Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

It is great to be up here talking the rural and regional Australia but not so great to be talking about the detrimental impact the budget will have out there in our regions. This budget is built on broken promises and wrong priorities and all it will do is increase the divide between the city and the bush. This budget is no friend to regional Australia. The minister, who is not in the chamber anymore, ought to be ashamed of this budget and its impact on rural and regional Australia. Minister Truss said just two weeks before the budget that to ignore regional Australia's needs for investment and growth is to turn our backs on opportunities for the future. For once I agree with him, but this budget, sadly, does not do that. It does actually turn its back on rural and regional Australia.

It was confirmed in Senate estimates this week that the Abbott government did not carry out an impact study by the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development on the impacts in regional Australia of this budget. They have not done one and they do not plan to do one, and one wonders why they will not do it. They will not do it, of course, because of the adverse impact on rural and regional Australia. As we have heard, there is the impact of the increases in the price of petrol and the impact of the GP tax. Then there are the cuts to the financial assistance grants with almost $1 billion over four years being ripped out of councils, and we know that this will impact more on smaller councils in rural and regional areas. What will those councils have to do? That was also revealed in Senate estimates this week when the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development officials said that local councils would need to reshape their budget in terms of no longer having access to the indexation. That means that local councils, particularly smaller ones in rural and regional Australia, will have to consider council rate increases or cutting staff or reducing services or not building roads in regional and rural areas or maintaining their roads. This will have a disproportionate impact on those regional and rural councils which cannot afford this cut by this government.

Higher council rates are be in addition to the GP tax that I talked about before. The Rural Doctors Association has said that this GP tax will have a detrimental effect on rural and regional Australia. In fact, Tamworth GP Dr Ian Kamerman has said that the scrapping of a program designed to attract more doctors to country areas is 'crazy'. He said the program provided valuable community exposure for junior doctors and attracted more doctors to rural practice, and the scrapping of this program in the Abbott government budget could undo gains that had been made in rural practice. Shame on those on the other side for cutting this program. It was vital to get doctors into rural areas right across this country. Dr Kamerman said that the GP tax would mean more paperwork for GPs, and of course this means more work for them.

The higher education changes will impact more adversely on regional and rural students and campuses. Professor Peter Lee, who is chair of the Regional Universities Network which represents six regional universities and is the Vice-chancellor of Southern Cross University, said that he fears that the cost of university education for many regional university students, including a large number who are of mature age, might dissuade them from pursuing further education. Again, shame on those on the other side for causing a disproportionate impact on rural and regional Australia from this policy as well.

We heard just yesterday more contempt for regional Australia with the closure of 10 regional ATO offices across Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and my home state of Tasmania. They have confirmed that they are closing offices in Toowoomba, Rockhampton, Mackay, Cairns, Port Macquarie, Grafton, Orange, Sale, Bendigo and Launceston. That is ripping public servants out of regional Australia as the ATO closes those offices. Of course, the slashing of public sector jobs is not finished yet. I am sure we will see more coming out of rural and regional Australia.

They have cut $350 million out of our Regional Development Australia Fund. That is not going down very well with rural and regional councils either. Of course the Stronger Regions Fund is not starting for another year and a half. Where is that money coming from? It was confirmed in Senate estimates that it has come from the regional assistance grants cuts. It is just a transfer of money, but there is nothing for 18 months. 'You could call it a transfer,' I think is what the department said.

Then of course there are the cuts to the ABC. We have not got any guarantees until they know their funding envelope that this also will not affect regional services that we know are critical, particularly for emergency services in regional Australia. (Time expired)

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