Federal politics

Rex has confirmed the withdrawal of services from five regional centres: Bathurst; Grafton; Lismore; Kangaroo Island, Ballina ... "Qantas’ well-publicised predatory actions on Rex’s regional routes have meant that Rex no longer has the ability to cross subsidise these marginal routes. It is unfortunate that these regional communities are the collateral damage of Qantas’ bullying and heartless behaviour. This behaviour is all the more unconscionable after receiving over $2 billion in Federal bailouts over the past 2 years” : Rex’s Deputy Chairman, the Hon John Sharp AM.

... when it came to it, when the ALP was clearly still in a minority, yet desperately wished to form Government and appoint themselves as Ministers of the Crown (nice cars, overseas trips, bigger offices, extra staff, higher pay, etc) the independents rolled-over like pussy cats wanting their bellies patted. Or should we say, five independents, three of them from rural seats, those selected carefully by the ALP, rolled-over.

Local electorates of Mallee and Farrer have resisted the urge for change, retaining the Nationals member, Anne Webster, for Mallee and Sussan Ley for Farrer, who both find themselves in opposition. Little is known of what the future holds for our agriculture, forestry, irrigation and rivers with the change of government.

Despite the Liberals losing the 2022 Federal Election, Member for Farrer Sussan Ley continued her dominance in the area to retain her seat which is the second largest electorate in New South Wales ... Her first preference votes numbered 46,966 (53.4 percent) while Labor candidate Darren Cameron received 16,683 first preference votes (19 percent).

Kevin Hogan has retained the seat of Page for The Nationals following the 2022 Federal election ... Mr Hogan described his most recent re-election as very humbling, adding this one is personal. While she was unsuccessful in her first Federal election despite polling more than 12000 first preference votes with 86.7 percent of the total vote counted at the time of publication, Independent candidate for the seat of Page Dr Hanabeth Luke spoke positively about the experience, revealing she also plans to run again.

Warren Entsch says he has no intention of pulling the pin early and will see out his ninth and final term in parliament ... “I have kept just about every single promise I have made in politics and I will see out the full duration of this term ... It was a respectful campaign from Labor but they sensed their chance and put a lot more work in this time around.”

"The NFF looks forward to continuing our productive relationship with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his leadership team on the priority issues for agriculture and the bush. Prime Minister Albanese has always demonstrated strong support for our sector’s opportunities and challenges. We were delighted to host the now Prime Minister in person at NFF’s National Conference in April" : NFF President, Fiona Simson.

NSW Farmers CEO Pete Arkle says the future of agriculture must be a focus for the incoming Labor government. With Australians voting for change at Saturday’s poll, Mr Arkle said there were clear challenges and opportunities for the new cabinet.

National Farmers’ Federation President Fiona Simson: "This election, the NFF was looking for ideas and funding commitments to propel the farm sector’s growth trajectory and to give the support regional Australia needs to reach its potential. Unfortunately, all parties have fallen short ... The NFF was shocked and frustrated, when at the eleventh hour this week Anthony Albanese put a red pen through the $500 million Regionalisation Fund. This announcement was not included in Labor’s official response to the NFF." The Coalition’s regionalisation plan also falls short of the $4.1 billion ask from the NFF.

Chris Oldfield. “For an elderly person - or any person - with blood cancer to be forced to get on a bus to Adelaide or Warrnambool to see a haematologist while they are very sick, navigate their way to the specialist, then find and pay for accommodation, then get back on a bus for up to 450kms (to return home)– well it’s a disgrace”: Senate hopeful Nick Xenophon.

To demonstrate the magnitude of ignorance, look no further than the coffers of Australia’s largest irrigator, the taxpayer funded Commonwealth Environmental Water Holder (CEWH). For the 2021-22 season, the CEWH has a total of 2,365,000 megalitres – 1,640,000 in new allocation and 725,000 in carryover from the year previous – 1,030,400 of that in the Murray system. As of March 31, 2022, the CEWH had used 492,200 megalitres in the Murray system for the 2021-22 season.

A Charles Sturt University early childhood education expert asks where in the 2022 election campaign is the commitment to big investment and to big policy ideas that ensure free and accessible early childhood education for the long-term? Dr Leanne Gibbs tells ARR.News how the challenges in workforce supply and retention in the ECE sector are even greater in rural, regional and remote areas within Australia.

Kookaburra decided that it could be helpful for readers of Australian Rural & Regional News if we were to conduct a survey of independent candidates from across rural and regional Australia to find out which party group they would support in the event of a hung Parliament.

More than 50 new homes will be built in Cape York communities to address major overcrowding issues, but the state government has taken all the credit, despite using federal funding. Not for the first time, the health and wellbeing of Queensland’s most remote and vulnerable residents has been politicised.

In an election campaign of hits and misses for farmers and regional Australia, the National Farmers’ Federation has revealed how the major parties stack up against its election priorities, rating them in a Policy Voting Guide.

In order to assist readers of Australian Rural & Regional News to obtain some more policy detail from candidates running for rural and regional seats at the up and coming Federal election, Kookaburra has put together a list of questions on some critical issues which one might expect any candidate standing for Parliament to be able to answer ... 1. If you are an independent candidate, in the event of a hung Parliament, will you support the formation of a Coalition or an ALP minority government?