David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

Can I firstly acknowledge the member for New England, my predecessor as the Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. In fact, a lot of the environment that we've put around the agriculture sector with respect to drought policy comes from his leadership. The Agricultural competitiveness white paper also built that resilience and environment around our agriculture sector. It was ahead of its time. This parliament and this nation owe a lot of gratitude to member for New England.

This government, since coming into power, has invested over a billion dollars around drought assistance not only for farmers but also for small communities. It's not just the farmers that hurt during drought; it's the small businesses that support those farmers, those small communities. It's important that we acknowledge that and ensure that our policy settings not only support the resilience of our farming sector but also go to supporting those small regional communities. We've done that through a number of ways.

One is that we're about to pass some legislation to extend the farm household allowance to give dignity to those farmers who are doing it tough so that they will be able to put bread and butter on the table and put fuel in the car to take the kids to sport on the weekend. But we've also been able to ensure we have a concessional loan piece that now we'll be able to put through the Regional Investment Corporation. There is also the Drought Communities Program, which is putting $35 million into small regional communities to allow them to build projects that'll use local contractors. In any electorate of Maranoa I can assure you there are little communities like Quilpie and Cunnamulla that have been able to do new projects, such as for their racecourse, using local contractors and keeping them busy. The farm household allowance, that $538.80 a fortnight, also goes into the local supermarket, keeping employment in those communities alive and well during the tough times.

We have also made sure that we have made an investment in controlling pests and weeds. In my own electorate in Queensland, we've put $13 million into wild-dog fencing. It has lifted the lambing rates from around seven per cent to 85 per cent. What that does is build resilience so that, when it does rain, our primary producers are able to take advantage of the commodity prices that are there because of the trade agreements we put in place. It also allows them to recover. We have also seen the environmental benefits of this dog fencing. We're seeing a large increase in small marsupials, brolgas and even koalas coming back because of the investment that we have made in partnership with the primary producer to ensure that we build resilience to get them through the drought and prepare them for the next drought but ensure that they take advantage of the great commodity prices that we've put in place. Our drought investment in regional communities and in farmers is not just about keeping them alive and going through a drought. It's going beyond that. It's looking towards building that resilience so that when it does rain they can take advantage and when they go through the next drought they're not as reliant on the Commonwealth. That is an important piece that we've put together. It's a strategic piece. The member for New England was at the fore of that and needs to be acknowledged for all his work on that.

There were some comments made in the speech by the member for Hunter when moving his amendments around particularly the intergovernmental agreement on drought with the states. Sadly, again, he was trying to score cheap political points without understanding the facts. It will not end on 1 July. In fact, AGMIN agreed that it will continue on. It will be finalised by September. But instead of mentioning that, the member for Hunter made a cheap political point, politicalising drought and hardship. It would be good if the member for Hunter got out of Newcastle and came and sat, as the Prime Minister, the Deputy Prime Minister and I have done, at farmers' kitchen tables. He hasn't sat at a farmer's kitchen table in the last 12 months—I would put money on that—to listen to the reality and listen to the stories to be able to understand the policy settings that we are putting in place. That's what we as a government do. That's what the Prime Minister did.

I challenge the Leader of the Opposition. Not one brass razoo did he commit to agriculture in his budget reply speech.

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