Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Like with Farm Household Support Bill, I can indicate that the opposition will be supporting the Farm Household Support (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill and, again like the previous bill, we will be taking a bipartisan approach to this debate as best we can. I do resent my very good friend the member for Grayndler provoking the Minister for Agriculture throughout his summation speech. Up until then it had been pretty tidy. Of course people like me, with my 30-minute contribution to that last debate, did point out a few flaws in the government's approach to agricultural policy—not the least being that the minister, who spruiked his agricultural white paper, has not included in its terms of reference any reference to climate change or natural resource sustainability. I think this is a huge omission and I think, in his more private moments, he would concede it is an enormous omission. I suppose, given that there are so many climate change deniers on that side of this place, it was going to be a little embarrassing if not uncomfortable to be discussing the impacts of our changing climate on the agricultural sector.

I suppose the situation is somewhat difficult for the minister. When I was a minister, I had an infrastructure minister who was interested in infrastructure within the agricultural sector, including our grain supply chain. This is something I know the minister must be struggling with and I give him my sympathies on that matter. I am very pleased to help him in anyway that I can as he lobbies his own side for some investment in infrastructure in this country. One of his own on the other side, the member for Hume, suggested through the ANZ Port Jackson Partners report that, to fully capitalise on the food production opportunities afforded to us in Asia, we will need something like $500 billion to $600 billion worth of investment in this country. Obviously, much of that will come through foreign investment, but we will need a government in this country which is interested in investing in our economic future.

I do resent my good friend the member for Grayndler provoking the minister, because it causes me to travel a little bit off course. I promised those on my side that I would be very brief in speaking on this bill, unlike on the last one. I will be moving the second reading amendment as circulated in my name. I am sure that Mr Butler, the member for Port Adelaide, will be happy to second that amendment. I will be moving that amendment with some reluctance, because I am not keen to muddy the waters on what is a non-controversial and important bill, which of course had its beginnings in the BERL report under the former Labor government.

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