The Nationals WA Candidates Take a Stand On Royalties For Regions
Author: admin
Published on: 20-June-2010
The Nationals WA will fight the coming federal election knowing that only a truly-independent stance will bring results in Canberra.
A joint statement by The Nationals WA candidates for the seats of O’Connor, Durack and the Senate was released following the failure of an important motion at the Federal National party Conference in Canberra over the weekend.
West Australian delegates sought support for the iconic State program Royalties for Regions to be matched dollar-for-dollar by the Commonwealth Government as part of a new State/Federal partnership to deliver a fair share of Federal funding to Western Australia.
Tony Crook (O’Connor), Lynne Craigie (Durack) and John McCourt (Senate) said the voting down of the motion clearly demonstrated that a robust independent stance is what’s required to truly represent regional WA in federal politics.
“We are of course disappointed that not enough of our Eastern States colleagues supported the new policy,” they said.
"This was not an ambit claim from Western Australia – we simply don’t get a fair share of Federal funding.
“It demonstrates what The Nationals WA have been saying all along – that politicians of any Party elected in WA just get swallowed up in the party room and have no real clout.”
“The reality is that too many politicians are blind to the needs of people out West and are primarily concerned about the Eastern States.”
With the coming federal election looking like going down to the wire, the prospect of The Nationals WA having an influential role in the formation of Government is looking more and more likely.
State Parliamentary Leader Brendon Grylls backed the candidates saying the Party had been in a similar situation prior to State election and held strong in their belief that Royalties for Regions and the balance of power was achievable.
“Our critics said we couldn’t do it but we held the line then and we’ll hold it now because regional Western Australians are now reaping the benefits of our Party’s resolve,” Mr Grylls said.
“We will then see if the major parties will continue to deny regional WA a fair policy for a fair share of revenue by agreeing to match our own royalties funding with Commonwealth funding to Reverse the Rip-off.”
All three candidates said they will continue to fight the fight for regional West Australians and show Canberra that you can win and bring real change by standing up to be counted.
