Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

He has no point of order, but to assist you, I will be cautious in my approach. The point of order is wrong because I'm reflecting on the minister's policy performance in this portfolio. I'm making no personal attack or reflection on his character; I'm talking about his performance in this portfolio, which has been abysmal. I was sitting there recently trying to give him the benefit of the doubt, trying to think of one thing the minister has done for the agricultural sector. I came up with one. I will give him credit: we had an accelerated appreciation provision in the 2014 budget, I think, which helped farmers with water infrastructure, but that's it. I was unable to think of one other initiative. His white paper is a joke. The industry knows it. He's hopeless. He's a failure. I move my amendment, once again, to allow the member for Lingiari to second it.

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