Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Housing) Share this | Hansard source

The drought has affected my electorate in a savage and awful way. No longer is it just about your farm, your production, even your bank balance; the drought has crept into your soul and become a state of mind. For dryland farmers the current rains hold the promise that things are looking better for this season. But in most cases there have only been one to three good years, in the past seven—depending on where you live. Farmers must now find $1,000 minimum an acre to put in a crop. For a typical 1,500-acre farm, that is $150,000. The sharp trend upwards in the price of fertiliser and other inputs means this is unlikely to get any less.

The current state of irrigated agriculture in the Murray-Darling Basin is not good, but it is not without prospects or promise. There is tremendous anxiety in the communities, not just among the farmers but in the towns as well. Water restrictions in towns may seem a small thing beside zero irrigation allocations but, for older folk who take great pride in their gardens and indeed their parks and public areas, it hurts. They know they are sharing the pain with everyone in the basin, but they need to know that water is being managed wisely and well.

I was in Wentworth last weekend, where the Darling meets the Murray. The brown, muddy water flowing down the Darling merged with the less muddy waters of the Murray, and it was an uplifting sight. It is about four years since the Darling flowed into the Murray and eight or nine since we have had a flood like this one. It gives people hope.

For the western Murray irrigators, the last 12 months have been incredibly hard. There has been so little water. Remember, these farmers have high-security water and it is not supposed to fail. But they have managed to survive. Prices for wine grapes are lower than the cost of production and the table grape season has been disastrous. Citrus has been reasonable, but citrus farmers are desperate to gain access to overseas markets.

I have had good feedback about the previous government’s $20,000 grants for irrigators, which are being used for infrastructure improvements, water savings or to pay fixed water charges. On this point I note that Victoria has provided relief for its water users but New South Wales has not. I ask the present government not to pull the plug on this program, nor on exceptional circumstances drought relief payments of both interest and household payments.

The issue of water trading is a great worry to irrigator communities along the Murray. The small districts of Moira, Pomona, Mourquong, Gol Gol Creek and Corurgan in my electorate, as well as those represented by Murrumbidgee Private Irrigators—also in my electorate—are being treated like big business under the proposed water trading rules. The ACCC is producing an issues paper in connection with the upcoming federal water bill which develops these trading rules. Great care must be taken with this.

I ask the Minister for Climate Change and Water, and the National Water Commission, to remember that these small, private trusts were set up, in many cases, around a particular creek on the river system. They have long histories. They involve a small number of farmers who cooperate with each other in order to use a relatively small resource for the benefit of their families and small communities. They do not employ CEOs or research officers or have a budget for travel or lobbying. They operate from the kitchen table of one of the farms in that narrow window of time between finishing work in the daylight hours and knocking off later in the evening.

We cannot afford a situation where water is traded out of these entities and districts and away. We cannot allow them to fall over. In fact, we cannot allow our larger organisations to disintegrate because of water trading. The government appears to like the line ‘purchase water from willing sellers’. Yes, plenty of water will appear on the market, particularly if governments enter it with their big chequebooks. But these are not willing sellers; they are stressed sellers. They are in the market selling water because financially they have no other choice.

Murray Irrigation, centred in Deniliquin, have 2,500 family farmers. They have been unable to run an irrigation program at all. They managed to get stock and domestic allocation in September last year and this has meant a great deal, especially for dairy farmers. Their allocation has been zero for two years, and they are staring down the barrel of a third shocking year. The feeling is overwhelmingly one of being flattened. People have actually lost confidence that the season is going to break at all. They know that it is the dams in the Snowy storages that must fill before they receive a decent allocation, and that is going to take some time. The recent rains are welcome, and we do hope they signify a new beginning.

For all our farmers and farming communities, I ask the incoming government not to make the mistake of believing that rain brings relief to the bank balance. It doesn’t. There is a cash drought in farming, and it persists for a season or two after the drought-breaking rains arrive. It rains, you spend more, you stress more, and you wait and hope for a positive return. Can I say to the present government: rural Australians feel very remote from you at the moment. It is not your policies they are afraid of; it is your lack of understanding. I am worried about how this new government will respond to two issues that they have nominated as critical: recovering water for the environment, and responding to climate change. Please work with the communities in the Murray-Darling Basin. Seek their advice. Let them show you their river, the part it plays in their lives. Listen to the ideas they have about sustaining their communities. And act in a considered and caring way.

Last week the parliament apologised to the stolen generations. I would like to say something about this because I believe that closing the gap of Aboriginal disadvantage is a crucial issue for this parliament. The apology is part of this. There was a stolen generation. Aboriginal children were taken from their mothers and fathers, as documented in the Bringing them home report. It happened as a result of a policy supported by successive governments. Children at risk should always be removed. I believe that in many cases today there are children from Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal families at risk who are not removed soon enough. I would never apologise for removing a child, temporarily or permanently, who was being neglected or abused. But the question of removal should never be framed in terms of the colour of a child’s skin, race or ethnicity. For the stolen generations, the issue was less to do with the question of alleged abuse and neglect and more to do with colour. Children were forcibly removed because they were black and because they were poor—not because they were unwanted, unloved or in physical harm.

We understand much more now about the psychological development of babies and children. We know that it is not enough for a child to have his or her face washed, to be dressed in clean clothes, to be sent to school and to be fed three meals a day—important though all of these things are. How we love and allow ourselves to be loved, which in turn relates to how we function as human beings, is directly related to psychological patterns developed years before, when we were exposed as helpless infants to the love, care and soothing that stood between us and pain, distress and confusion. The lessons we learn in very early childhood are the lessons we carry with us all our lives. Not having proper parenting very early on, not knowing your family and not knowing who you are are obstacles many find impossible to overcome. The pain of rejection and loss do not go away.

Knowing all of this, some say that it is nevertheless not our fault and we should not apologise. If previous parliaments are no longer around to say sorry, then it is up to us as the present parliament to apologise. This was brought home to me most strongly when I spoke to a Vietnam veteran recently. He described how he had arrived home from his tour of duty in Vietnam. He touched down in Darwin to refuel before flying on to Sydney, with the expectation of, if not being welcomed with open arms, at least having his service acknowledged by the Australian government and the public. Hours passed and the plane stayed put on the tarmac in Darwin. The commanding officer went out to make a call. He returned and said: ‘They don’t know what to do with us. We’re an embarrassment to the government.’ In the end this group of soldiers was flown to Sydney after the curfew, after the airport had closed at 2 am. They were let go on the tarmac outside the airport. The taxis had gone. No-one was there to meet them. They were simply left to make their own way. Hearing this, I was horrified. I wanted very much to apologise, to say sorry. I had nothing to do with this decision. But I was here now, as a representative, hearing the story, and that government was not.

I support the fact that we said sorry and that the parliament did so with good grace. It is now incumbent upon all governments and parliaments—federal, state and territory—to acknowledge that Aboriginal policy in this country has consistently failed Aboriginal people. We should unite in our determination to do better, to give Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians every opportunity to gain a real place in the real economy. May I wish all new members of the House all the very best for their careers as parliamentarians. Finally, may I say that this place is a place where there is a lot of talk. I promise that, as much as I possibly can, I will walk the talk on behalf of the people of Farrer.

(Quorum formed)

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