Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, you come from Maranoa and know how important the Export Market Development Grants Amendment Bill 2013 is to you. I am interested that the Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is at the table, along with the former Speaker, the member for Scullin. I also note that the member for McEwen, who is another regional member, is sitting in the chamber, listening intently to my words. I also acknowledge the member for Wright, as well as the shadow parliamentary secretary for regional health, who is also sitting at the table. He was in Wagga Wagga just last week and would have no doubt heard many farmers complaining about how difficult the terms of trade are for them at the moment. It is always wonderful to follow the member for Forrest, Nola Marino, because she is so passionate and feisty about all of these important issues, which are central to trade. I know that the members in the House at the moment all appreciate just how important trade, agriculture and Australia's future food security are.

I note how few Labor speakers are on the speakers list. That is a shame, because perhaps if we were talking about unions or public servants at risk of losing their jobs—one of those sorts of issues—the speakers list would be full. It is just a shame that the speakers list is not full with government members talking about this very important issue, because we have just heard the member for Forrest talking about just how hard and how tough our agriculture producers are doing it at the moment. The shadow minister for agriculture, the member for Calare, told us yesterday in our party room that producers are doing it tougher in some circumstances than they were at the height of the drought—and that is a problem. And it is not just a problem for them; it is a problem for the regional communities that their hard work underpins. It is a problem for our nation because we cannot sell the amount of food that we rely on to help our balance of payments figures, our balance of trade.

We cannot continue to operate this way. Those farmers, let us face it, were once the backbone of this economy, and they still keep it going. Agriculture is still such an important component. Mining may well be one of the big dollar earners, but agriculture helps our balance of payments no end, and we all like to eat food. Only last week I spoke to representatives from the Leeton citrus growers. This organisation has been going since 1942. They are doing it really tough at the moment. They have lost 150 growers in less than a decade. That is the loss of 300 wages. Their costs are now going through the roof. Their power costs are exorbitant and are not helped by the carbon tax. Their wages have not become any cheaper. The high Australian dollar is really killing them, as well as so many other agriculture producers. Bad water policy is just another thing which they are trying to contend with.

I note that the member for Wills is now the Parliamentary Secretary for Trade and has been since 4 February 2013. It is an interesting position which the member for Wills finds himself in, given the fact that he was so stridently opposed to the live cattle export trade to Indonesia when that particular issue blew up after a Four Corners program. It was policy from this government based on a television program. It was a very savage knee-jerk reaction to a television program that saw the live cattle trade stop forthwith—bang—just like that, with no thought given to the cattle producers of Australia's west or north. Indeed, as the member for Forrest just indicated, the shock waves reverberated right throughout the cattle-producing industry and even beyond it. The markets in Wagga Wagga and elsewhere in the Riverina were affected because of it. There was a fear that they would not be able to export a lot of their cattle overseas and they would see them brought south. The people who built stock crates were also affected because orders were stopped.

I am pleased to say that the shadow minister for agriculture visited Indonesia last October, along with the opposition leader and the shadow foreign affairs minister, Julie Bishop, who has an intense interest in trade and certainly in helping our trading neighbours. The highlights of that trip were the sheer untapped potential, the member for Calare said, for our farm exports—and not just those of Northern Australia. The coalition took the extraordinary step of sending a delegation of senior shadow ministers to Indonesia because of the importance that this side of politics places on our northern neighbour as a valued trading partner—not somebody to whom we can just say, 'No more cattle.' They are not somebody whom we can just bring the gate down upon with our live exports but rather somebody whom we need to be friends with, somebody who is important to us, somebody whom we need to treat like a friend. You do not treat friends in the way that the Prime Minister did when she stopped the live cattle trade.

Indonesia has been vastly undervalued as a trading partner. While every nation across the globe is trying to capitalise on the Asian boom, there are a number of obvious reasons why Australia should be trying to make the most of the opportunities that exist within the Indonesian economy. Indonesia is not in great need of our coal because it has large deposits of its own, and some people foolishly dismiss Indonesia as a trading opportunity because of this. Australia has a unique opportunity to bolster our farm sector with Indonesia. It has 237 million people literally on our doorstep. It has a booming middle class of around 50 million strong and a high propensity for consumer spending. In short, it is an ideal destination for our farm produce. Our farm produce, as you know, Mr Deputy Speaker, as the member for Maranoa, is the best in the world bar none. I do not mind saying that. I am sure the parliamentary secretary for agriculture, who is sitting at the table, would agree with me.

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