Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The honourable member for Riverina will know this full well—the representations that all of us have received is that the cost of fertiliser has been ballooning for not just many weeks, for not just many months but for many years. It is a huge impact on the overall cost structure of farmers out there who are doing it tough, trying to earn a living off the land at a time of enormous change. In particular, the change is affecting rural Australia coming off the worst drought in the century and the rolling impact of water.

My colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is in close consultation with farm organisations—

An incident having occurred in the gallery—

together with his Liberal Party colleague, particularly on the wheat sector. That may be disconcerting to those opposite, to all those Liberal Party members in regional areas who voted with the Labor government to change the single desk—I know it is painful for that to be said—but my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has been in active consultation with rural organisations about their cost structures and, furthermore, about the future of the farm sector.

An incident having occurred in the gallery—

We intend to work with the rural sector through their peak industry organisations. I draw the attention of honourable members opposite to the response by the National Farmers Federation and others to the government’s budget as it relates to the rural sector and in particular to the farm sector. We intend to cooperate with that sector into the future.

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