Tony Crook (O'Connor, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Riverina for his support in this because, clearly, it is going to be a major issue in the eastern Wheatbelt of Western Australia. I have heard some very heart-rending stories about where some of these farmers are going. I really am genuinely concerned about their mental wellbeing, about the wellbeing of their families and about the wellbeing and the life of some of these remote agricultural communities. Many of these outstanding regional communities are there on the back of what has been clearly an outstanding industry. I feel that we need to promote our agricultural industries to the fore. I would like to acknowledge the minister for making this money available because it has been well received. The urgency now is paramount. If it is not taken up by farmers within the next fortnight to three weeks, many will be in dire straits.

I also urge the government to release more information in relation to the Farm Finance including who will be eligible. There is still a doubt over who is going to receive these funds and whether there will be exit packages for people who do want to get off their land and allow other farmers to come in. What will the interest rates be for these concessional loans? I think all of these things need to be addressed as a matter of urgency and I urge the minister to liaise closely with all state governments to ensure that these procedures are put in place, so there clearly is a knowledge of where they are heading.

In closing I would like to again emphasise my extreme disappointment with this government and its inability to support regional Australia as I outlined in my speech previously. This parliament was one that was supposedly to focus on regional Australia by virtue of those that gave it power. In the early days it promised so much for regional Australia and it has failed us. I have a very simple comparison because I can compare it with the hung parliament in West Australia where the WA Nationals delivered the outstanding Royalties for Regions program, a program that is the envy of all other states. There is no doubt about that. They are the words of the federal Nationals leader, Warren Truss, not mine. He has seen first-hand the very distinctive regional policy that is the envy of all other states.

More importantly, the Western Australian government delivered stable government and that was done on the back of an outstanding policy, the Royalties for Regions policy. This parliament promised so much and has delivered so little for regional Australia. We have a minister saying that regional development funding can be spent in metropolitan areas because they are regions as well. I do not think there is one person in my electorate of O'Connor that considers the outer suburbs of Sydney a region or regional Australia. I strongly urge future governments that they have a strong focus on regional Australia. (Time expired)

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