Mr GEE (Calare—Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) (15:21): I have to say that when I first heard the topic for today's matter of public importance—representative government—I really thought that the opposition was having us on. I really thought it was a try-on. After all, it was this opposition that sought to divide Australians, in a way that this country hasn't seen for decades, at the last federal election. They engaged in the politics of class warfare, they sought to turn Australians against each other and they targeted sections of our community for special treatment, for special discrimination. I speak of course, first and foremost, of Australia's retirees. The opposition wasn't representing those 900,000 Australians when they wanted to snatch away their tax rebates—ordinary Australians, hardworking Australians, whom they sold down the river. I remember speaking to one gentleman who approached me at a polling booth in Bathurst. He said that he was a factory worker. He said that he worked two shifts, one in the day and one in the night, so that he could save for his retirement. He said to me that, while everyone else was sleeping, Member for Petrie, he was up working, and he was able to invest and save for his retirement. And all that stood to be snatched away from him by those opposite. So, they weren't representing Australia's retirees. They weren't representing those hardworking men and women—who aren't wealthy people; these are people you see at your local Men's Shed or Lions Club. They weren't representing the coal workers or the power workers when they said that they were going to take their jobs and put them into some Orwellian 'just transition authority' to deal with so-called pooled redundancies. From Lithgow to Mudgee to the Hunter Valley to Queensland, they have forsaken those miners and power workers. They sold them down the river. And they were rewarded for those efforts appropriately at the last election. I remember very clearly the now Deputy Leader of the Opposition celebrating what he said was the collapse in the global coal market, because prices had dropped—a terrible way to treat all those coalminers and power workers right around Australia. The opposition weren't representing their interests. They weren't representing the farmers when they opposed drought relief, when they said they weren't going to support the Future Drought Fund. They went to the election opposing drought relief—a $3.9 billion commitment for the Future Drought Fund, rising to $5 billion, providing $100 million every year, and they went to the election threatening to dismantle it, just as they went to the election threatening to dismantle the Regional Investment Corporation. They weren't representing farmers stricken by drought, not at all. The Regional Investment Corporation, providing concessional loans to farmers to help them get through drought, to provide water infrastructure loans—not only did they oppose it, they threatened to dismantle it. The Regional Investment Corporation set up in my own seat, in the wonderful city of Orange, with 25 to 30 jobs, and they went to the election threatening to take it away. No wonder the member for Hunter earned the nickname, in my neck of the woods, of the 'shadow minister for recentralisation', because he wanted to snatch decentralised jobs out of the country and put them back in the city! They weren't representing the farmers. They weren't representing those men and women of Australia who were grappling with high power bills and high power prices with their wacky emissions targets that were so out of step with the Australian community. They weren't representing farmers or everyday Australians when they played footsies with the animal activists. The member for Hunter said that our farmers should 'surf the waves of activism', giving a quiet nod to those activists who have been terrorising our farmers right around Australia, as if our farmers didn't have enough to worry about, dealing with this awful drought. The truth is that those opposite have forsaken those they purported to represent—the people who go to work every day in high-vis; the workers; the miners; the battlers; the elderly and the retirees. They have forsaken all of those people they purported to represent. Why have they done it, Member for Petrie? To pander to those inner city voters they thought were their core constituency, those green elements in Glebe, Newtown and Annandale. And they abandoned the rest of Australia. They haven't united Australia. They divided this country at the last election in a way that we haven't seen for years. No wonder their primary vote shrank to the lowest point in 100 years. They paid a price for it. Their politics and policies of division, and of turning Australians against each other, were roundly and rightly rejected by Australians at the last federal election. So how dare they come into this place and lecture us about representing all Australians, when they basically went to the last election on a platform of division, of turning Australians against each other—of class warfare. It was a disgrace. We on this side of the House are getting on with the job. I would like to talk today about the Australian government's wonderful infrastructure program, which we have working for Australia. We've got a $100 billion infrastructure pipeline, and we are committed to getting key projects going right around Australia. They are long-term infrastructure plans, including, for example— Opposition members interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Mr Hogan ): Members on my left, I'm finding it very difficult to hear. Mr GEE: They don't like it, Deputy Speaker. They can't handle the truth. Roads of Strategic Importance: $4.5 billion in upgrades on key freight roads across regional Australia to improve the efficiency of freight transport. It includes wonderful projects like the Coffs Harbour bypass, $971 million and 1,800 jobs created, and Dixons Long Point, in my own electorate. I've spoken about that project many times. It is connecting the regions, and the great regions of Mudgee and Orange, making it easier to travel between the regions, connecting them for health, business and tourism and connecting them from the Hunter all the way down to Canberra. Our $4 billion Urban Congestion Fund is targeting pinch points, traffic safety and network efficiency for commuter and freight movement in urban areas. There's blackspot funding: $1 billion from 2013-14 to 2022-23, and $110 million annually from 2023-24 until 2029-30. It's making a real difference to the lives of people, particularly those in country communities, as is the Roads to Recovery Program. This is a $500 million per annum program, from 2013-14 to 2022-23, funding $5.6 billion of vital local road infrastructure, helping our local councils build those roads that they otherwise wouldn't be able to undertake and keep projects moving. Then there is the Heavy Vehicle Safety and Productivity Program, with $508 million from 2013-14 to 2022-23, with ongoing funding of $65 million each year from 2023-24 to 2029-30. I look at the Bridges Renewal Program. We've had many bridges in country Australia repaired, making it easier for farmers to get their produce and freight to markets, building the future of Australia. It has been one of the truly popular programs amongst councils in particular, because otherwise they would not be able to get these bridges upgraded. Many of them are timber bridges that are over 100 years old. Some were originally built in the days of the gold rush. The Northern Australia Beef Roads Program has $100 million from 2017-18 to 2020-21 for targeted upgrades to key roads necessary for transporting cattle. For roads, we've got $23 billion in budget commitments including an additional $1 billion for the Princes Highway and an additional $2.2 billion for the Local and State Government Road Safety Package. I think it's pretty clear that the quiet Australians really did speak. They rejected the politics of division. They rejected the politics of class warfare. What they did do is vote for a government that's getting things done. Nowhere is this seen more than in the field of infrastructure. There is a lot of chirp from the other side—not a lot of action, just a lot of division.