Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

We will test them out in this House as to whether or not they support this bill. Their communities will gain great confidence in the Labor Party if they vote against this bill. I represented some of the parts of Flynn that are now represented by the member for Flynn, including Barcaldine and Longreach. The member for Flynn holds that seat by some 130 votes. I am sure there would be 130 people out there watching the actions of the member for Flynn very closely to see whether he is going to support the Communications Fund bill or whether he is going to reject it. They know out there that, if he abandons them, they have an opportunity at the next election to abandon him—and they will abandon the member for Leichhardt as well.

I call on those two new Labor members who represent large rural seats in Queensland to make sure that they represent their electorates and not the Prime Minister, who calls himself a boy from the bush. We will see who the boy from the bush is. That is the challenge for the member for Flynn and for the member for Leichhardt. If you truly represent rural Australia, come over to this side of the House and demonstrate that the Labor Party does understand that there is an important principle in relation to this perpetual Communications Fund. It must be preserved for future generations. If those members want to preserve their place in this chamber after the next election, there is only one option for them to take: abandon their loyalty to that side of the chamber and come over to this side, because it is this side of the House that will make sure that, with communication needs and new technologies, the people of rural Australia are not left behind again, as they were for 13 years under the Hawke and Keating Labor governments. I oppose this bill and I thank my colleagues for the additional time they have given me.

See this speech in context