Rowan Ramsey (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

In following the member for Brand in this debate, I am pleased to tell him that he should observe his home town of Whyalla—where the goodly residents of Grey have called upon a Liberal to represent them. I am sure he would be pleased with that result. It is appropriate that 12 months after Kevin Rudd committed to govern for all Australians we should look at what his commitment to regional Australia has been. It is time to match the rhetoric with the achievement. What has been done to support regional Australia in the last 12 months? Well, right at the top of the list, Regional Partnerships, as we know, have been axed. We have just listened to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government taking a broad slam at the Regional Partnerships program. But let us ask: what has replaced it in 12 months? Absolutely nothing has replaced that program. One thing that the minister can never find is supporters in regional Australia who say this was a bad program. The people of regional and rural Australia would like to see a return of the program.

While I am talking about the minister, I might point out that he also took a broadside at the coalition for not allowing an Independent to speak on this motion. The Independents of course can put an MPI up at any time. On this particular MPI they did not rise to support the motion. Having said that, they approached our whip after the start of debate and asked to displace one of our speakers—which, I might point out, would probably have been me—to speak in their place. We look forward to a cooperative relationship with the Independents.

The government have axed the Investing in Our Schools Program and the Community Water Grants program. They have raised taxes, registration and compliance costs for long-haul transport and  extra taxes on farm work vehicles, such as the ubiquitous LandCruiser; and they have tightened assets test guidelines for qualification for exceptional circumstances. Peter White, the President of the South Australian Farmers Federation, or SAFF, said just the other day that South Australian farmers are facing the worst situation for 80 years—since the Depression. It shows just how attuned this government are to the needs of regional Australia when, in the worst drought in recorded history, they slash community water grants and tighten the assets test for applying for exceptional circumstances.

Now we find that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is either asleep at the wheel or has no regard for those under pressure in the need to respond to the shortfalls in the exit grants program. It has just come to my attention in the last few weeks that in fact the $150,000 exit grants which were brought in last year in September, before the fall of the last government, are not quarantined from creditors. This means that, as land prices are falling and as farmers are under pressure, this incentive that was put in place to try to entice farmers off their properties so they can make a dignified exit from agriculture is in danger of being just gobbled up by the banks. The intention was never for this to be a support mechanism for the banking system; it was to help farmers make the decision to leave the farm with dignity.

The previous Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry was interrupted by the election and at this stage there has been no quarantining of those grants. That means this current minister has either refused to act on this quarantining measure or he does not care. I do not know which one it is, but either is pretty unpalatable to the constituents in my electorate of Grey in South Australia. If you destroy an economy, you will in the end destroy the community. This government has signalled its intention that it is willing to invest in urban infrastructure to support transport systems and to support failing state governments around Australia—to bail them out—but at this stage it has sat on its hands for the last 12 months and not lifted a finger to help rural Australia at a time when it is being challenged by the worst drought in 100 years. There is this discrepancy in the $150,000 exit grants, and I am asking Minister Burke to step up and fix that by making these grants off limits to the banks. (Time expired)

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