Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

We are, but we would much rather not be doing it. We would much rather be putting all that skill into designing the future for our communities. We would much rather take those skills that we have, the programs that we have and the community connections we have and go, 'Here's how we can actually do what the Prime Minister wants to do, which is to use the innovation and creativity that we know our communities have.'

I am not for one moment saying that we are not having a great effect. Clearly that is why we got re-elected—because we are able to deliver for our communities. But I am really looking forward to not having to do all that repair work. I am looking forward to being part of a parliament that actually works with communities, that looks at a 20-year plan and says, 'Here's how our rural and regional communities are going to take their place as major contributors to the future of Australia.' In that particular area, I have been working with the Minister for Regional Development, Senator Fiona Nash, on a regional policy for Australia. I am optimistic that that minister is going to have some good news for us shortly. I have been working with the Prime Minister on how that might work out well.

One of the really important things about Canberra and policy that we have noticed is that government sometimes tends to make 'policy by grants', as we call it. There is no-one in rural Australia who does not want a grant. There are many of us who have spent years and years applying for grants, jumping through hoops—and maybe being successful—but it does not actually do what we need to do, which is create the long-term longitudinal space where we can grow the country. We need policy to do that. We need a good white paper that comes out. Maybe we need another summit that brings people together and builds engagement. We need a process where government has a big picture for Australia—so states, local government and our community groups all work together on it—and there is adequate funding in the system.

I am really appreciative that the government has announced the Regional Ministerial Taskforce. That is a huge step in this direction. When I asked the Prime Minister a question in question time, he responded to that with a list of grants—all this grant money that the government is giving out. I acknowledge the grants—and I know that we do well in Indi with our grants—but it does not address the big problem that we have to talk about, which is investment in policy and programs that are going to be there for the long term and that will give the opportunity for the government to leave a legacy in our community. It is a cohesive approach to regional policy, an opportunity to work together, to bring communities together, to have that white paper, to have a summit and to build the coalitions of engagement that we know we need.

John Anderson, when he was Deputy Prime Minister and responsible for regional development, used the technique of a national summit to great advantage. He would bring communities together and he would introduce them to each other so that some of the more prosperous communities in Victoria could meet with communities in other places that perhaps were not doing so well. He created a national understanding about issues. Organisations would then go and work together—for example, Australian Women In Agriculture. We were a national organisation. We got to meet and greet and work together and then create a national project with John Anderson and the department to do some fantastic work. I know there are many, many opportunities for that. For me, a rural policy needs to be enduring, bipartisan and enjoy community support. It needs to be robust and meaningful. If the government could do that, could get the process right as well as the outcome, it would be such a legacy—a legacy which would stay with us for a very long time.

In talking about the role here in Canberra in doing that, I would now like to focus a few of my comments on how regional politicians have an important role to play here. I speak to my colleagues in the House today and acknowledge their commitment to rural and regional Australia. I know that we all do good work individually, but the idea of all the regional politicians collectively working together on the little slice that we have would be really welcome. When I was on the agricultural standing committee and we did a review into agricultural research, the standing committee came to northeast Victoria and met with the researchers and farmers. We had some really productive results from that. If we cannot get the policy right, cannot get the government to agree to a white paper or cannot get the government to have a national summit, I call on the government to ask one of its standing committees to do a review of the grants programs and how they work in regional Australia—and then to make some recommendations. If we are going to go that way, how do we make it better? How do we make it needs based?

Finally, I would like to talk briefly about some of the exciting work that is happening in my electorate and the pride that I have in the work that the community is doing. I spoke about the dairy industry and the great work they are doing, and I spoke about the leadership program and the work they are doing. Earlier this week, I had an opportunity to talk about the youth work that is happening. Next week we have a youth policy camp, where local governments right across the electorate are getting young people together. They did one of these camps last year, and a significant number of young people stood for local government, as a result of learning how to, in a bipartisan and non-political way. So we now have a significant number of young people in our country areas who are on our local councils. They will be there for the long term and learn their way. That has been a wonderful outcome.

In the area of renewable energy, almost every single town in my electorate has a community based group looking at renewable energy. I have been absolutely delighted to talk to the Prime Minister about the importance of community energy systems. I will be talking to the Minister for the Environment and Energy later on today about how we need a national approach to supporting community energy systems. There are over 60 communities already in Australia developing their own community based energy systems, and they are going to go from strength to strength. The wonderful thing that I see happening is that in little towns like Yackandandah, for example, the community gets together and actually learns about electricity rather than just being consumers. Two hundred or 300 people are turning up to public meetings. They are understanding about the poles and wires companies and the political debate we are having, and they are really inputting into that.

With that goes some other really exciting things. I was in Yackandandah on the weekend for the Yackandandah Folk Festival. I had the really lovely experience of standing at the crossroads in Yackandandah where there was a big tent set up. I think it was called 'waste watch'. It was the Yackandandah environment group. There were 5,000 or 6,000 people at this festival, and on the crossroads they had a tent and all of the wheelie bins came to this one spot. They had a team of volunteers—I think close to 20 working on shifts—going through all of the rubbish, in full view of everybody, sorting all of the rubbish into disposables and recyclables and making sure that they did not do waste filling.

That was a noble thing, but the really important thing that happened to me while I was there watching was that I had this overwhelming sense of being taught to be a much more responsible person regarding waste. I could see the accumulation of waste and I could see these really good community people separating it all out with gloves and protective clothing on. But it was the public education of it such as, 'We don't want to use plastic water bottles and disposable cups.' I had such an education about what not to do because of what the community did. What I am trying to say about the Indi way is that the community take responsibility and do their own work and, in the process, they educate us, and then we build up a whole community of people who have responsibility.

So, back to the beginning: I got elected because people were disillusioned and disenfranchised. Four years later, I am so proud to say I am representing an electorate that is no longer that way. It is rapidly becoming engaged and it is better understanding the politics and how to make a difference to get the change that the member for Corangamite and I know we need. I am going to finish with a quote that I used in my first speech:

The future is not some place we are going to, but one we are creating; the paths to it are not found, but made, and the making of these pathways changes both the maker and the destination.

We are showing that we are changing the destination.

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