I would like to begin by thanking the member for Gilmore for moving this important motion to discuss the Informing regional investment: state of Australia's regions 2024. Released by our Albanese government, this report is all about how we can best support our regions to respond to challenges and to harness opportunities. These are opportunities like future jobs growth in the clean energy sector. It's also about supporting regions through natural disasters like the bushfires we've seen in my home state of Victoria over the past week. My thoughts are with all the people who have lost their homes. Many locals in my communities have family and friends in the affected area, so, on their behalf, I extend my heartfelt thanks to our emergency service workers: the firies, the paramedics, the volunteers and the nurses. You are our frontline defenders when natural disaster strikes.

I also urge everyone in my electorate to check your bushfire emergency plans, tidy up your properties and prepare before Wednesday's forecasted heatwave. Let's do the work now to lower the risk of disaster and do our part to make sure emergency services workers aren't stretched beyond their limit.

I am proud to be part of a government that values the service of emergency workers and is committed to ensuring our regions are well prepared for natural disasters. This was noted in the State of the regions report. Facing increasingly likely natural disasters and presented with mounting opportunities for job growth, the Albanese government recognises our regions are in their defining decade. It's why we are supporting them to leverage the economic shifts that come with rapid population growth such as I've seen in my electorate of Corangamite in Victoria. I'm writing hundreds upon hundreds of letters every few months, welcoming to my electorate new members of the community who are ready to join our local workforce. On this point, the report notes that the last couple of years have seen significant population growth across all our regional centres, with many small businesses finding it difficult to meet local workforce demands. Our government is well aware of this challenge and is tackling the issue head on through our fee-free TAFE initiatives, which will see more skilled workers joining the labour market in the coming years.

The report also confirms that our regions are uniquely placed to benefit from the global transition to net zero, but it also acknowledges that the number of clean energy industry jobs will need to increase by about 30 per cent, or about 213,000 workers, by 2033. Through these findings and more, this report demonstrates our government's commitment to restoring leadership to regional policy.

The report also provides a snapshot of the Albanese government's actions to respond to these challenges. Our last two budgets included over 350 packages and individual measures that were all about strengthening regional communities. They are initiatives that place people at the forefront of regional growth. These initiatives include the employment white paper, regional university study hubs, our new migration strategy and, of course, our tax cuts, to be delivered by 1 July, which will make sure that more people in regional Australia can earn more and keep more of what they earn. We will invest $1 billion over three years in our new regional grants programs, which will provide regional livability in our regional towns and cities in partnership with local government and the community.

In closing, we know that success lies in listening to communities and local voices. They know what is best for our regions. We recognise that local solutions should be locally led, and that's an important key message of this report.