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

I have still got a farm. I work all the time out there drenching my sheep. I will be doing cattle work in the next couple of days. You see, you have got to keep your hands to the actual core of what people are. That is the issue. That is what is missing here.

What we have over there, Member for Kennedy, is a heap of spivs who are standing by, wanting greater regulation on the live cattle trade. They believe that tree-clearing laws are not much of an issue and they do not have to worry about it. In fact, Member for Kennedy, in their 100 positive policies for agriculture, they recommend greater controls on tree clearing. That is where they are; they are with their Greens mates. They are supporting them. They are run by the Greens. They are so worried about the preferences in Annandale that they have forgotten about the timber workers in Heyfield—250 timber workers. They do not care about them; they care about the possums. They put possums before people. That is where it is.

Now we have the member for Gorton's brother running around this building, as he well should, trying to protect those jobs and nobody from the Labor Party is in this chamber standing up to protect those jobs. They will not go into bat for those jobs. They will not stand up for the people of Hazelwood. They will stand up for the people of Heyfield. They stand behind a report that says 'greater regulation for the live cattle trade'. This is what they have evolved into. This is where they belong; they belong with the Greens. They should just join up with them and pay the membership.

People in the past, the Mick Youngs, once great members of the Labor Party, would look in horror at what the Labor Party has evolved into. He was a former shearer. You do not have any of those, do you? There are no former shearers. We have got 'Wacka' Williams. We have got former shearers but you do not have them. The member for Rankin is another one. Those opposite believe in 'spivdom', but we are proud of what we have done in agriculture. We have turned it around. We are proud to stand behind building dams. Do they believe in building dams? No, they are going to take the money out of the dam fund. They do not believe in building dams.

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