16 News

The Morrison Government has today pledged to create 450,000 more jobs in regional Australia over the next five years as part of our plan for a strong economy and a stronger future.

This commitment to regional Australia is part of our pledge to create 1.3 million more jobs over the next five years, with more than one in three of those jobs to be in the regions, and is supported by our plan to build Australia and strengthen our regions.

The Prime Minister said boosting job creation in the regions was part of the Coalition’s plan for a stronger economy.

“Only the Coalition has a plan for 450,000 new jobs in the regions and runs on the board to deliver them,” the Prime Minister said.

“Since we were elected, we have created over 1.9 million new jobs, and our unemployment rate is down to four per cent, the equal lowest level in 48 years, and forecast to fall further.

“Regional Australia can trust the Coalition to deliver on an economic plan for the regions because creating opportunities – city and country – is part of our DNA.

“We understand that regional Australia is the lifeblood of our country – it’s home to one in three Australians, accounts for almost a third of our national economy and a similar share of small businesses.

“Our economic plan is backing our regions to grow even more, and create hundreds of thousands of jobs, with more than $21 billion in the budget being invested into developing Australia’s regions.

“This includes job-creating investments including $7.1 billion for our Energy Security Regional Development Plan, $2 billion for our Regional Accelerator Program to drive growth and productivity in regional areas, and $1.3 billion for regional telecommunications.”

Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce said Australia’s regions are the economic powerhouse of the nation.

“The Coalition Government’s Energy Security and Regional Development plan will boost regional income and create jobs for years to come,” the Deputy Prime Minister said.

“This is on top of the substantial investments already in place to make our regions an even better place to live and work.

“Our regions are the powerhouse of our economy, the source of around two thirds of our export income, and the reason we can pay for so much of our health care, education, roads, rail and more. This is why we must invest in them.”

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg said the unemployment rate in regional Australia had declined from 5.7 per cent under the Labor Government in September 2013, to around four per cent under the Coalition Government today.

“Anthony Albanese and Labor have no plan for regional Australia or for regional jobs. All they have is a track record of increasing unemployment in regional Australia,” the Treasurer said.

“Despite fires, floods, a pandemic, a global recession, economic coercion from China and now a war in Europe, there are almost 50,000 fewer unemployed people in regional Australia than when the Coalition came to office.”

Minister McKenzie said the Government’s targeted investment in regional Australia would secure investment in new and existing industries, driving economic growth and job creation.

“The Regional Accelerator Program will supercharge job creation in the regions by driving economic diversification with the creation of new industries and growth of existing industries in regional centres,” Minister McKenzie said.

“Our record investment in the regions will grow regional economies, unlock the growth potential for our regions and enable people living in our regions to get the job they want.”

Minister for Employment, Workforce, Skills, Small and Family Business Stuart Robert said the jobs growth would span generations.

“Under the Morrison Government’s economic plan we will boost regional apprentices by providing an additional five per cent wage subsidy in the first year of a regional apprentice over and above that for the rest of the country,” Minister Robert said.

“We will also provide $22.6 million for more than 29,000 additional in-training support places to ensure regional apprentices have the support they need.”

More than three million Australians living in poverty desperately need additional support to survive as surging inflation puts household necessities out of reach, according to the St Vincent de Paul Society.

Consumer Price Index (CPI) data released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics reveals inflation rose 2.1 per cent in the March quarter, up 5.1 per cent over the past year. As the ABS states, these are the largest quarterly and annual rises since the introduction of the GST.

St Vincent de Paul National President Claire Victory said ballooning household costs come during an election in which the most vulnerable people in the community have largely been forgotten.

‘This neglect was shown by the brutal decision of both major parties to leave JobSeeker at $46 a day, which holds recipients well beneath the poverty line and exposed to rising cost of living pressures.

‘Expecting people to survive on $46 a day is cruel. It demonstrates a lack of understanding, or care, for people doing it tough and the growing challenge of making ends meet as prices for basic goods surge.

‘Whichever party wins government next month will be forced to urgently address this issue unless they want to preside over a ballooning poverty crisis,’ Ms Victory said.

Ms Victory said caution from both parties about increasing the national debt was understandable, which is why the St Vincent de Paul Society had commissioned modelling to demonstrate budget-neutral options available to fund changes that would release Australians from poverty en masse.

‘Our research shows Australia can easily fund a significant boost to JobSeeker, alongside an increase in Commonwealth Rent Assistance, by making simple and affordable changes to our tax and welfare system. The only problem is we lack political leaders with the courage to countenance such a plan,’ Ms Victory said.

‘Our modelling shows you could release over a million Australians from poverty through minor changes to capital gains tax and superannuation tax that would only marginally affect the very highest income-earners. Australia contains both incredible wealth and heartbreaking poverty. Our incapacity to fix one with the other is a failure of politics, not a budgetary restraint,’ Ms Victory said.

The St Vincent de Paul Society’s Federal Election statement includes a suite of practical and compassionate policies to create A Fairer Australia.

https://www.vinnies.org.au/page/News/National_Media_Releases/National_media_releases_2022/A_Fairer_Australia–federal_election_statement_2022/

With joint state and federal funding set to run out in June, the Greens have pledged $30 million to extend the Yellow Crazy Ant Eradication Program and fund a coordinated eradication program in Townsville, protecting North Queensland’s ecological health and tourism industry from one of the world’s most invasive species.

The Greens will provide:

• $20 million to the Wet Tropics Management Authority to continue its Yellow Crazy Ant Eradication Program for five more years, including intensive monitoring to be confident of complete success
• $10 million to fund a coordinated Townsville eradication program.

Greens deputy leader and Queensland Senator Larissa Waters said:

“A responsible government would recognise that failing to invest in finishing the job threatens the eradication work done to date and puts the Wet Tropics tourism drawcard at risk. But the Morrison Government is more interested in space lasers and throwing billions at coal and gas multinationals.

“Eradicating Yellow Crazy Ants will help to protect biodiversity, strengthen agricultural productivity, improve the region’s resilience to other threats – particularly climate change –  and protect thousands of jobs.

“It should be a no-brainer, yet funding for the eradication program in the Wet Tropics runs out in barely two months. Meanwhile, there is almost no funding to manage the Townsville outbreak they’ve been warned of for years.

“Full eradication within the Wet Tropics must be the end goal, and is still possible with proper investment. That must be matched with a fully-funded eradication program in Townsville, built on the successful WTMA model. 

“The Greens will fund both programs for five years to get the job done, protecting nature, farmers and the tourism industry. We’re calling on the Federal and Queensland Governments to match our commitment so critical eradication gains made to date are not undone.”

The Greens have announced they will establish a new and fully-funded Australia Network, pushing Labor to go further in a minority government.

While responding to Labor’s announcement today of $8m to the ABC to deliver Australian content to Pacific nations, Greens Spokesperson for Communications and Media, Senator Sarah Hanson-Young:

“What we need is a new Australia Network, fully funded, engaged, and with a purpose of connecting us as a nation to our neighbours and our region.

 “The Liberals under former PM Tony Abbott, destroyed The Australia Network and with it, soft diplomacy in the Pacific. They were warned the real cost of this budget cut would be much higher and now we are seeing that play out with the relationship between the Solomons and China. 

 “Instead of broadcasting current affairs and quality Australian content, the Morrison government has been paying for “Married at First Sight” to be broadcast into the Pacific.

 “Labor’s commitment is welcome, but it’s tiny, modest at best, and far more is needed. We need a publicly funded Australia Network, managed by the ABC and funded properly to do the job.

“The Greens have pledged that in the balance of power, we will push Labor to restore the funding cut by the Abbott Government in its entirety. This means that at a minimum, $22m per annum should be restored to deliver the services properly.

“Today we are talking about the Solomons and the Pacific, but The Australia Network reached 46 countries across Asia, the Pacific and the Indian sub-continent, so where will the Morrison Government have failed in their diplomatic efforts next?

“We are seeing the consequences of the Liberal Party’s attacks on the ABC play out in real-time on a national security level. 

“While China was courting the Solomons, shows like Married at First Sight were airing on televisions in the Pacific. 

“If these trashy so-called reality tv shows are how we show Australia to the world, it’s no wonder we have diplomatic issues.  

“We need quality news and Australian shows from our public broadcaster to be aired instead. 

 “The Greens have been fighting Abbott’s attacks on the ABC since 2014. We now have a real opportunity to kick the Libs out and push the new government to fully restore funding to our public broadcaster in the next parliament.”

An Albanese Labor Government will restore Australia’s place as the partner of choice for the countries in the Pacific.
 
Labor will secure our region and build a stronger Pacific family, to help face our shared challenges and achieve our shared goals.
 
Scott Morrison has dropped the ball in the Pacific, and as a result Australia is less secure.
 
The vacuum Scott Morrison has created is being filled by others – who do not share our interests and values.
 
Our plan brings together Australia’s defence, strategic, diplomatic and economic power to reassure the region that they can rely on Australia.
 
By combining effective climate leadership, vital development assistance and improvements to Pacific worker programs – along with defence and security cooperation and enhanced diplomatic capability, we will leverage Australia’s strengths to secure our region.
 
An Albanese Labor Government will:

• Establish a new Australia-Pacific Defence School to provide training for members of defence and security forces from Pacific Island nations, ensuring Australia’s defence engagement in the region delivers practical support for the region’s needs and builds deeper institutional links between the ADF and its regional counterparts. The new Australia Pacific Defence School will be funded at $6.5 million over four years through existing Defence resources. 
• Double Australia’s funding for the Pacific Maritime Security Program which provides aerial surveillance of Pacific Island countries’ enormous exclusive economic zones, helping Pacific governments to recoup some of the US$150 million a year in revenues which are estimated to be lost due to illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing. Labor will step up Australia’s support for aerial surveillance activities as part of the Pacific Maritime Security Program (PMSP) by increasing funding by $12 million a year from 2024-25. 
• Deliver an Indo-Pacific Broadcasting Strategy that boosts Australian public and commercial media content to audiences in our region, increases training for Pacific journalists and enhances partnerships with broadcasters in our region. We will increase funding to ABC International by $8 million a year over the forward estimates to expand ABC transmission and deliver Australian television, radio and online media content to more audiences in the Pacific, as well as Southeast Asia and South Asia. 
• Boost Australian Official Development Assistance for Pacific countries and Timor-Leste by $525 million over the next four years, to help address the decade’s worth of development gains that have been lost due to the pandemic. This will include $5 million for the National Critical Care and Trauma Response Centre, to strengthen regional health preparedness in the Pacific and Timor-Leste. 
• Restore Australia’s climate leadership, and listen and act on Pacific Island warnings of the existential threat of climate change. We will establish a Pacific Climate Infrastructure Financing Partnership to support climate and clean energy infrastructure projects in Pacific countries, in addition to our bid to co-host a future UN Climate Change Conference of the Parties in Australia with our Pacific partners. 
• Reinstate regular bipartisan Parliamentary Pacific visits to demonstrate to the Pacific family that stronger Pacific partnerships are in Australia’s national interest. Bipartisan visits were undertaken under Malcolm Turnbull and Julie Bishop, but have been abandoned by Scott Morrison and Marise Payne. 
• Address Pacific economic challenges and ease Australia’s agricultural worker shortages by reforming the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) Scheme’s Seasonal Worker Program (SWP) and expanding the PALM Pacific Labour Scheme (PLS). 
  • We will ensure the Federal Government meets upfront travel costs for Pacific workers under the Seasonal Worker Program – costs which currently have to be met by Australian farmers. This will increase the attractiveness of the Seasonal Worker Program for Australian farmers. 
  • We will make it easier for Pacific workers to fill labour shortages in Australia under the Pacific Labour Scheme by allowing participants to bring family members to live and work in Australia. 
  • We will establish a dedicated Agriculture visa stream under the PALM, creating a robust and sustainable four-year visa, with portability, strong oversight mechanisms, and protections and rights for workers. These protections will be consistent with the protections under the PALM-PLS and PALM-SWP.
• Boost our people to people links across the Pacific family by encouraging more Pacific permanent migration to Australia through a new Pacific Engagement Visa, modelled on New Zealand’s Pacific Access Resident visa.

Rather than just talking tough with no follow through, Labor will provide practical support for our neighbours to improve their security and protect their economies.
 
Nothing is more central to the security and economies of the Pacific than climate change. As Pacific leaders themselves put it plainly in the first article of the 2018 Pacific Island Forum’s Boe Declaration on Regional Security:
 

We reaffirm that climate change remains the single greatest threat to the livelihoods, security and wellbeing of the peoples of the Pacific and our commitment to progress the implementation of the Paris Agreement.

But rather than help Pacific Island leaders, Morrison Government ministers have mocked their concerns.
 
It costs us little to tell a positive story about Australia in the region, but Scott Morrison has squandered Australia’s natural advantage of shared values with Pacific neighbours.
 
Labor will draw on the strength of who we are – a generous, respectful and reliable nation.
 
A country that many Pacific Islanders call home, and that will always step up in times of need.
 
A partner that will invest in the long-term stability and prosperity of our region.
 
A partner that will listen, and that will strengthen the Pacific family.