Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Very few times in this House do we see a level of bipartisanship, but this is one issue—standing by people in drought and making sure that they know that the Australian government is listening to them and they are being heard—where this is the case. I thank the member for Hunter for his kind words and also, before me, the member for Ryan for her kind words.

As a farmer myself, one of the things that I used to wonder about was whether anyone in this green chamber in this place called Canberra had an appreciation of what it was to live through a drought. I want to reflect for a little bit as we talk about this issue today about just what it is like. My journey has involved farming through many of the millennium drought years. You think you can make the right choices, and you think you can make wise choices. I know what it is like to have a $90,000 interest bill and to have a wife who is earning $40,000, and because she was earning $40,000 it precluded us from being eligible for drought assistance.

It is pleasing that in this package we have learnt something: we have learnt that you can actually have $80,000 of off-farm income and still receive access to some drought assistance. That is a welcome initiative. It needs to be stated that there are a lot of hardworking partners of farmers who are really battling to put food on the table, and we are really pleased to see that in this initiative they are not precluding themselves from being eligible for farm support.

In a drought, there are times that you always remember. One of those times for us was toward what we thought was going to be the end of a drought. We made a decision that we were going to buy some young stock. It is important at the end of a drought that the stock you have is young because you want to have the best recovery phase. We did; we bought this stock from Tasmania and we brought them over—two days to bring them over on the ship. We had mortgaged ourselves more to afford this. We put the stock on some water—they were quite thirsty; it was hot and it was dry. I went back to my house that night.

That night the stock agent rang up and said, 'I hope that stock arrived safely?' I said, 'Yes, they did'. He said, 'Now you didn't put them on water did you?' And I said, 'Well, they were thirsty, of course I did'. He said, 'No, you know that is the last thing you should do!' As I now know, when they have an empty belly and you put them on some water, they drink the water, they blow up and they die. So here were we at the end of a drought, taking a financial risk only to find out that we may have just blown another $40,000 on stock.

We drove down there that night and there was one dead sheep there and another dead sheep over there. I have to tell you, if you want to see pressure on mental health for a young farmer with a big mortgage who has just taken a risk and it has blown up in his face, that was one of them. I called up my father to bring over some bales of hay. I called my wife on the UHF to come down and they tried to move those stock around the paddock in order to get them to pass that water by moving. We tried our best and, as irony would have it, a dust storm—I know is sounds like the movies, but it is very real in my mind—rolled in. My wife was at one end of the paddock and I could not physically see her. I had dead sheep. We were trying to move sheep, and we were trying to do the right thing. If you want to see something that brings a person to breaking point, that is drought.

What I want to say to the green chamber is that we have people in this place now who have lived it, and in living it you understand it. We have to have that experience right across the Australian spectrum. We must stand by people through drought. It is easy to have the philosophical argument about whether they are on unviable land? Should we be farming there anyway? Is this corporate welfare? Now is not the time for that argument. The time for that discussion is when we are not in drought, when we can sit back with emotion out of the way and discuss how we create a drought-preparedness model. Something that the Australian parliament, in my opinion, has not done effectively yet, and which is the challenge for us. But the time when people are looking at dry dams, trying to make tough decisions about their own future and looking at their children, knowing that they want to pass on that farm to them—knowing that their father or their mother has worked hard to pass it on—those are the times when we should say, 'We stand by you, we believe in what you do, we recognise your contribution to the Australian economy and we are prepared to release some community funds—some tax payer funds—to ensure you have a viable future.'

This drought package is really about that. We have concessional loans; this is not a gift, this is a loan. It is to buy you time to restructure your business; to buy you time, because we know that this is the land of droughts and flooding rains. As sure as it is dry, it will be wet again. Whenever it is wet, it will be dry again. This is to buy them time for when the good times return—and they will return. They did for me, they will for you.

The one thing that is important when you are talking to people who are in drought is to remind them that it will rain again, you will make money again and there is a future for the Australian agricultural industry. Never, never rob people of hope. When people are going through crisis, the one thing they hold onto is hope. You never rob them of that. This is why we can have the discussion about climate change, but the discussion about drought is recognition of seasonal viability. There is a long-term future for you involved in agriculture; there is a long-term future for the northern cattle industry that is getting hit very hard at the moment. This government understands that there is a long-term future, and we will stand by you.

One of the great things in this package is a recognition of mental health. In a previous life I was president of the Victorian Farmers Federation. I used to say to blokes, 'When was the last time you changed the oil in your tractor?' And they would be able to say, 'Well, actually, it has been three months; it has done 470 hours, it is a 500 hours oil change—it is time to do that'. I then used to ask them when their wedding anniversary was, and they usually did not know that. I also used to ask them when the last time was they went and had a health check-up. Farmers are notorious for not getting health check-ups.

Your mental health is just as important as your physical health. I say to the farmers who are doing it tough: 'Please get up early one morning. Get the jobs done you have to do then go see a doctor. Get your physical health and your mental health checked. You are the most important asset on your farm. You need to look after yourself. The best thing you can do for your family is look after your health. Be a little selfish for a change and look after your mental health.'

When I was talking to farmers in those very lean years I would find that the wives would be carrying the burden. The farmer would be full of bravado but the wife would realise that her husband was under pressure. I do not care what they say; they are under more pressure than they think. It is pleasing to see that we have recognised that as a community now. There is no stigma attached to saying you are under pressure and seeking some help. The $10.7 million in this support package for mental health is a very good thing.

Another great thing I see in this package is some water infrastructure. One of the great revolutions of agriculture that no-one talks about is the poly pipe. Being able to take water to stock enables you to drive productivity through different stocking ratios. It is pleasing that in this package there is continued infrastructure investment in water and some small, on-farm packages to help farmers put poly pipes and tanks in.

Whilst I talked about the young stock on my own farm that I try to get at the end of the drought, I have always had a passion in agriculture to ensure that we have young farmers at the end of the drought because young famers drive the greatest productivity. Those under 35 are the best productivity drivers for the country. They are the people we do not want to lose. They usually are the ones who are most in debt. They have taken the financial risk. They have gone out and have grown and endeavoured. They are the ones who lease additional pieces of ground and try something new. We have to make sure we look after them. I hope in this drought package we hit the mark to make sure that young farmers stay there because it is not just for their benefit; this is actually for the country's benefit.

Before the member for Hunter left the chamber he pointed out the mining boom. There are great opportunities in the Asia-Pacific region for the agricultural industry, particularly in mechanised starch products and protein products. When I was in China a number of years ago I talked to a guy who was 30th in charge of China. When you have 1.3 billion people, that is fairly high on the pecking order—Mr Deputy Speaker, even higher than you, relative to the population. I had a discussion with him about the merits of democracy—and I am digressing here—and he told me that if they had democracy they might do what is popular instead of what is right. Maybe he did win the argument in that instance.

In the discussions he made it clear to me that the current consumption of dairy products was 56 grams per child per day. It was the Chinese government's ambition to increase that to 500 grams of dairy product per child per day. In this chamber here people generally have good health. We probably do not have a full appreciation of just what protein in the diet does for the health of children and people. I want to hark back to a little bit of history here. When the Massachusetts colony settled in America, the people who left Britain and first settled in America, within three generations, because they had access to red meat and dairy products, their life expectancy jumped by 20 years. The Chinese know this. They want to give their children protein. We are actually well placed for that. One-third of the world's export milk comes out of Victoria and New Zealand. We are well placed to really hit the Asia-Pacific region and for a change we actually have a freight advantage over our competitors because of our proximity to the markets.

What I want to drive home is that when we go through a drought we must make sure out the other side we have young farmers, who will drive productivity. That productivity is going to drive our export markets. Even in my small, humble electorate we produce $5.3 billion worth of exports every year. If you multiply that right across Australia, the contribution of the agricultural sector is significant. It is also significant for the secondary workforce in marketing, transport, refining and research and development. We have a good industry to be proud of. I think the $320 million drought package is simply an investment in our future. It is saying to the people in drought: 'We stand by you. We understand what it is like to go through drought. We value you. Your contribution is needed as we continue to grow this great economy.'

See this speech in context