Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Workplace Relations) Share this | Hansard source

As people in this House know, Labor is not opposing the bill that is before us. It is, again, another example of how it feels like this government are doing a bit of housekeeping when it comes to agriculture. This is a non-controversial bill that is before the House that sort of tidies up some stuff that didn't happen in the past. We all acknowledge how important R&D is, particularly to the agricultural space. Whether you talk to cotton farmers in the cotton industry, whether you talk to the grain industry, whether you talk to our fisheries industry, whether you talk to our growing unique horticultural industry—our chickpeas, pulses—R&D is critical.

However, I also rise to speak today to the amendment that's been moved by the member for Hunter, which actually says:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes that the Turnbull Government has failed to develop evidence-based policies to support primary industries through appropriately targeted research and development, and the efficient allocation of funding".

This is a critical point. It is not just agriculture; it is across the entire government responsibilities. They are failing to ensure evidence based policies and the efficient allocation of taxpayers' resources. The previous speaker spoke about the impact of climate change. That is an area where this government has failed. They've ignored the evidence. They've ignored the science. They've wasted money on programs which we know just don't work, only to scrap them a few years later or to cut their funding. There was the Green Army—I almost called it the Land Army; it was such a long time ago in the memories of so many people in this place. With the Green Army, from the beginning, the evidence suggested that the program wouldn't work. If you cut money from connecting country, if you cut money from land care programs, put it into Green Army, then there's nobody to run the projects for the Green Army to work in. The evidence was there. Yet the government—

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