When Farrer MP, Sussan Ley won the leadership of the Federal Liberal Party in May, she became Opposition Leader in the 48th Australian Parliament.

With all the demands of the job, Ms Ley reassured constituents that representing Farrer was her “number one focus and always has been”.

“I know some have said that it will be tough to balance the job of local MP with this party leadership role, but I disagree entirely: ‘tough’ was raising three children on a family farm while pursuing a university degree,” she said.

Last week, Ms Ley spoke with The Free Press editor Christine McKee about some of the big topics, what makes Farrer unique, and some of the questions readers asked.

Christine McKee (CM): A lot of the issues we face here in Farrer are the same as regional and rural Australians everywhere, so in one way, tackling them for the whole country is tackling them for Farrer. But what do you see the issues that are unique to this electorate?

Sussan Ley (SL): There's one issue that defines this electorate quite differently from almost any other, and that is irrigated agriculture, because I represent the farmers and the communities on the Murray and Murrumbidgee rivers.

The way that this government has disrespected regional communities who produce the food and fibre that feeds the nation and feeds the world has been extraordinary… we've seen water buybacks implemented under this government that rip water out of our regions and prevent our farmers doing what they do better than anyone else in the world.

When I speak about my electorate, I speak about it as the home of irrigated agriculture.

Pretty much all of the rice industry in Australia is in the electorate of Farrer, and we also grow nuts, vegetables, avocados, irrigated cereals, fat lamb and beef on irrigated pastures.

We grow table grapes, wine grapes, citrus, and so much more, so when I talk to the city, I always remind them where their food comes from, and about a great contribution of my local farmers to the beautiful produce they see when they walk around the markets in Sydney, Melbourne or Brisbane on a weekend.

CM: Albury Hospital is consistently short 30 to 70 beds every day and running up to 125 per cent capacity when 85 per cent is considered safe.

Given that Albury Wodonga is one of the fastest growing cities in regional Australia and services a large area, what can you do as the local member to help secure health infrastructure into the future?

SL: Public health infrastructure in Australia is delivered and funded by state governments. There have been instances where the Federal Government has supported projects when the state governments have requested that support… they can ask for help and any requests would be supported by me, but none of those requests have been made.

There isn't an opportunity for the Commonwealth to intervene in an existing project that is already underway.

Albury -Wodonga Health is a division of the Victorian Government, and my constituents are in New South Wales, therefore, I have to put up with decisions and services that are provided by a State Government that is rapidly running out of money.

I'm fighting the fight for better health services, and that means, as I always do, calling out where we need improvements in pathways so that people can get the help they need … And I follow up every instance of the people who come to me and say that the health service is ineffective.

But right now, the Albury-Wodonga Hospital is being rebuilt, and the infrastructure is going up before our eyes.

CM: Why have you chosen to not attend any of rallies calling for a new hospital, with an unprecedented coming together of local government and enormous grassroots support?

SL: The most important thing for me is to do whatever I can to support the health needs of the region. Sadly, I can't always change my schedule to be at a rally in northern Victoria … But whether I am or I'm not at rallies is not the test of how much I care about this issue and how strong my support is for better health infrastructure for our region.

CM: To the rise of the Independents, and particularly Michelle Milthorpe, who proved to be a very strong Independent candidate this year. She did create quite a swing and won most of the Albury seats.

Next election, she will not be an unknown Independent, and Farrer voters will be scrutinising your representation like never before, now that you are the Leader of the Opposition.

So how do you balance being a good opposition leader and an effective local member?

SL: Well, I would expect Farrer voters to scrutinise me. That's exactly what they should do. And I celebrate the strong democracy, which we have in Australia every three years. I never take a single vote for granted.

I know that since becoming leader, I've been able to demonstrate that my leadership will be about reflecting, representing and respecting modern Australia … and I've spent time listening to communities, hearing from all of our own local communities as well as communities across the country.

And come the next election, I know I'll present a serious, credible, compelling agenda for the Liberals more broadly… I have also appreciated the opportunity to say on every stage that I am a regional member of parliament, that I love rural Australia where I come from, which has given me so much in terms of my migrant journey to Australia and my life and my family since.

I'm so proud that I come from regional Australia, and I'm so proud that I come from the electorate of Farrer. It's my home base.

Questions from readers

CM: There’s a perception that politicians always lie, that they can't be trusted, and there's a real credibility problem. How is modern politics in Australia going to get around this idea?

SL: I think people have views about politicians, but a lot of people haven't met their local politicians. I always prioritise going to communities where they are, not expecting people to walk in the door of my office to have a conversation, even though sometimes that happens too, but actually being where people are, at local shows, at gatherings, in their own small businesses, walking through a shopping mall in a major city.

I do that all the time and people come and stop and they talk to me. They tell me how they're thinking, and I have honest conversations with them. I think that builds the trust that is very important.

CM: One person asks, when are you going to admit to the climate change hoax, and another one wants to know when you're going to accept the need to move on to clean and efficient energy. You've got differing views in your electorate, how do you represent those views?

SL: That's exactly right, so when you have different views, you chart the path that you know is in the interests of your communities and, as leader, in the national interest. For me, it's as simple as that.

CM: There was a concern about the lack of tertiary education forcing people into sub-par online courses and driving young people away. Is there any initiative to bring more and varied tertiary to Farrer?

SL: One thing I continue to support is university hubs where your university course might originate somewhere else, but you're actually able to study it locally. It's not ideal; we understand that universities can't have campuses everywhere in regional Australia.

But we do have some fine regional universities that have great programs that outreach into the regions. I'm a very, very strong supporter of those.

Ultimately, it's our universities that decide where they establish themselves and the courses that they offer. I believe if you contact the university that you really want to study at, they're pretty good at finding a way for you to do exactly that.

I'm very supportive of facilities that allow people to study in the regions, not the university campus itself, but perhaps within a study hub that just allows you to have that connection with university study wherever you live.

CM: Clearly the LNP did not resonate with voters at the last election. When you consider that majority of Australians do support clean energy, why does your party not embrace that idea?

SL: So that's not correct. What we have said is we will develop an energy policy underpinned by two principles; the need to reduce emissions and the need to have affordable, reliable energy for households and businesses … they will define the energy policy that we are developing with our energy working group going forward and that's because we do respect the result of the last election and we do acknowledge that our policies are up for review even though our values are not.

The coalition is not anti renewable energy. We have always acknowledged that there is a transition to renewable energy. The question is what the cost is and how it's done with social licence and community support, particularly in the areas where new renewable energy infrastructure is to be built. I have many examples in my electorate of people very unhappy with wind and solar because no consultation or social licence has been sought from the farming communities.

To think that the Victorian Government would pass a law in the dead of night that allows so-called authorised officers to break the locks on your fences and come onto your farm tells you everything you need to know about an approach to renewable energy infrastructure that is all wrong.

It's not about the renewable energy itself. I very rarely meet an Australian who doesn't support renewable energy per se. It's about how you manage the transition nationally, but also how you manage a proper community consultation process with people who are directly hosting renewable energy projects.

CM: One reader feared that towns in Farrer had been dying for 15 – 20 years and asked when this would be addressed.

SL: Towns are not dying. I strongly resist that. There is no data in the electorate to demonstrate that claim. I love the towns that I represent, they’re thriving… what I think they're seeing is small businesses that are struggling. It's really hard with the cost of living to run a small business these days, if you're a small business and you don't have customers walking through the door because they don't have money to spend.

I see that too, but overall, our towns are strong and they're resilient and they'll be there for the future, but I will be fighting every single day for the policies that back our small businesses that give so much back to our communities.

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Sunday, 16th October 2022

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