Senator POLLEY (Tasmania) (17:04): Madam Acting Deputy President O'Neill, it's nice to see you in the chair. Let's put on the record the facts in relation to investment in regional Australia. After 10 very long years, Senator McKenzie—through you, Madam Acting Deputy President—is coming into this chamber and rewriting history. They have denied the Australian community, particularly those living in regional Australia, opportunities because of the rorting that they did while they were in government, and then the former minister herself comes into this chamber to try and rewrite history. What we have in the new Albanese Labor government is a Prime Minister who understands, along with every member of ours in the House of Representatives and in this chamber, the importance of regional Australia and what it means to the Australian economy. The Prime Minister, who has in the past been a brilliant infrastructure minister, knows the value of investing. But what we will always do is make sure that all funding is accountable and transparent and will be delivered to regional Australia and the communities that need it most. It will not be delivered for the target seats that those opposite were trying to save so they could stay in government. They do not respect the Australian taxpayer. When they were in government, for the last 10 years, all they ever did was ensure that they would hold their seats to keep themselves in their big white limousines. That's what they did. If there had been a real commitment from Senator McKenzie and others on that side, they would not have been rorting the system; they would not have been promising and making commitments to car parks and train stations where there were none; they wouldn't have spent in excess of $50 million that they didn't need to spend in acquiring land in New South Wales in relation to the airport there. So there is going to be a stark difference in how we as a government under Anthony Albanese will handle and use taxpayers' money, because we don't consider it our money, unlike the Liberals and Nationals when they were in government. We will actually deliver— Opposition senators interjecting— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator O'Neill ): Senator Polley, sorry to interrupt you. Can you resume your seat for a moment? Thank you. I'm loath to interrupt the debate, but there is a constant calling out from the members of the opposition. It would be much more orderly and in accordance with the Senate standing orders for you to resist from calling out across the chamber. I ask you to give respect to your fellow senator as she makes her points in this robust democracy that we exist in. Senator Polley, you have the call. Senator POLLEY: Thank you very much. As I was saying, the Albanese Labor government will always ensure that there is integrity, transparency and accountability in all funding across this country. But, even more so, we will invest in regional Australia because we know how important it is. It isn't going to just pass by. Senators from that side come in and want to talk about health care or education for regional Australians when they did nothing but cut health care. We know how much they dislike Medicare. We know how critical our hospital infrastructure is to regional Australia. We also know, and I know, only too well that ambulances are ramping at every hospital around this country because of the lack of funding from the previous government. But I just want to remind people, because this is really important. Coming from Tasmania, as a senator for Tasmania, I know that during the federal campaign we made commitments to invest in jobs in regional areas. So, in May, what we did was make a commitment to Northern Tasmania's Firmus Tas, a great new initiative; we invested $5 million in LINE Hydrogen for them to start their project off because we actually care about delivering better outcomes for Northern Tasmanians; and we made a commitment to Waverley Woollen Mills so we can start manufacturing. I'm sure my two fellow Tasmanian senators who belong to the Liberal Party would support our funding to all of those businesses in Tasmania. Waverley Woollen Mills is a very old woollen mill that is now doing some amazing work and developing future projects for itself to ensure that it has a business model that is going to take it forward. They're getting into recycling and all sorts of wonderful things, creating real jobs in Northern Tasmania. We did that, and I'd be very surprised if those fundings aren't part of the budget that will be announced in October. But there's a difference between coming into this place and defending your old policies—when you had policies, because you don't have policies now—and coming in here and trying to rewrite history. It's very different. (Time expired)