Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I start my contribution today with a riddle: how many National and LNP members does it take to announce a website? In an event we just saw in the House of Representatives courtyard, there were at least 10 LNP and National members launching a website. That is how seriously they take issues in rural and regional Australia and the issues that are key and core to the matter before the House in this bill, the Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2017.

I would also point out to the House that we just voted on an omnibus bill that has a childcare component, which is very, very bad news for regional communities, making it impossible for people living in regional communities to secure child care. To partly offset that shameless act, the member for Indi moved an amendment in the consideration-in-detail stage of the bill which would at least partly offset the pain that will cause for rural and regional Australia. She started by insisting that the government develop a regional plan for child care, in the hope that we will overcome the pain caused by what the government just passed some time in the future. That was a very reasonable thing to request. That was one of the most reasonable amendments I have seen in this place in many, many years.

How could one oppose the idea of the government developing a plan to ensure that those living in rural and regional Australia can access child care? You would think no-one would be capable of opposing an amendment asking for such a strategic plan, but that is exactly what members opposite just did. That is exactly what every member of the Nationals and every member of the LNP representing rural seats in Queensland just did. That is inexplicable and it is a disgrace. They should hang their heads in shame. It surprised me greatly, because the media conference we just saw, where Barnaby Joyce and his colleagues launched a website, was about trying to stop the fracturing in the LNP in Queensland.

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