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

Life in regional and remote Australia can be very rewarding. Regional and remote Australia is home to much of our mineral and resources wealth, including agriculture, and many of the great wonders of our natural environment. Regional and remote Australia generates more than half of the nation's export wealth. Northern Australia, with only five per cent of Australia's population, generates more than 50 per cent of Australia's export wealth. Regional and remote Australia is where we find our connection with Indigenous culture and the mythology that informs our national character.

But life in regional and remote Australia can also be very challenging. The tyranny of distance imposes limits on access to essential and emergency services and often translates to inadequate transport infrastructure, fewer educational options and diminished employment opportunities. In regional and remote Australia, access to the full suite of Commonwealth taxpayer funded services and to the lifestyle and recreational pursuits that many Australians take for granted is an aspiration only, not a reality. The Australian Institute of Family Studies reported in 2011 that 23 to 31 per cent of inner regional families and 36 to 43 per cent of outer regional families had trouble accessing private and public services such as social security, infrastructure, health care, financial institutions, telecommunications and disability support. It's likely these rates would have been much higher than that for remote areas. In 1981 the Report of the public inquiry into income tax zone allowances noted:

… people living in remote areas … do not receive the same government services as those living in the main cities.

By any estimation this situation fails the fairness test. It could be concluded that there are two Australias: one for metropolitan citizens and another, far leaner version for regional Australians.

Regrettably this is mirrored in political representation in this parliament. Out of over 250 parliamentarians, very few represent regional and remote Australia, and even fewer represent northern Australia. In my home state of Queensland I have the support of many of my colleagues in this push to get a better deal for regional Australia. I particularly mention the work Senator O'Sullivan does as a fellow Queensland senator, the work of Mr Warren Entsch in representing our northernmost electorate, Mr George Christensen, Michelle Landry, David Littleproud out in the west, Senator Canavan around Rockhampton, Ken O'Dowd around Central Queensland, Keith Pitt around Bundaberg and John McVeigh in the west around Toowoomba. Those colleagues do understand this and work towards it.

One interesting thing about those members that I have just mentioned is that they're all from the Liberal National Party of Queensland, none from the Labor Party. The Labor Party's only representation in regional Queensland and in the north of Queensland is what I often refer to as the 'illegitimate member for Herbert', who won her seat by 37 votes when there were 200 cases of double voting and many examples and evidence of people who wanted to vote and couldn't. The member for Herbert is based in Townsville, as I am. She concentrates on Townsville matters—