In the last two sitting weeks of Parliament the Rudd Labor Government has cut short the debate on many Bills, denying me the opportunity to put the case for the people of Barker.

Critical Bills such as the Medicare levy surcharge, the luxury car tax bills as well as the Fuelwatch Bill were guillotined by the Rudd Labor Government preventing me from debating the Bill from the perspective of rural and regional South Australians.

Not surprisingly, no Labor speakers were denied the right to speak.

Labor cutting short the debate on these and other Bills in Parliament, means that the Parliament could not hear the case for rural and regional Australians having to pay luxury car tax in order to drive on remote rural roads to the family farm, nor could it hear the case for many rural Australians being unable to access bulk billing on their visits to the doctor and nor did it learn about regional Australians for whom Fuelwatch will do nothing to reduce the high cost of petrol.

Despite this, the Labor Government allowed time in the Parliament this week for Minister Albanese to try to explain why he gave $14 million to just one school in his electorate to install insulation.

The Rudd Labor Government’s actions in cutting short the debate on issues of critical importance to the Barker electorate reflects their “don’t care, don’t want to know” attitude to rural and regional Australians.