Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

What a bizarre contribution. One can only assume that Senator Hutchins was supporting the ultimate socialists—that is, communist Russia when they joined with Nazi Germany to take over the world. As I recall, the unions at that time would not load the armaments onto the wharves because the ultimate socialist nation of Russia did not want them to participate in the war. I can only assume that Senator Hutchins thinks there is something good about rolling over to aggression from socialist and Nazi combinations.

I am distracted. You have to wonder when the two most underperforming ministers in this chamber start referring to each other for support—two ministers who have been humiliated by enormous backdowns from their policy mantra over the last two years. When Senator Conroy, who was humiliated with his backflip on the National Broadband Network, starts referring to Senator Wong, who has been humiliated for her backdown on the emissions trading scheme, you know the Labor Party is in real trouble.

What concerns me, amongst all other major things in this budget that has been brought down by Mr Rudd, is the complete lack of interest the Labor Party has yet again shown for people who live in rural and regional Australia. As my colleagues have pointed out, the only department that has a direct influence in the industries that have been keeping Australian afloat in the last 12 months has been gutted to the extent of almost $1 billion. I challenge the next Labor speaker to point out to me what benefits have gone to rural and regional Australia in this budget—not, I might say, Bruce Highway roadworks, which were in fact flagged and funded by the previous government, but what new initiatives have there been for rural and regional Australia? Sure, Land and Water Australia has been annihilated. That was one organisation that did a lot of good research for rural and regional Australia and the industries that keep it going. The Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation has been absolutely shattered by the cutback in funding. That is nothing compared to what will happen to rural and regional Australia when even the totally backflipped and amended emissions trading scheme hits those parts of Australia that are not in the capital cities.

You have heard a lot of comments about infrastructure spending. It is a well-known fact that the infrastructure spending in last night’s budget was actually less than had been committed in the forward estimates by the previous government for Auslink. So they are spending less than we would have spent, had we still been in government. What they have spent in the way of infrastructure is all for infrastructure in the capital cities. There is nothing for rural and regional Australia. I assume the only one on the other side who has any interest in rural and regional Australia—because he used to drive a truck out there occasionally—is Senator Sterle, who I assume is going to speak next. I do not see anyone else in the chamber. I challenge Senator Sterle to point out to me just where in the budget there is any joy for rural and regional Australia. Where are the infrastructure projects?

On this side of the house there are five or six senators who actually live and work in regional Australia and understand the problems of rural and regional Australia, which nobody on the Labor Party side has any interest in or any concern about. The 31.8 per cent cut in the budget for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is symptomatic of this government’s lack of interest in what happens in the bush. Sure, spend all the money on your city voters; that is what the Labor Party is all about. Put us into debt that is even greater than what Mr Whitlam, Mr Hawke and Mr Keating gave us. This government demonstrates again that you cannot trust Labor with money.