Stephen Jones (Throsby, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Infrastructure) Share this | Hansard source

I am asked about Fiona Nash. Let us hear what she had to say about it. She was asked whether she did some modelling on the impact of the GP co-payment and whether she had consulted rural communities on the impact. What did she have to say? When the biggest decision by this parliament was made, impacting on rural and regional health, the minister for rural and regional health was not even in the room, making it quite clear to everyone on this side of the chamber—and it should also make it quite clear to everyone in rural and regional Australia—that the Liberal Party has absolutely no regard for the promises that the National Party made to their electorates in the run-up to the last election.

Having been excluded from the big decisions, you would have to ask yourself: is there anything that the minister for rural and regional health will go into bat for when it comes to rural and regional Australia? We know that she was willing to go into bat for big food companies, to save them from the tyranny of a star-rating system. She was willing to stick up for the interests of 'big food,' but she will not stick up for her own policies. Two weeks ago in the Senate, when she was asked about these issues she had to this to say, 'You've got to understand that we have National Party policies but, when we get elected to government, they don't mean anything. They have absolutely no bearing on coalition policy, because they are only National Party policies.'

We know that the Liberal Party has no regard for National Party policies and no regard for people in the bush, but we also know that the National Party no longer has any regard for people in the bush. How quick they have been to disregard their own policies!

Some members were willing to stand up for people in rural and regional Australia. Even National Party members were willing to stick up for people in rural and regional Australia. I see that the member for Richmond is in the chamber today. She is willing to stick up for the interests of her electorate, unlike the previous member for Richmond, whom she defeated, who was not willing to stick up for the interests of people in rural and regional Australia. But his predecessor was.

In the good old days there have been National Party members who have been willing to stand up to their own side and to the tyrants in the Liberal Party. I remember when Doug Anthony was willing to bring the National Party across the floor to vote against his own side to ensure that the interests of the bush were looked after. But not today! It is a pale imitation. They will not even stand up and defend their own policies. They are sending the Liberal minister in here to stand up for their own policies. Not one National Party member has been willing to stand up and defend their own policies. It is absolutely clear that they will not defend their own policies because, as the minister for rural and regional health has also made absolutely clear, the Liberal Party has no regard for their policies. They will not be able to stand in their electorates in the lead-up to the next election and make one single promise, because the people in the bush will understand that, when it comes to health and when it comes to anything else, National Party promises have absolutely no bearing on what a coalition government will do in practice.

It is time for members of the National Party to stand up; if they will not stand up, they should stand down. They should tell the truth that they are no longer members for country Australia; they are no longer anything more than associate members of the Liberal Party. (Time expired)

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