Senator WILLIAMS (New South Wales) (19:38): What a pleasure it is to follow Senator Dastyari! We talk about the medical research fund we want to build, and this is really concerning: on 28 July, Senator Dastyari will turn 31, and he has already forgotten about the financial mess the Labor Party made in this place. We might be able to find a cure for early amnesia. We might be able to do something so that a young fellow like Senator Dastyari does not lose his memory completely. Last time I spoke in this place about the budget was the day of the budget—you might remember it, Senator Dastyari—and I mentioned how you were just six years old in 1989, the last time the Labor Party in Canberra in government delivered a budget surplus. I have to tell you more, Senator Dastyari. Let us go back to when you were six years old, perhaps nearly seven, when the Labor Party sent the state of Victoria broke. You would not remember it, but I am sure people around you would. But they did not stop there; they actually sent Western Australia broke as well. Senator Farrell: That is not true. Senator WILLIAMS: Then to continue their dominoes falling, they sent South Australia broke as well, Senator Farrell, didn't they? You would remember it. Premier John Bannon was the name—he was probably one of your mentors into this place—when they sent South Australia broke. But it gets worse. Then they sent Tasmania broke. I talked about that budget surplus of 1989 from the then Treasurer, Mr Keating— Senator Farrell: Mr Acting Deputy President, I rise on a point of order. Senator Williams has completely failed to mention Mr Martin Hamilton-Smith, who has left— The ACTING DEPUTY PRESIDENT ( Senator Furner ): There is no point of order. Senator WILLIAMS: What a waste of taxpayers' money that sort of interjection and point of order is. It is crazy. I will get back to the point. I love it when the Labor Party brings up the issue of the budget—you lead with your chin every time. Look at your history. This is a free kick in front of goal, just like the Sydney Swans when they defeated Port Adelaide on the weekend. It was a great result. We went through Victoria, Western Australia, South Australia and Tasmania. Then Mr Keating started the borrowing here, and in no time he had built up $96 billion of debt. Senator Dastyari is concerned about the budget, but it is as simple as this: you take a little bit of pain now or enormous torture later on. That is the fact of it. You talked about money and how we could be using money here, there and everywhere. Senator Dastyari, you probably have not been here long enough to remember the pink batts fiasco. What a terrible waste of money, and it had very serious issues—a couple of hundred houses burned down and, sadly, four men lost their lives. That was the sad part about it all. Then there were the school buildings. What a great campaign: $16.5 billion worth. I thought the best thing—and Senator Nash would remember this—was when we launched the National Party election campaign in 2010 down at Wagga Wagga. We were there that day, and they had built this big covered outdoor learning area—and guess what? The day we launched the Nationals campaign, it fell over. It crashed to the ground. What a great investment of taxpayers' money that was—sorry, it was not taxpayers' money; it was money you borrowed. You borrowed so much money that, as of last Friday, the Australian taxpayers owe, on the whole, $328.5 billion. And you are wondering why we stopped this mess. As I said, it is a matter of a bit of pain now or severe torture later on if we do not address the budget problems that we inherited from the mess you made, and that is how it has been all of my life. Half of Australian households receive a taxpayer funded payment. Over 70 per cent of Australians over 65 receive the age or service pension. This year, the Australian government will spend over $6,000 on average on welfare—Senator Dastyari, you need to listen to this; this is really important—for every man, woman and child in the country. Can this go on? No, it cannot go on. You cannot just keep borrowing money and spending it. You talked about health. I want to say that there are some great points that my colleague Senator Nash—the Assistant Minister for Health—has brought forward. We have provided $238.4 million over five years to double the Practice Incentives Program teaching payments for general practices which provide teaching opportunities to medical students. We have provided $52.5 million over three years for a minimum of 175 grants for existing general practices in rural and regional settings to provide additional space for supervision, teaching and training of medical students and general-practice registered nurses. Now, I said rural and regional. I am sure that Senator Dastyari does not understand what 'rural and regional' means, because he is one of those senators who probably gets out to the limits of Sydney and, if he is not watching the GPS, will not know where he is going and will be afraid of getting lost. He would never have been out there. You talked about the fuel excise indexation. We need our roads fixed. You said, 'The farmers are going to have to pay extra for the diesel in their tractors.' Senator Nash, what a joke! Senator Dastyari, you do not realise that all the excise is rebated to the farmers—and the fishermen and the miners—because farmers are not wearing the roads out when they are ploughing the paddocks. You might not be aware of that. You see, the tractors do not go around the roads all the time. They actually are on the other side of the fence, ploughing the paddocks. They are not on the road. You have got to learn this, Senator Dastyari: when a farmer is ploughing a paddock, they are not wearing out the roads—but they are competing against subsidised farmers all around the world. In Europe last year, there were $65 billion of subsidies to their farmers. In America, there were $25 billion of subsidies to their farmers. And, in China, there were a massive $127 billion of subsidies to their farmers. You need to understand that the diesel fuel rebate is so important so that our farmers can compete. If you can ever get past your GPS and get out into the rural areas a bit, I will gladly show you around the electorate of New South Wales one day. Come out, and we will show you how farming operates. We can show you the difference between a tractor and a header— Senator Nash: And a sheep! Senator WILLIAMS: and a sheep and a cow. You will learn a lot in quick time. Let me continue. There is $13.4 million over three years to support 500 additional scholarships targeted to areas of workforce shortage and to support students and health professionals from rural and remote areas to access education and further training. This is what Senator Nash is doing—improving the medical services for people out in the rural and regional areas. Some on the other side would not understand, because they can probably walk into a GP any day of the week. They probably do not have to line up. But where we live, in many of those country towns out there, you have to book one week, two weeks, sometimes three weeks ahead to get into a GP. It could be up to three months to get into a dentist. But you would not understand this because you just focus on the cities. You do not understand the regional areas, where the nation's wealth is created, where the food is growing, where the exports are produced. You need to learn that there is more to Australia than just the capital cities. If you did that, you would probably hold more than—what is it?—two or three rural and regional seats in the nation. Senator Farrell: They'll come back next time! Senator WILLIAMS: No, no. The people out in rural Australia have not forgotten your carbon tax, your cost of living, your debt building, your waste of money and the way you left this country in such a financial mess. Senator Dastyari, the people in rural and regional Australia do not suffer the amnesia that you do. Thankfully, they have not forgotten everything. Let me continue. There will be an additional $6 million to current funding of the Royal Flying Doctor Service. Do you know what the Royal Flying Doctor Service is? Have you ever heard of it? For essential services in rural and remote Australia, the Australian government will also support training for up to 300 extra GPs a year, by boosting GP training places from 1,200 to 1,500 in 2015, based in rural areas as far as possible—and at least 50 per cent of the new trainees will be required to be in rural and remote areas. This is what we are doing in this budget to help people in rural and regional areas. My colleague Senator Nash has control of it. She is the one who is delivering better health services out of this budget—because those people you have forgotten about we do not forget about. We realise that they are the heart of the nation. In addition, substantial Australian government assistance is provided through general health programs and assistance to the states and territories, through various programs with a significant amount directed to people living in regional Australia. In 2014-15, over 160,000 patient contacts will be supported under the Rural Health Outreach Fund. You have probably never heard of that, but 160,000 patient contacts— (Time expired)