Senator BROCKMAN (Western Australia) (16:51): I too rise to speak on this very important matter of public importance and congratulate Senator Davey for moving this issue to the forefront of our debate. We on this side of the chamber—people like Senator Davey, and I'd throw myself into the category as well—actually come from the bush. We come from regional Australia, and we're here to represent regional Australia. I was born in the small country town of Manjimup in the south of Western Australia, and my family have farmed in Pemberton for over 150 years. That gives us linkage. That gives us knowledge. That gives us ties. That gives us a care for regional Australia, for the bush. The trouble for Labor is that they simply don't have that. Senator Sterle is someone on the other side who I do admire and who does have a genuine affinity for the bush. But I think Senator Sterle looks to his left and looks to his right and says, 'There's nobody else.' In fact, we've heard the minister for agriculture in this place try and defend Labor's linkages to agriculture— Senator Pratt: That's not fair. My parents were farmers too. Senator BROCKMAN: and we get that kind of interjection: 'My mother's second cousin twice removed once visited a farm.' That's Labor's link to the bush. They simply do not understand regional Australia, so they cannot represent it in this place. Lake Grace is a small county town in Western Australia where the current price of unleaded is over $2 a litre and diesel is $2.36 a litre. These are families that need petrol in the tanks of their cars just to live their lives. They live hundreds and hundreds of kilometres from a major centre. They live in a very isolated part of this great continent and of our great state. In a major centre like Geraldton, which has a population in excess of 60,000, I think—Senator Smith might correct me—it is $1.95 for unleaded and $2.13 for diesel. In Onslow, further north—admittedly a bit more remote again—it is $2.42 for unleaded and $2.35 for diesel. These are people that need to fill their tanks. It's not an optional extra; it's life. The cost-of-living pressures on Australians living in regional Australia are even more heightened than they are on those living in the city. We understand the pain that those in the city are feeling, but those in the bush are feeling it even more.