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

I thank the honourable member for his question. Might I say that he, more than most, would know about the turnarounds that we have had in the cattle industry for one—turnarounds that have meant that in the last fortnight we have seen prices of $3.13 a kilogram for cattle in Wagga, $3.16 in Tamworth and an average price of $2.90 a kilogram in Dubbo. I know the honourable member is himself a cattle producer. He speaks of the budget and what it means for people who, for the first time in a long while, are starting to make real money. People who make real money are obviously looking for the capacity to reinvest in their farm. It was during the budget just past that we managed to deliver a tax deduction for those whose turnover is less than $2 million a year, and that is a substantial cattle producer. That deduction would mean that someone at Kempsey or someone at Kyogle could go out and buy a new welder and write it completely off at a cost of less than $20,000; a compressor that costs less than $20,000 and write that completely off; a motorbike—we do not want to write it off in the paddock but write it off for tax purposes—and write that completely off; a cattle crush that costs less than $20,000. Why that is important is that these things are manufactured in our nation. These are things that are manufactured in Australia. It is a stimulus to the manufacturing industry of our nation.

I am also happy to state that we are in consultations with the Treasurer and with industry about bringing forward the write-offs on water reticulation, even for companies and organisations whose turnover is in excess of $2 million. This is a great stimulus to the refurbishment of the irrigation precincts and to the establishment of the capacity to make sure that we make our areas more drought prepared. Not only that, we are consulting for the write-off of 100 per cent of fences in the area and also to make sure that we can write off hay sheds and silos so that people get a greater capacity to market their grain. This is all part of this budget.

On top of that, if the turnover of a small business is below $2 million, they get a small business corporate tax deduction of 1½ per cent. We all know that, as a partnership, both individuals get the tax free threshold; on top of that, we are allowing a small business rebate to the value of $1,000. All these things are part of what this government has done for people on the land. It does not even mention the $330 million we put towards drought. It is a clear statement that a change in government really does make a change to the lives of people on the land.

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