E&OE...........
Thank you very much to the Mayor, to Councillor Harding, my Federal Parliamentary colleague Kay Hull, citizens of Ganmain, my fellow Australians. It really is quite exciting to come to a gathering like this, to see the whole street closed off - they don';t do this in Sydney or Canberra for me. And to be part of what is I think a tremendous event for the town both in reality and also symbolically. Because the Rural Transaction Centre programme and the latest example of it which is the opening of this Rural Transaction Centre here in Ganmain, it is a declaration of the Government';s determination to do everything it can to preserve small country towns throughout Australia.
I don';t believe in an Australia which is only comprised of big cities and large regional hub cities. I believe in Australia where you have the big cities and they';re wonderful cities, you have the great hub cities like Wagga Wagga and Dubbo and Toowoomba and so forth but you also do everything you humanly can to maintain what is needed to preserve those wonderful small country towns which have given this nation so much of its identity, that have given this nation so much of its wealth and it';s seen by all of us, wherever we were born in Australia or if we';ve come to Australia from another country, is seen as part and parcel of what Australia has always been and what we will always hope that Australia will continue to be.
It';s not easy, the changing nature of rural industries, the very difficult circumstances that traditional rural industries have had with perverse trading conditions around the world, and that';s not getting any easier. The major trading blocs of the world are still determined to provide subsidies which do immense damage to the efficient farmers of Australia. It';s not easy but fortunately in the last two or three years there has been some turnaround in the fortunes of country Australia. I can';t unfortunately, because I don';t control the weather and I don';t control world markets, I can';t promise you that that';s going to continue.
But at least over the last two or three years, people in the country have had a bit of a respite and they';ve had an opportunity to rebuild and repay some debt and to put something away for more difficult times in the future. And it';s therefore very important that governments at every level do all they can to help stabilise the situation. We can';t totally reverse the process but we can help.
And the whole idea of the Regional Transaction Centre programme, and there are now something like 190 of them either opened or in the process of being established around Australia, the whole idea of this programme was to guarantee basic services in small country communities. And what is behind me is a metaphor for what the programme is all about. And I want to congratulate the Credit Union, congratulate you Councillor Harding and all of your colleagues and the Credit Union and the Credit Union movement, because the Credit Union movement the Credit Union movement has proved itself to be a great mate to country Australia because it has brought a lot of services back.
And you need basic services, you are entitled to have the sort of facilities that are going to be offered here. I mean you shouldn';t have to live in a town of a certain size to have some of these basic services and that';s what the Rural Transaction Centre policy has been about. And we';re going to maintain this policy and to provide as many of these centres as we can around Australia. And it needs a great co-operative effort and you get the Australian volunteer co-operative spirit on display to its very best of course when you come to country Australia. It';s always been necessary for country people to work together for a common goal. They know how to do it better than anybody else. And to bring about this Rural Transaction Centre that';s been necessary.
It is true that your local Federal Member has driven everybody mad in order to get the facility, and good on her, that';s her job and she is a very, very vigorous person. And you';ll have banking facilities, the full range of financial services, you';ll have access to Centrelink, Medicare, rural counselling services. And all of this will be under one roof. And it';s become very much a focal point for the local community.
But importantly what I hope it will do is say to the people of your community that the Government does care about you, you may not always agree with what we do, we might not always get it right, which we don';t, but we really care very much about the preservation of small country communities as the heart and soul of rural Australia. Because if we lose them our nation will be deprived forever of something that has always been part of the Australian identity. So it';s not just an economic thing, it';s not just a consideration of responding to public opinion and public feeling but it';s also a belief that the part of the Australia that I love and you love is represented at a gathering such as this. You wouldn';t get a gathering quite like this anywhere else in the world. You don';t get gatherings like this in communities in the big cities. We all tend to blend a bit each into the other. But each rural community has its own very distinct identity. And of course this community has a very long history and the book that was commissioned about the Coolamon Shire for the Centenary of Federation details the links with this part of the Shire with some of the rural industries of Australia. So we';re reconnecting with a bit of Australia';s history and the history of this part of Australia in opening this today.
And I want to thank the wonderful school children for their beautiful rendition of the national anthem. And I want to thank all of the men and women and the children of Ganmain. And I';m told that just about everybody is here, it';s a very, very large gathering. I want to thank all of you for coming along but most importantly, can I thank everybody who';s worked hard to make this event possible. Sure there';s been a financial contribution from the Federal Government and I';m glad that we';ve done that and I want to do it in other parts of Australia that have a similar need. But you needed the Credit Union, you needed the co-operation of the local community, you needed the energy of your local council, and I congratulate you Mr Shire President. And you also needed of course the energy of your local Member of Parliament. But most importantly this is a celebration today of the continuing spirit of country Australia. And I can';t tell you how much I feel privileged to be part of this quintessential Australian gathering, the main street of the country town closed off, everybody turning up, a beautiful rendition of the national anthem. And doing something that';s bringing back services to country Australia and I';m really delighted to be part of this and I';m glad the Government';s been able to be part of it.
I wish you well, thank you for what you have done for our country in the past and I hope that the facility that I now declare officially open will help you to continue to contribute to our great nation for years into the future.
Thank you.
[ends]