Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Well, you may be surprised, Minister and Senator Colbeck, but it is not the fact that we are on those, and I must say that both Mr Entsch and Mr Jones appear much more regularly than I. That is not what gives it the attraction to the TV stations and then to the advertisers. It is because people do like to know what is happening in their area in Townsville and Cairns.

I am surprised that you are telling me that in a part of Western Australia that I am not terribly familiar with—it is a lovely part of South Australia; I am sorry. There are lovely people there and lots going for it, but I would have thought that commercial forces would have applied in Mount Gambier as they do in Townsville, Cairns, Mackay and Rockhampton. That is the bit that I hesitate on when you—