Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to speak on behalf of Queenslanders living in rural and regional Australia, and perhaps to touch on a number of the areas that Senator McGrath has already touched on. Last week I had the great honour and privilege to visit the town of Hughenden in North Queensland to attend the 79th annual conference of the Western Queensland Local Government Association. That association covers councils such as Barcaldine Regional Council, Barcoo Shire Council, Blackall-Tambo Regional Council, Boulia Shire Council, Central Highlands Regional Council, Diamantina Shire Council, the Shire of Flinders, Isaac Regional Council, McKinlay Shire Council, Longreach Regional Council, Richmond Shire Council and the Shire of Winton.

I would particularly like to thank the Mayor of the Shire of Flinders, Mr Jones, and Juanita Holden from his office, for their great assistance and hospitality in hosting me in Hughenden for the day of the conference. During the course of that day I was able to hear a number of the debates and discussions that were going on at the council meeting in relation to issues affecting people in western Queensland.

One of the things that is of great concern to the local authorities is the issue of financial assistance grants. Financial assistance grants were a Labor initiative in 1974. Unfortunately, in the budget last year this government decided to freeze the indexation of financial assistance grants. I note the media release from the Local Government Association of Queensland yesterday expressing disappointment at the failure of the government to move away from that decision. There were some other aspects of the budget which, to be fair, the LGAQ did welcome, but that was one area of disappointment expressed by local government associations.

Those financial assistance grants are particularly important to struggling western Queensland local authorities. In some cases those financial assistance grants constitute up to half of the income of the local authorities. The total estimated figure for the cuts to the financial assistance grants in the electorate of Kennedy to 2017-18 is $27,698,012. Longreach Regional Council was projected to lose $3.3 million. As I said, whilst those grants only make up a small part of the revenue base for larger metropolitan councils, this is a significant part of the funding for rural and remote areas. The loss to regional Australia over four years is $680 million, compared to the loss for metropolitan local governments, which would be in the order of $245 million. That was one of the issues that was concerning the members of the Local Government Association of Western Queensland conference that I attended.

During the course of the day I also took the opportunity to meet with a long-time Labor supporter in Hughenden, Mr Albert Eastaughffe, who is a local store owner in the town. I also discovered the importance of the tourism industry, now, to struggling western Queensland. I heard a presentation from Mr Peter Homan, who is the general manager of the Outback Queensland Tourism Association. He made this very point—that, given the struggles of the agriculture industry, the importance of tourism to western Queensland cannot be underestimated. I join with Senator McGrath in saying to people throughout Australia that this is a wonderful time to visit western Queensland. There is a misperception that the water supply of the local towns has been affected. That is not the case. Western Queensland is open for business and it would welcome people to visit the very interesting parts of Queensland

I would like to move on to talk about the fact that last night's budget really did not address the future of Australia's struggling agricultural industry; it was more about Tony Abbott's job. Last year's budget was a complete failure for rural and regional Australia, and we have yet to see the agriculture white paper. The Abbott government has failed to deliver an agriculture white paper within 12 months of coming to office, as promised prior to the election. That means that, 20 months since the Abbott government took office, the agriculture sector still has no coherent, overarching strategic plan.

Prior to the election, Mr Abbott promised that his government would deliver the white paper within 12 months. That has not happened. The only significant reference to agriculture in the budget speech was yet another re-announcement of the concessional drought loans money which the agriculture minister has not yet been able to spend. Mr Joyce has been unable to spend this money because farmers either cannot access the loans or consider them unhelpful.

I return to my visit to Hughenden last week. The feedback we were getting from locals in Hughenden was quite clear: the drought package had been, up to now, most unhelpful because farming families were not eligible for the assistance. During my time in Hughenden I was told, time and again, that most farmers are having great difficulty accessing these facilities. People are frustrated about the government's slow response to drought affected farming areas. The people I spoke to were after more on-the-ground, immediate support. The tax breaks to assist drought affected farmers do not come into effect until July 2016, delivering modest assistance in 2017. That is hardly helpful for farmers suffering their third year of drought.

It is important to note the outstanding economic contribution that regional areas make towards Queensland. I agree with AgForce General President Grant Maudsley, who has indicated that agriculture is one of the most important sectors of the Queensland economy. Prolonged drought is threatening the survival of small towns in western Queensland, but Labor will fight hard to ensure rural Australia has the services it deserves.