Malcolm Turnbull Dumps Rural & Regional Australia and His Party revolts.

Incredible and unprecedented scenes in the Senate last night. No fewer than 27 Liberal Senators revolted against a last minute backflip by their leader Malcolm Turnbull that was a blatant sellout of rural & regional Australia.

The Federal Government’s billion dollar infrastructure package has passed the Senate but only after an Opposition back flip and extraordinary scenes that saw the Coalition split.

The National Party is outraged by Malcolm Turnbull’s decision to support the bill because the new legislation axes a Howard Government $2-billion rural and regional telecommunications fund.

Well it’s clear that some members of the Liberal Party felt the same way. They crossed the floor to vote with the Nationals and many more abstained.

You will recall yesterday that Nationals leader Barnaby Joyce wrote to us saying:

An attempt by the Rudd Labor Government to rob rural and regional communities of future telecommunications funding has been stopped in the Senate by Coalition senators, Independent Senator Nick Xenophon and Family First Senator Steve Fielding.

That was the way it stood at lunch time until Coalition leader Malcolm Turnbull pulled the rug out from under rural & regional Australia. This mornings Tony Eastley ABC AM program reported:

Just before lunch yesterday the Coalition, combining with the minor parties and independents, began amending the infrastructure funds bills in a way, it said, that made the process more accountable.

Then at 10 last night the bill was returned to the House of Representatives where the Government knocked out the amendments. The Coalition opposed that move.

In between that vote and the bill returning to the Senate just before midnight there was a last minute decision to let the legislation pass.

The Nationals are furious at Turnbull’s treacherous betrayal, from The Australian Online.

The Nationals were furious over the backflip.

Before crossing the floor, Nationals Senator Fiona Nash said the Coalition should have insisted on the change.

“Those people out in regional Australian need our support, they trust us,” she said.

“We won’t be walking away from the people of rural Australia.”

Nationals senator Ron Boswell said he would not betray regional Australia’s trust.

“I’ll walk across the floor before I walk away from that trust,” Senator Boswell said.

Senator Boswell has written to us explaining the situation. You can see that here.

Here is the incredible part, which shows that there are plenty of Liberal members with a conscience, even if they don’t have the courage of their convictions. Here is how the Liberals handled the vote in the Senate.

32 Liberal Senators

2 voted with the Nationals

5 voted with Labor

25 either abstained or did not vote

The two liberal Senators who have won the admiration and respect of rural & regional Australia for having the integrity and courage to cross the floor with the Nationals were:

Liberal Senator for WA Alan Eggleston

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Liberal Senator for South Australia Alan Ferguson

It is particularly pleasing to see Senator Ferguson standing up for rural & regional Australia with his farming background after Agmates name him in our Shame file earlier in the week. He has redeemed himself.

Here is how the ABC AM program reported what happened at the vote.

Then it came time to vote to allow the Coalition’s communications fund to be subsumed into the Labor funds and that’s when the situation became extraordinary.

Liberals melted away out of the Chamber. Some came in as the division bells rang only to walk out again. One Liberal senator did a lap of the Chamber before running to get out as the doors closed.

I am still trying to find out who the 5 Liberals that voted with the government were. I’ll update this when I do.

Now here is the Liberal Party Shame file.

How can any of these Liberal Party Members even pretend to represent the best interest of their rural & regional constituents, when they refused to stand up and be counted.

In particular these Senators should be ashamed of themselves.

In fact next time you see one of these pretend ‘country Liberal’ Senators in the street you might want to ask them why they don’t have the fortitude to stand up for rural & regional Australia like the Senator Eggleston, Senator Ferguson, the 4 Nationals and Rural Australian friendly Senators Xenophon and Fielding who we can always count on.

• Liberal Country Party Senator for the Northern Territory and Deputy leader of the Nationals Nigel Scullion.
• Liberal Senator for NSW Bill Heffernan. ( Owns farming Country)
• Liberal Senator for WA Judith Adams. ( Partner in a family farm)
• Liberal Senator for Vic Julian McGauran – ( National Party defector & brother to Peter McGauran)
• Liberal senator for Vic Judith Troeth – (Partner in a family farm)

We are appalled by the absolute betrayal of rural and regional Australia by 2 of these Senators in particular.

Liberal Country Party senator for the Northern Territory Nigel Scullion. Appalled because just a few months ago he was the leader of the Nationals in the Senate. God knows this legislation would be more important to people in the remote Northern Territory than anywhere else in Australia, yet Senator Scullion is not prepared to stand up and be counted for his constituents.

Liberal Senator for NSW Bill Heffernan. Appalled because this is what Senator Heffernan had to say

Liberal senator Bill Heffernan said the decision to raid the CF was a “great act of treachery for rural Australia”.

“There was absolutely no need to knock off this $2 billion, no need,”

And this is what he did:

he said, before he abstained from the vote.

Talk is cheap Senator Heffernan. The people who elect you don’t listen to what you say, they watch what you do. You in particular being as you put it to me in a recent phone call ‘the only person in the parliament who can knock the nuts out of a calf’.

My suggestion after your performance in the Senate this week Senator Heffernan is that some one may well have done a neutering job on you some years ago. The people who voted you into the Senate want to see you ‘ walk the walk’ Senator Heffernan, not just ‘talk the talk’.

We expect nothing more and nothing less.

The question from here on is what is to become of Malcolm Turnbull’s leadership. He has demonstrated the he does not care one zot about anybody who lives outside the city limits of Sydney and his corporate high flying mates.

Have Your say.