Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton spoke against the biosecurity protection levy bill in Parliament last week.

Bizarre biosecurity bill

Last week in Parliament I spoke against Labor’s biosecurity protection levy bill which proposes to charge farmers for the biosecurity costs of importing products to Australia.

To ask Australian farmers to pay for their competitors to bring products into the country is outrageous, incredibly concerning and yet another attack on regional Australia and farmers.

The fact that legislation as important as this was debated in the Federation Chamber, and not in the House, is a clear indication of Labor’s contempt for our agriculture sector.

I will continue to fight this senseless new tax because the short-term impact on farmers is great, but the longer-term impact of not having a biosecurity system in place that’s robust, paid for by the people who are introducing risks to this country is greater.

Energy bills continue to rise under Labor

Labor was elected on a promise to reduce household electricity bills by $275 but instead households in the Parkes electorate have been hit with increases of up to $693 under the Albanese Government.

This is simply unaffordable for my constituents who are already suffering under Labor’s out of control cost-of-living-crisis.

And while benchmark electricity prices are set to fall for households in broader Sydney and the Central Coast for the 2024-2025 period, there will be a 0.9 per cent increase for residents in regional NSW, as well as a 0.7 per cent increase for small businesses in the bush.

Climate Change and Energy Minister Chris Bowen is going around touting this as good news for Australian consumers, and yet households and small businesses in the Parkes electorate will be worse off. This just goes to show that once again, regional Australia is forgotten by this city-centric Labor Government.

Youth crime a complex issue

The issue of youth crime has been putting towns across my electorate in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons over the past few weeks, so I felt compelled to weigh in.

While I welcome any practical solutions that will reduce juvenile crime and make people feel safe in their homes, I worry that the NSW Government’s package will just end up being yet another band-aid approach that fails to address the underlying problem.

Until we address the fact that all too often, small children are left in dangerous situations when they should be removed, nothing will change. I strongly believe that the rights of the child should come before those of the adult and if a child’s safety is at risk, intervention is needed.

There are many wonderful organisations in the Parkes electorate working to make a difference for our young people and I commend them on what they’re doing. I believe education is the key to empowering our children to aspire to a better life, helping to break the cycle of intergenerational trauma and welfare dependency. I also think we need to focus on more early intervention initiatives for children in preschool and early primary school. Often, by the time these children are in high school, it’s too late.

It’s a deeply complex and complicated issue that will not be fixed overnight or by a bucketload of money. But the earlier we can intervene and ensure our children feel safe and loved and have access to a good education, the better the outcomes will be.