Sid Sidebottom (Braddon, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I just have to say to the member for Parkes, as much as I like him: really and truly. You said many of the people in your electorate are nervous about the future. But they would be a hell of a lot more nervous about the future if it had not been for this government and the previous government of ours, and the way we tackled the global financial crisis. You only have to look at Europe and the United States to see what could have happened. Relatively speaking, we are much better off than them. You will not recognise it, so your negativity needs to be spoken about. Before you leave the chamber: you raised issues about appropriation, and I would like to comment on them. For your information, and contrary to what you are saying, there are a record number of students enrolled in our universities today, and there are record numbers of students from rural and regional Australia—particularly from low-income families—in our universities. So I have to correct the way you were portraying the people of Parkes. Also, I will finish by saying that the NBN system—with some of the issues that you have raised, I acknowledge—is better, with the potential that exists for rural and regional Australia and particularly metropolitan Australia as well, compared to no policy at all from those opposite. So I cannot let the member for Parkes make those wild, exaggerated, generalised statements and just get away with it. I am sorry that he has walked out the door before at least he has had the opportunity to hear that.

Now, we are here to discuss appropriations, and—

Mr O'Dowd interjecting—

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