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

No, I would. On this issue they voted against the Nationals. That was the compliment. That will be as good as it gets. But on this issue it was a real compliment, because the National Party, for the sake of the local agripolitics that they get involved with, were willing to see the AWB monopoly continue to behave as it was and see Australian farmers suffer lower prices as a result. And yet, time and again, that judgment is the judgment that the Liberal Party is willing to defer to. But they were not willing to defer when this bill came up, and that is why, when they are willing to exercise a judgment independent of the National Party, we end up with a situation where we get decent legislation and Australian farmers get a premium.

But that sort of judgment will never be the judgment that the coalition has as its standard. People on the other side who take an interest in agriculture who are from the Liberal Party—like the member for Groom, the member for the Forrest and the member for Farrer—never get the agriculture portfolio on that side because, due to a mad coalition arrangement, consistently they decide that the party with the fewest country seats should get the total call on agricultural policy. And as long as they keep that deal, it will be a deal that lets Australia’s farmers down.

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