John Forrest (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I agree with the member for Pearce, the member for O’Connor and the member for Hinkler. I think the member for Pearce should be congratulated for bringing this comprehensive resolution before the chamber today. I think the thing that has been missed by government speakers is the strong sense of umbrage all of those volunteers now feel as a result of the way they have been treated. Who gets sacked these days by email? It has just been shabbily done. That has left a sour taste in the mouth of all those voluntary people who have been making a contribution because they believe in the communities—driving into the night after meetings to discuss important issues. The process has now left I think a hole in the consultative process. After all, these organisations were called area consultative committees.

In my part of the world there were four. The Mallee is a fairly significant geographical area. It is one-third of Victoria. Some of them I shared with other members—the Greater Green Triangle ACC in western Victoria; the Sunraysia Area Consultative Committee in the north-west; the Central Victoria ACC, which I think I shared in part with the member for Ballarat, who has made a contribution today; and the Central Murray ACC.

One of the great strengths of these organisations was that two of them crossed state boundaries. If you live down there across state boundaries, there are all sorts of anomalies that just frustrate a whole range of things, including regional development and economic development. There are different registrations. For goodness sake, in New South Wales and Victoria even the fire hydrants have different threads per inch. Two of those area consultative committees were working very strongly in making representations to government, particularly the federal government, to do something about this.

Their role was beyond what government members have outlined today. I think we have missed a golden opportunity here for the Commonwealth to have a role in what is essentially a state area of jurisdiction. I think we have taken a step back to colonial days. I corresponded with the Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia on this matter of border anomalies. He had the decency to share that maybe he had acted hastily and as being prepared, once he has the different states settled down, to introduce a memorandum of understanding to tackle this issue of border anomalies. It is a vexing question.

I just go back to the sense of umbrage that these people feel, as voluntary people on a voluntary board giving their wholehearted advice. I know that the member for Lyons made reference to partisanship. I made no obligation at all. There were people from all shades of politics on those four ACCs that I represented. I think that brought a richness. It was not a partisan thing at all. I think government members here today in this debate have overspun their response, particularly the member for Ballarat. Without actually admitting it, I think the government understands now that it may have made a mistake in handing over completely the responsibility of this issue. It will exclude the federal government in exercising its influence, especially—and I make the point again—on border anomalies. I think it is a lost opportunity.

To the chairs, the working committees and all of the staff of those four ACCs that have been a very useful input of information to me over the years, thank you for your contribution. It has been very much appreciated by me and it has been very much an important part of me making proper representations on their behalf. I hope the government will take note of the sentiments expressed by the member for Pearce and do something about the shabby way in which 150 people across Australia now do not know what their employment opportunities are going to be after 30 June, which is a little over four weeks away. I want to applaud those ACCs; they have conducted a very important role. It is just a pity that this government has overlooked that role. There are those who say that some of these ACCs have not performed very well; I want them to point to any one of my four and any one of the projects that they approved for economic development and say which one of those did not meet the criteria they established. (Time expired)

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