Barry Wakelin (Grey, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I have a few words to say about wheat growers, the drought and the circumstances around the Wheat Marketing Amendment Bill 2006. There are three or four basic things that I want to say about recognition of the single desk for export wheat. Effectively, in this year of severe drought there is really one state of the Australia Federation which is directly affected—that is, Western Australia. My own region of Eyre Peninsula in South Australia may have 200,000 or 300,000 tonnes of grain for export.

It is also important to recognise that AWBI, which did have about 80 per cent wheat farmer ownership, is now down to about half of that. Farmers have indicated that, for whatever reason—

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