Chris Trevor (Flynn, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is of some interest to note that the honourable member for Wide Bay and Leader of the National Party has moved this MPI in this House. The honourable member for Wide Bay and Leader of the Nationals certainly should above all be aware of the impact of government policies on the physical, social and economic health of rural and regional Australia. The reason he should know about this is that it his party’s impact—or lack thereof, I should say—that lost his party and the previous coalition government the seat of Flynn, my seat in central Queensland. Before the last election this seat was considered a safe rural National Party seat with a margin of 7.7 per cent. That was before it fell into the safe hands of Labor. The National Party abandoned the people of the bush and they paid for it in Flynn. As I move throughout my electorate of Flynn as its proud Labor member and chairman of the Prime Minister’s task force, two things are clear: (1) the previous government’s policies as they relate to rural and regional Australia did not work, as was shown in the last election, and (2) our policies are being welcomed in the electorate, no matter what colour jersey you wear.

On a recent visit to Longreach and Winton in outback Queensland as chairman of the Prime Minister’s country task force, it became clear that our policies were being welcomed by all when it came to rural and regional Australia. The people of rural and regional Australia in that part of the world in my electorate of Flynn welcomed the government’s commitment of $1 billion to the public health system since we were elected; improvements to the dental health system since we were elected; investment, finally, in infrastructure—roads, rail and ports; announcements in relation to tourism, including the western tourism growth corridor; and our Economic Security Strategy policy, which will stimulate rural and regional communities throughout the whole of Australia.

What has become patently clear is that people in the bush feel that the previous government, including the National Party, deserted the bush. Lest there be any argument in relation to their belief in this regard, one only has to look to this side of the House and observe who the members for Leichhardt, Dawson, Capricornia and Flynn are. They are all Labor members and they all hold rural and regional seats. The previous government not once to my knowledge ever looked at the social impact of drought, including the physical and mental aspects and the effects on rural and regional Australians. We acknowledge the social as well as the financial impact that the drought is having on rural and regional Australians.

The Rudd Labor government, my government, is totally committed to rural and regional Australia. We will forge a new direction with local governments. We will give them a seat at the table, rather than rip them off like the previous government did by cost shifting local government costs onto rural and regional Australian ratepayers. We will create a new local community infrastructure program to assist in local infrastructure needs. We will build on Roads to Recovery, roads being a major issue in rural and regional Australia. We will deliver on our rail, road and port bottlenecks, which have held rural and regional Australia to ransom for so long and cost the Australian economy billions. We will keep all our election promises. There is nothing here about ‘core’ and ‘non-core’ promises; we will keep all our election promises and deliver for rural and regional Australia and for all Australians.

Regional Development Australia will be established specifically for rural and regional Australia. We will create Infrastructure Australia and look at giving due and long overdue recognition to the backbone of government in rural and regional Australia—namely, local government throughout Australia.

The previous government abandoned the bush. They failed the bush when it came to rural and regional health, ripping $1 billion out of the public hospital system. They failed the bush when it came to roads, they failed the bush when it came to climate change and they failed the bush when it came to infrastructure, water and broadband. (Time expired)

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