Speech to The Nationals 90th Anniversary Federal Conference
19th June, 2010
My fellow Regional Australians,Today is the day we start the fight to restore a fair share to regional Australia.
Today The Nationals start the process of bringing back a fair share of the wealth that is created in regional Australia, back to the regions.
We want to create more jobs, opportunity and prosperity, to build the infrastructure we need and deserve, provide better health and education, and to enhance our quality of life.
And most importantly, we will not rely on giant new taxes on regional businesses that savage jobs and investment to do it.
The Nationals are united. Never have The Nationals been more focused on repairing the damage caused by Labor. The Nationals are ready for government.
For nearly three years now, regional Australia has been treated as the poor cousin of the capital cities.
The first Labor Budget stripped $1 billion out of regional programs. The second stripped out even more, and included an emissions trading tax. The third has given us a giant new mining tax.
We know that what is good for regional Australia is good for all of Australia. When the regions are prosperous, so is our nation.
This year The Nationals celebrate 90 years as a federal Parliamentary party, and nine decades of service and excellence for the people of rural and regional Australia.
Others have, and will, say more about this, including the great Doug Anthony at last night's launch of Paul Davey's marvellous new book Ninety Not Out.
I want to concentrate more today on what The Nationals want to do in the future, rather than the past. But a couple of historical facts are worth mentioning here today.
While the experts have always predicted our doom, since Federation in 1901 no party has spent as much time on the Government benches as The Nationals - more than 54 years, compared to the Liberals' nearly 42, Labor's 35, the Nationalists' 13 and the United Australia Party's 10 years.
We have also been the most stable of Australia's political parties. In our 90 years, we have had only 12 Federal Leaders, three of whom have been prime ministers and nearly all of whom have frequently acted as prime minister.
We have an admirable record of achievement, stability and purpose. We can always stand on and be proud of that record, but we also must continue to push forward with bigger and better programs, ideas and visions for regional Australia.
Later today we will consider the Party Organisation's Policy Platform that we will take to the election and beyond. It is a comprehensive and visionary set of ideas and policies. I congratulate Jacky Abbott and her team for capturing The Nationals' vision for the way forward for regional Australia.
Not all of these policies will be achievable immediately. Our first task will be to restore the Budget to surplus and start to pay back the Rudd debt. But there are some things we can do now.
This week I announced that if elected, a Liberal-Nationals government will introduce a new $600 million Bridges Renewal Program.
You could call it Bridges to Recovery, and it will make an excellent bookend to the strongly supported Roads to Recovery program (which of course was a Nationals' initiative).
You all know of the growing infrastructure problem posed by the decay of the more than 30,000 small road bridges, usually on secondary freight routes and mainly in regional Australia. Apart from the movement of freight, they are key economic assets in connecting local communities to the broader road network and getting people to work and school.
We want to start fixing these bridges. A new Coalition federal government will provide $300 million over four years, to be matched by the states or local government on a dollar for dollar and case by case basis. The money will be distributed on a competitive application basis giving priority to community needs and economic return.
This new federal program will make an enormous contribution over time in the huge job we have ahead of us in fixing those bridges. The NSW Government has suggested a benchmark figure of $700,000 to refurbish a bridge, so this is not a cost that can easily be accommodated on a small council budget.
But as Roads to Recovery has already shown, significant improvements can be made in a relatively short period. This is an example where our strong track record on delivery will be matched by our vision and commitment for a better future for regional Australia.
Today I want to make a further major announcement, this time in the area of education. No matter where you live, you or your children should be able to access the best possible education.
The Nationals have been particularly vocal on this important subject in recent times. The Government's changes to the Independent Youth Allowance created an enormous backlash from country areas, and genuine hardship for students wanting to support themselves while studying. It was a genuine betrayal of Labor's election promises to create an education revolution.
All The Nationals fought for a better deal for students. I should never single people out, but Fiona Nash and Darren Chester were out on front.
We know that Australia's geography and demography pose heavy challenges for regional families, especially as they move beyond the rich and educational experience offered by country schools to secondary or tertiary education in the larger cities. Students from regional areas are less likely to finish Year 12 than their metropolitan counterparts, and are significantly under-represented in tertiary education.
They are so much less likely to achieve a qualification - to become a doctor, an engineer or a lawyer. What a loss of talent. What a lost opportunity to build the skills base of country communities. I am tired of hearing these statistics and I want to the next Coalition government to do something about it.
The Coalition wants to encourage students to complete Year 12 and to support them when they move away from home to higher education.
So today, on behalf of the Coalition, I can announce that if elected we will establish a new $1 billion Regional Education Fund. This new funding is above and beyond existing money provided for regional education and will be used to bridge the education gap and to address the issues which lead to education under-achievement in the regions.
This Fund will be used to invest in 21st century education and communication tools to improve learning opportunities in the regions, and programs like encouraging quality teachers to move to - and stay in - regional and remote schools. It will support capital investment in regional universities, as well as initiatives by universities, especially regional universities, to offer innovative educational opportunities for country students and to provide extra material support for students who need to move to obtain their higher education.
The Coalition believes that school principals should be able to lead, and with their school councils be accountable and manage their funding responsibility. We will encourage creativity, problem solving and teamwork while retaining a core emphasis on numeracy and literacy. We will provide students with the skill sets that employers need. We will educate country students to be the professionals that regional communities need.
We will not stand still on education. We will not make promises that we cannot keep. We will improve education opportunities for regional people.
To oversee this new direction, the Coalition will appoint a Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Education. Unlike Labor's supposed regional appointees, this one will actually live outside the capital cities. We will also establish a dedicated regional education unit in the Department.
Our ministerial decentralisation will not end there either. The Coalition also plans to appoint a Minister Responsible for Regional Health, again with a dedicated regional health unit within the department and again under the control of a minister who lives and works among us.
Every Rudd Government Cabinet minister lives in a capital city. A new Coalition government Cabinet will include ministers who understand the regions and live there.
We respect the regions and the economic contribution the make to the wealth of our nation. We will deliver a fair share back to the regions from where it comes from.
Labor's Better Regions program will be kept, and it will be given an injection of funds which Labor promised but never delivered. It will be directed at doing what it says, which is creating better regions. Unlike Labor's pathetic version, people and communities not just Labor politicians and candidates will be able to apply for funds.
Our commitment to a fair share for regional Australia does not end with these new initiatives. We will have much more to say between now and the election.
We will not stand for neglect of the regions. Labor's city-centric approach must end.
Since the 2007 election loss, The Nationals have looked at where we can improve and how we can better represent regional Australians.
We have learnt, and we have buckled down to the job at hand. We have had to take on some key issues, such as forcing changes to Labor's attack on the youth allowance, the need to increase the single rate of pension and fighting to retain the single desk for exported wheat.
It should never be forgotten that if The Nationals had not stood firm in their absolute opposition to Labor's Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme, it would be law right now. From next year, everything that lives and breathes - and quite a few things that don't - would have been subjected to a tax on their emissions. We could never understand how this big new tax could lower the sea level or how trading pieces of paper would save the Barrier Reef.
But we did know that this was a tax that would add to the cost of everything we do.
Every one of your Federal Nationals played a role, and again I should not single anyone out. But it was Senator Barnaby Joyce who first coined the term "great big new tax" which resonated around the country. Our whole Senate team never let up - none of us did.
The Nationals have a proud record of achievement over 90 years, and this was one of our finest hours. And we did it from Opposition!
Imagine what we could do in government? For start, we could ensure that the Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme never lifts its mangy head again.
Another year and another Labor tax. This time the Resource Profits Super Tax. You don't need to rely on just The Nationals to oppose this one - almost everybody thinks it is a disaster in the making. The miners, the shareholders, the retirees, the workers, the country towns - this new tax comes from the same Rudd "kitchen cabinet" that made Peter Garrett chief roof insulation installer.
According to the Government, the mining super tax which cuts in at profit levels of only six percent will actually lead to more investment and make the industry stronger. I have never heard of a new tax that makes an industry bigger.
The CPRS tax was to reduce carbon emissions, the increased tax on cigarettes was to make people give up smoking and the tax on alcopops was to reduce drinking. But the great big new tax on mining was supposed to deliver more mining.
I can do no better than quote Sir Winston Churchill, who once said: "I contend that for a nation to try to tax itself into prosperity is like a man standing in a bucket and trying to lift himself up by the handle".
Sadly, this is just another example of Labor's spin, deception and broken promises.
For example, when Kevin Rudd said in 2007 he would turn back the boats, did anyone really think he meant turning back the bulk ore carriers or LNG tankers, and operating a water taxi service for asylum seekers?
When Kevin Rudd said we were not out of the economic woods, did anyone expect he would then attack the sector that has done the most to help us stave off recession?
When Kevin Rudd said he would put a school computer on every desk, did we think it meant only every third desk?
When Kevin Rudd said he was an economic conservative, did anyone think he would deliver the biggest Budget deficits in history and have nothing to show for it at the end except for cash splashes for more plasma screens and some overpriced school halls?
Heavens knows, governments don't have all the answers. Kevin Rudd and his team told everyone that they did, but actually they know nothing.
I am not here to question the public's decision in 2007. They are already doing it for themselves.
Australia simply cannot bear too much more of the pain and abuse being handed out by the Rudd Labor Government. Some of us here well remember the damage wrought on this nation by the Whitlam Government between 1972 and 1975.
Gough Whitlam was Prime Minister for 1104 days, and in some ways Australia is still recovering from enduring each and every one of them. Kevin Rudd has already racked up 938 days, and the nation is bleeding cash, confidence and hope like a ruptured artery.
The Treasurer, Wayne Swan, says the Budget will be back in surplus in two years time, and on the way to paying back all Government debt. I am indebted to Paul Davey, who in his book has reached back in time and uncovered a very special quote from another Labor Treasurer, Paul Keating. He said in 1990 that "in three years time there will be no Government debt, domestic or external".
We all know how that turned out, and how many years it took for the Liberal-Nationals Coalition to clean up the Hawke-Keating mess in government. It will be a long, hard haul to turn around the runaway debt train, when Rudd Government borrowing is increasing by an astonishing $100 million every single day.
The more time Labor has, the more they stuff it up. Proof positive is what the long-term Labor governments in New South Wales, Queensland and Victoria have done.
Ladies and gentlemen - don't wait until it's too late. Help us boot this lot out of the park.
Today, on behalf of the party I am so honoured to lead, I have put forward a positive approach which contrasts with the Rudd Government's high tax, high spend, no results policy.
We want to get government spending under control, and your money spent on worthwhile projects that benefit you. We want a tax system that rewards hard work, not unfairly penalises those who work hard. We want a world class education system, a compassionate welfare system that expects personal responsibility, a strong future for our farmers and other primary industries, vibrant small business, a sustainable population and better environment and quality telecommunications at a price you can afford.
I hope you will support our vision. Vote National, reclaim your future and help us to get you your fair share.
