Bill Shorten (Maribyrnong, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

On indulgence, on behalf of the opposition, I welcome the announcement of a drought assistance package. We offer our strong support for helping farmers in the face of this severe drought. We look forward to securing further details and an indication of exactly how many farm families the package is likely to assist. We appreciate and know that our farmers need help and they need his help now.

There are days and issues in this parliament where the opposition will not agree with the government, but on the issue of supporting our farmers in drought, we agree. We offer a bipartisan approach to future drought policy development. Australia's hardworking farmers deserve no less than the strong support of the entire parliament, which they have today.

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