Melissa Price (Durack, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In 2018, regional WA was faced with the gut-wrenching possibility of state Labor closing the Moora Residential College. After a relentless local grassroots campaign, I was proudly able to deliver $8.7 million to save Moora college. In the same year, I successfully fought alongside local families against Premier McGowan's plans to close the Schools of the Air. Late last year, the Labor government abused their parliamentary majority to decimate regional representation—shameful. It's Labor again demonstrating either that they do not understand regional WA or that they simply don't care.

So it is no surprise that communities reliant upon the agricultural region in my electorate of Durack are increasingly anxious about the rapid spread of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia, given that Labor are now at the helm at the state and federal levels. We on this side understand that you do not get a second crack at this. The export of red meat, livestock, wool and dairy would be lost overnight. WA Labor's agriculture minister, on the other hand, 'would not say it would be catastrophic'. Oh, it would be catastrophic, alright. Only recently were people who were in the UK during the mad cow disease outbreak, some 20 years ago, enabled to give blood. That includes me as well. I will continue to hold the state and federal Labor governments to account to ensure that regional Western Australia, and regional Australia more broadly, has the protection it needs and deserves.