Tony Zappia (Makin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Manufacturing) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Regional and rural communities have borne much of the burden of the Abbott government's incompetence and mismanagement of the Australian economy. Regional and rural communities already face disadvantages and barriers that most city dwellers do not, so their difficulties are amplified because of the Abbott government's decisions. No sector better understands that than the councils who have been hit exceptionally hard by the Abbott government's freezing of indexation of financial assistance grants, which cut a billion dollars of funding to the local government sector across Australia.

Councils are often one of the largest employers and job-creation entities within regional and rural communities. They do not have many other revenue options, so cutting their federal funding directly impacts on the services, the construction projects and the local jobs that they can generate. Likewise, cuts to health and education, community front-line services, the ABC and SBS and, for South Australia, the cut of $18 million to the supplementary local road funding which had been made available to that state for years have also had a disproportionate effect on country Australia.

The Abbott government has neglected country Australia because it takes the vote of country folks for granted and thinks that just throwing them a few scraps every now and then is all it needs to do. It is another example of the arrogance of the Abbott government and its disconnect with the Australian people.