Photo caption: Federal Member for Parkes Mark Coulton spoke against the Future Made in Australia Bill in Parliament last week.

Opposition to Future Made in Australia Bill

Last week in Parliament I spoke against Labor’s Future Made in Australia Bill, which is all about investing in an economy powered by renewable energy.

I’m becoming increasingly frustrated by the constant virtue-signalling of the Labor Government and this is just another example of the disconnect of our city-based MPs who think they’re going to save the environment while creating jobs without any real understanding of how it works.

If we’re going to make renewables in this country, we’re going to have to stop the attack on the mining industry, because where does Labor thinking all the raw materials for renewable energy comes from? Critical minerals such as copper, lithium, nickel, cobalt and rare earths, which can all be found in the Parkes electorate, are essential components in clean energy technology from wind turbines to electric vehicles. How are we going to make clean energy if we don’t have the mines to mine these critical minerals? Where’s the energy going to come from to drive these renewable factories?

I’d also like to know where this workforce is going to come from. One of the reasons that manufacturing has moved offshore is the scarcity of labour in this country. Are the children of the Members from the leafy suburbs or the Teal seats going to go and bolt solar panels together, or is it their aspiration to say, ‘we’ve saved the environment because we’ve subsidised a factory somewhere out in the suburbs where we don’t have to look at it, but we really feel good about what we’re doing for the environment’?

Industrial relations reforms now in effect

Many of the reforms from Labor’s reckless overhaul of industrial relations laws will come into effect from today, including the right to disconnect and changes to casual employment.

From today, the definition of a casual employee will change, and those who have been employed six months or more will have the option of converting to a permanent role if they wish to do so. These changes will create extreme uncertainty for businesses, particularly our small businesses, and will make hiring casual employees unattractive, impacting job creation and those workers who welcome the flexibility of casual work.

The right to disconnect laws will also mean employers could face serious repercussions if they contact employees after hours, while union officials will be allowed to enter any workplace without notice.

Our local businesses are already under significant pressure from rising costs and these changes will burden them with additional constraints, making it harder to grow and create jobs in our communities. Ultimately, these new measures will be detrimental to the economy, productivity and jobs.

Hurtful beef ‘joke’

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has once again proven how out of touch he is with the agricultural industry following the comments he made about live exports during the AgriFutures Rural Women’s Award gala dinner last week.

How could the Prime Minister think it would be a good idea to ‘joke’ about the live export industry in a room full of farmers, on a night celebrating our agricultural industry? It was completely poor taste and further insult to our agricultural industry.

The Prime Minister’s comments only highlight the contempt Labor has for farmers, following his Government’s decision to shut down the live sheep export trade. This decision is going to devastate an entire industry and is certainly no joke to the thousands of families who will be impacted.

Guidelines released for next round of regional funding

The guidelines have been released for the second round of the Growing Regions Program, even though recipients from the first round are still waiting to see their funding that was announced back in May.

A total of $393 million in funding is available for round two for community infrastructure projects across regional and rural Australia.

Five very worthwhile projects in the Parkes electorate were funded under round one, so I encourage councils and community groups looking for funding to build or upgrade local infrastructure like libraries, parks, community centres, sport and cultural facilities to apply for this program when applications open in September.

Hopefully by then, our round one projects will have received their funding and can start construction.

For more information about the Growing Regions Program and to look at the guidelines, visit: www.infrastructure.gov.au/territories-regions-cities/regional-australia/regional-and-community-programs/growing-regions-program