Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for Barker for his question and for his continued strong representation on behalf of his electorate. On this vital issue of water reform, the Commonwealth government has provided the policy leadership and the economic incentive through the National Water Initiative to encourage the states to fully participate and to put their own houses in order. I was intrigued, distressed and dismayed when visiting Queensland recently to hear that Premier Beattie is planning to charge farmers $100 a bore, for each and every bore on their property, claiming that it is a National Water Initiative.

For many of us the Labor Party’s asking for $100 a bore sounds like selling tickets to a Labor Party fundraiser, but for Queensland farmers it is a great deal more serious. But Premier Beattie has gone even further: he is proposing a windmill tax—a windmill management charge. This is not justified or explainable in any shape or form under the National Water Initiative.

Thankfully for Australia’s farmers, not all members of the Labor Party are so out of touch or so arrogant and dismissive of primary producers. I refer of course to the shadow minister for agriculture, the member for Corio, who is not here today. He is facing a preselection in his electorate on the weekend, and he may not be sitting here for much longer. Yet, as a former dairy farmer, the member for Corio, I venture to suggest, is the last of the Labor Party members to have any link with primary production. How many other dairy farmers are there on that side of the House or primary producers—

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