GRIEVANCE DEBATE
Mr VENNING (Grey) (12:50): I rise to raise my grievance in relation to a range of issues impacting my constituents in the seat of Grey, and, more broadly, Australians living in regional, rural and remote Australia, who have been left behind by an increasingly city-centric Albanese Labor government, a government that appears to think that those living in regional Australia don't deserve the same services, attention or compassion as their city-dwelling counterparts.
This is a government that constantly talks about fairness, about equity, about leaving no Australian behind. But I say: look at regional South Australia, look at the electorate of Grey, look at rural and remote Australia, and tell me where the equity is; tell me where the compassion is. Now, I understand as well as anyone that it's hard to get out to the regions.
In the last few weeks alone, I've driven thousands and thousands of kilometres, traversing the vast distances and the communities in the electorate of Grey. It's not easy. It requires commitment.
So you can appreciate my astonishment when, after months of trying to get senior ministers, or maybe even the Prime Minister, to come and see firsthand the damage done by the harmful algal bloom on the Yorke Peninsula and in the Gulf of St Vincent—a genuine crisis that's crippled our local aquaculture industry and destroyed livelihoods—the request was met with a resounding, patronising silence.
It was all too hard. It's been the same for the drought—the worst in history for many of my farming communities. But then, at the drop of a brand-new hard hat in a perfectly staged photo op, three federal Labor ministers are suddenly able to travel to the middle of South Australia, 570 kilometres north of Adelaide, for a nothing announcement about BHP's Olympic Dam mine.
All the people of Grey and the local aquaculture industry wanted was somebody to talk to—somebody to listen to their stories. But it was all too hard. Yet, when BHP had something to say, and when the Premier of South Australia wanted to add some meat to his Advertiser puff piece, no less than three Albanese Labor government ministers were able to don their fake hi-vis hats and make the trek.
When the real people want to talk it's all too hard, but, for the corporate photo opportunities, this government will—and I quote the great Scottish band The Proclaimers—walk 500 miles. But the neglect goes far deeper than a simple refusal to travel and hear directly from those in need. The neglect extends to not allowing older Australians living in rural and remote Australia access to essential care services when they're at their most vulnerable.
The most profound crisis facing our communities today is the slow, agonising collapse of the aged-care industry in the bush. The Albanese Labor government champions its aged-care reforms, but those reforms feel hollow when all they deliver in my electorate is delay after delay after delay. It is heartbreaking.
I'd like to now read some real stories from people in Grey who have been directly impacted. I'd like to thank these people and their families for sharing. There's Susanne, 77, from Marree.
Susanne's husband, Ron, passed away. He'd suffered from bowel cancer, diabetes and heart problems. He had been assessed for a home-care package, had waited over 12 months and did not receive it before his death.
Susanne is currently having difficulties with the care she is receiving, due to living remotely. She says: 'I had to have our bathroom renovated to put in a shower, as the shower was over the bath and Ron could not step into the bath. That cost us $11,000, with no assistance.' And she says: 'I sometimes wish I had never got a home-care package because, instead of helping me, it has caused me more stress and inconvenience.' There's Jannene, 71, in Wallaroo.
Jannene suffers from inducible laryngeal obstruction, which has no cure. She was forced to retire four years ago because of her condition, ending her 50-year nursing career. Jannene decided she needed help back in May 2024.
She was approved for support but was told there were no packages. She says: 'This is a very debilitating and insidious condition, which has changed my life completely. I'm now at the point where I need a level 1 package, but I've been told that I won't get one because they are not giving them out.
My daughter has taken over the role as carer, because I get overwhelmed with the system as I can't talk after a short period of time.' There's Judith, 73, in Edithburgh. Judith looks after her 99-year-old mother while they wait for her to be reassessed. Her mother is currently on a level 3 home-care package, after suffering a stroke a few years ago.
Judith asked for her mother to be reassessed 18 months ago and is still waiting. Judith says: 'Her health has deteriorated to a point where she needs showering and helping with her ablutions. I am her daughter and do not have a problem with this, but it means I can no longer lead a normal life.
I'm worried that she will die before she is reassessed.' In total, more than 230,000 older Australians have been left stuck in limbo, waiting for access to home-care support under Labor. Imagine being one of those people waiting but being over two hours drive from the nearest critical-care facility, physio, OT, GP or mental health service. Across the electorate of Grey, families are facing impossible choices and heartbreaking situations due to the government's failure to deliver promised care.
Last week I had the privilege of joining my federal colleague the shadow minister for aged care, Senator Anne Ruston, in a public forum in Peterborough. We sat with local carers, family members and the residents themselves, and the stories we heard, both raw and devastating, proved beyond any doubt that we are in the midst of an aged-care crisis. This is the price of Labor's centralisation and their one-size-fits-all policy approach.
Where is the compassion for the spouse who can no longer visit their partner daily because the round trip is 400 kilometres? Where is the plan to ensure that a retired farmer in the far north or a beloved community volunteer on the west coast can age with dignity in the town they love? This government's failure to deliver adequate aged care in regional Australia is a betrayal of trust and shows a shocking lack of foresight.
As well as ignoring the critical need for care, the government are actively crippling the ability of our people to earn. The cost of living is spiralling out of control, and nowhere is this felt more acutely or is it more dangerous than in regional Australia. We cannot absorb these sustained price hikes like the city can.
I want to talk specifically about power prices and the government's utter failure to manage energy policy. For our primary producers, for our regional industries and for the small businesses that underpin regional towns in rural and remote SA, these rising energy bills are an existential threat. For the city customer, a price hike means less money for dinner out.
For a South Australian steelworker, a horticulturist, a manufacturer, a dairy producer or a meat producer, a power price hike is the difference between survival and bankruptcy. This isn't just about turning on a light switch; it's about running vital, non-negotiable equipment. This is about operating the cold storage and the refrigeration needed to keep dairy, meat and vegetables fresh for transport.
This is about powering the local processing plants and the heavy-industry sites that are the only major employers in Whyalla and Port Pirie. This government promised a transition to cheap, reliable energy. What they have delivered is one of the most volatile and unstable energy markets in the developed world.
I would like to remind Australians that much of our prosperity and economic growth in the seventies, eighties and nineties, and the wealthy lifestyles that Middle and older Australians enjoy today is because we had cheap power, because our primary industries could compete and because we could afford to make and do things. There's a healthy debate happening around the economic impacts of net zero.
Well, I know one way we can get to net zero. We close all of our manufacturing industries and send them to China, and we make farming so unviable that we stop producing Australian made food and fibre. This seems to be the approach of the Albanese Labor government.
Finally, how can our communities hope to grow or, at a bare minimum, sustain themselves when the basic infrastructure that connects us is crumbling? I mentioned driving thousands of kilometres. I've seen firsthand that the state of our roads throughout Grey, whether they be outback roads like the Strzelecki Track or the Augusta Highway—a major highway—is appalling.
They are not just inconvenient; they are dangerous, creating unacceptable risks for our businesses transporting goods, for our truck drivers moving freight and for our families travelling between regional towns. When a regional hospital can't retain a surgeon and the only path to major medical care is a four-hour drive down a pothole ridden, narrow and neglected highway, this becomes a matter of life and death.
This government is failing to invest in the basic asphalt and steel that ties our nation together, just as it's failing to invest in and support the ties that bond our elderly to their family homes. In conclusion, the Albanese Labor government must stop looking at regional Australia through the lens of a staged photo opportunity or a promise to a metropolitan demographic during a campaign.
We are not an afterthought, and we're not here to subsidise city convenience with our health, livelihoods or the dignity of our elderly. The people of Grey demand attention and equity, and they demand a government that will actually walk 500 miles not just for a multinational corporation but for the real people who need help right now.