Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Special Minister of State) Share this | Hansard source

It is indeed a very rare pleasure to be able to stand up and follow on from one of my colleagues. In particular, I thank Senator Mason most sincerely for his very fine remarks on the Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Income Support for Students) Bill 2009. There is one thing the Australian Labor Party does not understand, and that is regional and rural Australia. It has never understood regional and rural Australia and it will never, ever understand regional and rural Australia. It is very interesting when you speak to country parents, as I have been doing for many years now—some would say too many years but I do not agree with them—to learn that they have had to make a choice about which of their children is to receive higher education. In a country like Australia where country parents have got to make a decision about which of their children is going to get—