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

The agreement that the coalition has provided has got to be seen for more than just the fact that it reduces the tariffs on liquid milk from 15 per cent over nine years to zero; the fact that it reduces the tariffs on skimmed milk powder from 10 per cent over 11 years to zero; on whole milk powder from 10 per cent to zero over 11 years; on dairy fats from 10 per cent to zero over four to nine years; on cheese from 12 to 15 per cent to zero over four to nine years. The have to see beyond the fact that this was an agreement that was negotiated by the coalition, and I commend the work done by the Minister for Trade and Investment, Andrew Robb. It was a brilliant piece of work.

It is also going to bring real money back into the streets of regional towns—real money back through the farm gate. That money is going to be provided to the mums and dads who own the farm because they are the real benefactors of this. Of course, the question that they will be asking is about this: whilst they were waiting for this, surely someone else in a previous government would have seen the advantages that New Zealand received from their negotiations of a free trade agreement and what happened with dairy in their industries and the benefits to their farmers. Surely they would have thought that if this is happening across the ditch, we could do it here. But, no, what the government at that point in time was worried about was cash for clunkers, massive debt, Fuelwatch and GroceryWatch. They were doing all of the things but helping farmers. They were doing all of the things but bringing a fair return back to the farm gate.

Mr Snowdon interjecting—

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