Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you. It's great to see you, Chair. We are offended and dismayed by this government's decision to turn their backs on rural and regional Australia, the nine million of us who live outside of capital cities deserve your focus. We provide the ballast economically for this country. If you believe in equality of opportunity, then you have to believe that country kids deserve a quality education at a public school, and they deserve to be able to access health care just like everybody in the city. That means guaranteeing no cuts to rural and regional Australia in Jim Chalmers's budget.