Joe Hockey (North Sydney, Liberal Party, Minister for Human Services) Share this | Hansard source

The Australian government has committed an additional $1 billion for drought this year, over and above the $1.2 billion that we had committed. I was very pleased to announce with a number of my colleagues today that we are launching a further two drought buses. Drought buses allow us to extend services into Queensland, into the member for Maranoa’s electorate and, importantly, into the member for Indi’s electorate, covering towns such as Wangaratta and Benalla. It is also vitally important to recognise that these services have to go out to these communities during the summer, at a time when Christmas pressures could have a severe impact.

We are now covering—and I am happy to table this document—almost the entire south-eastern seaboard of Australia, covering southern Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and South Australia, and the electorates of Riverina, Farrer, Indi, Murray, Mallee, Bendigo, McEwen, Gippsland, Eden-Monaro, Calare, Parkes, Gwydir, New England, Groom, Maranoa and Grey. Mr Speaker, if you want a telling indication—and for some people in the city it is very hard to understand the real impact of the drought—in the member for Hume’s electorate is the little town of Gunning. In the 1950s and 1960s, Gunning was the fine-wool centre of Australia. As a young boy, I spent a lot of time out at Gunning. Mr Speaker, I can tell you that everyone in Australia has to work hard to ensure that these sorts of towns, which kept Australia going during the 1950s and 1960s, are not forgotten in 2006 and 2007 during the worst drought in 100 years.

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