E&OE……………………………………………………………………………………
Thank you very much Ian Macdonald. To Peter Andren, the federal member for Calare, Mr Mayor, to my parliamentary colleague, Senator Bill Heffernan, Senator for New South Wales, other distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen.
This is a very important morning in the future of rural and regional Australia. By opening this first rural transaction centre here in Eugowra we are sending a very clear signal to rural and regional Australia of our determination to work with you to bring services back to the bush.
That is what this is about. It is a project of substance designed to recognise and respond as best we can to a heartfelt plea that is coming from rural and regional Australia about the impact on small communities of the withdrawal and the decline of the availability of services. And by committing ourselves in the last election campaign to opening something like 500 of these in partnership with local communities we committed ourselves to a programme that had substance and not just rhetoric. We don’t pretend that opening rural transaction centres in Eugowra or indeed anywhere else in our nation is going to of itself respond to all of the concerns that are legitimately felt and expressed out of rural Australia.
But we hope by this policy to deal with one of the particular problems that people experience. And it has, as you know, and I don’t need to remind communities such as this and you are gathered here in the main street in such a cross-section of the local community. And it really does remind me of the, of what the heart and soul of rural and regional Australia is all about. That sense of community, that capacity to work together for the common good. To put aside differences, to pool the resources that you have as Australians to build a better local community. And the rural transaction centre policy is an expression of something that I hold very dear as Prime Minister and that is the notion of the social coalition. The notion that none of us acting alone can solve every problem we have. We as a Federal Government can’t solve every problem, you as a local community can’t, the business community can make a contribution, individuals and welfare organisations can also play a role. But acting alone we can’t solve problems. But acting together and pooling the resources we have and bringing the best that we can bring to each and every problem we are able to achieve things together.
And that is what the rural transaction centre policy is all about. It is about the Government providing the catalyst, the Government providing financial support, seeking projects from local communities and then working in partnership with local communities, local business organisations. Providing an outlet for government services such as Centrelink and Medicare easy claim facilities and so providing a critical mass of services in a small community where companies and banks and other organisations acting alone couldn’t possibly achieve.
And that is really what the concept is all about. And it is an expression, a living expression, of the social coalition. And it is, I believe, very sincerely the way of the future. We have to find a way as a nation to arrest the decline of services in the bush. I understand that and I understand the feeling that people in regional and rural Australia have on that subject. I can’t promise you in all honesty that we can meet every concern. I can’t promise you that everybody who wants a rural transaction centre can have one. I can’t promise you that every service that has disappeared from a small rural community is going to be replaced or inadequate services augmented by rural transaction centres. But I can promise you that we will make an honest endeavour and we will over time make a significant difference. Because as a Government, and can I say, collectively as a nation, I believe Australians are seized of the importance of providing practical assistance to the regions and the rural areas of our country.
I have frequently said, and I’ll repeat it again here this morning, that I cannot conceive of what the nation, the Australia that I grew up to love as a person, as a young person in the 1950s, I can’t imagine what that nation would be like if it didn’t have as a vibrant part of it the bush, the regional and rural part of our country which is so very important to how we see ourselves and understand ourselves and identify ourselves as Australians.
And I am very conscious as your Prime Minister of the fact that although at a national level our country is experiencing very significant prosperity and affluence at a national level I am very conscious that at a regional and rural level in particular there are many areas of Australia who are not sharing in that. And the sense of loss and deprivation and alienation that is being felt by people in those areas of Australia is all the more acute because of the relative affluence of our nation at a national level. And I know the impact on a country town when services go. Not only are the services extracted, not only do they disappear but business follows them and the cash flow of the town collapses and the economic base of the town is threatened. The job availabilities for the young people dwindle and disappear. Other services are threatened and it becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy.
And what we are in the business of trying to do through rural transaction centres and other policies is to reverse that process. We hope to make a big difference and I am delighted that I have had the opportunity to come here this morning and to open the first of 500 of these. I want to thank and congratulate the local community because without your energy and effort this would not have been possible. And without the energy and effort of 499 other local communities around Australia it will not be possible.
As Ian said there is taking place in Canberra at the present time, and I welcome them to this ceremony, a regional summit which has brought together the leaders of regional and rural Australia from all around our nation. And we as a Government are listening to the concerns of people from the regions. Last night I had the opportunity of announcing a major national infrastructure project, the final commitment to the Darwin to Alice Springs railway which brings to a positive fruition a dream that people have had in that part of Australia for almost 90 years. To build a railway that will link the southern ocean to the Timor Sea. And it’s another demonstration of our commitment and the commitment of the rest of the Australian people to providing not only in the case of rural transactions centres the services but also providing the basic infrastructure which is so necessary to support a nation as large and as vastly populated in so many areas as is Australia.
So this morning, my fellow Australians, is a wonderful celebration of the Australian spirit. It is a celebration of the determination of people to work together at a local level to reverse a decline of services. It is a celebration of the willingness of the Government to respond and listen, to acknowledge that at a time of national economic plenty it is only right and proper that all Australians feel included and it is wrong that some Australians should feel excluded and feel that they are missing out.
And I hope in a small way and in a way that will grow extensively throughout the rest of our nation we can through these rural transaction centres not only provide the substance of services so necessary to your daily lives but also provide a powerful signal to the people of the Australian bush that we care, that we are responding and that we are trying to help.
And can I finally say what a wonderful experience it always is for me as Prime Minister to get out of the big cities, to come and meet a local community. I feel very honoured that I am the first Prime Minister of Australia who have come to Eugowra and I really feel very privileged to be with you. I can’t think of a better way of spending a Friday morning after a week or two of zigzagging all over the country and making speeches in this and that part of Australia to come here to what is the heart and soul of a very important part of our national existence and our national psyche.
So, ladies and gentlemen, thank you most sincerely for what you have done to bring today’s reality about. Your faith and commitment in your community is something I admire and your fellow Australians admire greatly and I have great pleasure in declaring the Rural Transaction Centre of Eugowra 1999 officially opened.
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