Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to highlight the abject mess Labor is creating for my communities in my electorate of Farrer, not by what it is doing but more by what it is not doing. Farmers from my electorate took a six-hour bus trip to yesterday's national ag rally outside Parliament House. Among the issues they wanted those opposite to hear were huge concerns about too much water being removed from my irrigation communities. Did the water minister make the effort to listen? Did the minister for agriculture come out to meet them? They were too busy—unavailable.

The minister for regional development is sitting on over $200 million for the Growing Regions Program. Successful applicants were finally announced in May. Four months on, not one cent has rolled out the door. The communications minister is responsible for the coalition's highly successful Mobile Black Spot Program—at least it was successful until this government got hold of it.

Towers promised have been secretly abandoned since Labor came to office, with the funding apparently devoted elsewhere. A question sent to Minister Rowland's office on another tower in Farrer is now two months old—again, no response. The health minister has meeting requests in his in-tray relating to a state funding impasse on the new Albury-Wodonga hospital. What's the response? Nothing. We raise these issues a lot on this side of the House.

When elected, the Prime Minister declared he would govern for all Australians. What we want to know is: when, Prime Minister, when?