*Published in the West Australian, 27 October 2022
Western Australians know that if the bush is doing well, then, we are all doing well.
Literally and metaphorically, it is the hand that feeds us. Best not to bite it. It’s a lesson that the Albanese Government should learn.
Just look at the winners and losers from this week’s federal budget and it paints a clear picture as to who Labor are choosing to prioritise.
Between abolishing the Building Better Regions Fund (BBRF), committing to reducing methane emissions by 30 percent by 2030, cutting $100 million from the Critical Minerals Accelerator Program, scrapping agricultural visas, and announcing a potentially irrelevant investment in childcare, Labor have spent their first months in office putting regional and remote Western Australia last.
At a time of such financial uncertainty, it is difficult to understand why Labor are risking our chances of an economic comeback by disadvantaging the very regions that have kept our economy stable, especially during the unstable pandemic period.
It’s no secret that iron ore royalties in Western Australia not only delivered the McGowan Government a budget surplus of over $5 billion and the flow on effects also helped prop up the entire Australian economy.
And how does Anthony Albanese reward the families and communities that kept those mining operations ticking over? By doing away with one of the most significant funding programs supporting the economic recovery of regional and remote communities.
As the Member for Durack, I could not be prouder of the close to 60 planned, underway, and completed projects delivered through the BBRF. Projects such as the Geraldton Regional Airport upgrade and delivering the Pilbara Regional Class IV Waste Management Facility in Onslow.
These are crucial infrastructure upgrades that are making a tangible difference to the lives of families living in regional and remote Western Australia. The arts, emergency services, waste management, infrastructure upgrades, tourism, indigenous organisations, and sporting clubs are all sectors that have benefitted from the BBRF. Lives and communities have been changed for the better.
Labor had an opportunity to continue building on the successes implemented by the Coalition, instead they have turned their back on the bush.
Community groups and local Shires in my electorate of Durack are now asking me the simple question: Why are we being punished, when we have done nothing wrong?
Zac Slaughter from the Volunteer Marine Rescue Service (VMRS) in Port Hedland has told me how their organisation spent hundreds of hours in the past year preparing their application for the BBRF.
Zac said, “We have spent money that we didn’t have, undertaking quotes, studies, cost benefit analysis and much more. It has been a lengthy process and we were hopeful for the outcome. We now must face the risks associated with the VMRS not getting a grant to fund the replacement of the 117-year-old dilapidated facility here in Port Hedland, in fact the VMR may have to close its doors. This puts the lives of all our seafarers at risk.”
Shires across regional WA have spent considerable amounts of money preparing for their grant applications and some have even hired extra staff to help complete the application process. Now Labor is rejecting the 815 regional community organisations across Australia telling them to return to the drawing board and start again. This is simply unacceptable. Their applications should have been honoured.
Rhetoric from the Labor Government that BBRF was a pork barrelling exercise is simply unfair and untrue. It is common sense that a majority of Coalition seats would receive funding through the BBRF considering most regional areas are held by Liberal or National members.
Labor’s budget also revealed the decision to cut $100 million from the Critical Minerals Accelerator Program, formerly known as the Critical Minerals Accelerator Initiative.
It was under the Coalition Government that a $1.25 billion loan was provided to the Australian company Iluka Resources in my electorate of Durack to develop Australia’s first integrated rare earths refinery in Western Australia.
We understood the positive impact a strong critical minerals industry can have, not only to our nation’s economic output and for local communities and their workforces, but they are also essential in our mission to reduce emissions and reach net zero. I thought that was what Labor wanted?
Earlier this month, Minister Bowen said that Australia would need to install more than 22,000 solar panels every day and 40 7MW wind turbines every month for 8 years to meet the government’s target of 82% renewables in the electrical grid by 2030. Yet here they are cutting investment in the very sector that could help us manufacture the technology domestically.
It is this kind of contradictory action that is cementing fears that this Labor Government will be all spin and no action.
And where do they expect the 60 million solar panels and close to 4,000 wind turbines to be installed? It sure won’t be the Cottesloe foreshore. Once again it will be the bush that will have to deal with the potential environmental impact on our coastline – not forgetting the eyesore - and loss of critical pastoral and farm land as a consequence of this rushed policy.
We need to ensure our critical minerals industry has the backing of government, so they have the confidence in pushing forward with new investments and research. Instead, the Albanese Government is sending the opposite message: You are low on the pecking order.
As for Labor’s flagship childcare policy? Over $4.5 billion committed and not a single cent spent on addressing workforce shortages, increasing wages, or creating additional places or services.
Here in the bush, and equally so in the city, there are issues that Labor’s policy will not address that could render the legislation irrelevant. They either don’t know about these issues or simply don’t care.
I have been very vocal in recent months about the housing crisis plaguing regional and remote Western Australia and the McGowan Government’s inaction and lack of urgency.
This crisis is prohibiting regional and remote communities from securing workers to provide services such as education and childcare. It does not matter how cheap childcare is. Cost is irrelevant if there is no place for your child.
As outlined in a report delivered by One Tree Community Services in April this year, there are currently 208 childcare places that One Tree cannot utilise in the Pilbara due to a lack of staff. Other providers in the Pilbara have also commented that a lack of staff has meant they are unable to fill all available places.
According to the One Tree report, there is a waitlist of 1,139 children wanting placements in the Pilbara alone.
We need new facilities and programs in our regional and remote communities to help meet the workforce shortage in other critical sectors, such as education, health, and policing.
Labor have had 9 years to learn from the Coalition on how to deliver a strong budget for regional families and communities. At a time when the cost of living is going up and financial headwinds are ruining economies across the world it has never been more important to ensure rural, regional, and remote Western Australia has the backing of the Federal Government so it can continue delivering for the country.