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

Oh, sorry—they did finish Labor's very good work on the free trade agreement, although there are some matters to be tested there on the net proposition.

On 13 August 2013, during the election campaign, those opposite announced a policy. Their policy was to form a committee. This is what this debate is about today. In March 2014, the now minister, Barnaby Joyce, announced the committee six months after the election. The committee was a little bit more productive. I congratulate the quality people on the committee for all their work. They were a bit more proficient. They delivered their report just under six months after the event.

But now, 10 months on, the government is still sitting on the report. This is what we are trying to acknowledge today. Whilst this motion at first glance seems to be about Tasmania and fruit and vegetables in particular, it is really a motion to cover up for the fact that 20 months into this government we have had a committee and a report and nothing else.

We hear about the agriculture white paper. It was supposed to be delivered before Christmas last year. Here we are in June and the clock is ticking and we are still waiting. In the meantime, our competitors are on the march, improving their market access—

Mr Hutchinson interjecting—

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