Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce has blasted Labor and the Greens for having “no vision for Australia” as they continue to block the Regional Investment Corporation (RIC) in the senate.
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Mr Joyce said the RIC was designed to support landholders going through drought or financial crisis, including the delivery of $4 billion in Commonwealth concessional loans. It would also be tasked with assisting the construction of major infrastructure such as dams.
The RIC was originally planned to be operational by the middle of 2018, and the Transport and Infrastructure Minister was frustrated the other parties had put that in jeopardy.
“The Labor Party has no vision for Australia, the Greens have no vision for Australia. Every time we go to make the place stronger all they can do is carp and whine and throw stones and say no,” he said.
“I call on the Labor Party and Bill Shorten especially, to show some vision, and you can show it in the most seminal way by saying we are going to stand with you in building the Regional Investment Corporation, based in Orange.”
Orange mayor Reg Kidd said on Wednesday he hoped senators would move past politics and recognise Orange’s suitability.
Mr Joyce believes Orange can become an international finance and commerce hub like Chicago, if the Regional Investment Corporation is allowed to go ahead.
“We want to turn Orange into a centre of excellence for regional financing, for farm financing,” he said.
“We have a vision for ensuring Orange becomes our form of Chicago, dealing and trading in rural commodities, regional commodities and soft commodities.”
Asked if Orange being named as the location might be part of the reason for the resistance from other political parties, Mr Joyce said it was a natural fit.
“It has the Department of Agriculture, it also has one of the major financing hubs for the National Australia Bank, it’s got Paraway Pastoral and the Macquarie Bank and their regional investing arms,” he said.
“We have a vision for this nation and you can see it in our plans for the Regional Investment Corporation at Orange.
“The Labor Party and the Greens, all they have is derision and a sense that we are as good as we’ll ever get.”