Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Capricornia for her question. She has significant primary industries within her electorate and is also, I understand, an ambassador for Beef Week in Queensland. I would like to kick off by referring to some malicious rumours that have been put out by the National Party, which claim that I do not have a background in primary industries. I would like to put on the record that they are absolutely true—I do not. That is why I have decided that it is essential not only to be taking advice from my own department and from the official stakeholder groups but also to be spending every moment that I can actually meeting with people who work the land, on their land. To that end, I am pleased to report to the House that since receiving the portfolio in December, I have met with primary producers in Roma and Kyogle—with the Prime Minister—and in Emerald, Tamworth, Inverell, Glen Innes, Guyra, Armidale, the outskirts of Hobart, Launceston, Innisfail, Griffith, Hay, Broken Hill, Mildura, throughout the Fleurieu Peninsula in South Australia—

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