Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Assistant Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I can say at the outset that people in regional areas know that it is the National Party and the Liberal Party who are sticking up for them and doing the right thing by them, particularly when it comes to fixing the economy, rather than those on the other side.

We have been very clear on this side of the chamber that the best thing that we can do for regional Australia is to fix the economic mess that the previous Labor government left us. It is about time that those opposite took some responsibility for the mess that they have left us. If we were not paying $1 billion a month on the interest on the debt that the previous Labor government left us, we could actually do more for regional Australia.