Mr COULTON (Parkes–The Nationals Chief Whip) (16:48): I rise this evening to support the Leader of the Nationals in this matter of public importance: the failure of the budget to provide economic security for regional Australians. If I may, before I address the topic in general I might address some of the comments that have…
Mr COULTON (Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (09:30): I rise this morning to speak about the crisis that is unfolding across northern New South Wales and more widely across regional Australia at the moment. This crisis is the poor state of local and regional roads. The poor condition of the roads has probably been hidden…
Mr COULTON (Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (16:34): While I do not want to be critical of my friend and colleague the member for Shortland, I have never heard such claptrap and propaganda in all my life. She issued a challenge to visit her schools. She should come to the school at Louth in my electorate.…
Mr COULTON (Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (19:27): I rise to speak on the Fairer Private Health Insurance Incentives Bill 2011. I am strongly opposed to this bill. Not only will this bill be detrimental to the people that I represent in the seat of Parkes; it will be detrimental to the country as a…
Mr COULTON (Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (11:00): I was the Mayor of Gwydir Shire Council before I came to this place, and not only were we responsible for the basics of local government-the three Rs: the roads, rates and rubbish-but also we were responsible for aged care and child care, we owned two…
(Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (13:35): I too rise today to speak on the Telecommunications Universal Service Management Agency Bill 2011. Despite whatever else is happening in this country at the moment, telecommunications is still the biggest issue that my constituents deal with. Only the week before last, I was speaking with the mayor and…
Mr COULTON (Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (17:02): I rise to speak on this matter of public importance, brought to the House by the member for Lyne. I would like to note that it is somewhat comforting as a member in this place that sometimes thrives on adversity that at times like this we all…
(Parkes-The Nationals Chief Whip) (22:13): As I stand here tonight, right across northern New South Wales and southern Queensland, we are seeing a massive flood. In my electorate of Parkes we have seen flood levels that we have not seen for 60 years. The cost to the local community has been enormous. Towns like Moree…
Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) I too rise tonight to speak on the minerals resource rent tax bills. If I might start with an observation, tonight we are not hearing from members of the government. Mr Ripoll interjecting– This is my 10c worth. Are they not sufficiently encouraged by the merit of this tax to…
Telecommunications in 2011 should be seen as one of the basic tenets of life. It should be seen as something that is available to all Australians. Indeed a mobile phone is the first point of call for most people, and in many places people have done away with their landlines and are operating completely…