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

Shane Neumann—a solicitor. Fair enough. They have got two small business people in the Labor Party. That is why it they do not have the lived experience of being in business. They do not know what it is like. That is why there is no formation around their policy. But let's go back to those measures I was talking about. If we have a three-year write-off of silos and sheds, that also stimulates the contractors who build the silos. And guess where they build silos? In Australia, in our nation. So this actually stands behind the manufacturing sector of our nation. So we are getting the people who are build the crushes; we are stimulating the growth of the people who build the silos. We are actually delivering the outcomes that not only—

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

He is back to tell us about the white paper which will be released imminently. He has gone to the telephone, he has rung up to see how many small business people there are in the Labor Party. And do you know what they have said? 'You're correct, there are only two of you'! There are only two of them—that is it. An alternative government—as they see themselves—that does not even have people who have the capacity to run their own business has no hope of running the nation. And you can see that in the how they worked. Their operation of the nation was a debacle, a soap. And the soap is on at night now—we watched it last night! And guess who was part of that soap? The member for Hunter was. The soap of Gillard, the soap of Swan, the soap of Kevin Rudd—and that is the soap of Labor Party economic policy.

It is great to come to the dispatch box to talk about the complete vacuum from this babbling brook, this wandering drone, on the other side. There is no depth. But we have put forward a plan. You get a 100 per cent write-off for refurbishment of your irrigation infrastructure to assist with drought. This is incredibly important. You get a 100 per cent write-off for fencing. So that is all the farm produce suppliers and hardware suppliers—they are also in place.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

I will take the interjection again. He said: 'If you are not making a profit.' It is under our government that we have had record prices in cattle and record prices in sheep. We now have wool at over 1,300 cents a kilogram—the price is up again today. We have record low interest rates. We have the lowest interest rate—and we are providing them.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

The member for Hunter talks about what we have done. We now have now lent out over $280 million at concessional rates. We have over 550 people taking those applications. More than 5,000 people have had access to Farm Household Allowance. Under the shadow minister, 367 people accessed it. But we have had more than 5,000 people access it. This is the difference. Do you know how many people they put out concessional loans to? Eight! We have got over 550. The difference is profound. But this is all part and parcel of the plan.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

We will imminently see the white paper. You keep talking about it. You are giving me oxygen. You are a great advertisement for what we are doing. You are a great advertisement for the fact that we have put $100 million on the table for beef roads. You are a great advertisement for the fact that we have put $400 million on the table for drought thus far. You are a great advertisement for the fact that there are only two people in the Labor Party—and you have gone up to the phone and checked—that have ever been in business. You are a great advertisement in general for the Australian Labor Party and I credit you for the work you have done.

When he looks to the plan he says, 'Oh, you can't dare start centres of excellence to try to bring about a form of decentralisation to inspire centres in Australia to be expert at what they do.' No, he does not want that. He wants everything in Canberra, because that is where they live. That is the only place they exist.

It is great to be a former accountant and to come in here and be part of a government that understands business, to come into a place where we have colleagues who have actually been in business, to be part of a government that has been part and parcel but that now sees record prices in cattle, record prices in sheep, a huge turnaround in wool. And there is the work we have done on such things as three new free trade agreements, six new live animal destinations and the lowest interest rates on record. We are part of a government that actually talks about agriculture. Mr Swan—what was he, the Treasurer of the millennia?—the member for Lilley: how many times in his budget speeches did the Treasurer of the millennia mention the word 'agriculture'? The answer is quite simple: he never did.

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