Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question and note that in his electorate the blueberry sector has had a record harvest of 11,000 tonnes, worth $218 million, in that sector of our economy. Of course it is part of what has been an incredible result for Australia. We had 1.1 per cent GDP for the last quarter, and no sector has contributed more than agriculture. We have been working hard on this side of the House: we now have record beef prices, record meat sheep prices. In fact, even our wool prices have never been higher since 1987 or 1988. We have a turnaround in contracts for wine, new markets. All these things are now contributing and are assisting the 322,000-plus people who are directly employed by agriculture. And you can see it in a seminal way in a B-double that you would take to Roma, which is in Queensland. At the start, when the Labor Party was in, you would get about $60,000 for it. Now you get about $90,000-plus for it—an absolute increase in people's standard of living. And this has been supported by three free trade agreements—

Mr Watts interjecting—

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