Mr BRUCE SCOTT(8.12) —Mr Deputy Speaker and fellow members of the House of Representatives, I would like to express my appreciation to the constituents of Maranoa. They have selected me for this great honour and opportunity to represent them in this Parliament. I look forward to being part of the Thirty-sixth Parliament of Australia and to speaking out on those issues that I consider fundamental and for which I feel a responsibility so to do.

Like my immediate predecessors, Ian Cameron and Jim Corbett, the electorate of Maranoa is `home' to me. I wish to acknowledge the contribution of 10 years' service to this Parliament by Ian Cameron on behalf of the electors of Maranoa. He served on many committees and conference delegations throughout his parliamentary career. I would also like to place on record my appreciation for the support and advice given to me by Mr Jim Corbett and his wife, Ethel, who retain a strong interest in the affairs of this Parliament.

The vast rural electorate of Maranoa covers almost one-third of Queensland, over 625,000 square kilometres, with a population of 113,000 people and more than 71,000 electors. It encompasses farming centres like Dalby, the rich grazing areas in the Roma, Cunnamulla and Charleville districts and also includes the irrigation and farming centres of Emerald, St George and Cecil Plains. It also has the Moonie and Jackson oil fields and the mining town of Blackwater.

The nine Queensland State electorates of Roma, Carnarvon, Warrego, Balonne, Condamine, Gregory, Cunningham, Peak Downs and Auburn partially or wholly make up the Federal electorate of Maranoa. Having just lived through a summer of daylight saving in Queensland, it is interesting to note that the sun takes a full half hour to cross the electorate of Maranoa.

At this time I am reminded of the great Australians who have served in the various parliaments of the Commonwealth of Australia; people of vision, incentive and enthusiasm; men such as Menzies, Page, Anthony and indeed Billy Hughes who, it might interest members of this House to know, worked for my grandfather many years ago at the Romavilla vineyards.

It is with certainty that I say that men such as those I have mentioned were men of action and conscience. They were the men who did not allow politics to dictate their natural feelings of justice for all Australians. A natural disaster such as the one that has struck a large part of my electorate would have galvanised them into action. Places like Charleville, Cunnamulla and all those small settlements that rarely rate a mention in the media need help now and would have received it from former governments.

The men, women and children who have been affected by this natural disaster are Australians and should be treated as such. They do not command the balance of power in this Parliament. They play a vital role in providing services to a vast area of inland Australia. They have a sole parliamentary representative to put their interests and concerns to this Government. I have been given that task and I shall not let them down. I am appealing to all Australian political parties, not just to pay lip service in their acknowledgment of the disaster but to be prepared to do something about it.

It gives me no joy to have to highlight human tragedy and suffering in my maiden speech. It is now more than two weeks since the devastating floods and it is the general public rather than the Government who are showing their support. Indeed, as I arrived at the entrance to the House on Monday, I saw evidence of the wonderful public support being offered. The parliamentary security, social and sports clubs organised a raffle to aid the flood victims of Nyngan and Charleville which raised $3,000. Tonight the honourable member for Parkes (Mr Cobb) and I drew that raffle and the proceeds are being forwarded tomorrow.

The damage really has to be seen to be believed. These flood victims have no houses, no businesses and no jobs. In Charleville alone, in excess of 1,000 houses have been flooded. The Department of Primary Industries and Energy estimates stock losses in the Charleville and Cunnamulla area alone to be in the order of 300,000 sheep, 11,000 head of cattle, 9,000 kilometres of fencing and $6m worth of dams and plant.

The pioneers opened up this land with the assistance of different governments and this nation has prospered through drought and flood. We must not lose sight of the long term well-being of this country. Let us remember Darwin in 1974. The Government and ordinary Australians committed themselves to the re- establishment of Darwin. There was no posturing. There was action. The result of that action is readily apparent today in our most northern city.

People must be encouraged to live in our more isolated areas. They must be assisted with education, tax incentives, transport, communications and all those other benefits that urban Australians take for granted. Let us not be fooled into thinking that the heart of Australia can be ignored. Our future-this country's future-will depend on the development and utilisation of all our land. We must keep it alive and well. This means commitment by the people of Australia, through the Australian Government, to provide that support. What it means in plain language is money. I am not talking about low interest loans. I am not talking about public appeals for money.

This Government represents all Australians. It is time it forgot about technicalities and precedents. It is time it forgot about votes. To quote the battle cry well remembered on the other side of the House, it is time. What those people need is for a strong Prime Minister to say, `What needs to be done will be done'.

Support for the victims of the floods is vital. Grants to small businesses in those areas should be mandatory. Failure to make grants available will mean the total collapse of many businesses in the region and the subsequent loss of jobs for their employees and the economic ruin of the towns. Continuing employment is essential. The only way that this can be achieved is for the small business men and the small business women of these centres to be given the wherewithal to start again because, believe me, they have the heart to start again. But they need that money.

I was in Charleville last week on both Monday and Thursday. It was very noticeable that by Thursday there were signs of a breakdown in morale. Despair was starting to take hold and tensions were beginning to run high. When people had the flood to fight they showed courage and determination. They got on with the job and did what had to be done. The emergency services responded magnificently and immediately to the call for help and must be congratulated.

However, during the floods some deficiencies were identified in the equipment used in natural disasters. One such deficiency was the absence of the Chinook helicopters, with their great capacity to lift large and heavy loads. This put rescue operations at a distinct disadvantage. If our mothballed Chinooks are sold the proceeds will in no way assist our balance of trade figures. I believe that we cannot put a price on human suffering and the loss of livestock. From a natural disaster and strategic defence position, a limited number of these Chinooks must be put back in service. That should be a decision that is taken in the nation's best interest.

The problem now in western Maranoa is a lack of resources to rebuild and an uncertainty about the future. These Australians must be assured immediately that the country is behind them not only in spirit but also in a substantive fashion so that they can look forward, with hope, to the future. The need for help is too important to have to wait for the various State governments to put in action the different mechanisms that allow the Commonwealth Government to act. We must be forward-thinking and place ourselves in a position where support in all forms is swift and non-discriminatory.

When the re-establishment of these communities has taken place, it is time for us, the politicians, to look to the future and put in place a national natural disaster relief policy. This should be in the form of a national insurance scheme. I would propose a scheme whereby this Government would legislate to ensure that all insurance companies across Australia impose a levy for flooding. Clearly, the bitter lesson from the recent natural flood disaster supports this proposal. The cost to domestic policyholders is estimated at only $5 to $10 extra per annum on a standard householder's policy. Flood insurance for business houses would require a sliding scale depending on the value of the business. All Australian insurance policies would have standard risk cover. Flood insurance would be part of the policy, not optional. I envisage a scheme similar to the comprehensive car insurance scheme. The Federal arena is the only forum in which this type of action can take place.

This flood will have an adverse effect on our export income and will have ramifications for Australia for some time yet. I think it is pertinent to remind honourable members that in excess of 66 per cent of our export revenue comes from two industries-namely, primary industry and the mining industry. The wealth generated by these resources gives all Australians a better standard of living. We have become far too dependent on imports for our basic requirements, such as refrigerators, washing machines-in fact, most electrical items-as well as many of our motor vehicles.

Without the income from our previously mentioned resources, we would not be able to afford the domestic basics of our everyday life and our standard of living would decline. The Federal Government spent $132m in 1989-90 on export development grants. I think that is a good thing. It is an investment in Australia's future. I put it to the Prime Minister (Mr Hawke) and the Treasurer (Mr Keating) that a similar amount made as a grant to those areas in my electorate which have been devastated would be a good investment too. If this Government fails to make these grants, history will record 21 April 1990 as the day Charleville became Australia's Pompeii.

The electorate of Maranoa produces a wide range of export products which greatly benefit Australia's economy. Cotton, wool, beef and sheep meats, grain and coal are all produced in the electorate. It is a region which produces much of Australia's oil and gas requirements. Whilst Australia is recognised as a most effective producer of primary products, we must ensure as a nation that we give investors in rural communities every encouragement to further process these vital products.

What we must address urgently is inland development and further downstream processing of our export commodities. If we fail to do this we are guilty of mining our resources rather than cultivating them.

Let me give honourable members an example of how our resources are mined. The Jackson oilfield in the Cooper Creek Basin produces in excess of $265m worth of oil and gas annually and pays approximately $11m excise on that production. How much fuel tax is spent by the Federal Government where the wealth is generated? I suggest that not one dollar is returned to roads in this area.

A priority of this Government must be to ensure that part of the revenue from this resource is put back into the region annually. It must be spent on the development of the great inland road link between Darwin and the Murray-Riverland area. It would be a tourist route. The road would give faster access to the Asian markets via the port of Darwin. Further, it would act as a service road for the Jackson oilfields. This principle must flow on to other inland regions and we must ensure that money is put back into the businesses that generate much of the nation's wealth.

Decentralisation of our population is a must if we are to continue to have a productive rurally based economy. We cannot hide from the fact that our economy is based on rural and mining exports. Rather, Australians should be proud of that fact.

The expansion of Australia's long term economic future lies in the successful establishment of joint venture projects which can further process products from mining and agriculture. With the social and political changes now taking place in Asia and the Eastern bloc countries, such projects are a must. These are countries with huge populations and they will demand higher standards of living as the changes take place. We need to ensure that we give incentives to investors who are willing to invest in further downstream processing of our many exports. At the moment far too many leave the shores of Australia in a raw state.

There is an urgent need for joint venture projects to be encouraged between these nations to process many of our raw products. Two such products grown extensively in Maranoa are cotton and wool. Both have the potential to have further processing carried out in Australia. Further, we must encourage this processing to be carried out in the inland through inland regional development incentives. This would help to decentralise our population.

Honourable members will recall a most cynical exercise in the expenditure of public funds. Remember the advertising campaign `buy Australian-made'? Members of the community were positive in their approach to support that campaign, but what happened? We did not have the Australian-made products they demanded. Many of our essential items for life in Australia can be purchased only if we buy from overseas. We must accept that we are living on a line of credit well beyond our means, which cannot go on forever. Honourable members may think that, as a new member, I am being idealistic. Maybe so, but it does not hurt to have goals. We in this Parliament must encourage people to work harder and be more productive, and the best way this can be achieved is through a taxation system which does not discriminate against those people willing to work longer. They must be able to keep that remuneration for their own use.

The people of this country have to be given hope as hope is the great motivator. I see the function of this Government as providing an economic climate and the type of society in which individuals can decide the direction, the quality and the purpose of their own lives. We need to look at Australia's future with more determination and maturity. Australia is only a very small part in what is now a global economy where only the efficient and productive countries will prosper.

This Government has the responsibility to put in place legislation which not only deals with today's issues but also has a beneficial effect on our children's future. Todays children are tomorrows adults. Their future rests with today's decision-makers.

I would like to finish by thanking my family. I make a special mention of my mother, who is in the Speaker's Gallery tonight. I thank her, along with my children and my wife, for their support, without which I would not be here today. I thank honourable members for listening in silence.

Honourable members-Hear, hear!

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER (Mr Ronald Edwards) —Before I call the honourable member for Brisbane (Mr Bevis) I remind the House that this is the honourable member's maiden speech. I ask the House to extend to him the usual courtesies.