Tom Venning
Grey · Liberal Party · Australia
“Residential burglaries, commercial property theft and daylight shoplifting have left citizens and business owners feeling completely helpless as crime targets every sector of this great regional community. Police statistics show the town is in the midst of a spate of burglaries, with 34 incidents recorded in the first half of June alone.”
“For the Port Augusta community, the most difficult part of this crime wave is what they view as a revolving door bail system for serious juvenile offenders and a lack of quality youth diversion programs in the region. Police can only do so much.”
“Mr Kean was personally chosen by the Prime Minister to lead the Climate Change Authority. It has now been revealed that he spent over $32,000 on one single trip to Brazil last year for an international climate conference.”
“Imagine sitting around the dining table with your family and telling them, 'We're going to spend more money than we receive every year for the next 10 years.' You wouldn't. In fact, you can't, yet that's exactly what this Labor government and this Treasurer are doing. To pay for this, they deploy toxic taxes, assaulting aspiration.”
“Labor cannot manage money, so they continue to come after yours. The average Australian's paying 39 per cent more tax under this government. Since Labor was elected, Australia suffered the biggest fall in living standards in the developed world.”
“It's lifting prices, inflating government charges and pushing hardworking Australians into paying more tax. While Labor profits from this inflation, their tax cuts do not keep up. At 70c a day, they won't even buy a cup of coffee a week.”
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“That's right, a so-called solution to the housing crisis will see Australians punished simply for the way they live in their homes. This comes off the back of a study showing many homes are occupied by one or two people and that three-quarters of homes have more than three bedrooms. Now, Labor want to use those numbers as a reason to put their hands deeper into your pockets. You might think I'm being ridiculous, but Labor has form on this. In Victoria they're already coming after families running a small businesses from their own home. And now here in Canberra, they are refusing to rule out a spare bedroom tax. Australians work hard, save hard and sacrifice for years to own their own home. A home is meant to be a place of security, not a target for government greed. This is insanity.”
“Last year 5,000 elderly Australians died while waiting for the care they'd been promised. We learnt on Friday that more than 200,000 older Australians are still waiting for support. Of those, 122,000 are waiting to be assessed and another 87,000 are waiting for a package after being told they qualify. This is yet another broken election promise, one that comes with catastrophic consequences. I'd like you to reach out to me and my office if you, your parents or your grandparents are in this situation. The National Ageing Research Institute has shown that older Australians forced to wait longer than six months for a home-care package face an 18 per cent higher risk of death compared to those who receive support within 30 days. Yesterday Labor refused to rule out one of the most outrageous ideas we've heard yet: a tax on your spare bedroom.”
“But desalination plants, too, cannot run on intermittent power. They require baseload energy—continuous affordable and reliable. Without it we risk not only our industries but our very capacity to secure water for our regions. The government's motion talks about sovereign capability, but true sovereignty in energy means building a system that can support both households and industry, that can attract local industry rather than repel it and that can provide water security to the communities that need it most.”
“This is not a pathway to investment certainty; it is a pathway to closure, and batteries will not change that fact. Energy is a global marketplace. Our high power prices mean that we are losing opportunities that we should be winning, not just in heavy industry but in emerging sectors like artificial intelligence and advanced computing. Global companies are voting with their feet and investing elsewhere because energy in Australia is simply too expensive. When there is no wind or solar power, we import coal from Victoria. This problem will only worsen as Victoria's coal fired generation closes. South Australia, in particular, faces a stark future. Additionally, South Australia is the driest state on the driest continent. We will rely increasingly less on water from the Murray River and therefore increasingly more on desalinated water.”
“Right now in Whyalla there are seven serious domestic and international buyers considering investing $5 billion to $8 billion in the steelworks. They know the Commonwealth has put a $1.9 billion carrot on the table to support that transformation. But do you know what their single biggest concern is? Access to reliable and affordable energy. Whyalla is the best place in the world to be making steel. Just down the road we have a 100-year-long magnetite asset, we have road facilities, port facilities and rail facilities and we have an existing workforce that knows how to make steel. Today in South Australia the wholesale power price can go from minus $200 when we are overgenerating renewables to $2,000 when the wind isn't blowing and the sun isn't shining. At those times, running the steelworks can cost $34,000 an hour in losses.”
“A few batteries scattered around the grid will not make steelmaking more viable in Whyalla. They will not make lead smelting in Port Pirie more competitive. Large-scale energy storage is possible through pumped hydro, but Australia is one of the flattest continents on earth. We do not have the geography or indeed the water to rely on hydro in the way that other nations do. So South Australia, already 80 per cent renewable, has been forced to build generation capacity nearly five times greater than our average consumption. I repeat that: in my home state of South Australia we have generation capacity nearly five times average consumption. The result? South Australia has the highest power prices in Australia and, depending on how you measure it, the highest power prices in the world. This is not theoretical.”
“Yet the government continues to suggest that this initiative will reduce power prices. That is misleading. Around the world there is no evidence that battery rollouts of this scale have reduced power prices for households or for industry. Australians also need to understand that energy demand from industry is four times greater than household demand. I repeat that: energy demand from industry is four times that of household demand. So, while a battery in your home may trim your power bill, it does nothing for the manufacturer down the road and even less for heavy industry. In my electorate of Grey, industries like the Whyalla steelworks and Port Pirie smelter are the backbone of our economy. These facilities require vast, reliable and around-the-clock energy.”
“I rise to speak on this motion. While I acknowledge the intent behind the government's Battery Breakthrough initiative, I cannot support the suggestion that this policy will deliver the energy security and affordability that Australians so desperately need. I am an engineer, an economist and a farmer, and I'm going to limit this address to facts and figures and to common sense, not to ideology. We must be honest with the Australian people. Batteries are not a replacement for baseload power. They are useful for short bursts of firming capacity when a cloud comes over the state and there is no solar, for gas peaking plants to spool up so that gas can run the grid. Batteries cannot drive heavy industry, nor can they replace the consistent, reliable power that our nation depends on.”
“This September, I join with colleagues across the chamber in affirming the importance of Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, in thanking our health professionals and community groups and in urging all men, especially in regional and rural communities, to prioritise their health. Thank you.”
“Specialist nurses, mental health supports and better follow-up care are all vital steps, but we must go further, particularly for regional Australians. Telehealth can help, but it is not a substitute for the presence of skilled professionals in our regional hospitals and clinics. We need to make sure that, no matter where you live, you have the same chance of surviving cancer as someone in the city. Finally, we must continue to break down the barriers around men's health. Too often, men are reluctant to talk about their health or delay seeking help. This is even more prevalent in farming communities and among farmers. But talking saves lives. Early action gives men the best chance to live long and well.”
“First Nations men and those with a family history of prostate cancer face even higher risks, yet too often they are the ones least able to access timely screening and follow-up care. This inequality is not acceptable, and it is the key reason why outcomes in the regions remain worse than those in metropolitan areas. That is why awareness months like this matter. We must encourage men, particularly those aged 50 to 69 and younger men with additional risk factors, to have a conversation with their GP about prostate cancer, specific antigen testing and their individual risk. Acting early on symptoms or concerns can be the difference between a long, healthy life and one cut short by late diagnosis. I commend the work already underway, including initiatives supported by government to improve access to high-quality diagnosis and treatment.”
“Organisations such as the Prostate Cancer Foundation of Australia and the local support groups in towns and regional centres provide care, advice and much-needed hope for men and their loved ones. But we cannot ignore that access to these services is not the same everywhere. Men living in regional and rural communities face greater barriers when it comes to prostate cancer screening and treatment. Many of my constituents must travel hundreds of kilometres for specialist appointments or advanced treatment facilities. For families already under financial pressure, that means time off work, high travel costs and enormous strain. Whilst city residents may have a choice of providers within a short drive, regional Australians often wait months for an appointment or will go without care altogether.”
“I rise to acknowledge that September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month. Prostate cancer remains one of the most commonly diagnosed cancers in Australian men, with a profound impact not only on those diagnosed but also on their partners, families and communities. This is not just a health statistic; it is a reality faced by too many families across our nation. Every diagnosis sends ripples well beyond the individual, and the road to recovery depends on the strength of our health system, the skill of our medical professionals and the support of our community organisations. I want to take the opportunity to recognise the vital role of general practitioners, nurses, specialists and allied health workers who are on the front line of early detection, treatment, recovery and survivorship.”
“My question is to the Minister for Aged Care and Seniors. In my electorate, a 90-year-old constituent who suffers from Parkinson's has been told it will be up to 12 months before he receives a home-care package. His daughter has to give up her permanent job as a teacher to care for him. As a result of Labor deferring the commencement of home-care packages from 1 July to 1 November, a vulnerable 90-year-old Australian is suffering for too long. Will the minister, as an immediate priority, expedite the delivery of this man's package before it is too late?”
“Farmers fuel, feed and clothe this nation, yet Labor's response to the worst drought in living history, in my area, has been weak if not absent altogether. Added to this are the damaging policies, like taxing unrealised capital gains on superannuation and subsidised RIC loans that cost more than loans from a commercial bank. What use is that? It is clear that this government does not respect regional Australians or farmers. I thank the volunteers on the rapid response team for the hay runs into communities like Streaky Bay and Jamestown. They're a true testament to the generosity of regional Australians.”
“I rise to speak on what is fast becoming a forgotten matter: the drought in South Australia. Yes, we welcome the rains that have fallen across many of the agricultural zones and even parts of the pastoral zone. But we cannot forget those pastoralists who were forced to cut down their herds, even their breeding stock, and now have nothing left. Nor can we forget the grain growers drowning in debt or, the most tragic of all, those farmers and workers who have taken their lives. Their hardship does not vanish with a single downpour. The lessons of every drought are the same. When the rain arrives, the headlines fade, the noise dies down and the hard policy work is left undone, and, once again, we are then unprepared for the next dry spell.”
“In fact, the situation in my electorate is so dire that you would find better access to mental health support in Mongolia than you would in regional South Australia. That is the reality under this Labor government. Australians deserve better: they deserve honesty, they deserve a government that understands the struggles to afford basic health care, and they deserve access to a GP, whether they live in Sydney or in Peterborough. While Labor is misleading Australians, the coalition will continue to fight to make sure families, especially in the regions, have affordable, timely access to doctors, medicines and mental health support, because that is what Medicare should mean.”
“By contrast, the coalition has a strong record on Medicare. Every year we were in office we increased funding, from $18.6 billion under the former Labor government to more than $30 billion by 2021-22. When we left office, bulk-billing was at a record high of 88 per cent, and in our last year 167 million free GP services were delivered—61 million more than the previous Labor government. Let's not forget about mental health. Labor has cut Medicare subsidised sessions in half, stripping vital support from 372,000 vulnerable Australians, ignoring the advice of experts and even their own review. The result is that access to Medicare mental health services has fallen to the lowest levels in more than a decade, precisely when demand is at record highs.”
“People in Peterborough, like those in so many regional towns, are left with diminishing access to primary care. The only option in many cases is to wait until a condition worsens and head to an already overstretched regional hospital. That is not strengthening Medicare. That is weakening it. Yet the Prime Minister continues to tell Australians that it is free to see a GP. His health minister now even admits that he never said there would be 100 per cent bulk-billing. That is simply not true. The Prime Minister's own words are on the record. This is not just a broken promise; it's a $2 billion lie. Because, in the past year alone, Australians have paid more than $2 billion in out-of-pocket costs to see their GP. That's $2 billion that the Prime Minister told them they would never have to pay.”
“Doctors tell me the traditional model, where shorter consultations helped subsidise longer, more complex ones, has broken down. At the same time rebates have fallen far behind the actual cost of providing care. In fact, GPs receive just $42 from Medicare for an extended consultation. Compare that to the $246 the government pays for an urgent care clinic visit, $200 for a nurse led clinic visit and $692 for a patient presenting to an emergency department without admission. The incentives are skewed away from general practice, the very front line of our healthcare system. This has devastating consequences in our regions. Only recently, in my electorate, the Goyder's Line Medical clinic in Peterborough closed its doors. This is a community of 1,200 people. It is now gone.”
“Those who can still find a GP are paying record amounts out of their pockets—75 per cent more in out-of-pocket costs than before Labor came to office. The government's own national accounts show that more Australians than ever are having to use their credit card alongside their Medicare card. They are being charged the highest out-of-pocket costs on record. The result is heartbreaking. More than 1.5 million Australians last year avoided going to the doctor because they simply could not afford it. That is the sad reality of our healthcare system under Labor, a reality that no photo opportunity or stunt with a Medicare card can hide. It is worth reflecting on how we got here. For years general practice has been under pressure.”
“The coalition is deeply concerned about the Albanese Labor government's disingenuous rhetoric on Medicare and the state of bulk-billing in Australia today. Before the last election the Prime Minister promised Australians that all they would need to see a doctor was their Medicare card, not a credit card. His words were emphatic: 'One card covers it all—not your credit card but your Medicare card.' He repeated that promise at least 71 times. But the reality Australians now face is very different. Under Labor, bulk-billing has collapsed. GP bulk-billing has fallen from 88 per cent under the coalition to 77 per cent today. That means 40 million fewer bulk-billed GP visits in the past year alone.”
“Not investing in space seems contrary to Labor's own policy of regional growth and their flagship programs, seemingly making space a personal issue with Labor. I call on the government to urgently reprioritise Australia's space sector—restore funding, back our regions and back our sovereign capability. Without that commitment, Australia risks not just losing ground but losing the future itself.”
“That is where the jobs, the value chain and the long-term sovereign capability lie. Space is not a hobby. It is not a photo opportunity; it is a national economic and security priority. It happens in the bush, on the Eyre Peninsula, in the outback and in regions across the country. Labor's cuts will not simply delay a launch or two; they will cost this nation billions of dollars in GDP, tens of thousands of jobs and the chance to lead in one of the most competitive and high-margin industries in the world. The coalition has already shown what is possible when government provides vision and support. We provided it when we established the agency. We've proved it when we set bold targets and backed them with serious investment. Labor has shown the opposite. Their cuts are short-sighted, reckless and harmful to our national interest.”
“Just last year at Koonibba, the test range was used for an orbital manufacturing mission by Southern Launch and California's Varda Space Industries. This is cutting-edge work using microgravity and the vacuum of space to produce medicines that cannot be manufactured on earth. These capsules carried ritonavir, an anti-AIDS drug produced in orbit as the zero gravity allows for medicines to form purer, more homogenous crystals. This is not science fiction. This is real manufacturing—a real breakthrough—and it happened in my electorate. The next step must be ensuring it is not just capsules landing in Australia but companies themselves setting up here. We should be attracting the next generation of pharmaceutical and high-tech manufacturers to establish operations in Australia.”
“Space is a regional industry, and, in my electorate of Grey, we are doing it. At Whalers Way in Port Lincoln, the proposed launch site alone is projected to generate more than $500 million in GDP if allowed to realise its potential. It is already attracting rocket manufacturers from around the world, eager to take advantage of our unique geography for sun-synchronous and polar orbits. Whalers Way is not alone. Grey is also home to established launch pads in Koonibba and, of course, the world famous Woomera range—a key asset not just for Australia but for the free world. It doesn't stop at launch. The re-entry and recovery of space capsules are fast becoming a multibillion dollar opportunity for this country.”
“Sadly, Labor has abandoned that vision. This government has ripped $1.2 billion from the National Space Mission for Earth Observation. It has gutted $60 million from the technology-into-orbit program and the space flight subprograms, axed $18 million from the Moon to Mars Global Supply Chain Facilitation and stripped away $32 million that was set aside for co-investment in spaceports and launch sites. This is not just trimming fat; it is cutting into the bone of our sovereign capability. At a time when advanced economies are racing ahead in space technology, Labor is pulling Australia out of the space race altogether. And here is a great irony—this is not just a story of high-tech labs in capital cities. In Australia, space is built, launched and re-entered in the regions.”
“On 1 July this year, we marked seven years since the coalition established the Australian Space Agency. It is a milestone worth reflecting on—not just to measure how far we've come but also to recognise how backwards this Labor government is dragging us. When the coalition launched the agency in 2018, we set out with ambition and direction. We committed more than $2 billion to the civil space sector with a clear outcome to triple the size of the industry to $12 billion and to create 20,000 jobs by 2030. Our vision was never about prestige or symbolism. Space today is about more than satellites and rockets. It's about building sovereign capability, driving new manufacturing, advancing medical research, strengthening national security and, critically, creating jobs and opportunities in regional Australia.”
“The 54th Whyalla show, South Australia's biggest show outside metropolitan Adelaide, hit a record number of attendees, with over 12,000 people on the Saturday. It's a true testament to the strength, community and popularity of our country shows. Amid the perfect weather and high community spirit, the Port Lincoln Show had an excellent talk about the harmful algal bloom. These events are the lifeblood of thriving communities and absolutely essential for holding us together during these tough times. I want to congratulate presidents on their efforts. Country shows simply could not happen without the hundreds of dedicated volunteers putting in the work to ensure their success.”
“I rise to speak about the many fantastic country shows across my electorate of Grey, representing over 92 per cent of South Australia. Since the beginning of the show season, I've attended country shows in Crystal Brook, Port Lincoln, Kadina and Whyalla, and they've all had a remarkable turnout. The Crystal Brook and Copper Coast shows celebrated their 146th and 154th years respectively, an amazing achievement for each community. The Crystal Brook Show was filled with hundreds of dedicated volunteers, who make it all happen. The Port Lincoln Show, which has been running for over 110 years, had a huge turnout. The Copper Coast Show has grown in attendance from around 800 to 6,000 people over the past few years, which is an incredible accomplishment for that community—for my community.”
“Its record is one of broken promises. That is why I support this motion. I call on the Minister for the Environment and Water to come before this House and account for the government's failures. Our communities deserve answers. Our fishers deserve support. Our environment deserves better stewardship than this government has provided.”
“The inquiry has bipartisan support, and it will investigate not just environmental devastation but also the government's inadequate response. But accountability must also come here to this chamber. The environment minister must explain why the government ignored scientists for 18 months. He must explain why it took the death of thousands of marine animals and the collapse of local industries to force any action. He must explain why communities like mine in the electorate of Grey have been abandoned to fend for themselves. Australians deserve better than delay, denial and disaster. They deserve a government that values science, listens to communities and protects both our environment and the livelihoods that depend upon it. The Albanese government promised leadership on the environment. Instead, it has delivered crisis after crisis.”
“Access to assistance programs have been riddled with restrictive criteria, leaving many fishers unable to qualify. The federal government has refused to declare this disaster a national emergency or natural disaster, which would unlock the scale of funding and resources truly required. This is not an isolated issue. From recycling reform to Indigenous cultural heritage protection, from the environmental protection laws to biodiversity conservation, this government has failed to deliver on every major environmental promise it has made to the Australian people. We've seen slogans, we've heard speeches, but when it comes to substance—nothing This is why the coalition has fought for a Senate inquiry into the algal bloom.”
“I have spoken to fishers who have not caught enough fish to make pay for three or four months. They tell me they feel physically sick, not just because of the financial strain but because every day they go out into the sea and are confronted by the sight of dead or dying marine animals—garfish, squid, dolphin, shark, ray. For some species, it is as though they have disappeared entirely from the Gulf. Small family businesses in the marine scale fishery are facing financial ruin. The social and emotional toll is profound. This crisis is not just about ecosystems. It's about people. It's about livelihoods. It's about communities up and down the South Australian coastline who rely on the ocean not just for food but for their future. The government support to date has been too little, too late.”
“A last-minute dash to South Australia on the eve of parliament sitting—a photo opportunity dressed up as leadership. Just days earlier, he dismissed the crisis as merely a state issue, sending only a departmental official to witness the devastation. Then, last week, we saw the same pattern repeated by our prime minister. He flew into Adelaide for barely an hour and scraped together $6.2 million for South Australians, while at the same time giving $600 million to a PNG rugby team. That is not leadership; that is evasion. I want to be clear. This disaster is not just about algae; it's about accountability. It is about a government that ignored scientists, ignored fishers, ignored local communities and ignored its own responsibility to act. The human impact is heartbreaking.”
“What they received from the government was silence: no meetings, no action, no leadership. The consequences of that neglect are being felt across South Australia, but nowhere more severely than in my electorate of Grey. The epicentre of the bloom lies in Gulf St Vincent, and it is now spreading into the Spencer Gulf, home to Port Lincoln, the seafood capital of Australia and the base of the Southern Hemisphere's largest fishing fleet. More than 14,000 marine animals have died. International experts have described the outbreak as one of the world's worst algal blooms. Our fishing and tourism industries are on their knees, and families who have made their living from the sea for generations are now watching hopelessly as their catch disappears before their eyes. And what was Minister Watt's response?”
“I rise today to support the shadow minister for the environment—the member for Moncrieff, Angie Bell—in her urgent call for the environment minister to attend this chamber and explain the Albanese government's catastrophic failure in environmental management. To speak of fake outrage, how about someone show up and actually come to the electorate of Grey, where the epicentre of the algal bloom is? The simple truth is this: the government's environmental credentials are not just in question; they are, as Ms Bell rightly said, completely washed up. Let's begin with what's unfolding right now in South Australia. For over 18 months, eminent scientists were warning of the growing risk of the toxic algal bloom. They sought meetings; they sought engagement; they sought leadership.”
“My question is to the Prime Minister. The Albanese Labor government has presided over a historic rise in red tape in the housing sector, including over 1,500 new regulations in the Treasury and Infrastructure portfolios, as well as a massive expansion of the National Construction Code. However, yesterday the government suddenly decided to copy the coalition's policy of freezing the code. While the coalition welcomes the vote of confidence in our policies, will the Prime Minister now admit that Labor's housing policies are unfit to solve Australia's housing crisis?”
“Fee-free TAFE as it stands is not meeting the needs of industry, it is not fixings workforce shortages and it is not helping young people build lasting careers. Unless there is a shift towards genuine workforce planning, stronger support for apprentices and policies that match training with actual jobs, Australia will keep falling further behind. 'Fee-free TAFE' is a slogan, not a solution. It hasn't delivered the skilled trades our nation needs. Under Labor, apprentice and trainee numbers have collapsed, shortages are worsening and projects are stalling. The coalition will continue to call for real investment in apprenticeships, real pathways to work and policies that will genuinely fix the skills gap facing Australia because, at the end of the day, this is about our young people, our economy and our nation's future.”
“That's 36 per cent of all occupations. Every day that Labor ignores this, costs go up for families, businesses and communities. When Labor talks, you pay. The longer Anthony Albanese and Labor ignore their skills crisis, the bigger the bill will be for our country. What we actually need is investment in outcomes. The construction industry does not need slogans. It needs serious investment in apprenticeships, training equipment and quality trainers and proper incentives for employers to take apprentices on. We need targeted funding for high-demand trades and skills. We need a stronger link between TAFE and employers. We need more apprentices gaining hands-on experience on real worksites. That is how you build a pipeline of skilled workers.”
“The result is churn—lots of enrolments, very few completions, a bigger burden on the taxpayer and no solutions to the skills shortage. If only one in four TAFE apprentices are finishing their courses and we have a skills shortage, the commonsense solution is to fix what we've got, not add more places. Let me put it this way: if you're struggling to pump water to your local community and, after inspection, you find a gaping hole in the pipeline, do you (a) fix the pipe or (b) build a bigger pump and pump more water through it? The government is buying a bigger pump and putting it on the taxpayers' credit card, which is already maxed out. Labor's skills crisis isn't just a policy problem; it's an economic handbrake. More than one in three occupations across Australia are assessed as being in national shortage.”
“Let's not forget Labor's record of decline. When the coalition was last in government, there were 415,000 apprentices and trainees in training. Today, under Labor, that number has collapsed to just 311,000. That's a reduction of more than 100,000, a whopping 25 per cent reduction. Despite the $1.5 billion being poured into fee-free TAFE, fewer people are actually in training. And, even when young people do sign up, too many drop out—three-quarters. Why? Because there's not enough support to help them complete their training. Fee-free TAFE doesn't fix completion rates. You can waive fees, but, if apprentices and trainees aren't mentored, supported or connected to real job opportunities, they won't finish their courses.”
“You can't build houses without tradies, you can't manufacture without boilermakers, you can't fix the economy without trained workers and you certainly can't grow the economy without a skilled workforce. You may remember the Albanese government's Jobs and Skills Summit in 2022. It was meant to be a game changer. Instead, it was another classic talkfest with no real outcomes. Our skills gaps are getting worse, not better. Right now, we are facing a massive housing shortage and infrastructure bottlenecks. Builders and contractors are crying out for skilled tradies. Ask any builder and they'll tell you they're waiting for months to find a qualified worker. Projects are delayed, costs are rising and communities are missing out. Labor promised that fee-free TAFE would fix this problem, but the dial has not shifted.”
“Labor's so-called fee-free TAFE program has failed to deliver real results. They've spent in excess of $1½ billion of taxpayers' money and yet fewer Australians are in apprenticeships and traineeships today than before. This is not a success story; this is a policy failure. Fee-free TAFE might sound good on paper, but the reality is very different. The Albanese government is not training enough people in the areas where they're actually needed—trades, construction, aged care and essential infrastructure. We don't need more people in low-level generic training programs that don't lead to real jobs, especially not when it comes with a billion-dollar price tag.”
“At the eleventh hour, they reinstated it, now with much narrower eligibility criteria. Many small groups, especially in the regions, found themselves shut out of capital improvement funding altogether, a further slap in the face for volunteers who have already weathered years of drought. I hope there will be a round 10 of the Stronger Communities Program. I urge the government to restore the original guidelines, which worked well. Regional Australia is the backbone of the country. We should be backing our volunteers, not making it harder for them to get the support they need.”
“Our coastal communities and the seafood industry deserve more. Last week I had the great pleasure of calling 10 volunteer led organisations across my electorate to let them know they had been approved for funding under the Stronger Communities Program. Three groups, based in Oodnadatta, Smoky Bay, Minnipa, Kyancutta, Coffin Bay, Port Germein, Burra, Melrose and Wallaroo, do incredible work for their communities. For many of them, the grant funding will make a real and immediate difference. That's especially important at a time when so many volunteer organisations are doing it tough, stretched thin by financial pressures and now burdened with additional ATO reporting requirements for not-for-profits. That's why I'm deeply disappointed to learn the Labor government sought to axe this program prior the last election.”
“The calls went unanswered until the story finally made headlines, when thousands of dead fish and marine life washed up on Adelaide's suburban beaches, not Edithburgh's. It took public outrage to drag the government to West Beach, where they kicked around some sand, posed for some photos in front of dead fish and announced a $14 million package. Even then, the support on offer appeared rushed and inconsistent. For example, a caravan park might qualify but a B&B won't. A tackle shop is eligible but a surf shop misses out. This is yet another case of a flat-footed Labor government hoping a problem will quietly disappear instead of listening to those directly affected and acting—or, worse, refusing to take responsibility and blaming it all on climate change. Governments must do better.”
“I spoke on Tuesday about being smarter as we go about the business of representing the people of Australia, of tackling solutions, not headlines, of listening to people and acting before the symptoms blow up and become unmanageable. There's no greater example of the need for Labor governments to do better than the algal bloom that has been crippling South Australia's coastline, killing marine life in the Gulf of St Vincent and now affecting the Spencer Gulf, in Port Lincoln and now Franklin Harbour, where they're closing down mussel and oyster operations. It took four months for the South Australian government to take any meaningful action. During that time, marine scientists, oyster farmers, fishers and small-business operators were desperately calling out, to raise the alarm.”
“What we need now is the courage—the courage to act, to lead and to build the kind of country our grandchildren will be proud of. We in this chamber need to lead with conviction, the grit and the determination to rise to every challenge that comes our way. Just like I backed the B-double down the bunker all those years ago, I'm backing the people of Grey, and I won't let them down. Thank you.”
“Roads, rail, power and water are the arteries of economic life. We must support industries that add value not just extract it. We must ensure our kids in the country can get the same quality of education and health care as kids in the city. We must recognise that regional Australia is not just the nation's quarry and farm. We are communities with the same aspirations, the same rights and the same potential as any suburb in Sydney or Melbourne. We must stop pretending that a one-size-fits-all approach to policy will work in a country as vast and diverse as ours. Australia is the lucky country, but luck runs out. I don't want us to just be lucky. I want us to be smart. We have the institutions. We have the resources. We have the people.”