IF ELECTED, the Coalition will support farmers, writes TONY ABBOTT

The Coalition has always supported people in rural and regional areas.

Above all, we know that when it comes to issues like agriculture, water, communications and health services, a decision made in Canberra needs to be in tune with the needs of the bush.

An elected Coalition government will deliver a comprehensive plan to boost Australian agriculture and ensure the nation's food security both now and into the future.

Despite challenging environmental conditions and competition from subsidised overseas goods, local farmers continue to improve both the quality and quantity of their produce.

To support our farmers further, a Coalition government will increase research and development funding by $150 million to help find new ways to do more with less water, grow more with finite supplies of arable land and find alternatives to increasingly expensive critical inputs.

The health and sustainability of our primary sector must also be protected from disease.

To this end, a Coalition government will invest $15 million to establish a bio-security flying squad to provide urgent additional resources when a bio-security risk is identified.

The risk posed by feral animals to our agricultural sector is another major concern in regional areas.

The CSIRO has estimated that pest animals directly cost Australian agriculture more than $740 million per annum. To address this issue, the Coalition has committed $20 million over four years towards a large-scale feral animal control program.

The Coalition is also committed to continuing food production in the Murray-Darling Basin, which is critical to Australia's food security and export income.

Up to two million Australians live in the Murray-Darling Basin region and perhaps half of them are directly or indirectly reliant on it for their livelihood.

Any Basin plan must acknowledge the rights of farmers. Decisions taken on water buybacks must carefully balance the economic and social impact on local communities with the need to return water to the environment.

The Coalition opposes an emissions trading scheme - a great big new tax on everything.

The ETS, and Labor's coming carbon tax, would be devastating for regional Australia and we are steadfastly committed to stopping them.

The Coalition's direct action policy on the environment and climate change will provide incentives to deliver a once-in-a-century replenishment of our soils.

Significantly improving soil carbon helps to improve soil quality, water efficiency and farm productivity, and should be a national goal, regardless of the CO2 abatement benefits.

Under our policy, farmers will have the opportunity to access a new stream of revenue when they adopt emissions reductions practices such as carbon sequestration. Health is another area that has suffered under Labor.

Only the Coalition has a plan for real action to boost the regional medical workforce so that Australians living in regional and remote communities receive improved health services.

The Coalition's plan will deliver more beds to public hospitals and deliver local control through hospital boards, because we understand that local people are best placed to make decisions for their local hospital, not bureaucrats in state capitals.

In addition, we will invest $27 million to help increase the number of doctors, nurses and dentists in regional and remote Australia.

Proper representation of rural and regional Australia in government is critical in ensuring that the interests of country people are heard.

Currently, not one of Labor's cabinet ministers lives outside of a major city.

Under a Coalition government, representatives from rural and regional Australia will be properly represented at the Cabinet table.

A Coalition government will work hard to provide rural and regional Australians with the good government and proper representation they deserve.