I would like to offer my support to those travelling to Canberra for the convoy of no confidence rally next week. I hope everyone takes their time and has a safe trip.
The Australian people everywhere you go are starting to have one retort and it is this – can you please get rid of them?
Whether it’s the secretary at the doctor’s surgery, the taxi driver, the lady behind the till, or the person standing next to you in the queue, they are no longer surprised by just how totally and utterly incompetent the government is.
The convoy of no confidence is the inevitable consequence of a population that is just sick to the back teeth on what is happening to their country.
They are not nasty, they just want them gone. These people are a mere expression of what the majority are feeling. They are regular truck drivers, regular people who are making a political point. They are driving to Canberra to ask the government to do the decent thing and go to an election. It is like when a relationship breaks down and now the Australian people are saying they want out, or more to the point they want the government out.
There are reports today that the Government is planning to gag debate in the Parliament on the carbon tax legislation. After denying the Australian people a vote on the carbon tax, they are planning to deny the Australian Parliament a voice.
But these people can make a difference. People in regional Australia are often frustrated by the lack of a voice they have in Canberra, Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane.
I want to remind those living outside these centres that they have changed the direction of their country over the past few years.
In 2009, it was regional Australia that first stood against Kevin Rudd's emissions trading scheme, leading to its eventual defeat on the floor of the Senate. It was regional Australia that last year stood up against a Murray-Darling Basin Plan that was going to destroy the nation's food bowl. And this year it was regional Australia that stood up against plans to end our live cattle trade, notwithstanding the devastation that was caused during the four weeks in whichFour Corners ran the country.
All of these changes came about by the force of ordinary regional Australians standing up against the Green, nihilistic and negative vision that wants to shut down economic activity in regional Australia.
It is only half time in this fight on the carbon tax. There is no messiah coming over the hills to save us. The only way to stop this tax is for everyone to do what they can to make it happen.
Whether that is coming to Canberra on Monday, calling your local Labor or Independent members or writing to your local paper, every little effort helps to stop this tax.