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

There was actually one time he mentioned the word 'farm'. I think it was to do with farm finance. This is a differentiation. We have taken agriculture to the centre of government. We honestly believe that it is a true pillar of our economy. We have delivered the results. The results speak for themselves. The results are there because the difference between two forms of government and two forms of outcome has to be understood. This is not hyperbole; it is actual, it is real, it is giving the capacity for people to say for the first time, 'I've cleared my overdraft. For the first time there is real money.'

I have just finished a conversation with people on my agricultural committee from around the nation. Overwhelmingly there was a positive response. They say that they are excited about the future because of the work that this government has done. Even if you go to the wine industry there are new contracts at better prices. This is the sort of work we do because we have people on our side of the parliament who have a passion for agriculture.

Beside me at the moment is probably the biggest cattle producer in the coalition, the member for Wentworth. He has a substantial holding of cattle in the Hunter Valley. That is what they lack on the other side. There is not one farmer. That party once had Mick Young and Minister Walsh, who was a grain farmer. Where are their farmers? Is it the case that any person involved in agriculture can see nothing but a desert in the policy of the Labor Party? There is nothing to intrigue people into being part of the Labor Party and to joining the Labor Party. When the question was posed if there was a farmer in the Labor Party we got the member for Fremantle, and I think that is a very obscure reference to her parents, who might have had something to do with the land. That is it. This is why we must lay down at treatise on how to take agriculture forward. We are doing it and we are delivering it.

The Australian government has had a longstanding policy of recovering the costs from importers of food. The arrangements in place must allow the Department of Agriculture to recover costs effectively. The package of bills will ensure that appropriate cost-recovery mechanisms are in place for all imported food related activities. Under the imposition bills, regulations will prescribe the amount of the charges and who is liable to pay. These bills also include a safeguard regarding the amount of the charge. The collection bill provides the authority to collect charges imposed and to determine when the charge is due and payable. The bill also provides the Commonwealth with mechanisms to appropriately the deal with nonpayment and late payment. It also sets out provisions for the remitting or refunding of charges. The legislation will sit alongside existing legislation that allows cost recovery of activities provided directly to people, such as inspection and audit services. It provides a flexible and common-sense structure for applying charges. This supports the important work undertaken by the Department of Agriculture to monitor the compliance of imported food with the Australian food standards.

When a small office of the ministry of agriculture moved to Armidale I was amazed that all we got from Labor was half a day in estimates.

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