Mr PITT (Hinkler) (09:45): Well-maintained roads are incredibly important in any community but particularly in regional areas where distances are vast and infrastructure is prone to flooding. They are part of our social fabric. It is the most common method of emergency retrieval. It is how we travel to school, sport and work. Our road network is essential to our economy, enabling farmers and commercial fishermen to get their products to market. That is why I am pleased to see proactive members of my community like Geoff Redpath petitioning the Queensland parliament to upgrade the intersection of Urraween Road and Maryborough Hervey Bay Road.

The intersection is considered by many to be the most dangerous in Hervey Bay. It is used to access four local schools and St Stephen’s Hospital. It is the main heavy vehicle traffic corridor to and from the Dundowran industrial estate and is also heavily used by daily commuters travelling north and south on Maryborough Hervey Bay Road. I am advised that the current traffic count analysis of this intersection shows the practical absorption capacity is exceeded by approximately 25 per cent. At peak times traffic congests in all directions to form long queues. All 4,667 petitioners are requesting state government funding to upgrade the intersection of Urraween Road and Maryborough Hervey Bay Road to an acceptable safety standard. I look forward to seeing the state Labor government’s response. The Urraween Road intersection was, after all, committed for upgrade by the previous state LNP government.

While I am on the topic of roads I am pleased to say I have delivered on each of the election commitments I made relating to road infrastructure before the last election. The upgrade of Old Toogoom Road is now complete with the coalition providing $1 million for the project. I recently inspected progress on the upgrade of River Heads Road, for which I committed $3.75 million in federal funding. The $6.7 billion we are providing to upgrade the Bruce Highway over 10 years includes $7.1 million to improve drainage on a 2.2-kilometre stretch south of Torbanlea, $8 million for three intersections near Childers and $6 million for the overtaking lane north of Howard. The coalition has increased Roads to Recovery funding to Bundaberg Regional Council by about $4.45 million to $12.9 million between 2014-15 and 2018-19. The Bundaberg Regional Council will also receive $563,000 in 2015-16 to upgrade road black spots like the Mittelheusers Road intersection upgrades at Burnett Heads. Fraser Coast Regional Council’s allocation for Roads to Recovery has increased by $5.24 million to $15.2 million between 2014-15 and 2018-19.

I would also like to place on record that I have not promised any Commonwealth funding for prefeasibility studies on the proposed Burrum River bridge either before or since my election. It was a commitment given by my predecessor, Mr Paul Neville, at the 2010 federal election. However, the coalition did not win government in 2010. While I support the project in principle, I believe projects like the Urraween Road intersection are high priority amongst locals.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (10:28): One of the major impediments for young people wanting to further their studies after finishing high school is the cost of living away from home, particularly if you live in a regional area. In my electorate of Hinkler, youth unemployment is extremely high, and the median weekly family income is just $832. For many young people, their parents do not earn enough to support them through university but they exceed the asset test thresholds for receiving government assistance through Centrelink. They may be the eldest child and their parents are still caring for another two school-aged children at home. They could get a part-time job. But, depending on the course they want to undertake, their study requirements may prevent them from working enough hours to cover even the basic costs of rent, food, transport and utilities. Personally, when I finished school I delayed going to university because I knew the costs would have made things difficult for my parents, my three younger brothers and their family business. Instead, I opted to apply for an electrical apprenticeship—probably the best four years of my life. It was a great opportunity to gain a trade. I saved enough money during those four years to move to Brisbane to study engineering at the Queensland University of Technology, and I worked part time as a lifeguard and on the tools through those four years—on weekends and holidays—to help get me through university. So I am exceptionally pleased to be standing in this place, today, speaking on this bill.

This legislation introduces more generous means-testing arrangements for youth payments to help support regional children who are transitioning from school to tertiary education. We are removing the family asset test and family actual means test from the youth allowance parental income test. It will base the assessment of a young person’s access to youth allowance on a fairer measure of family income.

Removing the asset test will enable around 4,100 dependent Australians to qualify for youth allowance for the first time, accessing average annual payments of more than $7,000 a year. The removal of the means test will see a further 1,200 people receive youth allowance, for the first time, as well as increase payments for around 4,860 existing students by about $2,000 a year. Importantly, the changes will mean farming families will not have farm assets counted toward the test for their children accessing youth allowance.

We are also changing the youth allowance parental-income testing arrangements to include all family tax benefit children in the family pool. The current test only includes children over 16. Counting all children will soften reductions in youth allowance as the family’s income increases. For example, around 13,700 families with dependent children in both the family tax benefit part A and youth systems will be eligible for an average increase in payment of $43 per fortnight or $1,118 per annum. Around 5,800 families who currently miss out on payments, due to higher taper rates, will be eligible for an average payment of around $50 per fortnight or $1,300 per annum. As a former poor student, I know $50 a fortnight does make a difference.

Simplifying the parental means tests will provide additional assistance for working families to support their children make the transition from school to further study. These changes are great news for Hinkler families. It boosts the number of families we assist and the level of that assistance, and it encourages more young people into study to build their careers, develop economic opportunities and contribute to our economy. Most of these changes will come into effect from 1 January next year, and some on 1 July next year and 1 January 2017. Hinkler residents can get more information and find out whether they are eligible by contacting Centrelink.

Earlier, l mentioned youth unemployment. This government is doing everything it can to help young people gain new skills and find a job. I understand there are several challenges to gaining employment, in the Hinkler electorate, including a lack of job vacancies and a high number of applicants. But I am a firm believer that young people should be earning or learning. Developing skills and qualifications can help job seekers stand out in what is a highly competitive jobs market. Employers who are seeking to fill a specific role say they, typically, have to recruit from outside the region because they cannot find locals with the required skills. That, to me, is deeply disappointing. Other employers say they are willing to train people and give them the skills, but they struggle to find people who show up on time dressed appropriately and willing to live without their smart phones for a few hours.

Through Work for the Dole, the National Work Experience Program and Green Army, job seekers are learning important skills while contributing to their communities. We have reinstated the Howard government’s ADF gap year. The number of young Hinkler residents applying to join the Defence Force has increased, significantly, in recent years.

The 2015 budget included $330 million for a youth employment strategy to help young people transition from school to work. Young job seekers who find a job and stay off welfare for 12 months will receive a job commitment bonus of $2,500 and a further $4,000 at 24 months. We are providing concessional trade support loans of up to $20,000 and spending $200 million, each year, to lift apprenticeship completion rates. We are also providing up to $9,000 to help people relocate to take up jobs. I know that young people often have to leave the region to get qualifications, skills and experience. But sometimes the local opportunities are overlooked. I have spoken to vice chancellors of Central Queensland University and the University of the Sunshine Coast who are moving into the region.

In my maiden speech I raised concerns about the exodus of talented young people from regional Australia. This bill will help address those matters, substantially. I commend the bill to the House.

Debate adjourned.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (13:46): On the weekend, my family and I attended a range of community events in both Bundaberg and Childers. Firstly we attended ReSTAMPED, which was part of the Crush Festival for 2015. ReSTAMPED linked with other simultaneous Place Activation projects in Toowoomba. The project was a collaborative effort between numerous local businesses, organisations and artists and aims to get the community thinking differently about spaces in our communities. In this case it was Bundaberg’s Post Office Lane. This otherwise quiet, ordinary thoroughfare was ReSTAMPED and brought to life with street art, live music, pop up cafes, fun activities and market stalls from 3 pm to 9 pm.

On Friday night we attended Emerge at the Bundaberg Regional Art Gallery. The event featured work from budding artists in grades 10, 11 and 12 from eight local high schools. Over 200 visitors attended opening night. The exhibition was a thought-provoking experience that demonstrated the high degree of artistic talent that we have in our local schools and highlighted the social and political issues of concern to Hinkler youth. A brilliant rendition of Erlkonig by Shalom students kicked off the Western Drought Appeal fundraiser at the Holy Rosary Catholic Church. Speaking of drought, I would like to congratulate Barbera Farms on donating 22 tonnes of surplus zucchinis and tomatoes to drought-feed cattle on stricken properties in western Queensland. I am sure more Hinkler farmers will follow their lead. Last but not least, the Ohana Winery and Exotic Fruits in Childers put on a great event on Sunday.

Finally, I would like to thank Darlene Dobson, one of my electorate officers. It is her birthday today. We could not do our job without her.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (15:46): It is always a great pleasure to follow my good friend the member for Charlton. He has actually added to my extensive education in this place. I did not know what a ‘quisling’ was; I had to look it up. Unfortunately my public school education did not extend to ‘quisling’ so I now have a better understanding of what he is talking about but it is a very small understanding, I must say.

I had to sit through the contribution from the member for Port Adelaide as everyone in the chamber did. He spoke about the Prime Minister paying a high price. Certainly under the Labor policy, the high price that will be paid will be by the people in my electorate in electricity prices because it will drive up electricity prices—there is no doubt about that at all. Labor’s policy will simply drive down jobs as it did previously. I was actually very surprised for him to bring up the smiling assassin, former Premier Peter Beattie, the former Labor premier in Queensland, who was very well known for the things he did in terms of stopping land clearing, particularly on regrowth—you could not clear regrowth or noxious weeds. As a result of that, we lost jobs in the timber industry in places like Eidsvold, Allies Creek and Mundubbera—all in the member for Flynn’s electorate. In Bundaberg, we had two sawmills which are now closed as a result of those policies. They were good hardworking people and I would suggest many of them were members of the AWU. So where were their unions then? They were nowhere to be seen. They were happy to see those people lose their jobs, and I think that was a terrible outcome for those people.

The member for Wills spoke about science based action. I think that was a great contribution actually. I would like to see everything based on science. I think that would be a good position for us to put forward. It is a shame the Labor Party does not agree, because one of their last actions before they went out of government was to close the entire Coral Sea to fishing, almost a million square kilometres, something the size of South Australia. Apparently you cannot fish there any more. It is far too hard. I am absolutely certain there was no science to back that up.

When members opposite talk about renewables needing support, well, that equals subsidise. They are asking for more taxpayers’ money to subsidise this method of generating electricity. If we speak about electricity generation, the most recent report from the national electricity market actually states that we do not need any more generating capacity for at least 10 years under any risk scenario whether it is low, moderate or high. We need no more generating capacity. But if we are to talk about improving emissions—this is an open debate and this should be debated—if we are to talk about zero emissions then we should talk about nuclear technology. If we look at things like the old mobile phone brick that you used to put in your car that cost $4,000 and compare it to a modern phone, technology has moved on. We need to at least look at nuclear as an option.

I would like to note Senator Sean Edwards from the other place and his most recent contribution he put forward in the public arena. He spoke about this modern technology and in particular PRISM reactors from GE. They are a building to burn previously used waste from other nuclear reactors. This is a real opportunity for South Australia as the good senator has put forward. It is capable of reusing spent uranium, as most of the old technology only uses around 96 per cent of the uranium. There is four per cent left which can be burned in modern nuclear reactors. There is more than 240,000 tonnes of spent uranium out in the world which could be used if we actually looked at the technology. What would that do? That would provide the ability for us to keep us keep jobs, jobs for members of the ETU, jobs for members of the metal workers union, jobs for members of the AWU, who are in existing power stations, who work predominantly in rural and regional Australia. The location of most of our power stations is close to a source of coal. You could replace the steam producing elements of those power stations with a nuclear reactor. There are options there and we should look at them. The South Australian royal commission is doing that right now as an option for South Australia. If we are to have an adult conversation in this place, we should consider nuclear energy. This should not be off the table simply because things have moved on. There are opportunities for us and this would certainly be an outcome for the environment because it would go to zero emissions—there are no emissions from nuclear technology—and certainly I think there is the capacity to do that.

Currently in Queensland, in my electorate, the price of electricity is unsustainable. We cannot continue to pay more for power. We have farmers right now in very dry conditions who simply cannot afford to pump. As a nation, we have invested billions of dollars in water infrastructure so that we can irrigate, so that we can have rural water use efficiency. All of those things have been thrown out the window so that we can change the method of generation for power. We now have the situation where we have farmers looking to pump water who cannot because they cannot afford to pay power and, if they do, they have to do it during the day when they have the least efficiency for the water that they are using. It is not a good position to be in.

My final message in the brief time I have left is to the children of this country and the people who might be listening: the east coast of the Australia is not going to fall into the sea. It is a terrible position for them at the moment because that is this exactly what they think will happen and we should stop promoting it.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (11:08): Early next week, two oral healthcare centres are scheduled to be officially opened by the Queensland Minister for Health in my electorate of Hinkler. Unfortunately, I cannot be there due to parliamentary sittings in Canberra. But I would like put on the record my thanks to the LNP MPs Steven Bennett and Ted Sorensen, the members for Burnett and Hervey Bay, for representing me at the opening of the oral care facilities, and for ensuring this funding was delivered to our region when they were in government.

A new two-storey building at the Bundaberg Base Hospital will accommodate oral health services on the ground floor and cancer care on level 1. The state government has provided $9.5 million for the oral health services. This will increase the number of dental chairs available in Bundaberg from six to 13. The facilities include nine technician workstations and significant sterilising departments to enable all reprocessing. I look forward to opening the cancer care facilities in the same building in the near future. The federal government has contributed $8.27 million to the cancer care services, which will provide an additional six chemotherapy chairs, bringing the total to 12. There are two dedicated isolation rooms, specialist consultation suites and clinical education and teaching facilities. A further $700,000 was allocated from the emergent works program for flood mitigation arising from the 2013 floods.

Adjacent to the Hervey Bay Hospital site, at the southern end of the electorate, a two-storey building will also accommodate oral services on the ground floor and cancer care on level 1. The state government has provided $8 million to double the number of dental chairs to 16, dramatically improving waiting times for patients on the Fraser Coast. The federal government has provided $9.29 million for cancer care in the same building at Hervey Bay to increase the number of chemotherapy chairs from nine to 14. The facilities also include two dedicated isolation rooms. I look forward to officially opening the Hervey Bay cancer unit. These new facilities will significantly improve wait times for patients. The expanded services will also create opportunities to partner with universities to offer student placements. But of course health services are not just bricks and mortar. It is not possible to provide quality health care without a mass of hardworking staff: doctors, nurses, allied health, admin, cleaners and, of course, maintenance. I would like to congratulate all those who work at the Wide Bay Hospital and Health Service and thank them for serving our communities.

As outlined in the 2015-16 federal budget, the coalition government has increased funding to Queensland hospitals by 27 per cent over the next four years. The federal government has provided $5.6 million to the new Bundaberg oncology centre, Oceania Oncology. We have provided $50,000 for patient accommodation at the Mater Misericordiae Hospital in Bundaberg and we have announced that a new headspace facility will be established in Bundaberg to help local youth who suffer from or are at risk of developing mental illness. This will complement the headspace centre at Hervey Bay. I note that the tenders were advertised recently for the headspace in Bundaberg. We have provided $47.1 million for St Stephen’s Hospital, the first fully digital hospital in Australia. We have also provided more than $88 million in recurrent funding to residential aged care and home care across the Hinkler electorate.

Last week I had the absolute pleasure of attending a dinner hosted by the Friendly Society Private Hospital and Bundaberg Cardiology and Medtronic. Local GPs, ambulance officers and other local health professionals gathered to hear four cardiologists talk about the services and facilities now available in Bundaberg and Hervey Bay. We heard about the latest diagnostic tools and equipment, the history of cardiology and its importance locally. Dr Andre Conradie, Dr Hermann Wittmer, Dr Ahmedullah Rehmani and Dr Paul Davison were all incredibly inspiring and gave me confidence that our region’s heart health is in very good hands. Later this month I will be attending the official opening of the UQ Health Sciences Learning and Discovery Centre in Bundaberg.

As you can see, Madam Speaker, there is a great deal happening in the health space in my electorate. I am passionate about ensuring that those in regional Australia can access quality health care. For people who are out there considering relocation and for those who think that the price of housing might be a little too high in the area they are in—I would encourage them to shift to my electorate. We have fantastic facilities. We have fantastic local health services and lots of wonderful doctors and nurses. We have the greatest seafood in Australia, right out of Hervey Bay. We have fantastic horticulture and great links for transport. We are upgrading the Bruce Highway—$6.7 billion in federal funding to make it faster, safer and less affected by flooding, which is of incredible importance if you live in a state like Queensland. Hopefully we will have a wet season in the west of Queensland this year, where it is absolutely desperately needed.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (11:16): I rise to speak on the Social Security Legislation Amendment (Further Strengthening Job Seeker Compliance) Bill 2015. This bill ensures that Australians who are looking for work and receiving financial assistance meet their mutual obligations to taxpayers. It is not unreasonable for taxpayers to expect that those they are assisting financially will do a few simple things to help themselves and to show their appreciation.

I know that many people in my electorate are doing it tough, but my belief is that you can achieve anything if you are willing to work for it, and work hard. From my personal experience, money was incredibly tight in my family as I grew up. Anything I wanted above the essentials, I had to pay for myself. There is only one way to find money to pay for essentials and other things, and that is to go to work. Both my parents worked incredibly hard, and they taught me that persistence and determination will always beat natural talent, because regardless of natural talent, if you do not turn your hand to what needs to be done, you will not be successful.

I note the contribution of my good friend and colleague the member for Mallee. He spoke about what happens when you stand around with your hands in your pockets. In my family, if you stood around with your hands in your pockets, you got a job. Consequently, my mother used to put me and my brothers outside to work. I think—and I did not realise this until much later in life—that may well have been to get us out of the way. However, it was a good upbringing and it certainly taught us a good work ethic.

At the age of 14 I got my first paid job. Work has been a part of my life for as long as I can remember. Basically, being without work meant no food—it was all fairly straightforward. My first paid job was filling bags with ice on a Thursday night for $4.00 an hour or 10c a bag, whichever was less. Consequently, I learnt very quickly what it is that you should be doing when you go to work. I might not have been the best at everything I did, but I was reliable and I kept turning up. To the people in my electorate and to the youth that might be listening to this speech, my advice to you is this: keep showing up, listen, work hard and take advice, certainly do not let things get you down, and be determined.

After graduating from public high school at Kepnock State High, I got my first full-time job as an electrical apprentice at the Fairymead Sugar Mill, which unfortunately is now defunct and has been demolished. I saved enough money from that job to move to Brisbane and go to university. I put myself through a four-year degree in engineering at QUT. So it has been a very long and tortuous path to come to this place. Before being elected to represent the great electorate of Hinkler—from Bundy to the Bay and the Bush—I ran my own consulting business, a retail arm and a few other bits and pieces, as well as acquiring some farming operations consecutively, which certainly taught me the value of hard work and, of course, how to pay people’s wages.

I would say to the people in my electorate this: if a Woongarra farm boy like me can get into this place, into the cold rooms in Canberra, then anyone in my electorate can achieve anything if they are willing to do the work. Once again, my advice to them is this: take what job is in front of you, because if you wait for perfect you will wait forever. However, I recognise there are currently several challenges to gaining employment in the Hinkler region, including a lack of job vacancies. Unemployment in my electorate is unacceptably high.

The coalition government has introduced a range of measures to support job seekers and encourage businesses to employ. I will come back to that. Firstly I would like to speak a little more specifically about the measures in this bill. This bill builds on the measures we introduced last year to apply a no-show no-pay rule to attendance at appointments and the payment of welfare. Before we introduced the changes, only 65 per cent of job seekers who missed an initial appointment actually turned up for their second rescheduled appointment. By comparison, in June 2015 over 90 per cent of job seekers are now attending their rescheduled appointments. Between September 2014 and March 2015, the average payment suspension period fell from 5.2 to 3.1 business days. That is quite an achievement. It means more job seekers are doing the right thing and taking advantage of the help that is on offer, which is substantial. It also saves jobactive organisations and other agencies time and money. They can spend more time helping people find work and less time pursuing job seekers and reporting noncompliance. The no-pay rule will be extended to other mutual obligation requirements, such as entering into a job plan. Job plans list the activities that a job seeker must do in return for their income support, such as looking for work and participating in activities like Work for the Dole.

I make the point that job plans take into account personal circumstances, which may impact a person’s ability to comply with the requirements. Unfortunately, some job seekers are refusing to enter into job plans—can you believe that? They are, in effect, saying, ‘I would like the taxpayer’s money, but do not expect anything from me in return.’ I would like to see them try that with an employer.

I would like to talk briefly about one of my former employers at the Moreton mill, a chief engineer by the name of Graham ‘Sharky’ Williams. Graham was an incredible personnel manager who held a lot of respect from everybody that worked there. Every time we hired an apprentice, he opened with the same line: after he introduced himself, he would ask the apprentice if they knew what size shoe he wore. At that stage the poor apprentice, on their first day of work, was nervous and did not know quite what to say, and the boss told him it was a size 10 and if they played up they would find out what he would do with it. It is all figurative, but he got the best out of the people who worked at the plant simply because he encouraged them to persist and to keep showing up.

Under this bill, payment will be suspended until the job seeker accepts the job plan. There are safeguards in the system so that those with a reasonable and genuine excuse for noncompliance will not be penalised. Unfortunately, some job seekers are treating their meetings with jobactive and Work for the Dole with contempt by not behaving appropriately. If a job seeker does not behave appropriately at an appointment, payment may be suspended until the job seeker attends a new appointment and does behave appropriately. In the past, it has taken up to five weeks for a financial penalty to be applied. This is too long, and makes the penalty less effective. Under this bill, those who do the wrong thing will have their penalties deducted from their next fortnightly payment. Job seekers who do not undertake adequate job search efforts without good reason will have their payments immediately suspended until they demonstrate adequate job search efforts.

Australia’s income support system is there as a safety net for those people who genuinely cannot find work—we have one of the best social security systems in the world—as opposed to supporting those who simply do not want to go to work. That is why we have introduced measures to ensure job seekers accept the offer of a suitable job when it is made—not jobs that are beyond their skill set but jobs they are capable of doing. An eight-week nonpayment penalty can now be applied to job seekers who refuse work without good reason or fail to start a job as planned. I have had many jobs that I did not like every part of. In fact, I do not recall ever holding a job where I liked everything 100 per cent. But that is the reality of working life. All of these changes are important in helping maintain public confidence and trust in our social security system.

Earlier I mentioned that we had introduced a range of measures to support job seekers and make them stand out in what is a highly competitive jobs market. Through Work for the Dole, the National Work Experience Program and the Green Army, job seekers are learning important skills while contributing to their communities. Young people can also gain new skills through the reinstated Australian Defence Force gap year. The 2015 budget included $330 million for a youth employment strategy to help young people transition from school to work. Young job seekers who find a job and stay off welfare for 12 months will receive a job commitment bonus of $2,500, and a further $4,000 at 24 months. These are substantial incentives. We are providing concessional trade support loans of up to $20,000 and spending $200 million each year to lift apprenticeship completion rates. We are also providing up to $9,000 to help people relocate to take up a job.

Giving genuine job seekers the hand up they deserve is just one piece of the puzzle. We are also taking steps to give businesses the confidence they need to expand, because ultimately it is businesses that create jobs and employ. Businesses that employ young or mature age job seekers can access wage subsidies of up to $10,000. We have reduced the company tax rate to its lowest level in 50 years and are allowing small businesses to claim an immediate tax deduction for each asset they purchase up to $20,000. There are a range of grants to assist businesses to innovate, conduct industry research and expand into new export markets. Off the back of the free trade agreements we have signed, I am sure businesses will be successful. There is the New Enterprise Incentive Scheme for job seekers who have an idea for a new business but need some advice to get it off the ground. As you can see, the coalition government is doing everything it can to ensure our social security system is robust and fair, and to help people into work.

I will continue to work hard to attract the investment into Hinkler that we desperately need—things like the Knauf manufacturing plant, and our proposal for a dive wreck of Hervey Bay, with HMAS Tobruk, which could potentially add $5 million to our local economy. But I cannot do it alone. We all have a role to play in creating local jobs for current and future generations. There are two simple things people in my community can do to boost our local economy—they can shop locally and buy from our local businesses, and they can tell everyone just how good our region is. You should never talk down your local region—our regions are the best thing we have going for us. Going to work is not only good for the individual and their family. When the local employment rate is high, the entire community benefits. There is nothing more substantial for a person than to be able to find their own way through life and to pay their own way. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (16:10): As this debate comes to its conclusion, I get the job of summing up. The positive about that is that we have no more contributions from those opposite that we have to sit through, which is very fortunate. The Assistant Minister for Science was right. We are investing $9.7 billion in science, research and innovation in the 2015-16 budget. That is $9,700 million. That is an enormous amount of taxpayers’ money. We are providing record funding to the CSIRO over four years—$3.1 billion—and it is going up every year; it is not going down. That is a very simple economic fact. It is increasing. We are putting money into things like the $395 million Entrepreneurs’ Program. There are things within the department of industry. We are helping local businesses to employ more people and expand.

We can look at what those on the other side of the House did when they were in government. We are fairly certain of that. When in government, they cut $82.9 million from the CSIRO in 2011-12 to 2016-17. They did not put it up; they cut $82.9 million from the CSIRO. There is not only that. In 2008, they took out another $63.4 million. That is a substantial amount of money and yet they are here telling us that our increases are not good enough. What did the CSIRO say about that? The CEO at that time said:

We are seriously disappointed, but that is their call and we disagree with it.

As they say, that is an understatement. What else did they cut? They cut $40.5 million from the Cooperative Research Centres in the 2011-12 budget, and what happened as a result? Three agricultural CRCs were abolished—gone. We hear a lot about these people with country Labor and the wonderful thing with a hashtag in front of it.

I am very pleased that the shadow minister for agriculture is here, because the people in the bush know exactly what happens when Labor are in government. They destroy the bush; they cut things like the agricultural CRC; they closed the live cattle trade overnight; and they cut thousands of jobs for people who are truck drivers, people who are musterers and people who provide services. Within 24 hours—overnight—and no notice, they shut them down and cost this country and the people who live in the bush millions of dollars. It is absolutely shameful.

There was the contribution from the member for Greenway. She talked about a big game and this side of the parliament being all talk. On this side, the things that we have include vision. We have vision, we know how to plan, we know how to implement and we know how to build structures that help business. It is not government that employs. Regardless of how much money we might have, the government cannot employ every Australian. It simply will not work. You need to have structures for them to be successful and you need to take action. We need to get it done. I will talk about that very soon—exactly what we are doing on the ground, in my seat, in the electorate of Hinkler.

On the other side, what do they have? They have a giant stack of drink coasters. Every now and again, they might come up with an idea and they will write it down with a pen and then spend thousands or billions of dollars of taxpayers’ money. The member for Chifley asked rightly: what innovation do we have in Hinkler? I am quite happy to answer the member for Chifley. We have any number of people who have been incredibly innovative. We can look at Sweet Sensations Farm and Mr Craig Van Rooyen. He is using drone technology as a nonlethal method to combat flying foxes. Flying foxes and drones, would you believe, in Bundaberg, in my seat. Run4 owner, Dr Henry Thomas, has built a biotic runner to try to help people who possibly cannot run because of the impacts of running on the road. We have Bundaberg Walkers Engineering—someone who has been there for 125 years—innovating in not only the sugar industry but heavy manufacturing. They are a foundry. They perform activities all over the world. They are using 3-D spatial technology right now to map overseas infrastructure to try to make them more competitive with international companies.

Jack Milbank, a 2006 Nuffield scholar, with a Bachelor of Applied Science, is the CEO of three Bundaberg based businesses, including the Bargara Brewing Company. This is a gentleman who had been importing yeast from overseas and decided he did not want to import from overseas any more. ‘How do I get yeast? Well, I brew beer.’ At the recent science forum he really encouraged lots of students to take up STEM—science, technology, engineering and maths—because STEM leads to beer. That was his line: STEM leads to beer! What a fantastic innovation for my electorate. Bargara Brewing Company, right there in Bundaberg, making their own product. This is the sort of thing we need.

Best Practice Software—Lorraine Pyefinch—is one of the largest providers in the country of software for medical people, for GPs, and it is based out of Bundaberg. So we have things on the ground. We are taking action and we are getting it done.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: The time for the discussion has concluded.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (14:51): My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. Will the minister update the House on the progress of the government‘s key infrastructure projects, and what is this government doing to ensure they are delivered?

Mr TRUSS (Wide Bay—Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development) (14:52): I thank the honourable member for Hinkler for his question. The member will be well aware that this federal coalition government is making a record $50 billion investment in infrastructure across Australia. That means that there are key projects underway right now which otherwise would not have happened. I guess the member would be particularly interested in one of those significant projects, which is our commitment to upgrade the Bruce Highway, which connects his electorate to the north and to the south. It is one of the most dangerous roads in the country, and we have made a $6.7 billion commitment to reduce congestion, improve flood immunity and deliver safety benefits for both freight and communities. There are at least 60 projects on this program.

Honourable members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The Minister for the Environment and the member for Grayndler will cease interjecting.

Mr TRUSS: Just last week, the Leader of the Opposition announced his 10 projects that he was going to fund around the country. He mentioned the Bruce Highway, but what he must have forgotten was that, when they were in government, they actually tried to slow down the progress of upgrading the Bruce Highway. They demanded that the states, instead of paying 20 per cent of the cost, would have to pay 50 per cent of the cost. As a result, projects simply would not have happened. And, at the last election, their commitment to the Bruce Highway was $2 billion less than what the coalition had promised.

So here is, on the one hand, the Leader of the Opposition saying he is going to speed it up; but, when they were in government, they slowed it down. There are at least 30 projects on our list to build and to undertake on the Bruce Highway that were not on the opposition’s list, and they clearly are not there now, because they did not provide the funds that are necessary to deliver them.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Grayndler will cease interjecting.

Mr TRUSS: Indeed, we have just called the tenders for Cooroy to Curra stage C, and Labor had provided no money for that project in their 10-year plan.

Honourable members interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Grayndler and the Leader of the House will cease interjecting.

Mr TRUSS: When you look around at the Leader of the Opposition’s 10 projects that were on the list, it just draws to attention the projects that are not on the list. For instance, the Toowoomba Second Range Crossing, the biggest project in regional Australia, is not on Labor’s list—it is just not there. The north-south corridor in Adelaide, South Australia’s biggest ever project, is not on the list. And what about the WestConnex and NorthConnex projects, let alone the Perth Freight Link? None of those are on Labor’s list. What about the inland rail? The Melbourne to Brisbane railway line is not on Labor’s list.

The clear reality is that, if the Labor were ever elected to office, projects would be stopped right across the country—because they are not about building infrastructure; they are about stopping infrastructure. (Time expired)

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (14:38): My question is to the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the minister update the House on how the Trans-Pacific Partnership Agreement will help Australian farmers and exporters capitalise on the opportunities created by the coalition government’s free trade agreements with Korea, Japan and China?

Ms Rishworth interjecting—

The SPEAKER: The member for Kingston will cease interjecting!

Mr JOYCE (New England—Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) (14:39): I thank the honourable member for his question. A person who has grown up around Bundaberg, who went to Kepnock State High School, whose family has cane farms in the areas, as one person who absolutely has an interest in this TPP going through—it is an area where, no matter where you go in the Hinkler area, there are benefits to this.

We have seen, through this agreement, people such as Craig Van Rooyen of Sweet Sensations Farm, at Bundaberg, state that he is very excited about the TPP and the opportunities it will bring for his business. He is also doing some very interesting work on non-lethal pest management. Bundaberg Brewed Drinks are currently going through issues about how they can be benefactors of the TPP after being substantial benefactors of the China free trade agreement.

We have seen, also, new markets, because the deal that this government has done means that people in the fishing industry around Hervey Bay have new markets that they will see in Canada, Peru and Mexico and this brings about great opportunities for expansion. In horticulture, in heavy vegetables, such as pumpkins, and a whole range of horticultural produce in that area, we will see all tariffs to Canada eliminated on entry into the TPP. Pork tariffs into Mexico will be eliminated on entry, and to Malaysia, over 15 years and with pork being the most consumed meat in the world this is incredibly important for Australia and for all over. For wine there is elimination of all tariffs into Canada. This market is worth $174 million to us, so it is a great new expansion of that market. There is elimination over 11 years of tariffs into Vietnam. There is elimination of tariffs of quality wine into Malaysia over three years and bulk wine over 10 years.

Everything this government is doing is working to a vision, a plan, and then delivering. We have a vision for a greater return through the farm gate. We have a plan by all the free trade agreements and new live-animal destinations and all the work that we are doing to make sure that happens, and by the white paper to make sure that people reinvest back on their farms. We are delivering on it. We are delivering on the free trade agreements. We are delivering on the white paper. We are making sure that people on the land are better off because of this government.

The opposition have been asking questions about revenue, and the answer is quite obvious: to get better revenue you have to earn it. You have to go forward and find new markets. And who is the greatest obstacle to us in getting better revenue in this country? Where does the greatest obstacle lie? Straight opposite us. The Chinese free trade agreement, they do not believe in it. They do not believe in the solution to their own problems.

Mr PITT (Hinkler) (21:05): Last week, the state member for Burnett, Stephen Bennett, and I called on the Queensland Labor government to follow Indonesia’s lead—Indonesia, would you believe!—and cut power prices for farmers and businesses. As a former electrical engineer and farmer, electricity pricing is an issue I am particularly passionate about.

The median personal income in my electorate of Hinkler is just $411 a week—just $411. A substantial number of pensioners call Hinkler home, and we have one of the highest unemployment rates in the country. Unfortunately, many of Hinkler’s major employers are making workforce decisions based on the cost of energy. Local foundries, farmers and manufacturers all say their overheads are rising at an unsustainable rate. It is no coincidence that in 2013-14 the number of households in regional Queensland disconnected for debt or non-payment rose 87 per cent to 12,454. Ergon and Energex recently released their yearly profits, showing a $3.5 billion dividend going straight to the state Labor government—$3½ billion! I just want to emphasise that point: while 12,500 Queenslanders were disconnected because they could not afford to pay their bills, the state government is making billions.

At the 2015-16 state budget, we saw the Queensland Labor government transferring debt to the government owned corporations rather than prudently managing their own budgets. The lack of market competition in regional Queensland will only worsen if the Queensland Labor government proceeds with its plan to merge the state owned corporations Ergon, Energex and Powerlink. The merger, combined with already high electricity prices, falling energy consumption and the renewable energy target will result in substantial job losses in the energy sector.

We have heard a lot from the Electrical Trades Union during the January 2015 state election, in Queensland, but where are they now? They are certainly not out there actively fighting for their members’ jobs. Where is the ETU?

The Australian Energy Regulator has moved to restrict Ergon Energy’s proposed revenue by 27 per cent over the next five years to try to save consumers some money, but, instead of reducing energy prices across the board, the state Labor government is challenging the AER’s determination and is using Queenslanders as their personal cash cows. I acknowledge that some of the profits go towards ensuring those in the bush pay the same price as those in the city through a uniform tariff policy, but that is not the main issue here. The fact is that Labor has indicated it will use $3½ billion to pay down its own debt. So Queenslanders are paying for their financial incompetence. I would be willing to bet that the next Labor state budget will not show any reduction in debt, because they will do what not only state Labor governments but federal Labor governments do best: spend, spend, spend.

A 93 per cent increase in electricity prices for irrigators in six years, as reported by the Bundaberg News-Mail, is completely unacceptable. If things continue the way they are, before too long Australians will be buying all their food from overseas. The Australian newspaper reported last week that the Indonesian government will cut energy prices for companies by reducing their own revenue, to stimulate the economy and create jobs. There is absolutely no reason the Queensland state Labor government cannot do the same thing. Hinkler residents concerned about electricity prices or any other state issues should go along to Labor’s community cabinet meeting in Bundaberg on 18 and 19 October and make their views known. Farmers, businesses and households in my electorate are hurting and they need cost-of-living relief now.

The issue for the electricity industry is difficult. The situation is like this: it is very similar to someone saying to you, as a family, as an owner of a car, that you need to buy a new car to fix the emissions from your old car. At the same time, you need to keep your old car, you need to maintain it, you need to pay for fuel, you need to pay insurance, you need to pay registration, you need to put tyres on it and you need to keep it ready and operational, because your new car, which has great emissions technology fitted, simply does not work all the time. It only works when the wind blows or the sun shines. That is the challenge for the electricity industry. You cannot have a factory which produces widgets at a particular rate and then hope to keep that on the sidelines and only turn it on when you think you require it, at peak periods. It will cost more money. It is very straightforward. It is economics 101. If we do not address this, there will be substantial job losses—further job losses—in Queensland. We already have a disastrous situation with what has happened in the mining industry. We cannot afford to lose our agriculture producers and, in particular, the sugar industry, which employs tens of thousands of Queenslanders across the Queensland coast. We must fix electricity pricing, we must fix it now, and we need to act.