E&OE...................
Good evening. Although we live in a time of general economic plenty, there
are some areas of our country that are missing out. And because we are doing
well nationally the sense of loss and alienation in those areas is all the
greater. Many people in rural and regional areas feel this particularly
keenly when local services close and move away.
That is why we promised at the last election to do something tangible about
bringing services back to the bush. One of our key election promises was
to support the establishment of up to 500 rural transaction centres around
Australia to provide a range of services that have disappeared from many
small regional communities.
By opening rural transaction centres we are sending a clear message to rural
and regional Australia that we are determined to work with you to bring
services back to the bush. Those services could include banking, Medicare
Easyclaim and Centrelink as well as training and business support. This
will ensure that many more people in country areas have access to the services
that those of us in the city take for granted. When I recently opened the
first of these 500 centres in Eugowra, I paid tribute to the local community
who had worked to bring this about.
This policy is an example of what I call the social coalition in action.
We pool the financial resources of the government and the expertise and
local knowledge of communities and businesses in a creative partnership
which ensures that the final outcome is better than what any one group acting
alone could have achieved.
An important feature of this $70 million programme is that it empowers each
community to select the services it needs and role of the Government is
to and respond and listen. Goodnight.
[Ends]