Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Tonight's budget is a test for the new government. They spent the last 4½ months blaming the previous government, even though they inherited a growing economy, record low unemployment that was declining. They've spent a lot of time blaming the previous government but not a lot of time outlining to the Australian people what they are going to do, so tonight's budget is a huge test. It's particularly a test in rural and regional Australia because rural and regional Australia is such an important part of our social fabric and our economy. But there's a great concern, as I travel in rural and regional Australia, that the incoming new government is going to forget them, is going to ignore them; in fact, is going to see them as an easy target.

We have already seen a taste of that with the axing of the Building Better Regions Fund. This fund, as anyone who travelled in rural Australia would know, has funded so many positive projects that smaller councils, smaller regional towns, could not afford to do themselves. These are projects that made a real fundamental difference to people's lives, particularly in the bush where they have cost-of-living pressures that those in the city don't have; although I acknowledge those in the city are facing high petrol prices as well. I was recently up in Tom Price and Onslow, where the cost of diesel, which is still the principal transport fuel in the north of Western Australia, just like it is in regional and rural Australia as a whole, was north of $2.40, north of $2.50. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if, in the 10 days since I left those centres, the price has gone up again, so it is a big test for this government. (Time expired)