Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

It is very pleasing to hear the member for Kennedy back in the building. I am not sure my ears are so pleased, though! This matter of public importance is about economic security in regional Australia. During the discussions in relation to the formation of the government, both Mr Abbott and Ms Gillard agreed that regional Australia had been neglected. That was a great admission on their behalf. They were prepared to admit that the parties and governments that they both belong to had been party to the neglect of regional Australia. Those were their words, not mine. Part of the arrangements that were put in place, particularly with the member for Lyne and me, were to try and improve the lot of regional Australia.

There are a lot of things in the current budget for regional Australia, not the least of which are some of the spatial budgeting initiatives to try and get a handle on government spending in various governmental areas. But a whole range of regional packages and infrastructure packages have been set up, including the Education Investment Fund, of half a billion dollars, and the Health and Hospitals Fund, where $1.8 billion was assigned to country Australia. That was not to ignore city Australia, but to redress the imbalance that both leaders agreed had occurred—for political reasons. Loyalty is not rewarded in Australia as it should be, probably, and the subservient country members, on all sides, are outnumbered by the city based politicians of their parties. So there was a degree of neglect that had occurred, and a range of packages were set up. As of the budget the other night, 130 health services had gained support through the Health and Hospitals Fund, and the member for Riverina's hospital was one of them. And a whole range of country universities and TAFEs will get support through the Education Investment Fund.

Given the limited time, I would just like to say that there is a lot of talk about the carbon tax, emissions trading schemes, renewable energy et cetera and how the price of power is supposedly going to go through the roof. The day the sky does not fall in is going to be a fascinating day in politics for me! The member for Parkes referred to some comments I had made in relation to the beef industry. We are working with various people in the meat-processing area at the moment. There is a clean energy fund. There are a number of initiatives in the carbon-pricing arrangements where companies and individuals can seek assistance. In the meat industry, a lot of the abattoirs and networks are very old. They have enormous effluent issues, water issues, et cetera. In recent months, with a number of companies, we have been looking at various technologies internationally. If you listen to the NFF, the National Party and a number of others, they will say that it will just destroy the beef industry—in fact, the reverse could occur. I would urge those who work in the meat industry and those who manage, run and invest in the meat industry to have a look at these packages and at what can be done to turn what you believe is a potential negative—and what is being bleated at you as a potential negative—into a real positive in terms of your unit cost of production, fertiliser development and a whole range of things that can come out of the various effluents that are used.

That applies not only to the meat industry; it can apply to parts of the dairy industry. The piggery people are onto it already. They are actually doing it. There are enormous potential positives in relation to renewable energy resources in country Australia. I thank you, Mr Deputy Speaker, for the little time that I have had.

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