Mrs PHILLIPS (Gilmore) (15:45): I think it is worth revisiting the last nine years under a government that those opposite led and comparing that with the last six months. What does cruel government look like? How about cutting video telehealth psychiatric consultations for regional and rural Australia? There has been years of drought, horrific bushfires, a global pandemic and flood after flood after flood, but the Morrison government thought it would be a good idea to make it more difficult and more expensive for people in regional and rural Australia to see a psychiatrist. I can tell you right now that that was cruel. So the Albanese government reversed it. We gave people struggling with their mental health back their psychiatrists. As one person in my electorate said, the former government's decision put her in a dark place but we had given her hope again. Those are real consequences of decisions those opposite made that we are correcting.
What else does cruel government look like? How about neglecting older Australians living in aged care? Neglect was the title of the report from the royal commission, and it lay directly at the feet of the Liberal government. We are putting the care back into aged care. As the member for an electorate with one of the oldest demographics in the country, I can assure those opposite that people on the South Coast care about that. We care that we will have nurses 24/7 in aged-care homes, that older Australians will have good-quality food, good-quality care and a system that gives them dignity as they age thanks to the Albanese government.
What else? How about forcing people to live below the poverty line by deliberately keeping wages low and refusing to provide an adequate pay rise for those receiving government support. As an electorate with one of the highest numbers of pensioners in the country, people in our region care about this. They care that we have delivered the largest pension indexation rise in 12 years. They care that we advocated for a rise in the minimum wage and a pay rise for aged-care workers. They care that this government supports their increased wages, while the former government cruelly kept their wages low on purpose. This government is taking the needs of regional and rural Australia seriously, and we are putting them first.
We have experienced a worsening GP crisis for years. Just yesterday I spoke on the bill that will help incentivise more GPs into regional and rural Australia. What is cruel is leaving whole communities without a local doctor. We are trying to fix it. What's cruel is a government watching our housing prices spiral out of control and doing nothing to fix it. It's a big job to undo this neglect, but we have started the process to build 40,000 new social and affordable homes. Our Regional First Home Buyer Guarantee is helping people buy a home. In fact, we have many policies that will help support local people find and keep a roof over their head. Those opposite had none.
In my electorate, we are providing $40 million to help fix local potholed roads across the Shoalhaven. That is on top of the $250 million boost in the Local Roads and Community Infrastructure Fund targeted at regional Australia to help local government fix our roads that are in ruins from this crazy weather. We won't call it climate change induced crazy weather because we might have to point out that the former government's refusal to take any meaningful action on climate change may have contributed to that. Is that cruel? Well, if you ask our communities suffering from a never-ending stream of climate related disasters, they might tell you a thing or two. I certainly don't think they will see help to rebuild their roads as cruel.
Is it cruel to invest in life-saving cancer treatment close to home for people in the Eurobodalla, or would the Liberals prefer that people like Cathie Hurst were forced to continue travelling to Sydney or Canberra for their radiation therapy treatment, hoping they can make it home before they get sick? That's what I call cruel. In fact, I would call the New South Wales Liberals' continued refusal to support the radiation therapy centre in Moruya cruel. The failure of the former member for Bega and the failure of the former Morrison government to deliver this centre: that is cruel.
Local people in my electorate can see the difference in a government that has been working every day since it was elected to deliver real, positive change in our community. We've made more positive improvements for regional and rural Australia in the last six months than those opposite have in the last nine years, and this is only the beginning.
