Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Last week marked the fourth anniversary of the election of the Abbott government. This week, it will be two years since the member for Wentworth rolled the member for Warringah. But who is cheering, I ask, Mr Speaker? Certainly no-one out there I speak with, and not even anyone on the other side.

And I can tell you who is not cheering, Mr Speaker: those who live in rural and regional Australia, particularly those in working-class families who hope for the best education for their children, certainly not those working-class families who rely on a universal health system and certainly not those regional families who were hoping for a decent NBN.

I'm glad to see the Prime Minister in the House to account for these things. Surely people opposite understand that every poor decision and every service cut imposed by government has a disproportionate impact on those living in rural and regional Australia? Now, after years of cutting their working conditions, the Prime Minister wants to feign care for blue-collar workers. He suddenly has an interest in coalminers and power station workers. The next time he meets one, it will be the first, Mr Speaker! Driving past the power stations and the coalmines, crying out to the driver, 'There they are!' isn't good enough. (Time expired)