Rick Wilson (O'Connor, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

It gives me great pleasure to speak on this MPI on the impact of the budget on regional people and particularly people in my electorate. I will get onto the impact of the budget but first I want to dwell on the impact the previous government had on my electorate. The first and most devastating decision that comes to mind was the suspension of the live export trade. You have to have lived in a regional area that produces livestock to understand the impact that this had on our communities. We saw live export prices for shipping wethers fall from $120 to $35. For farmers in my electorate a 1c increase in the fuel excise pales into insignificance compared to the loss of income they suffered in that one decision. It has taken four years to recover and I applaud the efforts of the Minister for Agriculture, who has instilled confidence back into the live export industry. Just recently at the Katanning saleyards we saw shipping wether prices reach $110 a tonne again for the first time since early 2012. I want to applaud the Minister for Agriculture for his efforts.

Then they introduced a carbon tax and families across electorate suffered the increase in living costs that people in metropolitan areas suffered. But it wasn't just that. The WA government copped a $50 million bill, which also impacted on the services people in regional areas receive. The mining industry, which is currently going through downturn in my electorate, copped the loss of the 7c rebate on diesel used off-road. That included diesel used in generator sets and picked up people on stations, picked up people who own roadhouses on the Nullarbor—all extra costs for people in my electorate.

The people of my electorate want roads. That is what they need and that is what they going to get from this government. I do not need to be lectured by the member for Bendigo about distances. I drive 650 kilometres from my home to my office in Kalgoorlie, I drive 480 kilometres from my home to my office in Esperance and I drive 180 kilometres from my home to my office in Albany. I have to tell you that the roads are well below standard. They are unsafe and the people of my community want new roads, they want upgraded roads, and this government is going to deliver a $50 billion infrastructure package which will build the roads of the 21st century. As part of that we will see an additional $320 million injected into Roads to Recovery, taking that program to over $2.1 billion over the forward estimates. This program is funding directly to local government authorities so that they can fix up the roads that they prioritise in their own areas. We have also just announced today an extra $520 million over the next three years for the road black spot program, once again a great investment by the government in saving people's lives in my electorate.

I want to finish today by talking about the diesel fuel rebate. People in my electorate very much dislike the diesel excise rebate being referred to as a subsidy. When the diesel fuel excise was introduced in 1957 it was introduced for road maintenance and building. It was deemed at the time that those people who did not use the roads—farmers, miners, fishermen and other off-road industries—would be exempt from paying that levy. That levy is critical to the economic wellbeing of my electorate and I am prepared to defend that levy. I am very pleased to say that this government also is committed to retaining the diesel fuel levy.

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