Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Back by popular demand, obviously! My question is to the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories. It has been ten months since the federal election and five months since the budget. Why haven't local councils been given the eligibility criteria and funding guidelines for Labor's promised Growing Regions Program? It's important. Is this just another Labor broken promise to regional Australians?

Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thanks very much to the shadow minister for his question. I know that, like all regional Australians, we are both very keen to represent our regions. As you know, the Growing Regions Program is part of this government's measures of integrity, bringing integrity back into the grants program after years and years of pork-barrelling and rorting on the part of the former government. We are taking our time to make sure that the guidelines are the best they can possibly be. We are undertaking consultation currently with the regional development sector, and I'll have more to say about the announcement and opening of the program shortly.