Regional Australians live with gross inequities with weaker services, patchy connectivity, higher costs and fewer opportunities close to home. You don’t fix that divide with a slogan.
Robinvale has a high volume of workers who may not have arrived through a dedicated agricultural migration program. The Nationals are focussed on re-establishing the Coalition-era dedicated Agriculture Visa to get the focus right.
I am pleased to see the Victorian Farmers’ Federation are pushing for something similar prioritisation of our best farming land in the lead up to November’s Victorian State election.
Mr Albanese told Parliament, as Opposition Leader, “We must be prepared for the uncertainty that global events unleash here at home. We must be more self-reliant …
The Nationals Leader, Senator Matt Canavan, wants a patriotic ‘Australia on steroids’ and his address to the National Press Club on Wednesday echoed what I have been saying for many years.
On Friday the Coalition called upon the Albanese Labor Government to halve the fuel excise for 3 months – delivering 26.3 cents per litre relief at the bowser. Saving most drivers around $20 on a tank of fuel.
In Question Time the Prime Minister keeps looking across the dispatch box to the Coalition for answers, because he has none - only complaints and accusations that ring ever hollow the more years of terrible government he leads.
Mallee petrol stations have been running out of diesel and unleaded. Minister Bowen admits over 100 Victorian petrol stations have run out of fuel, far more than in most other states.
Robinvale growers tell me their buyers won’t pay the higher cost of delivery to market so the painful choice may be not to harvest at all. One in 5 cropping farmers are considering not sowing this year.
