Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I do worry about that, member for Wakefield and you should too. We do not need foreign takeovers that decide what the price of our wheat or our rice is going to be in a boardroom in, for argument's sake, Illinois in the United States of America. We need to have control over our agribusinesses right here in Australia. Sure, foreign capital is welcomed. It always has been. As I said, it has made this country great. But, when the Labor Party has a foreign investment takeover policy that does not even offer a trigger to FIRB until it actually passes the billion-dollar mark, I worry. I know a lot of the people out there on their tractors or in the shearing sheds, working hard and listening to parliament and to this speech—and they do—and a lot of people who will be reading the Hansard are concerned, as they ought to be.

The member for Hunter is very anti-Nationals. I cannot understand why. He should be getting on board with some of the policies, if he were a fair dinkum country representative. If he were fair dinkum about agriculture, he should actually be endorsing and not rubbishing many of the policies—indeed, all of the policies—that the Nationals bring to the table. We have produced many achievements in just 2½ years of being in government, including abolishing the carbon tax and the mining tax, those job-destroying and regional-Australia-destroying taxes. We have signed preferential trade agreements with South Korea, Japan and our largest trading partner, China. They are very, very important.

We are unlocking the logjam of Commonwealth environmental laws which are impeding rural, remote and regional growth. We have a drought support package—a comprehensive package supporting farmers, particularly those in north-west New South Wales and Queensland areas which have not seen rain for a considerable amount of time. We recommenced the live export of sheep, cattle and goats to such countries as Bahrain, Iran and Egypt, while rebuilding the live cattle trade with Indonesia. Wasn't that a disaster. Wasn't that an absolute diplomatic disaster. It was an economic disaster. Honestly, to do that over just a television program was an absolute disgrace and one of the worst decisions that many people have seen. It is not just me saying it; many, many people are saying it. It was one of the worst decisions that this parliament has perpetrated on the hardworking cattle producers of this country.

The National Stronger Regions Fund is already rolling out money to regional Australia. The Roads to Recovery Program enables the food and the fibre to be taken from regional areas to export markets. I did not hear the member for Hunter talking much about those—we provided $565 million in our first year alone to black spots on roads. When I talk about black spots, I also refer to the significant amount of money—tens of millions of dollars—being spent on mobile black spots. Not one cent was spent on mobile black spots during the six sorry years of Labor.

I am so glad that in my electorate we are finally funding the Bridges Renewal Program. I say 'finally', because Margaret Merrylees, a councillor and a wonderful local government representative for the Murrumbidgee Shire, has fought hard for a new bridge over the Murrumbidgee at Carrathool for many, many years—decades, in fact. Finally, this government, in conjunction with Duncan Gay and his New South Wales coalition government, are funding that bridge.

At the Barralong in Gundagai Shire, there is another new bridge. Just recently, I announced funding for Eunony Bridge, which is a vital linkage to the Bomen industrial area at Wagga Wagga City Council. These are all important linkages which are all providing value or eliminating road network pinch points. I could also talk about the Kapooka Bridge—this side of government provided $27½ million for that. They are all important. They are linking in with primary industry research and development, which is so significant. We have provided hundreds of millions of dollars for the heavy vehicle safety projects.

I hear those opposite so often condemning the 2014 budget, but it contained $100 million for rural research and development, $15 million to support market access and $20 million in extra money for biosecurity. I have to say that biosecurity was ignored under Labor. I made a trip to New Zealand—a self-funded trip, mind you—to ensure that the potential apple blight did not come across from New Zealand apples and onto those fine orchards of Batlow. When the Asian honey bee incursion threatened our fine honey producers, what did Labor do? Nothing. Absolutely diddly-squat. They did not care, they did not know and they did not want to know.

I was very pleased to take part in the turning of the soil at Mickleham, in the member for McEwen's electorate. I have to give him credit: he was there too and he was a supporter of the post-entry biosecurity facility just near Melbourne Airport. They are the sorts of things that our government is getting on with and doing in the R&D space in rural Australia.

The northern Australia push has been complemented by this government looking after southern Australia. Just recently, last August, farmers and irrigators in my area were told that they were going to share in $263.5 million of on-farm irrigation in New South Wales, particularly around the Coleambally area. I had the chief executive officer of Snowy Hydro, Paul Broad, a former guru with Infrastructure New South Wales, in my office this morning. He was praising the work that they do there and the fact that every single drop of water at Coleambally is accounted for. They know where it is. They know how it is being dripped out onto those wonderful rice paddies, the marvellous cotton crops and the vegetables that they grow in the huge paddocks that they supply to many wholesalers and supermarkets.

It all comes about through R&D. It all comes about because this government is prepared to spend money on infrastructure, research and development and making sure that every drop is accounted for. That is not like those opposite. All they wanted to do was make sure that every drop of water flowed down the rivers, down the systems and down the Murray-Darling Basin and out of the mouth of the Murray. That is all they cared about.

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