MATTERS OF PUBLIC IMPORTANCE
Mr MATT SMITH (Leichhardt) (15:49): Judging from the letter that we received, I was under the impression we would be discussing supermarkets. Instead, we've had various amounts of ponderous philosophical wonderings. Let's go back to supermarkets.
People know and understand that the prices are high at the moment. It's hurting people in the hip pocket. It's making decisions a little bit harder.
When you're worried about money, it's hard to really think about anything else, so this government takes action. It took meaningful action, action that needed to take place not just at the supermarket checkout but with the suppliers as well. I grew up in dairy country.
I remember the milk wars and what that did to our farmers as the price dropped and dropped and it became less economical for farmers to go about their daily business milking the cows, making the money and doing something that had worked for generations. That is something that we are addressing. Price gouging—knowing that a conglomerate of big companies can take advantage of everyday Australians doing the little and simple things in life like buying the food, preparing for a kid's birthday and making the Sunday roast when the grandparents come over.
People don't want to pay more for that, so we took action with some of the harshest penalties available. They know now not to step out of line, but prices aren't just a consequence of inflation or some random singularity. There's a whole-of-life thing going on here.
It's a circular issue. For an electorate such as mine, which is huge—bigger than some European countries—or the actual regions, where the roads are dirt and the rivers flood, sometimes it's very hard to get that freight up there. Sometimes it's difficult, and we're cut off for months at a time, but this government is acting.
For regional, discrete Aboriginal communities, we are investing to make sure that people there pay the same amount that people in the cities do. That was not always the case. Some of the most disadvantaged communities in the country now get food for the same price as the member for Goldstein pays.
That makes a massive, massive difference on Saibai Island, Lockhart River and Aurukun—places that need our help and places that want fairness and equity for food. That's what this government does. It finds a way.
It finds the weak points in the system and makes a difference. I talked about a holistic approach. The Bruce Highway is the main artery of Queensland.
As the Bruce Highway goes, the rest of Queensland goes. It's prone to flooding and gets cut off. It's not in great shape.
That is why this government has made the largest investment in its history to repair it, build it back better and increase the resilience in an area known for its disasters. That will make the transportation of food more efficient. It will make it cheaper, and, most importantly, it will make it safer for the truck drivers who are working every single day.
The member for Monash mentioned diesel. We know what's been going on with the price of diesel. We know why the price of diesel has gone up.
As an aside, we also remember, leading up into Easter, when there were a series of reckless and irresponsible claims made by those opposite about potential rationing: 'Are we going to run out of fuel? Will farmers have enough fertiliser?' That damaged the far northern economy. That stopped people going on holiday.
That hurt the small businesses you claim to represent. Mr Hogan: The Prime Minister made an emergency address. Mr MATT SMITH: People cancelled holidays.
People didn't go to places. That money was not spent. It hurt my electorate to make a silly political point.
Mr Hogan: 'Let your tyres down. Take your roof racks down.' Mr MATT SMITH: That's disgraceful. You make all of this noise, but you're not helping—a lot of noise, not a lot of help.
Diesel continues to be run in this country because of the work of our prime minister and our Foreign minister. They did the work that needed to be done to make sure that our country keeps moving forward, to make sure that my farmers have fertiliser and to make sure that the people in the leafy suburbs in Melbourne, Sydney and Brisbane will eat tonight. That's because of the work our prime minister did.
It's because he went to Asia to make sure that those fuel lines were there. There is no crisis, no scaremongering, just getting the work done—doing what is needed to help Australians. We know it's hard out there.
We're taking the work. We're doing what needs to be done to make sure that Australia is the leader in the world again.