Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Obviously the Labor Party is placating their guilty conscience about their lifestyles where they are walking around in their concrete filled jungles. It is interesting when they criticise the National Party. In fact, what those opposite have done today is sign up members to the National Party because they have simply pointed out to the Australian people just how powerful we are.

As I continue, I might make the point that the smog filled lungs of those opposite are obviously affecting their logic because if you look at the people who know about the environment, if you look at the people who care about the environment, they are people who live in regional Australia. Then you overlay that with: where are the seats that sit in this parliament? The people who live in regional Australia have chosen to vote for the coalition—country Liberal MPs or National Party MPs—and that is because they know what good environmental outcomes look like. They know what good environmental outcomes are in a practical sense.

The people I represent are very much invested in the environment. In fact, their core role in so many ways is to turn sunshine and water into wealth and food through their toil. I am probably one of the few members of the parliament who has real money in the game in this. Two million dollars of my assets are dependent upon the environment. Frankly, I know what it is like to farm through droughts. I know what it is like to farm through good times and I am not convinced that a carbon tax was the way to achieve good environmental outcomes.

They talk about the two-facedness. It is interesting. I remember a great line. What was it? 'There will be no carbon tax under a government I lead.' Who said that? People in the gallery would remember. I remember, that was someone who was prepared to do a deal with the Greens to get anything. Look, they have all run away. They have got a lot to say but they have all run away when they could actually learn a little lesson from someone who knows about what it is to manage the environment.

When I was out there in the environment in the difficult times under that carbon tax, what did I see? I saw processing prices go up. I saw fuel prices go up, where I would get some stock transported and the guy would load a carbon tax price on to that. I saw power prices go up. I saw investment confidence go down. And I saw the uptake of technology go down because we know that it is very hard to be green, it is very hard to be environmental when you are in the red. If you are going to load costs up on business, you actually get a negative environmental outcome, not a positive one. That is the point to remember.

The people that I represent are humble decent people. They do not ask for a lot. If the farmers who I represent can afford to put a new kitchen in, to provide for their children and their education opportunities, to occasionally buy new ute, what do they spend the rest of their money on? They spend it on the environment. They spend it on the farm that they love and they care for.

If you want to meet people who are passionate about the environment, you will meet them in the people who farm Australia's country. Think about this for a moment—you want good environmental outcomes and good environmental policy—60 per cent of the landmass of Australia is managed by Australian farmers. We understand this and we understand that reducing their costs actually translates to good environmental outcomes.

I heard the member for Watson bellyache about water policy. Penny Wong, the former Minister for Climate Change and Water, and the member for Watson, the former Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities, refused to sign off on the Sunraysia modernisation project and they shut down blocks. They shutdown irrigation communities and took away jobs.

In two years, this is what we have done. We have spent $120 million. We have returned seven gigalitres to the environment out of this project—that is seven times 1,000 times the size of a swimming pool; seven gigalitres of water. We have invested in people growing more crops. We have put confidence back in. We have given accelerated depreciation for people to put that irrigation technology in. We have achieved better river health, better productivity, better environmental outcomes as well as growing wealth and growing rural communities. So the outcomes should be the focus.

The Prime Minister said very clearly today that the outcome should be the focus. What we have is a case study for the opposition to learn from as to how we can do things differently, still have confidence, still have wealth and have a very sound and secure environment for generations to come.

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