Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on behalf of the thousands of young people who find to their dismay that this budget demonstrates the government’s total lack of understanding of or sympathy for the needs of young people across regional Australia. In fact, as I left to come to this chamber I found the member for Maranoa in the outer areas of the parliament crestfallen that he had been scoffed at by the member for Melbourne Ports because of his stern defence of regional issues in this country. For a member to scoff at a member representing a regional area of Queensland, like he did, and for the member for Maranoa to have such a reaction as to call the member for Melbourne Ports a ‘bush basher’ I thought was very unusual. I know that the member for Fowler would not have participated in any such attack on people in the bush. The budget contains a number of measures that strike at the very heart of rural electorates such as McMillan.

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