Nick Champion (Wakefield, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I welcome this matter of public importance debate because, in the short period that this government has been in office, I think we have a really positive record in my electorate of Wakefield, in South Australia and across the country. But I must admit that the question is so broad I did not expect to see such a focus from the opposition on Gippsland. We heard the member for McMillan go through a soap opera of characters. From what I read about Darren McCubbin, I understand he has lived in the area for the whole of his life and he might represent the area well, unlike his predecessor, who presided over the equine influenza disaster. (Quorum formed) I am glad I have a crowd, if only for a short period.

One thing that has not been mentioned in this debate is the issue of computers in schools. In my own electorate, the high school in the town of Clare, which is one of the regional towns in my electorate—it has great wine—will receive 110 computers and Riverton High School, which is just down the road, will receive 73 computers. I do not know very much about Gippsland and I do not know very much about Darren McCubbin, but I can tell you this: in this place here is a vote for computers in schools—not just in Gippsland, not just in Wakefield but across the country, and that counts for a lot.

It used to be said that the National Party tail wagged the Liberal Party dog. That was code for saying that the country did better out of a coalition than it should. But with the previous government, if it was a dog it was a doberman, a vicious dog with a very small tail, because we know that over the decade the regions did not do so well. There was underfunding of roads; there was an annual reduction of $244 million a year over that period.

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