Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the great divides is that of city and regional and rural communities. You appreciate that more when your postcode is or has ever been one that is regional, rural or remote. Cities have scale and, therefore, greater access and anonymity in relation to services and choice. More than 77 per cent of South Australia's population lives in Adelaide. We are proud, though, of our food and beverages. We have globally recognised regions and brands: the Barossa, the Coonawarra, McLaren Vale—I'm sure I forgot some—and Thomas Foods, Coopers, Swanport Harvest, and, on the west coast, incredible seafood in Coffin Bay, Smoky Bay and Ceduna. We've got breathtaking tourism destinations. We have the Flinders Ranges, Kangaroo Island and so much more. We love our way of life.

I'm here tonight for the 23 per cent of the population living regionally, rurally or remotely and because the country keeps the city going. Regional Australians are this Albanese government's forgotten people. There are warnings that the 3G shutdown will disproportionately impact phones, EFTPOS, and medical and security devices in regional areas. In June, Sky regional news ended its free-to-air broadcast to regional South Australia. And there have been more closures of regional bank branches. I helped to fight for the one in Coober Pedy, but we lost that one.

While the Labor state government continues to trash the health system, the impact is worse in the country. In Millicent, a young child was told that it was an eight-hour wait to see a doctor and that there were no local GPs in training. The Whyalla hospital has no birthing unit. Port Lincoln Hospital is restricted in delivering only some babies. Family violence services in the country are desperate for special attention. Without it, they've had to close their doors to new clients.

There was an announcement only this week about more job cuts related to steelworks at Whyalla—yes, just days ago. The water buyback bill creates uncertainty for agricultural producers relying on the River Murray for growing crops. Sheep farmers in SA confirm that the end of live sheep exports in WA will, without question, impact them.

Fourteen of the 19 Closing the Gap targets are not improving, and you can bet that outcomes are worse in the country. Ceduna and surrounds—well, locals are experiencing the devastating impact of the end of the cashless debit card, thanks to the Australian Labor Party and the Australian Greens. The Albanese government's report provided just recently included nothing on alcohol consumption, emergency presentations, gambling increases or the increase of children in out-of-home care. Why? Because South Australia didn't provide it. In a separate report on missing and murdered women, the police data for South Australia is absent, so SA's experience now won't inform the recommendations.

The Prime Minister does not care about the regions and trivialises issues important to them; its policies and actions prove it. I joined the AgriFutures Rural Women's Award gathering to hear the room fill with gasps, not laughs, when the PM's joke on live animal exports was just plain not funny. It was great to join SA finalist Nikki Atkinson, from the Flinders Ranges, and to congratulate the national winner, Northern Territorian Tanya Egerton.

The Albanese government cannot provide any assurance that the interest rate will be heading down any time soon, unlike comparable overseas countries. This week alone, the Net Zero Economy Authority Bill, Communications Legislation Amendment (Regional Broadcasting Continuity) Bill and the Nature Positive (Environment Information Australia) Bill will no doubt hurt regional Australians more. The Net Zero Economy Authority Bill, for instance, leaves Canberra bureaucrats in charge of how the regions transition to renewable energy—a plan destined to fail. It's just like during the Voice referendum, when Canberra thought they had all the answers for improving outcomes for Indigenous Australians. They were the only place to vote yes.

South Australia has the highest unemployment rate in the country, at 4.2 per cent—no other state in the country is above four per cent—and there's been a decline in the growth of the state's economic output. The Future Made in Australia legislation, soon to reach the Senate, is an affront to rural mining communities. Regional Australians deserve better. It's time to hold the Albanese Labor government to account and to call them out for their continued disregard of the millions of Australians who don't live in the capital cities.