My recent Queensland Tour - Senate Speech 9.05.23

It was good to get back on the road to talk to regional Queenslanders where I travelled over 4,000 kilometres for two weeks.

There is no doubt the regions, despite producing most of Australia’s wealth are being let down by both the Federal and State governments.

Thank you to the more than 1,200 people who took the time to come and share their concerns with me at Meet and Greet functions.

Many regions shared the same concerns including:

- The closure of essential services especially banking
- The shortage of GPs and critical healthcare
- Housing shortages
- Labor shortages
- No government investment in long-term infrastructure like roads and dams
- The threat of renewables to local environments
- Conglomerates with no stake in the community buying up assets
- Unaffordable Insurance

One significant change I’ve noticed in the regions since my first time as a senate candidate in 2016, is the number of regional newspapers that have closed down. The centralisation of news out of the cities is leaving many towns with no local voice. It does beg the question if the media, like so many other industries have become too concentrated.

There is a belief in the regions that they are ignored by Labor who are more focused on inner city issues, and that these issues are a threat to mining and agriculture industries and the jobs and prosperity they provide.

People want governments to provide essential services, especially dams and energy, not more rules and regulation.