agriculture, fishing and forestry sector over the last two years and nine months. Now, that's not me saying that; that's the industry saying that. We are so lucky that the ag industry has been strong enough to weather this assault. It has been an all-out assault on those sectors. Let me start with a handful of policy changes they've made that have impacted on our farmers across the board. Firstly, they tore up the dedicated ag visa, which was the biggest structural reform to the ag workforce in our nation. I know. I have the PALM scheme, and we had the ag visa workers, in my electorate. Now we have problems with being able to pick the blueberries, the bananas and the avocados.”
“Over the past six years, I've held childcare forums across my electorate and heard of the unworkable levels of red tape, of staff educational requirements that do not fit the level of pay and of poaching of current educators by primary schools and even the NDIS due to better conditions. That all leads to the demoralisation of the current workforce and the inability to attract new staff. My question to this government is: you must be hearing the same issues, so what system overhauls have you attempted to table over the past three years? I can tell my constituents in Cowper: none.”
“With the ever-increasing pressures on the cost of living, the urgent need for both parents to actively earn income has never been greater. While those across the floor may congratulate themselves on the reforms to reduce the cost of child care, the prevailing issue in my region is actually finding a placement. It's hard to save money on a service that you don't actually have the ability to access. There are waiting lists in some areas of upwards of 300 families. We have more young families in Cowper than ever before, which is fantastic to see, but the number of childcare placements has stagnated. A parent who is willing to work simply isn't able to do so.”
“That is Labor's commitment to building homes in the regions. How's that for commitment? You can have as much policy as you like, and words are cheap if you don't follow through. The third one—and I find this the most offensive one—is Watson Place, Bellingen. There was $5 million committed by the coalition state government and $5 million committed by the coalition federal government. An old rundown aged-care facility was committed by the Royal Freemasons Benevolent Institution. They planned 40 one-bedroom and two-bedroom units for women over 55 suffering domestic violence or homelessness. Because of COVID and costs going up, because of the increases, they needed an additional $6 million to build those 40 one-bedroom and two-bedroom units. We asked. What was the response?”
“The redevelopment aimed to transform the estate into a mixed-use residential community, integrating social and private housing to meet diverse housing demands. The estate was included under housing programs jointly funded by the federal and state governments, aimed at boosting social housing stock. There was $40 million allocated for the redevelopment of the Argyll estate, focusing on increasing social housing units while integrating modern infrastructure. The redevelopment plans initially targeted the creation of nearly 500 homes. What do you think happened when Labor got into federal government and state government? What do you think happened to that $40 million funding? It got swept. The project was canned. They are two projects in my electorate that have been canned by Labor—1,200 homes.”
“There will be the creation of a self-sufficient community with residential, commercial and industrial zones; the development of a new town centre and shop services; employment opportunities; and provision of recreational spaces, both passive and active, with a natural environment. How do you think it went under Labor's Regional Precincts and Partnership Program? It was rejected. That's 700 homes rejected. Availability of rentals in this area is less than one per cent, and Labor say, 'We want to build homes.' Sorry—rejected. The second example is in Coffs Harbour, and I'm sure Labor will support this because it goes towards social and affordable housing. The Argyll estate was initially designed to provide affordable housing options in Coffs Harbour, addressing housing shortages and supporting community growth.”
“I've just heard members opposite pledge that they want to build more homes in Australia. Talk is cheap. You can have the best policy in the world, but unless you provide the money and the approvals, you'll never build a house. I will give you three examples of how committed Labor really is to building homes, particularly in the regions. The first one is the Valla Urban Growth Area. The overview is that 700 residential dwellings, 150 industrial lots and 100 business premises are planned. A school and a retirement village are included in the plans. It's ready to go. It's expected to support up to 1,500 jobs and boost local employment opportunities. There's $17 million allocated by Nambucca Valley Council. There's $10 million that has been allocated by previous federal and state coalition governments.”
“Delays at the intersection affect emergency response times to the Port Macquarie Base Hospital, putting lives at risk every single day. It is unacceptable. Since this disgraceful decision, I've been working with the local council and the state MP as a united front to get this funding reinstated. This isn't about politics; this is about protecting our community. Our lives matter, Labor. To my community: I need your support. Visit my website and sign the petition demanding that the funding be restored. Together, let's get this vital project done.”
“I rise again today to speak on a critical issue, and that is the intersection on the Oxley Highway at Wrights Road and Lake Road. In 2022 this project was fully funded with $5 million secured: $4 million from the federal coalition government and $1 million from the state coalition government. This funding was vital for stage 2 upgrades to address congestion, improve road safety and support our rapidly growing population. But what did the Labor government do? They ripped it away in their so-called 90-day infrastructure review, which, by the way, was 200 days. They put this critical project on the scrap pile, with the New South Wales Labor government, shockingly, approving the decision. This isn't about traffic congestion. It's about public safety.”
“You don't deserve the benefit of what Australia has. Do not bring your vile, evil ideology to our country and expect to get away with it, because you won't. As a government, we need to be united. We know we won't get it from the Greens and some of the Independents because of their lunacy, but we need to be united as the coalition and Labor. We need to be strong, to show these people—show these vile creatures—who we are and how tough we can be and to get back to the country that Steve and Joe loved.”
“Be a hero for the Jewish community because, if you don't, we know the commissioner won't. The commissioner won't stand up and enforce these laws. I've spoken to magistrates. I've spoken to judges and I've spoken to police. They are waiting for the imprimatur for those in charge to do something about this, but their hands are tied. Commissioner, have some courage. Stand in front of your troops and say, 'We will not stand for this.' Mr Albanese, it's too late—and I think this bill is too late—but get on the front foot, election or not, and represent our Jewish communities, our Australian people. That's who they are. They are Australians, and anyone who propagates this evil violence or these evil words needs to be locked up for a very long time. If you're not a citizen, away you go. See you later. You're gone.”
“You're not the judge, jury and executioner; you are the police commissioner. Go and get advice from the DPP. Or have you asked the court for a guideline judgment? They do it all the time. They make guideline judgments about drink driving; they make guideline judgments about all areas of law. It is not your call to say, 'I don't think it amounts to a breach.' It is up to the judiciary. If any young police officer out there listens to this or sees this, I urge you: if you see antisemitic behaviour on the street, don't worry about what your commissioner says. Go and lock the offender up. Be brave. Have the courage of your convictions. Have the courage to be an Australian and act for all Australians. Take it to court. Make it a test case. Go to the High Court. Be a hero. Be a hero for the Australian people.”
“Section 93Z says: 93Z Offence of publicly threatening or inciting violence on grounds of race, religion, sexual orientation, gender identity or intersex or HIV/AIDS status (1) A person who, by a public act, intentionally or recklessly threatens or incites violence towards another person or a group of persons on any of the following grounds is guilty of an offence— (a) the race of the other person or one or more of the members of the group, (b) that the other person has, or one or more of the members of the group have, a specific religious belief or affiliation … 'From the river to the sea' talks about the ethnic cleansing of Jews. How is that not a breach of section 93Z? The commissioner's response was: 'In my view, I don't see it as a breach.' Well, Commissioner, where is your advice from the Director of Public Prosecutions?”
“Only last week, I was waiting to do an interview on 2GB with Mark Levy about the crime that's happening in regional and rural Australia. The police commissioner, Karen Webb, was being interviewed by Mark Levy, who's doing his best to call out this antisemitic behaviour across the country. He asked why these people weren't being locked up for chanting 'from the river to the sea'. That chant is part of Hamas's charter from 2017—from the river to the sea—and it talks about the ethnic cleansing of Jews and getting rid of Jews. That's from their charter; that's not me saying that. This is a listed terrorist organisation. Mark Levy said to the commissioner, 'Why can't you lock them up for saying this?' Her response was, 'In my view, it doesn't amount to breaching section 93Z of the Crimes Act in New South Wales.”
“One of them asked me, 'What can we do?' My response was, 'Why should you be doing anything when our leaders aren't?' The standard you walk past is the standard that you accept. Our leaders—the police commissioner in New South Wales, the Prime Minister, the commissioners in every state and territory—should be getting their troops together and saying, 'If you see this, if you hear antisemitic slogans, if you see people carrying flags from terrorist organisations, then you lock them up.' Have we seen that? How can we expect our community to stand up against these lunatics? That's what they are: lunatics with evil intentions. How can we ask our people, whether they're in the city or they're in the regions, to stand up against these evil actors, as they're called, when our leaders won't?”
“There was big red paint splashed everywhere in Coffs Harbour. It was the same red paint that had been used on my office only the year before saying 'koala killer'. These ideologues wouldn't know which river to which sea. It's just something shiny and new for them to get on. They're the same extremists who used to abuse me about the climate, which apparently was all fixed when Labor got in. Dave Sharma came up to my electorate to speak to some of the Liberal Party members who are up in my electorate, and one of them asked a question about the antisemitic behaviour that had been occurring in Coffs Harbour. You don't have to go to Melbourne or Sydney for it to happen. Jewish members of my community are being abused. Jewish members of my community are having their businesses boycotted.”
“Despite, time and time again, Peter Dutton, David Littleproud and the coalition putting forward motions to suspend standing orders to talk about this, to do something about this, they have been knocked down and silenced by Labor, or Labor has been equivocal. Worse still, some of the Independents and the Greens have been pouring fuel on the fire. That is making things even worse. Things have escalated from the Opera House to graffiti, firebombings and a thankfully-thwarted terrorist attack with a caravan full of explosives. This evil has been propagated by the fact that the Prime Minister of this country has been equivocal, that we haven't stood up and said, 'We will not put up with this.' Recently in my electorate, on 1 June, I got a phone call to say that my office had been graffitied with 'eye on Rafah'.”
“They loved the freedom in Australia and the democracy they had in Australia, and the fact that they could walk through the streets of Paddington without being persecuted for being a minority group. With what we have seen over the past 12 months, both Joe and Steve would be rolling in their graves. I fear that this bill is too little, too late. The cynic in me says it's come about because we have an election coming up; I hope to God that is not true. What we've seen over the past 12 months is disgusting. It is disgusting to see in Australia. After the October 7 attacks, which can only be described as pure evil, we saw people standing on a world-renowned monument, the Opera House, chanting antisemitic slogans. That should have been stopped there and then. But the response from this government has been equivocal.”
“That would have been the same story for most of those people on that boat. They came to Australia and went to the migrant camp in Cowra, and then, when they were able to, they moved to Sydney, and they stayed friends. They set up a tea house in Paddington, and anybody who knows Paddington knows it is right in the centre of an area which has a large Jewish settlement today. They then went on to open a small goods shop, and they both prospered in Australia. Joe went on to work 30-odd years with Qantas, and Stephan had a very large chicken supply business down on the South Coast. One thing they had in common, apart from the persecution and the loss of their families, was a love of Australia.”
“I'm saddened to rise to speak on the Criminal Code Amendment (Hate Crimes) Bill 2024. I never thought I would come to this place and talk about antisemitism and the rise that we've seen over the past 18 months. In 1947 a ship loaded with Hungarian migrants came to Australia. Most of them, but not all of them, were Jews, but they were all fleeing the persecution they'd seen during the Second World War from the fascist regime of the Nazis. Two of those on board were Joszef Kovach and Stephan Katerinka. They'd never met each other. Joszef Kovach was lucky; his parents were educated—they were teachers—and he was educated, and he'd learned to speak English at a young age. His whole family was wiped out by the Nazis. Similarly, Stephan Katerinka was from a poor family. His whole family was wiped out by the Nazis.”
“You can't get appointments with a physiotherapist for weeks, you can't get an occupational therapist and you can't get a speech therapist. What do they do? They take the funding away. Then there's $5 million of funding for Wrights Road. If you live in Port Macquarie, you know how bad the congestion is on Wrights Road. I get people emailing me telling me, 'I have sold my house because I can't live there anymore.' There was $5 million for the feasibility study. Labor doesn't care about you. Labor doesn't care about the regions. Get rid of them at the next election.”
“They don't know what regions are, they don't know who regional people are and they don't care about regional people or regional areas. Out of that $26 billion in my electorate, $5 million was going to go towards a veterans centre. Labor took that and put it into Richmond, which has half the number of veterans. I have 9,000 veterans in my electorate. They took the funding—it was completely political—and lobbed it straight into Richmond. I am happy for the veterans in Richmond. You deserve a centre. But let's be real. Let's put this above politics. The second thing they did was took away $17 million from Southern Cross University for stage 2 of the health campus. They want jobs, yet they take away funding for education in the regions and not just for education but for health.”
“We've just endured an hour and a half of this hapless, hopeless Prime Minister and his merry bunch of men and women telling us how lucky we are to have suffered them for the past three years, how good Australia has had it, how you've never been better off and how he's the only person for the job. Well, you're taking Australians to be mugs. They're not silly. They know they're not better off. You know they're not better off. So let's talk about some facts in relation to the past three years, particularly in relation to the regions and a few examples from my electorate of Cowper. Firstly, we had a 90-day review by Minister King, which ended up being a 200-day review of infrastructure projects that ripped $23 billion out of infrastructure projects in the regions. Labor doesn't extend past cities.”
“I'm an ex-copper, ex-defence lawyer and hack politician, but the real experts out there are saying that this is a bad bill. There are 34,685 fewer women apprentices and trainees in training, nearly halving all starts previously for women in skills. From June 2022 to June 2023 skills shortages increased by 12.5 per cent. The latest data indicates that 33 per cent of all occupations are in shortage, which is higher than under the coalition. No wonder we have a housing shortage. I note that the Prime Minister came out recently and said, 'I'm going to give apprenticeship tradies $10,000 to continue or to start their trade'—there's a little asterisk; go to the bottom of the page—'if they don't live at home.' I have a 17-year-old son who's in year 12 at a technical college.”
“That's not free TAFE. Sure, some TAFE students—not all TAFE students—might get free TAFE, but the taxpayer doesn't get free TAFE. Then, according to the minister's speech, not all courses will be covered. There's a little asterisk down the bottom where it says that, actually, it's not all TAFE that's free; it's just some courses, not all courses. So it's inequitable. It's not fair to some students when compared to other students. The fact is that, despite spending $1.5 billion on free TAFE, we have over 80,000 fewer apprentices and trainees today than when Labor took office, and we have a graduation rate of about 13 per cent. Australians need to ask themselves who they trust on training: Labor, or Master Builders Australia and the Housing Industry Association, because they don't agree with the bill. Don't take it from me.”
“Steven Whan, on 4 December and expressed my concern and, to his credit, he wrote back to me on 19 December suggesting a certain course, which, unfortunately, involves a lot of travel and no solution. As I just said, I wrote to that minister. I also wrote to the Hon. Jason Clare MP on 4 December. Today is 4 February. Do you think I've had a response, Deputy Speaker? No. I haven't had a response. That's how much this minister cares about young apprentices, or potential young apprentices, in the region. Maybe the Free—not free—TAFE Bill only relates to metropolitan areas, but the fact is that, despite the disregard for local, regional and rural businesses such as Faircloth & Reynolds, this bill is atrocious. This bill has not been costed. If it goes ahead in perpetuity, it will cost the taxpayer half a billion dollars ongoing.”
“That is not free TAFE; that is costing a business who gives so much back to the community of Coffs Harbour an ultimatum that 'if you don't pay for it, you don't get it'. Therefore, all these young would-be apprentices won't get their apprenticeships. What's the solution? I'll tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker Goodenough. The solution from TAFE NSW was for those young apprentices to travel the 153 kilometres to Port Macquarie a couple of times a week. Or if there's no availability there, you can go 85 kilometres up the road to Grafton, but that's full. Finally, if you want an apprenticeship, you can travel the 385 kilometres down to Newcastle. That is not free TAFE. It puts barriers to actually getting a trade in front of these young men and women. I wrote to the state minister, the Hon.”
“Because they had had a relationship and because they're such a good family owned country, regional and rural business, they continued to try and work through the problems with TAFE NSW. They couldn't get their apprentices into the courses in Coffs Harbour, so what they did was build a purpose built room onto their factory to train their apprentices and bring in a TAFE teacher. They spent a lot of money doing that. This year—remember, we're going through a cost-of-living crisis at the moment; the cost of material has gone through the roof, but they're doing the right thing and trying to keep their apprentices on—they've been told by TAFE NSW that, unless they can have a minimum of 15 apprentices, then they will have to cover the cost, the business will have to cover the cost, of the TAFE training.”
“I absolutely, completely agree with the sentiment of the last speaker that we shouldn't have to travel to get education. Before I go into the reasons why we're not supporting the 'Free/Not Free TAFE Bill', I'd like to tell you about a business called Faircloth & Reynolds in Coffs Harbour. It was started 40 years ago by Peter Faircloth and David Reynolds. They are a family owned business specialising in refrigeration, air-conditioning and catering along the north-east of New South Wales. They employ about 300 people. In 2023, they committed to training 50 apprentices, and every year they put on at least 15 to 20 apprentices. Just after COVID-19, they came and saw me about the problems that they were having with TAFE NSW.”