Move Over Rhetoric It’s Time For Action

Any time you get a handful of politicians in one room, you can expect to hear a lot of rhetoric, a lot of well-rehearsed and polished speeches that go on forever, but don’t really amount to much.

In all honesty, there was a little of that at The Daily Telegraph Bush Summit last week, but there was also a lot of straight talking that cut right to the heart of the matter when it came to discussing issues of relevance to the country’s rural and regional communities.

Prime Minister Albanese was late for the Summit, but NSW Premier, Dominic Perrottet was onhand to kick things off.

Both spoke of what changes could be made to address the critical skills shortage across the country, including attracting international workers to Australia, particularly regional areas and simplifying permanent residency pathways.

Mr Perrottet said he would take the issue to the upcoming Jobs Summit in Canberra because it was imperative that they work quickly to address the shortages.

Issues tacked at the Bush Summit included:

• The housing crisis;
• Attracting young people to the bush;
• The Murray Darling Basin Plan and using water more efficiently;
• Health services;
• Infrastructure;
• Biosecurity;
• Export;
• Production;
• Digital Connectivity; and
• Tourism.

It was interesting to note that a very vocal Member for Murray, Helen Dalton MP, was not one of the participants invited to join the panel dealing with water.

“The Summit iwas a great opportunity to highlight Griffith and everything that is grown and manufactured in our region,” Ms Dalton said.

“As the local member elected on a water and agricultural platform, I was disappointed to not be given an opportunity to speak during the summit, particularly given there was a panel discussion on water and I don’t support buybacks because they are detrimental to the community.

“We need all levels of government - local, State and Federal - to be involved in the discussion and work together fo deliver outcomes.”

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