Dan Repacholi (Hunter, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

You've got to be kidding me! The opposition talking about betrayal of regional Australia? Come off it, everyone! Every time I drive around the Hunter, from Cessnock to Singleton to Muswellbrook to Lake Macquarie, I see locals working their guts out in the country, and I see this government backing them in. The last mob, who had nearly a decade in charge, had plenty of time to show regional Australia some love. Instead we got cuts, closures and photo opportunities in borrowed hi-vis gear. Roads crumbled, services disappeared and jobs went overseas. They talked a big game but delivered bugger-all, and now they want to talk about betrayal. The truth is that this government is standing with regional Australia.

See this speech in context