Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Howes is very important, because he picks the prime ministers of our nation. He is the faceless man. He wrote a book about himself—in fact, he has written a few books about himself.

An opposition member interjecting—

Don't you love the way they come out in chorus? One of the books that he wrote about himself was Confessions of a faceless man. He does not believe in 'ma and pa farms'. He said it. Why this is relevant is because these are predominantly ma and pa farms. Only Paul Howes and the AWU could turn farming into a pejorative; only they are capable of that. That should be known by the member for Blair, who would have a lot of ma and pa farms in his area. I expect him to stand up on behalf of those ma and pa farms in the Gatton valley and dismiss the comments of Paul Howes, because they are an absolute disgrace. Might I remind you that ABARES has said in excess of 95 per cent of farms in Australia are ma and pa farms, to use the Paul Howes pejorative. In fact, the Productivity Commission thinks it is more like 99 per cent. But those over there do not want ma and pa farms. They do not believe in the family business. They probably do not like ma and pa houses. They probably want to send us all back to the council flat in the midlands of England, because that is where it works best. The people from the Gatton valley will hold you to account for what you have said.

See this speech in context