Mr REPACHOLI (Hunter) (16:13)

For too long, regional Australia was treated like an afterthought, a place the previous coalition only remembered when they needed votes. For a decade, they promised the world but delivered nothing but empty press conferences and broken roads. They talked up big but, when it came to action, they couldn't build a Lego set let alone infrastructure for our communities in desperate need.

Under this government, we're getting things done for the Hunter and regional Australia. We believe your postcode shouldn't determine your future. Whether you live in Singleton, Muswellbrook, Toronto, Barnsley, Cessnock, West Wallsend or Kurri Kurri, you deserve more than just leftovers from a government that spent a decade fumbling regional development like a bad amateur football team.

For years, local communities begged for critical road projects. What did the coalition do? They ignored them, just like they ignored everything outside their Sydney and Melbourne bubble. Now, we're making up for lost time. We're actually building the Singleton Bypass—not just talking about it. We're building the Muswellbrook Bypass—a game-changer for the Upper Hunter. We're delivering the duplication of Mandalong Road so locals don't have to risk their lives dodging potholes bigger than their cars. We're repairing Coulsons Creek Road, which is something that the coalition and the member for New England couldn't even manage to do despite a decade of being in government, having photo ops and making empty promises. For too long, it's been us having to fix their roads.

Unlike the previous government, who treated sports funding like it was a raffle prize for their mates, we're actually delivering. We've given $52 million for the Hunter Sports Centre and millions in funding for grassroots sporting clubs, giving to local facilities so they don't look like they still belong in the 1950s. The coalition had 10 years to get these projects done. What did they do instead? They squandered their time, slashed funding and somehow made a bad situation even worse. We're cleaning up their mess.

The previous government butchered our healthcare system, slashing funding and leaving regional Australians with fewer doctors, longer wait times and a Medicare system on life support. We're fixing that. We've established Medicare urgent care clinics in Cessnock, Maitland, Charlestown and Lake Haven, because seeing a doctor shouldn't require a road trip. There are Medicare mental health clinics in Cessnock and Muswellbrook, because mental health shouldn't be an afterthought. We've delivered $7.9 billion in investment in bulk-billing so that people can see a doctor without selling a kidney to be able to afford it. That goes alongside the biggest cut to medicine prices in the history of the PBS. This is what real investment in health care looks like—no slogans, no fake funding announcements. Just results.

The previous government left regional students behind while pretending TAFE didn't even exist. We're changing that by delivering a regional university study hub in Currie so local students can get a quality education without moving halfway across the country. There are over 500,000 free TAFE places, including 7,000 in the Hunter, training the next generation of workers in construction, child care and essential trades and services. We made a $626.9 million investment in apprenticeships, including a $10,000 incentive payment for construction apprentices, because we actually care about building Australia's workforce and also our houses.
And let's talk about small business. The coalition love to call themselves the party of the small business until it comes to actually supporting them. Instead, they let costs skyrocket and shrugged their shoulders while business struggled. We're stepping in, providing $450 in energy bill relief for households and $475 for small business plus a $20 million investment to boost Australian-made products, because supporting local industries is more than just a talking point for us. We're investing in local manufacturing, steel production, battery technology and solar panel production because we actually believe in making things in Australia instead of a outsourcing things overseas.

We're not stopping there. We're giving $2.2 billion to strengthen regional communications, particularly in disaster prone areas, because reliable phone service shouldn't be a luxury. We have also given $3 billion in NBN upgrades, finally delivering high-speed internet to thousands of homes and businesses across the Hunter.

This government is doing what the previous one never could: delivering real outcomes of the Hunter. We're building the roads, hospitals and schools our region deserves. We're making health care more affordable, investing in jobs and ensuring our local businesses can actually compete. The coalition treated the Hunter like a second-class region, ignored our infrastructure needs and left families struggling with rising costs. We are fixing these failures. But the pork-barrelling has already begun from those opposite and will continue all throughout this, so I will continue to push hard to make sure Hunter gets its fair share. Under this government, that will never change, because commitment to regional Australia is more than just a slogan and an RM Williams puffer vest.