Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to make some remarks in relation to today's matter of public importance: the Gillard government's relentless negativity and failure to develop real solutions for all Australians. Isn't it extraordinary, colleagues, that we on this side of the chamber continually get charged with being negative and that it is the coalition that is negative? At the outset I will say that, if this were not such a bad government—if this were not such an appalling government giving us such atrocious policy—then those of us in the coalition sitting on this side of the chamber would not have to be so negative. Every time that the Prime Minister complains that the Leader of the Opposition is being negative, she should realise that it is simply because this is quite possibly the worst Labor government that this nation has ever seen.

It is also interesting, colleagues, that the Prime Minister is very quick to cry foul when anybody criticises her performances. If we criticise her performance, or indeed anybody from out there in the community does, we are supposedly being negative. No. We are doing so because the Prime Minister is doing an extremely bad job of running the country. That is the reason that we are being negative. But we are told that we are picking on the Prime Minister because she is a woman. The negativity towards the Prime Minister has absolutely nothing to do with the fact that she is a woman. We are negative towards her because she is doing such a bad job running this country.

This is a government that has absolutely no solutions, particularly for regional Australia. This government has consistently been negative towards regional Australia, turning their back particularly in the areas of education and agriculture. People out there in the regions have simply had enough of this appalling Labor government. Isn't it extraordinary that here we are discussing the fact that this government has no real solutions for all Australians, regardless of whether they are in regional Australia or anywhere else, when they have had years and years to prove to the Australian people that they have a plan and have some solutions. But they do not.

The very first area that I will be discussing today is access to education by students from regional Australia and how the this government has no solutions to this. Equity of access for regional students should be a priority. This government should find some solutions and give those regional students equity of access to education. At the ALP campaign launch on 16 August back in 2010, Prime Minister Gillard said: 'I believe we can build a nation where every child from every family, no matter where they are born in this country, no matter the circumstances of their birth, can get a great education and the opportunity to have their life transformed by it.' The Prime Minister should put her money where her mouth is because that statement has not resulted in any way, shape or forth to this government providing solutions to regional students when it comes to equity of access to education.

What this government has never got its head around—what this government has never understood—is that regional students face costs that city students simply do not face. Many of our regional students simply have no choice but to relocate to attend university or further education. They are at a huge disadvantage financially because it costs around $20,000 a year—and, indeed, the recent figures indicate that it is even more than that—for a regional family to send a student off to further their tertiary education. That is simply not good enough.

Independent youth allowance is the only measure that a lot of regional students have had over the years through which they could get any sort of financial assistance to help them go on to tertiary education. But this government made it harder for regional students in 2010. It took the coalition and, I have to say, particularly my regional colleagues, who understood this issue extremely well, 18 months of belting the government over the head—figuratively—to get them to change their minds and realise that they were treating regional students unfairly. That is simply not good enough. There are no solutions from this government. And it is not just that: the government make things worse, particularly for regional students.

Regarding independent youth allowance, the government has put in place a $150,000 parental income test cap for students who want to access it. That is simply illogical, wrong and stupid. Bear in mind that that is before income tax for both parents. We could effectively be talking about a police officer and a school teacher. Their children would be precluded from accessing independent youth allowance simply because their parents earn that amount. They would not be able to get any financial assistance. It is my view and National Party policy that we should have some assistance in place for regional students that would recognise the fact that there are huge relocation costs, without the requirement that they do a gap year. I will continue to push this. I know that my regional Liberal colleagues understand this issue very well. This is an issue of equity of access for regional students. It will help them get that education and put them on an equal level with their city cousins. That is only fair, right and proper. This government has no idea how to find any kind of solution to this problem and give those regional students some equity.

Indeed, this is the case even when we look at the bigger picture. In last year's MYEFO, the government cut $3.9 billion out of education. As I said, it is not only that this government has no real solutions; the government is effectively making things worse for this nation.

We only have to look at the debt and the economic mismanagement from this government to know that every single day this government is making it worse for people right across the country. When it comes to agriculture this government, again, has no real solutions and indeed is making it worse. Just recently the Prime Minister made some comments about dairy—that under the carbon tax the dairy industry not only would survive but would thrive. How ridiculous is that?

Senator Williams interjecting—

I will take that interjection, Senator Williams—that very interesting laugh. There is no understanding from this Prime Minister whatsoever about rural Australia. If the Prime Minister seriously thinks putting a carbon tax onto input costs right across the board for farmers—whether it be on electricity, fuel, transport or fertilisers—when the farmer is at the bottom of the food chain and has absolutely nowhere to pass that on, and if she seriously thinks that is going to result in a dairy industry that will thrive, then she simply does not have a clue.

It is no wonder this government cannot find any solutions, particularly for regional Australia, when every single one of the 21 around the cabinet table is from a city. The Prime Minister has not bothered to put one person from a region at her cabinet table. That is absolutely appalling. To someone from a regional area—I am a farmer from the central west of New South Wales—for the Prime Minister to continually be so dismissive of regional Australia is absolutely breathtaking. And we saw no more breathtaking action from the Prime Minister than the banning of the live export trade.

Rather than find a solution the Prime Minister bowed to what was seen to be pressure from the cities, coming through the emails from people who had no understanding of the industry. Yet what did the Prime Minister say? She said there had to be some 'short-term disruption'. The Prime Minister turned people's lives upside down in the northern part of this country and she calls it short-term disruption. That is appalling, and the Prime Minister should be embarrassed that she thinks that way about turning the lives of all those hardworking Australians upside down, many of them without an income and many of them having absolutely no idea—as I know my good colleague Senator Scullion understands probably better than anybody else. And the Prime Minister calls it short-term disruption. That is absolutely appalling.

This is a government with absolutely no solutions for the future of this country. And it is not just us on this side saying it; this Labor government has a proven track record of having no solutions. It does not matter where we turn, whether it be education, agriculture or right across the board. Particularly in regional Australia, where I am from, people have absolutely had enough. They want a government that is going to lead this nation properly, that is going to provide those solutions, and it is the coalition that will do that for them.