Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I may not have been a friend of the minister for as long as you have been, given we have not known each other that long, but I am pleased to hear that the new Minister for Infrastructure and Transport is keen to talk about infrastructure projects.

Ensuring we have good regional roads and rail networks is one of the many issues that are raised with me by farmers, whether they are retired farmers or current farmers. This is not just in my electorate, but also throughout regional Victoria. Whether it be my listening post at Strath Village or catching up with Greg Toll or any of the other farmers who have established themselves in Bendigo post being on the land or looking to retire to Bendigo, what they raise with me is what is still going on in their farming communities, communities that they are very proud of. They raise with me the issue of roads and how critical it is that we see investment go into roads. They raise with me the cost of transport and freight and how they want to see a revival of funding for our rail system, to give farmers and producers that option.

They raise with me the crisis of water, the importance of water and how critical it is that we have a mature, constructive debate on water. They raise with me the issues around energy costs; despite this government's great fanfare about abolishing the carbon tax, they are seeing their gas bills and electricity bills skyrocket. They are issues for a lot of our farmers. We have some farmers who have disconnected themselves from the grid if they can. It is a lot harder for dairy farmers to do that because when they need energy it is before dawn; it is before the sun is actually up. So it is harder for the dairy farmers to look at that as an option.

They raise with me the need to keep young people in their community; how critical the NBN is to modern farming; how they desperately want the ability to connect and how this government has, quite frankly, dropped the ball when it comes to the rollout—the delay of two years in actually getting on with a decent NBN plan. The problems with the NBN satellite program that has been oversubscribed—towns like Queenstown in Tasmania have been offered satellite even though they are a community of 3,000. That could be part of the problem about the clogging up of the network. These are the issues that farmers raise with me when they want to talk about what is going on on the land.

Not one of them has raised the issue of levies. They just expect governments to do it. They welcome what we have done here. They welcome what is being put forward. The industries are vocal about it and Labor has, through consultation, agreed with the government to these amendments. But I have to say I have spoken on quite a number of levy amendment bills that have come before this House. It appears to be all this government is doing in this space. It is bill after bill on levies. Quite frankly, there is so much more going on than just levies. It needs to be more than just levies.

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