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

nine new live animal destinations; 100 per cent write-off for water; 100 per cent write-off for fencing; write-off over three years for grain storage—you can see that in the member for Parkes' electorate; the dog fences we are rolling out so that you can get sheep back into areas; the $2½ billion water policy.

You always wonder: does a difference in government make a difference? I looked at the last 12 months of Labor. In the last 12 months, we have gone up by 23.7 per cent. In the last 12 months of the Labor government, growth was minus 0.5 per cent. That was the difference. They were minus 0.5 per cent; we are positive 23.7 per cent, an absolute record. So I thought I would try and find out about the Labor Party's policy and I found this seminal tome by Bill Shorten. If you want to understand the next Prime Minister of Australia, this is essential reading. So I decided to read it. He had three pages on agriculture:

A hotter drier climate combined with more extreme weather events is also making life difficult for Australians in some of our oldest industries, notably agriculture. All these changes force us to re-assess how Australian industries work and what place each has in our … future.

He even doubts its future. He goes on. If you were not depressed by then, he goes on to say:

Higher temperatures will produce more crop-damaging pests. … Three-quarters of the land Australia currently uses for viticulture will be unsuitable.

And on and on it goes, until you feel like topping yourself. This is exactly the sort of negative—

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