Mr PITT (Hinkler—Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) (10:51): I rise to speak today on the Aged Care Legislation (Increasing Consumer Choice) Bill 2016, which will bring flexibility and a more consumer-driven aged-care system for older Australians. With the number of people aged 65 and over projected to more than double, from 3.6 million in 2014-15 to 8.9 million by 2055, the need for a robust aged-care system is evident.

My electorate of Hinkler has an older than average population. There are 32,953, or 32.97 per cent, of my constituents who are over the age of 65. Older Australians want to stay in their homes as long as possible before going into care. Sixty-eight per cent of Australians aged 65 years and over currently live at home without accessing government subsidised aged-care services. Twenty-five per cent of elderly people living at home receive some government subsidised aged-care services. By 2050, over 3½ million Australians are expected to use aged-care services.

The 2011 Productivity Commission inquiry found that older Australians do not want to be passive recipients of services dependent on providers. They want to be independent, able to choose where they live, which provider they would use and the way in which services are delivered.

The inquiry also found that consumer choice improves wellbeing, including higher life satisfaction, greater life expectancy, independence and better continuity of care. Moving to a market based system, which gives consumers real choice, is central to the coalition government’s plan.

This legislation will amend the Aged Care Act 1997 and the Aged Care (Transitional Provisions) Act 1997 in three main areas. Firstly, funding for a home care package will follow the consumer, replacing the current system where home care places are allocated to individual approved providers in a particular location or region. This will provide more choice for the consumer in selecting their provider as well as more flexibility to change their provider if they want to do so. Providers will no longer have to apply for new home care places, through the aged care approvals round, significantly reducing red tape for businesses.

Secondly, there will be a consistent national approach to prioritising access to home care packages through My Aged Care—the government entry point or gateway to the aged care system. The prioritisation process will take into account the needs and circumstances of consumers determined through the comprehensive assessment undertaken by the aged care assessment team and the time that a person has been waiting for care.

Thirdly, there will be reduced red tape associated with providers who become approved under the Aged Care Act 1997. This will encourage new providers to enter the home care market, supporting greater choice for consumers. All providers will still need to demonstrate their suitability to become an approved provider and meet quality standards.

There is no doubt that reforms in the aged care system are needed. People want more choice and they want more flexibility. I have heard firsthand accounts from constituents about their frustrations in trying to navigate the aged care system. A gentleman contacted my office to raise his concerns about the current funding arrangements and he posed this question: ‘Why can’t a carer who has extensive experience in handling people’s finances or business affairs be given direct access to the funds when there is no need for a care provider to be involved?’

Kevin Woods’ life was changed in a matter of seconds when his wife, Wendy, suffered a severe stroke in February 2010. He went from working full-time to becoming a full-time carer looking after his wife and helping with her recovery. It is a 24-hour seven-days-a-week job. I take my hat off to Mr Woods and others in his situation who take on the sometimes difficult task of caring for a loved one with limited resources.

Mr Woods’ wife is eligible for 12 hours support per week in their home. Over the past six years Mr Woods has had to jump through hoops and fight tooth and nail to get additional support and care items for his wife. Mrs Woods needed a replacement second skin sleeve for her arm so Mr Woods approached their service provider and was told there were not any funds available. Mrs Woods needed a brace for her leg to help her walk. They, again, approached their provider and, again, were told there were not any funds available. In March 2014, Mr Woods was told by an occupational therapist that his wife should be showered in a wheelchair for her safety. Again, he went to their service provider and was told that there were no funds available.

After three weeks of phone calls and negotiations the service provider finally agreed to pay for their chair. To use Mr Woods’ own words, there were ‘nearly three weeks to get it organised, a lot of stress and three days delivery’. Why should it be this hard for someone to get equipment or aids that are clearly needed and, in this instance, deemed necessary by the consumer?

Once again, to quote Mr Woods, ‘This is a woman who has lost the use of her right arm, can only walk under supervision with the assistance of a walking stick and a brace on her right leg and foot. She can understand what you are saying but cannot communicate her thoughts. She needs assistance from her supposed carers but is being blocked at every turn at the local level of an organisation supposed to be dedicated to supporting their clients.’

Mr Woods believes that capable carers could put the allowances to much better use by employing people to do many more hours per week in regular organised support and carrying out other work around the home. He believes that if he were managing the funds, directly, from the government he could access twice the number of hours per month at half the cost to the government.

I am pleased to see that under the proposed legislation the individual will get to decide which provider they want to deliver the services and then the government pays the provider on their behalf. The funding will follow the consumer, giving them greater choice to choose a provider that is suited to them and to direct the funding to that provider. A home care package will be portable for the consumer if they wish to move location or change to another provider. The package, including any unspent funds, will move with the consumer to their new provider. Currently, any unspent funds remain with the provider, which can be a significant financial disincentive for the consumer to change providers.

Consumers will be able to access information about their home care service providers, through the My Aged Care website, by contacting the My Aged Care contact centre and from the My Aged Care Regional Assessment Services and ACATs. Providers will be able to display relevant information on the My Aged Care service finder to enable consumers to choose their preferred provider. This will help ensure that special needs groups, including people with dementia, will have access to providers who cater to their specific needs. My Aged Care will be able to support consumers to choose a provider through a match-and-refer service—although it is important to note that the consumer will make the final decision about their preferred provider. Some consumers may require additional assistance to make an informed decision about their choice. A range of supports will be available to consumers depending on their circumstances, including the Translating and Interpreting Service and advocacy services through the National Aged Care Advocacy Program.

With this legislation—for the first time—there will be a consistent national system for prioritising access to subsidised home care. This will allow a more equitable and flexible distribution of packages to consumers, based on individual needs and circumstances, regardless of where they live. The Aged Care Legislation (Increasing Consumer Choice) Bill is an important step in reforming aged care in Australia to give older Australians more choice and flexibility. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr PITT (Hinkler—Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) (15:40): I am afraid the blinkers have been on for this debate for some time. We have heard a lot about house prices in Sydney, but there is a big, brown, wide land out there. It is not just about one capital city in this country. I am about to speak about some good activity in Queensland. I note my friend and colleague the member for Rankin has slid around on the front bench here. It is only a little bit further, Jim, and you will be in the big chair! It is not far away.

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, you are a passionate Queenslander. The Housing Industry Association report on 10 February 2016 said that the number of Queensland home building approvals was the highest it has been in 21 years. In 2015, 48,000 new residential buildings were approved in Queensland—the highest since 1994, according to the Housing Industry Association. When you are out in the regions, housing is much cheaper. They have also said the level of home building approvals are now double the rate reached during the post-GFC trough in industry activity—that information is from Warwick Temby. Multiunit developments have been the main driver behind the growth in activity in 2015. The detached housing market has also shown solid growth. This is good news for Queensland, where, of course, the downturn in the mining industry has had a detrimental effect, particularly on Central Queensland. In Central Queensland, there are tens of thousands of highly skilled people who want a job. The issue for them is that they want a job. Those are the things that we need to be focused on. The Housing Industry Association also said that the home building industry in Queensland can look forward to about $10 billion worth of work in 2016 and starting the construction of around 42,000 new homes. This continues to be good news.

Once again, I acknowledge that, clearly, house prices in Sydney certainly appear to be very high and very difficult to meet. But there are real opportunities in regional Australia, and I would encourage people who are out there listening to this broadcast: if you own a company, if you own a business, if you are out there on the ground and you want good opportunities for your people, shift to regional Australia; move your company somewhere else where housing is affordable. We have the infrastructure, we have the connecting links, we have the roads, we certainly have the telecommunications and, of course, we have airports with direct links to Sydney. Look at Harvey Bay in my electorate of Hinkler. There are direct flights to Sydney every single day. It is a beautiful part of the world to live in, and that is certainly why many Australians choose to retire there.

Mr Hutchinson: You have taken the words out of my mouth!

Mr PITT: I have taken the words out of your mouth! Housing there is certainly more affordable. But the opportunities are around jobs. Those are the things that we need to focus on. What do those opposite want to do? They want to destroy the housing market. Their proposal for negative gearing will destroy the housing market. I am advised by the Property Council of Australia that there are currently 5,576 investment properties in my electorate of Hinkler. Do you know who owns those investment properties? They are the mums and dads of my electorate. They are hardworking people on wages. They are the ones who take a risk. They are the ones who go to work and take an extra job so that they can get ahead. It is them that the Labor Party want to destroy. It is very straightforward. It does not matter whether you are selling houses or selling bananas. It comes down to supply and demand. If you take 30 per cent of the buyers out of the market, then clearly prices will fall. Eventually, you will have an oversupply and the prices will fall even further. What happens then? Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, I know you know what happens. Looking at farming properties in particular, when the value of properties fall, the banks do a review and the immediate action by the banks is to put up interest rates, which makes things far more difficult. If you are trying to meet repayments in difficult conditions and interest rates go up, it makes it harder again. What happens after that? Clearly they then look at serviceability—can you actually pay for the loan that you have? Then, if the price continues to fall, they start to look at foreclosing and they take your house away, which will then flood the market.

The proposal from the Labor Party is very straightforward. They want Australians who are out there right now who own these properties to go broke. They want them to lose their properties so that they can drive down the housing price market, particularly for Sydney. Out there in regional Australia, things are actually fairly bloody tough. Things are tough right now. I can tell you there are areas in regional Australia—I can look at somewhere in Flynn, for example, and, in particular, a couple of the smaller centres—where housing is incredibly cheap, under $200,000. One hundred and fifty thousand dollars will get you a nice little two-bedroom place. But the issue of course is jobs. That is what we need to be focused on. We need to be focused on that right now.

The proposal from those opposite is absolutely diabolical. The idea that we would destroy the housing market in this country I find absolutely incredible. It simply cannot go on. So, to the voters who are listening to this broadcast: do not vote for the Labor Party. They want to take your house away. They do not want you to have anything of value. They want to ensure that it goes down in value. It should not happen.

Mr PITT (Hinkler—Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) (10:29): I rise to speak on the Appropriation Bill (No. 3) 2015-2016 and the Appropriation Bill (No. 4) 2015-2016. In my electorate of Hinkler, there are many things underway, things which will help improve our local economy and provide jobs. One of those is the Fraser Coast Military Trail, which is being proposed by the Fraser Coast Regional Council. The Fraser Coast Military Trail will be a huge positive to the region and has the potential to draw in large number of tourists to my electorate of Hinkler. The trail, which will link existing military sites around the region, is progressing well, with the RSL recently receiving $900,000 under the Stronger Regions Fund for stage 2 of the Duncan Chapman Military History project.

I must note that grant was secured by the member for Wide Bay, our former Deputy Prime Minister Warren Truss. Maryborough of course is in his electorate, but the member for Wide Bay and I share many other things: we share boundaries, we share a local council in the Fraser Coast Regional Council and of course we both work for the common good for the people of both Wide Bay and Hinkler. While I have the opportunity, I would like to congratulate the former Deputy Prime Minister on the announcement of his retirement. Warren has been a great colleague of mine and a friend of the people of Hinkler for a very long time. He has served not only the people of Wide Bay but also the people of Queensland, the people of regional Australia, the people of Australia in total and the Nationals for almost 26 years. The member for Wide Bay is one of those people—and I have known many of them over my working career—who, when they get to the point of retirement, you want to be able to tip upside down, give them a quick shake and have all of their knowledge fall into a bucket as something that you can store on the shelf and reach into in times of need. Unfortunately that cannot be done, but I must thank the former Deputy Prime Minister for all the advice and assistance that he has given me in the time I have been in this place. He has been an absolute servant for the people of Australia, and I congratulate he and Mrs Truss on their future retirement and I wish them well.

Stage 2 of the Duncan Chapman Military History project will feature an eight-metre high representation of the cliffs of Gallipoli ahead of the statue in Maryborough’s Queens Park. It will also include information bays between three panels of cliffs, which will convey the Gallipoli story, and sculptures will depict the landing scene at Anzac Cove. A trench walk depicting the Western Front and a memorial commemorating the battle of Pozieres, where Major Duncan Chapman was killed, will complete this unique, interactive, memorial. The tourists that are attracted to this site will also be attracted to the areas inside my electorate.

Beginning at the Maryborough military museum, which is home to over 7,000 items of military memorabilia, the history trail will include a Vietnam War museum in Toogoom, the Duncan Chapman statue and the training ground on Fraser Island of the famous former Z force from World War II. I must congratulate the sub-branch of the RSL at Toogoom, which has just secured an APC from the Vietnam War era. It is an armoured personnel carrier, which they will have on display, which I believe will arrive in future weeks.

I would also like to throw out my congratulations to those surviving members of Delta Company from the battle of Long Tan, who celebrate a very significant memorial date this year in August. There are a number of Delta Company vets in Toogoom and in Hervey Bay. Lt Col. Harry Smith, retired, a former Hervey Bay resident who has just recently moved back to the Sunshine Coast, is a very well-known advocate for the members of Delta Company from the battle of Long Tan.

A military dive wreck, which I have been advocating for my electorate since I was elected in 2013, would be a fantastic addition to the military trail. While the fate of the HMAS Tobruk has yet to be decided, I acknowledge there is strong competition for it with both Tasmania and the Gold Coast expressing interest in having it scuttled in their waters. A Wide Bay Burnett regional dive wreck advisory group has said that while the HMAS Tobruk is the ideal vessel—as it is possible to swim through it from one end to the other—there could be another vessel that would be just as suitable. If the Department of Defence do have another vessel they think is suitable, the advisory group would consider it as an option. There is a strong need for a new tourist attraction in my electorate of Hinkler to stimulate the local economy and create jobs. The dive wreck advisory group estimates that a military dive wreck would contribute between $1 million and $4 million each year to the local economy—that is a great boost. Another flow-on would be an increase in domestic and international visitations to the Wide Bay Burnett region. In New South Wales, for example, about 5,000 divers explore HMAS Adelaide with at least 90 per cent of divers coming from outside the region, including 20 per cent who come from overseas.

For tourism, it is no secret to my constituents that Hinkler is a fantastic place to visit and live; we have everything right here on our doorstep. Just last month, Flight Centre announced its top 10 Australian holiday destinations for 2015 and Bundaberg, at the northern end of my electorate, was ranked No. 6. Rising in popularity by nine per cent in 2015, more Aussies are taking advantage of Bundaberg’s laid-back appeal and easy access to the country’s largest concentration of nesting marine turtles. Each year, from November to March, around 30,000 visitors witness the majestic marine turtles laying their clutches on the shores of Mon Repos beach, which has the most significant loggerhead turtle nesting population in the South Pacific region. And the Fraser Coast recorded Queensland’s strongest domestic overnight visitor growth, with a 21.4 per cent increase—nearly triple the overall state increase of 7.9 per cent—for the period ending September 2015. Fraser Coast Opportunities reported a major 35.9 per cent boost in intrastate visitors to the area. ‘Holiday makers’ and ‘visiting friends and relatives’ were the primary purposes for those trips, with raw figures of 294,000 and 264,000 visitors respectively.

The Hinkler electorate is a wonderful, community minded place to live with many groups and organisations providing support and friendship to our residents. The coalition government is providing funding opportunities to these groups, through the Stronger Communities Program. Eligible community groups can apply for grants of between $5,000 and $20,000 for small capital projects. Each federal electorate is allocated $150,000 a year over two years. In my electorate, we have already presented three community organisations with their grants and there are more announcements to come.

Rum City Rods and Customs was awarded $5,775 to replace the roof on their hall in Bundaberg. The club was formed around 1994 and was originally named the Rum City Rodders. The club’s main objective is to promote and encourage community interest in the sport of constructing, showing and driving street legal rods. I must say, having seen some of the members’ cars, they are just incredible pieces of workmanship. The long-awaited upgrade will provide the club’s 70 members with a central meeting point that is safe and dry, and the hall can now also be utilised by other community groups.

The Bundaberg Steam Tramway Preservation Society received a grant of $18,182 which will go towards replacing the existing timber sleepers with concrete sleepers along the two-kilometre line. Since it was built in November 1988, the Australian Sugar Cane Railway has carried more than 500,000 locals and tourists. It is a sight to behold—a true coal-driven steam engine towing around the botanic gardens. The society is committed to keeping ticket prices low so that children of all ages can enjoy the botanic gardens and learn about locomotive and sugar cane history. These upgrades will reduce the number of track maintenance closures, which will enable the railway society to entertain and educate more families.

We Care 2, an organisation which provides meals and assistance to about 1,000 disadvantaged Fraser Coast residents each week, was awarded $10,000 to purchase new freezers. These freezers will enable the team at We Care 2 to continue providing vital assistance across the Fraser Coast, whether it is through Extra Choices, the Community Connect Food Van, school breakfasts, emergency relief or to support the Comfort Kitchen weekly dinner for the disadvantaged.

I will have several more projects to announce through round 1 over the next few weeks, which will benefit community groups right across the electorate. The second round of Stronger Communities funding opened last week, so I encourage any community groups in my electorate to consider whether they might be eligible and submit an expression of interest.

In Queensland we have local government elections underway right now. The upcoming elections, which take place on 19 March, have attracted a lot of interest. We have six candidates vying to be mayor of Fraser Coast Regional Council and 35 candidates standing for council. In Bundaberg Regional Council we have five running for mayor, with 33 candidates running for council. I take this brief opportunity to wish all candidates well for their campaigns.

In relation to aged care in my electorate, construction has begun on a number of aged-care facilities. Builders Woollam Constructions have just turned the first sod of a $40 million aged-care home at Kawungan, which will bring not just 150 beds but also more than 100 jobs. A $30 million Premier Health Care facility in Urraween’s Medical Place will offer 145 new beds, with construction due to start next month. In Bargara, a $25 million, 160-bed aged-care facility is being built beside the existing Palm Lake Resort. It is expected to open in April. Attracting investment to our region to deliver more aged-care facilities is something I have been particularly vocal about since my election in 2013. It requires a team effort from all three levels of government and the private sector. Our senior residents deserve to live out their remaining days with dignity, and Hinkler is an idyllic place to do just that. While the federal government provides the recurrent funding for the daily operation of aged-care facilities, development and planning is controlled by councils and the state government.

There are many things that all levels of government can do to make our region an attractive investment option. This includes providing land, reducing red tape and speeding up approval processes. I am very pleased to see so many new facilities being built across the region, which will reduce wait times and stimulate our local construction industry.

We should be celebrating the fact that Australians are living healthier, longer lives, rather than focusing on the economic challenges presented by having an aging population. As the baby-boomer generation ages and demand for quality aged care and retirement villages continues to grow, there will be enormous opportunities for employment in the construction industry, mobility retail sector, medical technology and innovation, pharmacy, nursing and allied health care.

While I am on my feet, I would also like to congratulate Knauf. Knauf is another significant project which has started in my electorate. It is the construction of a plasterboard manufacturing plant at the Port of Bundaberg. Civil works began on 1 February on the $70 million plant, which is expected to create around 200 jobs during construction and around 70 permanent jobs once completed. Knauf are importing more than 200 containers from Europe for local companies to install. The Bundaberg facility, which is expected to be operational by the beginning of 2017, will be the company’s third facility in Australia, with manufacturing plants also in Sydney and Melbourne.

The project will include gypsum handling and processing facilities to support plasterboard production and for the sale of gypsum to our very important local agricultural sector. For those who know the Bundaberg region, it is one of the largest horticultural producing areas of Australia. We are the biggest producer of heavy vegetables, so to have a company that can import lime directly and make it into a pelletised product at a much reduced cost will be a big benefit for our local farmers. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (10:51): One of the top five issues raised by constituents in my electorate of Hinkler is upgrades to the Bruce Highway and of course road safety. The Bruce Highway stretches some 1700 kilometres along the Queensland coast, with 89.7 kilometres of the highway running through the electorate of Hinkler from Torbanlea to Booyal.

It is a popular topic in the opinion pages of our local newspapers for Labor supporters to complain about Nationals MPs listing the Bruce Highway as a key priority at every election. One letter writer makes repeated false claims about the Liberal National Party ‘never, ever delivering on the Bruce in Hinkler’.

You only have to look at the facts to see that they are clutching at straws. The coalition has committed $6.7 billion over 10 years to fix the Bruce Highway. Since being elected to office in 2013, a number of major Bruce Highway upgrades—which make it safer for motorists travelling through my electorate—have been completed.

An $8 million upgrade to three intersections near Childers was completed in July 2014. A $4.5 million project to widen a four-kilometre stretch near Adies Road at Apple Tree Creek was also completed in July 2014. Six million dollars was spent on an overtaking lane north of Howard, which work was completed on in August 2014. The $7.1 million widening of the highway for 2.2 kilometres near Wongi State Forest, south of Torbanlea, was completed in December 2015. And, just this month, work has started on a $700,000 widening of a seven-kilometre stretch near Booyal. This work includes a wide centre-line treatment to provide greater separation between vehicles travelling in opposite directions, reducing the potential for head-on collisions. In the coming months, work will start to widen a two-and-a-half-kilometre stretch of the Bruce Highway near Little Pig Creek, north of Torbanlea.

There are other safety improvements scheduled for the Hinkler stretch of the Bruce Highway in 2016-17 financial year as well as significant work being done on sections north and south of my electorate which will directly benefit Hinkler motorists.

I find it amusing that they claim I have done nothing when, under the Coalition, $26.3 million has been spent on what is 90 kilometres of road. Furthermore, the coalition government has doubled the Roads to Recovery funding to Hinkler councils, providing $28.1 million between 2014 and 2019 to build better roads, support local jobs and the economy.

Councils also receive substantial federal funding each year to improve road black spots. Bundaberg Regional Council has received more than $500,000 under the Black Spot Program this financial year with two of four improvements almost complete. Improvements on Hummock Road at both the Elliott Heads Road and Windermere Road intersections have been underway for some weeks and are nearing completion while work on the Burnett Heads Road and Mittleheusers Road intersection has begun.

Work will begin shortly on upgrading the Burnett Street and Targo Street intersection—a notorious black spot in Bundaberg—to make it safer for motorists. Motorists’ safety, freight route reliability and emergency accessibility are essential for the people who live, work and run businesses in regional Queensland as well as the tourists and visitors that help boost our local economies.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (14:43): My question is to the Minister for Health. Can the minister inform the House what this government is doing to improve private health insurance for rural and regional consumers? Can the minister also advise that there is a publicly available database where constituents living in regional areas like Hinkler can identify which private hospitals have contracts with health funds so that they can make an informed choice before purchasing private health insurance?

Ms LEY (Farrer—Minister for Health, Minister for Sport and Minister for Aged Care) (14:43): I often look at members of the Labor Party and wonder if any of them have ever risked a dollar of their own money in a small business, living the great Australian dream.

The SPEAKER: The Minister for Health will come to the question.

Ms LEY: When I look at the member for Hinkler I see it all—a man who has come through the ranks—

Honourable members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: Members on both sides will cease interjecting.

Ms LEY: worked hard in the sugar mill, built his own company, invested in training, sponsored young people and now has decided to give back by coming into this place. He really is a standout performer.

The member for Hinkler asks me about private health insurance as it relates to his rural and regional constituents. Having visited his electorate, I certainly understand that his people live on low incomes, fixed incomes, and they do their best to hang onto their private health insurance. We know that the stronger private health insurance is in Australia, the stronger public health is—because we do not find that people who would otherwise rely on private hospitals come to the emergency department of our public hospitals.

The member asks about the current private health insurance reforms. Clearly, responses to my survey into what people think about the private health insurance product have revealed that the premium increases are going up too fast—six per cent, every year, year-on-year—affordability is a problem and the product itself is not meeting their needs. So we in the Liberal and National parties are looking at ways to make consumers happier with private health insurance to deliver a product that meets their needs and support the health system as a whole.

There is a website that the member for Hinkler might like to refer to—privatehealth.gov.au—which he specifically has asked about, where constituents can see: ‘If I go to a certain private hospital what is the gap that I might have to pay and what hospitals will better meet my needs, depending on the type of insurance I have and the insurer I am with?’ This is an area that was really talked about through our private health consultations, because transparency and the ability to know what exactly your policy delivers—when and how, and where the known or no-gap site is—is really important.

I have had a positive response from insurers to my request to start considering a lower request of premium increase, and we are working well with those insurers. We are also looking at the prostheses list, because the costs that private health insurers pay for devices is very high, in Australia, compared to overseas, and there are regulatory aspects that we are also interested in to help ease the costs for the system as a whole. Once again, I think that member for Hinkler and I look forward to my next visit to his constituency.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (11:31): I am absolutely delighted to speak on this motion moved by the member for Bendigo. I am also incredibly pleased to see her sudden interest in this issue—an issue, I might add, that has been going around in circles for literally decades. As the motion states, complaints have indeed soared, but that is only because awareness of the issue has increased with the coalition’s action. It is this government that is taking action.

Since I was elected in 2013, I have been making a lot of noise about this exact problem. Where has the member for Bendigo been? Where have you been? Labor had six years in government and they did absolutely nothing—actually, that is not quite true. They had an another inquiry. They knew about the problems. There have been countless reports and inquiries to examine this issue over the years and they all say the same thing, but, as I have said time and time again, we do not need another review or inquiry; those resources would be better spent on enforcement action. Individually, agencies like the Fair Work Ombudsman were toothless tigers, but there is now better coordination with the Department of Immigration and Border Protection, the Australian Federal Police and the Department of Employment and Training.

With the introduction of Taskforce Cadena in May last year, which is something that I lobbied long and hard for, with the unanimous support of my National Party colleagues, we are finally seeing action. Within a month of operating, the multi-jurisdictional task force was successful with a number of raids, catching 38 illegal workers. Following investigations by Taskforce Cadena, the Fair Work Ombudsman is now able to pursue one Emmanuel Bani, who is accused of underpaying 22 workers from Vanuatu to the tune of $77,649 for fruit- and vegetable-picking jobs in Queensland. Geoffrey and Jane Smith of the Bundaberg branch of the Australian South Sea Islander Association brought the plight of these men to my attention in 2014. I met with some of these workers and heard firsthand about the appalling way that they were treated. I referred the matter, and the departments of employment and immigration intervened to recover the men’s passports and secure them work with a reliable employer. The unskilled seasonal workers program is closely monitored and there are safeguards in place to ensure agents know their obligations and workers know their rights. Agents must be registered. Where the real exploitation occurs is in cases where people have overstayed their visas or are working here illegally and the agents are not properly registered.

But, just as we are making some headway on stamping out rogue labour hire operators and ensuring that foreign workers are being treated fairly, we have proposed changes to the tax-free threshold. In his budget speech, the then Treasurer, Joe Hockey, said that from 1 July working holiday-makers, not seasonal workers, would lose the tax-free threshold of $18,200 and be taxed at 32½ per cent from the first dollar they earn. I wrote to the Treasurer and explained that local fruit and vegetable growers and backpacker hostels had expressed concern that this could be the nail in the coffin of the entire industry. Not only could this lead to a reduction in backpackers coming to Australia to work but it could force more workers and contractors into what I call the ‘seedy underbelly’. One backpacker hostel, which employs about 100 backpackers per week during harvest time, said the proposed changes were ‘casting dark shadows over the potential benefits that backpackers bring to Bundaberg’. Working holiday-makers are not just a travelling workforce; they are a vital component of our tourism industry. You can tell that the member for Bendigo does not understand the needs of the agricultural sector because, in my electorate, the electorate of Hinkler, growers require a large labour force of unskilled workers at short notice; otherwise the crops would sit and rot on the ground. Their whole season’s income would be lost and possible future agreements with their buyers could be put in jeopardy.

We hear the member for Bendigo scaremongering about Australian jobs being taken, but this government has introduced measures to ensure Australian workers are given the first opportunity for employment. With the expansion of the seasonal worker program and the introduction of free trade agreements, employers must demonstrate that they have tested the Australian jobs market first. The member for Bendigo talks about the proactive role of the Australian union movement, and I acknowledge there is an important place in the workplace for the protection of workers’ rights, but I can honestly say that, in my experience, the unions are only interested in representing their members. They refer large numbers of exploited workers through to my office, saying they cannot help them because they are not members of the union. The unions only became interested in protecting these workers’ rights when Four Corners reported on the issue, and I have repeated my concerns over and over again, many times in this place. But this is about human decency, and, regardless of the nationality of the worker, they all have the same rights and obligations while they are working here in Australia.

In Queensland, the Queensland Labor government have recognised that this is an issue and have launched another inquiry. The former federal Labor government launched an inquiry and a Senate inquiry, but it is this government that has launched Taskforce Cadena. We are making headway and we will fix this problem.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (12:35): It is no secret that I have been a strong advocate for the NBN and the benefits it will bring to people living in regional Australia. I wore a track to Malcolm Turnbull’s door when he was Minister for Communications, which resulted in Bundaberg becoming one of only 10 sites prioritised nationally for fibre-to-the-node. In December Bundaberg became the first city in Queensland—and only the second in Australia—to connect to the NBN fibre-to-the-node network. There are more than 23,000 premises in Bundaberg that are now in the fibre-to-the-node footprint.

Unfortunately, as so often is the case with the introduction of anything new, there have been some teething problems. Most of the problems rest squarely at the feet of the retail service providers. About a dozen constituents have sought my office’s help after being totally disconnected—they lost both internet and phone—for prolonged periods of time. Others have experienced significant delays in getting a technician to attend their home or business.

The majority of complaints have been from Telstra customers. For example, one Bundaberg business had their phone line disconnected in the process of trying to switch to NBN. This was the same line they used for EFTPOS, causing massive interruptions to the day-to-day running of their business. After much back and forth, the business was eventually offered a wireless dongle as an interim fix, until a more permanent solution could be found. It is my understanding that, in most cases, Telstra has an obligation to its business customers to provide a temporary alternative and to do it quickly.

A Bundaberg teacher from Avenell Heights also contacted my office after having no phone or internet at her home for 20 days. It is simply not good enough. She had reported it to Telstra, as had my office. At one point she was told she was connected, but she was not. I am pleased to say she was connected a couple of days ago.

We have also heard some alarming stories from residents about hardline marketing by Telstra. A 79-year-old disabled Norville woman contacted my office. She was very upset after being called by an aggressive telemarketer. She claimed that the telemarketer kept pushing her to make an appointment for a technician to come out to connect her to NBN. The resident insisted she wanted time to consider her options, but the telemarketer persisted ‘like a dog with a bone’. My staff explained to her that she did not have to make a decision right now; she has 18 months to switch her phone line over. They also advised her to shop around.

Unfortunately, as a result of Telstra flooding the region with marketing material, many elderly residents think Telstra is their only option and the only provider of the NBN. I only wish Telstra would invest as much money in technicians as they do in marketing. We need boots on the ground and not a never-ending sales pitch. My advice to Hinkler residents is to consider what their personal requirements are. Do you have an EFTPOS terminal, fax, alarm system or medic alert? How many people are in your home or business, how many devices do you have, and how do you use the internet? Make sure you discuss your requirements with more than one retail service provider and find out what is best for your situation. Shop around. That is my advice.

I should point out that there have been many happy FTTN customers too, but they are far less likely—as anyone in this room knows—to contact their federal member’s office to express their views. A caller to ABC Wide Bay talkback recently said that NBN was the best thing since sliced bread. He said his speeds had doubled and his monthly bill had halved.

There are many factors involved in the NBN rollout, such as engineering plans, cultural and heritage sites, local government approval, areas of greatest need, population density, distance, as well as existing contractual and commercial arrangements with Telstra, the owners of the existing copper network. It took 70 years to build the copper network, but the NBN will be rolled out and connected to around 10 million premises, and is being built in 10 years. It is the biggest infrastructure project in Australia’s history. So it is important to remember that the process of switching over to fibre-to-the-node is far easier compared to the all-fibre NBN that was being rolled out by the Labor government. Labor’s all-fibre FTTP plan would have involved excavation, new equipment and additional equipment in each building and installed inside every single existing home.

I do feel for the people in my electorate who are having difficulties. It is impossible to run a business or do school homework with no internet or phone line. But I want them to know that their concerns are not falling on deaf ears. It seems there is a lot of buck-passing happening. Retailers are blaming the NBN; nbn co are blaming retailers. At the end of the day, I do not care whose fault it is; these issues just need to be fixed so residents and businesses can use the NBN to its full potential.

Finally, I have not forgotten those who are without broadband in many of Hinkler’s small towns. Bundaberg is a point of interconnect for the NBN, and in just two years time more than 70,000 Hinkler premises will have either FTTP, FTTN or fixed wireless NBN. This will be a successful rollout; the technology will work. The technical people with the actual knowledge whom I have spoken to have advised me it will be incredibly successful and will be a great boon for regional Australia.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (13:46): Last week I hosted a community jobs forum at the Hervey Bay Boat Club both to inform job seekers about help available to them and to encourage local businesses to employ.

Unemployment is the single biggest issue in my electorate of Hinkler. Reducing unemployment is my No. 1 priority, and I wanted to ensure Hinkler residents were well informed about the options available to them.

My office sent out some 10,000 invitations by email, letterbox drop, job agencies and training providers. As a result, about 100 people attended the forum. Several attendees contacted my office afterwards to say just how worthwhile and valuable it was to them. As well as attendees receiving information about the various federal government incentives and programs, guest speakers provided tips on how to start a small business, how to prepare for job interviews and how to make your resume stand out.

I would like to thank Minister for Vocational Education and Skills, Luke Hartsuyker, who attended the forum at my invitation and spoke about jobs and industries of the future and what skills would be in high demand.

I recognise that one of the major hurdles that job seekers face locally is a lack of vacancies and, of course, the high number of applicants. That is why we are working to give businesses the confidence to expand.

The complex economic and social reasons for our region’s historically high unemployment rate cannot be addressed overnight, but we are making some real progress.

The latest ABS data for the Wide Bay region shows unemployment has dropped to 8½ per cent. That is still unacceptably high, but with major projects like the gas pipeline and the Knauf manufacturing plant on the way I look forward to further improvement.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (11:58): I support the original bill—the Building and Construction Industry (Improving Productivity) Bill 2013 [No. 2]—in its original form. Before I get to the details of the bill I would just like to discuss some of the issues put forward by both the member for Fowler and the member for Melbourne. As probably one of the few people in this place who spent over 20 years getting up, putting on the steelcap boots and the high-vis shirt and on many days the hard helmet—I have worked on more construction sites than I can count, from farming through heavy industry through major infrastructure projects, as a tradesperson, as an engineer, as a consultant, in a range of different forms—I have to say: what a lot of baloney from those opposite. I have seen this firsthand. I have seen it from the time I was an apprentice right though to now: the toolboxes full of glue, the times you went back and found that someone had welded your locker shut because you did not agree with the union official, the times people went outside and found their cars with four flat tyres—originally, the BLF, those great bastions of protecting the people in the construction industry. I have to tell you, I have seen all of it, and it is absolutely appalling. This bill is absolutely necessary, in my view.

The member for Fowler talked about worker exploitation and how the people on this side of the House had never done anything about it. Well, there is this small thing called Taskforce Cadena, which this government put forward and implemented—a multijurisdictional task force to address worker exploitation in horticulture. It is for those people who are out there who have been robbed by unscrupulous labour hire contractors; it is also for those people who look to exploit them to make more money. That task force is in place and active right now, and it was put in place by this government. Those opposite knew about this issue for many years. They were six years in government. What was the result? We had another review. We had another report. We had another pile of recommendations. But we are taking action, because this is a legitimate problem which is causing all sorts of major issues in rural Australia, in particular. For those people who are out there, who are getting paid cash in the hand, who are getting burned by people with phoenix companies, this legislation is addressing those issues and it is addressing them now. The perpetrators will be found, they will be caught and they will be prosecuted. I know of a number of those that are underway right now. I also know of a number who have operated labour hire firms and been penalised.

The member for Melbourne talked a lot about workplace health and safety, but he seems to dismiss or certainly does not recall that there are actually state governments in Australia and that it is the state governments which predominantly have the responsibility for OH&S. They have enormous departments, any number of workplace health and safety inspectors and large amounts of legislation which they enforce. The difficulty is when you have a second layer with the federal safety office—but I will get to that a little bit later on.

The importance of a strong construction sector right now cannot be underestimated. We have gone through a massive boom. It is talked about as the mining boom; it is talked about as the resources boom. But the reality is that the majority of that has been a construction boom. There have been very large projects underway for many years. Most of those projects are starting to come to an end now. In Gladstone, for example, more than 15,000 people were employed on major projects. If you go to small towns in Queensland like Roma, Mitchell, Miles and Chinchilla, they had literally expanded so far that they needed extensions to their tarmacs on the airport runways. They needed new facilities. There were thousand-person camps in the district. There has been an enormous boom in the construction sector and we need to ensure that it continues, because right now in my home state there are tens of thousands of people, highly skilled people, who are sitting around unemployed. They need more construction projects, they need them to be viable and they need them to be underway right now.

The royal commission in 2003 found consistent evidence that the building sites of construction projects in Australia were hotbeds of intimidation, lawlessness, thuggery and violence. I have not been on many of them, but I can tell you that that is certainly the case—it is absolutely the case. As an apprentice, I can recall tradesmen who did not join the union being black-banned, because that was allowed back then. We have moved on. I actually went through the period where demarcation was addressed. It was absolutely terrible. There were tradespeople who had decided it was a good idea to teach me certain things. I would like to have been able to weld. As an electrician that would be a fairly handy skill, but in the workplace where I did my time that was not permitted, because an electrician should not know how to weld—that was someone else‘s job. It would have been incredibly handy for me at that time as an 18- or 20-year-old; however, that could not happen. I clearly remember tradesmen‘s tools being stolen. There was continuing intimidation. This stuff went on forever. It was just terrible. We need to address this, and the ABCC is one way to fix it.

The ABCC, when it was in place, was proven to have worked over a long period of time. Witnesses reported criminal conduct, unlawful and inappropriate conduct, including breaches of relevant workplace relations and workplace health and safety legislation, and a disregard for Commonwealth and state revenue statutes. On 11 April2015, the Courier-Mail, that great bastion of the media in Queensland, reported that in 2014, 12,300 days were lost and that it was the highest number of days lost among the Australian states due to industrial action. This was according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics. John Crittall from Master Builders said that the people who pay for that activity are consumers. The cost is passed on to the consumer. In fact, the CFMEU enterprise bargaining agreement adds an average of $50,000 in costs to every unit constructed. A one- or two-bedroom unit in a 10-plus storey apartment block within two kilometres of the Brisbane CBD will cost between $260,000 and $300,000 if it is a CFMEU construction. That same unit constructed by a non-union organisation will cost between $220,000 and $250,000—a difference of some $40,000 to $50,000. These are the things that need to be addressed. We need a strong construction centre because our economy needs it. We need more employment. I would certainly encourage the Palaszczuk government to get their hand out of the cookie jar right now and start to get on with the federal projects which are available to be built. We have massive projects available in Queensland. We have the Second Range Crossing in Toowoomba, with over $1 billion worth of construction. We need those projects underway. I am very pleased that the local member, the member for Groom, went out and turned the sod for those projects; they are starting to move. We need to employ tens of thousands of construction workers who currently do not have anything to do. This is incredibly important.

In 2013, when the ABCC existed, an independent economics report on the state of the sector found that, in the building and construction industry, productivity grew by more than nine per cent. It is something which works. Consumers were better off by around $7½ billion annually. Fewer working days were lost through industrial action. So this is something which has been proven to work when in place—and it should be in place.

We have heard a lot noise from those opposite about this being a union witch-hunt. I have read the recommendations from the Heydon royal commission. It is not solely about unions. In fact, in an article by Kara Vickery on 31 December 2015, she states:

A total of 45 people, unions and companies were referred to police or other authorities for investigation by the commission, including Cesar Melhem and Katherine Jackson.

In terms of companies, she goes on to state that the report:

… also alleges “adverse recommendations” about executives from large private companies including, Cbus, the Thiess Group, the John Holland Group, the ACI Group, Downer EDI Engineering Power Pty Ltd, Winslow Constructors Pty Ltd and the Mirvac Group.

This is not a witch-hunt about unions. This is about sorting out lawlessness in the construction sector. This is necessary. We need it to be in place. The ABCC will have the structures to do its job. It will change the definition of building work or modify it to include off-site, prefab or made-to-order components for parts of building structures or works. The reason for this is simply to stop the go-slow. You cannot construct anything if your product does not show up on site.

As I moved through from an apprentice to an engineer, I did some farming and some other things. I eventually ended up with a consulting firm. At its peak, I had some 15 staff. I clearly remember the day when my business manager came back to tell me that to bid on a major construction project, to have any hope of being successful, it had been suggested to him that I needed a brown paper bag with $30,000 in it. I did not bother to bid for that contract. My company was not involved in those things. I have sold it now and it is no longer my asset. But I will never forget the day that one of my employees came to me and told me I needed a bag full of folding notes in order to get a contract. I was very happy at the time and I continued to work in regional Australia because it certainly was not quite as bad in my view. These changes will make a difference, and it has been proven. I certainly encourage those in the other place to pass this legislation because it is important to the nation. It is important that we sort it out.

I have a whole list of examples. But the thing I would like to talk about briefly, as a former lead auditor and someone who ran a business who provided these types of audits, is the federal safety office. The federal safety office certainly is essential for Commonwealth contracts, particularly those ones that are only on Commonwealth land. Major construction companies need to have accreditation for whichever state they want to operate in. And if they want to work on federal government buildings and structures of above a certain value, they need federal accreditation. What that means is that, if you do not have federal accreditation, you cannot bid for that work. There are any number of construction companies in regional Australia that can do work of above $5 million. There is no doubt about that; they provide that service for state government contracts, local councils and private companies. But in order to provide that service for federally funded building and construction, under the current laws, they will need to be accredited through the federal safety office. The estimated cost of getting that initial accreditation is between $200,000 and $400,000 and the cost of maintaining your accreditation is between $100,000 and $200,000 every single year. The difficulty of course is that, if you are a small to medium sized enterprise who can do this work, there is no way that you can sustain that accreditation.

So I would certainly encourage our government to reconsider its position on the figure of $5 million. We did move it from $3 million to $5 million. However, if you are a regional builder based in a regional centre, who employs local people and local contractors, it is almost impossible for you to win this work. You might end up doing it anyway, because a major contractor from a major city who is already accredited wins the tender, but what that means is you do not make any margin and that money leaves town. So that additional money, which you might have actually spent in the local economy or provided to your employees, leaves and goes elsewhere. It is not good for regional Australia. It is not good for the construction industry, and there should be more diversity. Quite simply, we should not have only a handful of large, major companies with the capacity to deliver federal government projects.

In the regions, these projects are incredibly important because their value and the amount of money they can inject into the local economy makes a real difference to the people that live there. And not only that. They also provide opportunities for our local youth to get in and potentially get an apprenticeship or at least get experience on a major construction project that they might not get elsewhere.

I would encourage our own government to consider this differently. The federal safety office is a necessary evil, but it is another layer of red tape and another cost for businesses. We really should go back to looking at this issue as part of our review of the Federation. Quite simply, someone should have responsibility. It should not be allocated to everybody. Once again, I can say from experience that, in order to meet the requirements for the state and federal accreditation schemes, there are actually areas of direct conflict—things which are exactly opposite. You need to have two sets of systems; it does not actually give you the outcome you might want. Reams and reams of paper do not make a difference to OH&S. Having a certificate on the wall does not prevent someone from falling from a roof or through a hole or through something which is not covered or from being run over on a construction site.

We need to think about how we address this. In my view, it is a state responsibility. They have the capacity and the legislation already in place. But it is something we need to think about. This bill is incredibly important. We need to get it through the other place. Once again, I would encourage those in the Senate to pass this bill. It is a good bill for consumers; it will reduce the costs to them. It will reduce lawlessness and lost time. It will certainly address both union and company issues within the construction sector; it is not just unions which are addressed by this bill. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (12:35): Tomorrow, Bundaberg will become the first city in Queensland to connect to the NBN fibre-to-the-node network. As many in this place will already know, I fought hard to ensure my region was one of 10 trial sites prioritised nationally. As a result, Bundaberg will be the second location in Australia to receive the FTTN. Bundaberg’s main street and neighbouring areas like Avenell Heights, Thabeban, Norville, Bundaberg South and Bundaberg East will be the first to make the switch. The surrounding areas will also be connected in coming weeks, bringing the total number to 24,000. The National Broadband Network will transform local education and health services, enabling businesses to better engage in the rapidly evolving digital economy. The NBN will help create jobs.

FTTN construction will begin in the southern end of the Hinkler electorate in 2017 to connect 19,000 premises in Craignish, Dundowran, Dundowran Beach, Eli Waters, Kawungan, Nikenbah, Pialba, Point Vernon, Scarness, Toogoom, Torquay, Urraween and Wondunna. FTTN construction will also start in Avoca, Branyan, Millbank, Burnett Heads, Coral Cove, Elliott Heads, Innes Park, Childers, Woodgate, Howard, Burrum Heads, River Heads, Booral and Urangan in 2018. About 20 wireless towers are either operational or under construction across Hinkler’s many rural communities. By the end of 2018, about 70,000 Hinkler premises will be able to connect to the NBN. This is just one of the things that I have helped deliver to my electorate in 2015.

Tomorrow, local businesses will attend an Austrade seminar to discuss how the recently signed free trade agreements will enable them to expand into new markets and create jobs. Yesterday, I spoke about a proposal to create a military dive wreck in my region which would boost the local economy by up to $5 million a year and create more jobs. I tabled a petition containing 4,042 signatures. I have written to Bundaberg’s mayoral candidates seeking a commitment of $1 million to match what has been provided already by the Fraser Coast Regional Council. I have also written to the Queensland Premier to seek an urgent meeting about the future of HMAS Tobruk. Until the Queensland government indicates it is willing to accept the vessel as a gift for scuttling in state waters, we are unable to further progress our case.

I have spoken about unemployment in this place more times than I care to remember. Jobs are sorely needed, which is why I am trying to attract investment to the region for the long term. State member for Burnett Stephen Bennett and I successfully lobbied the state Labor government to maintain the previous LNP plan to build a gas pipeline to the Bundaberg port. This is already attracting major international companies to the underutilised site. The coalition government is doing everything it can in the meantime to give job seekers a hand up. I am concerned that many people are not aware of the assistance that is available, which is why I will host a community jobs forum in Hervey Bay in the new year. Taskforce Cadena, a multi-agency task force, was established to target unscrupulous contract labour hire contractors in the horticulture sector. Cadena has made some progress, but I look forward to receiving an update from the relevant ministers in the new year.

The coalition has made significant progress on the introduction of country-of-origin food labelling laws. Minister for Health Sussan Ley and I hosted a meeting for local GPs to discuss ways we can make Medicare more sustainable. Assistant Minister for Science Karen Andrews and I hosted a community forum encouraging businesses to innovate and young people to pursue a career in science, engineering or maths. The Attorney-General, Senator George Brandis, visited the electorate. We hosted a community forum about national security and border control at the Bundaberg RSL. This year, of course, we marked the Centenary of Anzac. I had the absolute pleasure of attending many events across the electorate. My office received an Inclusive Community Champions award for excellence and accessibility from Spinal Life Australia. With the help of my dedicated staff, I have made strong representations to ministers on behalf of individual constituents and organisations, delivering some very positive results. Over the next few weeks, I will announce the successful applicants in the coalition government’s Stronger Communities Program.

I would like to thank patron senator Senator James McGrath for his support and, of course, thank my staff for their dedication. As everyone in this place knows, they are the keeper of the gate. They are the soldiers on the wall. We could not do this job without them.

In my last statement in this place for the year, can I say we are all thinking of our former colleague, the late Don Randall, and Don’s family. I am sure our sense of loss is as a raindrop in a thunderstorm to that felt by Don’s nearest and dearest.

I would especially like to thank the people of Hinkler for engaging with me, for sharing their views with me and for keeping me informed of the issues that matter to them. Next year I will undergo my first performance review as the member for Hinkler—99,049 Hinkler constituents will have their say. I can honestly say, hand on heart, that I have worked extremely hard in my first term to be the representative that the people of Hinkler deserve. If I am elected to serve another term, I will continue to give the role my all.