Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—I move:

That the Senate—

(a)

notes:

(i)

the challenges facing Australia’s rural and regional communities, and

(ii)

that the Government is showing its contempt of rural and regional Australia, including through cuts to rural and regional funding programs; and

(b)

calls on the Labor Government to continue the strong commitment of the former Coalition Government to rural and regional Australia.

It gives me some pleasure to stand here today to discuss this issue because there is nothing more important to me than rural and regional communities—their welfare, benefit, security and sustainability into the future. One of the things that is vitally important to those communities is support from government when it is needed. That is absolutely vital. Some of the most important people in this nation live in these communities. They provide fibre, food and the very backbone to this nation’s wealth and prosperity.

Certainly in recent times we have seen a dreadful period of drought. There are absolutely no two ways about that. Some areas have seen nearly seven years of drought. In recent days we have seen the government cut funding to rural and regional communities to the tune of nearly $500 million. To my mind, cutting drought funding to those communities, which are already struggling and doing it so terribly tough from these years and years of drought, is absolutely appalling.

The government talks about its fiscal responsibility. It certainly seems to be a very new-found fiscal responsibility because I had never heard about it in this place before about halfway through last year. This fiscal responsibility has led to the need for cuts, so the government says. But the government has introduced a range of cuts that affect people who are the victims of any rises in inflation, not the cause of it. These are the people who are least able to cope with any kind of funding cuts from the government.

Yet what do we see? We see this government completely ignoring the needs of rural and regional Australia. They think a shower of rain finishes a drought. That is absolutely indicative of what the Labor Party think about the bush. Not only do they have no idea how it works; they have no idea how people in rural and regional Australia function or feel. This is absolutely borne out by this latest round of funding cuts. It is not on; it is not fair. Labor need to be shown up over these cuts and over the appalling way they are treating rural and regional Australia.