Mr ROB MITCHELL (McEwen) (15:53): It's been interesting to listen to the whingeing and the complaining in this debate. I had to listen to the member for Cowper, who came in wanting to talk about veterans. As he scurries out the door, let me remind the member for Cowper, who might want to listen once. Don't come in here and say veterans should be above politics when your own minister resigned because your government— Mr Conaghan interjecting— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Order! It is really disorderly to do that. If you're going to leave the chamber, please leave the chamber. Interjections are unhelpful. Let's try to have a respectful debate. Mr ROB MITCHELL: It's disgusting to think that those opposite said to the veterans of Australia that they weren't of a political advantage. These are not my words; these are the words of Scott Morrison when he was here and forced their own Minister for Veterans' Affairs to quit and quit the party. So please don't lecture us on this sort of stuff, because you have absolutely no credibility over there. It's amazing that they sit there and talk about these things. It's like talking about Rex Airlines. How many regional workers lost their jobs at Virgin during COVID because those opposite made a decision to fund their mates at Rex Airlines, to look after them instead of Virgin? Virgin went into administration because they couldn't get support from the Morrison— was it you or Joyce, your other mate? Mr McCormack: No, it was me. Mr ROB MITCHELL: It was you? Well, that explains it—to actually go there, to support Rex over Virgin and put thousands of people under stress. When you live in country areas, one of the things you want to do is get access to trade and schooling. What was one of the first things that they did when they got into government in 2013? They cut the trade training centre. The member for Nicholls can laugh, but it was actually his electorate that benefited from the trade training centre that we built and they closed. It's also about getting education in schools. One of the great things we did was the BER. It was ridiculed by those opposite, but, of course, they turned up for every photo opportunity. I went out to Eildon, which had a school building replaced, the first since 1967. That's how much they neglected schools, and they've done nothing since. They panned our programs and they've done nothing to support it. We talk about medical, and we talk about doctors. The reason we have a shortage of doctors in rural and regional areas is that they removed the DPA. Greg Hunt removed it and decided areas like Wallan and Kilmore should be treated the same as Elwood, where Bridge lives, and Williamstown. It is unbelievable that you can't get doctors in the middle of country areas— The DEPUTY SPEAKER ( Ms Claydon ): Member for McEwen, I didn't understand the reference, but you must use correct titles when referring to a current member. Mr ROB MITCHELL: The minister who was caught rorting was Bridget McKenzie, the senator. If you want to sit there and talk about what was happening in medical, let's have a look at that. Let's not talk about road funding because they know that they actually have a— The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Member for McEwen, you need to withdraw the allegation. Mr ROB MITCHELL: I withdraw. It's quite simple. Those opposite cut funding to roads right across Victoria. In fact—the member for Nicholls might want to get his crayon out and note this down—what did they do to the black spot program for mobile phones? They cut every tower in the Black Saturday bushfire area, a place that passed every single test that they had. They took those towers out to fund and look after the member for New England, to try and save his backside. So right across Victoria we can see everything that has been cut: education, health, veterans, workers—whichever way you look at it, they have had nine years of doing absolutely nothing. We saw this last week. We announced $7 million for a northern railway upgrade to help bring electrification and more trains out, with more jobs and more opportunities. They couldn't even wait for the election. They've come out and they want to cut it by $5 million. It's no wonder, when you talk about Peter Dutton—sorry, the member for Dickson. When he cuts, you'll pay. That means people are going to be paying more no matter what they do, whether it's in food, roads, education or health. They cut and destroy every single thing that you look at. We knew that. We'd seen it with the regional programs. Remember, they stopped funding stuff in regional areas to fund a pool in North Sydney because they think the Sydney Harbour Bridge is regional. There's one thing you can be sure of with the nats. When you have a look at their record, you'll see Nationals seats have poorer outcomes, poorer education and poorer job opportunities. The one simple reason for that is that they've got poor representation by the National Party. The only way this country will go forward and keep building a better future is for an Albanese Labor government to be re-elected, because only Labor actually invests in regional areas. They don't care about farmers; they only care about what's under the ground.