Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

With all due respect! I'll take that from the minister at the table. But Labor has supported the few drought measures put forward by the Abbott, Turnbull and Morrison governments. Those measures included an additional supplementary farm household allowance payment of up to $12,000 for eligible recipients, increasing the farm household allowance extension from three years to four years, increasing the farm assets threshold from $2.6 million to $5 million and increasing the Farm Management Deposits Scheme to $800,000. Now we see the Morrison government is reviewing the farm household allowance because many farmers are choosing not to apply for it or, if they do apply, are found to be ineligible.

We're still waiting for the Morrison government to release a new, revised Intergovernmental Agreement on National Drought Program Reform. The previous, inaugural intergovernmental agreement on drought reform was established by the previous Labor government. Now we have the coalition government halfway through its sixth year of governing, and, during that time, what has it done for regional Australia? It has failed to introduce any meaningful policy that would relieve the pressure on farmers and their communities who have been suffering through a seemingly endless drought.

In October last year, the new Prime Minister called a Drought Summit. He announced the Future Drought Fund on the morning of the summit. This was one of the Prime Minister's special 'policy on-the-run' announcements. The Prime Minister turned a summit to discuss the very livelihood of farmers into a cheap political opportunity, thus showing the advertising-man blood that courses through his Bronte veins.

What these bills do is establish the Future Drought Fund that was announced by the Prime Minister as part of the Drought Summit on 26 October last year. The fund will be managed by the Future Fund and credited with $3.9 billion on its establishment. The fund is expected to grow to $5 billion by 2028-29. From 2020-21, an amount of up to $100 million will be able to be drawn each year to pay for drought resilience projects, with the remainder accumulating in the fund. The projects that may be eligible could include infrastructure projects, adoption of technology, improved environmental and natural resource management, and research development and innovation. The Treasurer and the finance minister will be responsible for the fund. The agriculture minister would be responsible for providing grants on the advice of the Regional Investment Corporation, in line with the Drought Resilience Funding Plan.

But where does the money come from to set up this Future Drought Fund? The initial $3.9 billion comes from the abolition of the Building Australia Fund. So they've decided to stop building Australia. The BAF was established in 2008 by Labor and is managed by the Future Fund. Withdrawals and expenditure from the BAF are overseen by independent advisory boards and measured against the nation-building funds evaluation criteria. Sadly, we see that the coalition governments, under three prime ministers, have never drawn from the BAF—never!

In 2017, they attempted to abolish the BAF as part of their attack on NDIS funding. Thankfully, Labor were able to block that attack.

The BAF was established to fund critical national transport and communications infrastructure, including rail, road, ports and broadband that is not being provided by the private sector or the states, so it's something that particularly benefits the bush. Important infrastructure across Australia has been undertaken through investment from the BAF, including the Ipswich Motorway in Queensland, which is a great link to the Lockyer Valley and the west; the Hunter Expressway in New South Wales; and the Regional Rail Link in Victoria. But the Building Australia Fund will be abolished by this short-sighted Morrison government.

Labor is also concerned that the proposed Future Drought Fund, set up with funds from the Building Australia Fund, may end up being another National Party slush fund. The Future Drought Fund is really just a plan to spend money on something in 2020 but with only a very vague idea of what that may be. They've had more than five years to make investments in technology adoption and natural resource management, but they've showed no interest in doing anything about those things in that time. Now, on the eve of an election, suddenly the coalition are running around and throwing money at drought-affected farmers—although they're not really. As I said, it's a vague plan to spend some money in 2020.

Also concerning is that the Morrison government says it will take advice on how to spend the money from the Regional Investment Corporation, also known as the 'Barnaby bank'. The Regional Investment Corporation has no expertise in these matters. It is located in the central west of New South Wales—not in Queensland, where the worst drought affected areas are. Australian farmers deserve a government that is forward thinking, a government that plans for the actual future, not an imaginary fairytale from the 1950s where droughts don't exist. It is a reality that we're going to see more extreme weather events in Australia, including extreme drought.

The BoM, or the Bureau of Meteorology, report State of the climate 2018 reveals:

I'm sorry for the Western Australians here:

Across the same region May- July rainfall—

the so-called Mediterranean climate—

has seen the largest decrease, by around 20 per cent since 1970.

It also says the south-east of Australia has seen a decline of April-October rainfall of around 11 per cent since the late 1990s. However, rainfall has increased across parts of northern Australia since the 1970s. There's been a long-term increase in extreme fire weather, and in the duration of the fire season, across large parts of Australia. The BoM report also discusses why we are seeing these changes. It says:

Greenhouse gases in the atmosphere, such as carbon dioxide and methane, make it harder for the Earth to radiate this heat, so increase the temperature of the Earth's surface, ocean and atmosphere.

The report also says:

Australia is projected to experience:

…   …   …

This is the Morrison government's own report that says we're going to see more of these extreme weather events, including more time in drought because of global warming, yet the coalition government has done nothing to address this growing crisis in the nearly six years they've been in office.

Labor believes that there is a role for government to help farmers adapt to changing weather patterns. I wonder sometimes if the National Party ever talks to actual farmers, rather than—what have we got? We've got economists. We've got journalists. We've got reporters. We don't seem to have any fair dinkum farmers left in the National Party. Labor believes all policy development must be evidence based. It must be guided by known science and should focus on a whole-of-industry productivity and resilience-building agenda. This is ambitious. It won't be achieved by the proposal put forward by the Morrison government that is contained in these bills. However, Labor commits to matching the Morrison government's funding commitments to its Future Drought Fund.

But Labor won't wait until 2020-21 to take decisions on spending measures. We will take expert advice and design policy initiatives for the whole sector ahead of 2020. Labor will establish a farm productivity and sustainable profitability fund. A panel of guardians will be convened to advise the government on policy design and implementation strategies. If elected, a Shorten Labor government will establish the panel within the first 60 days of office, and the panel will be immediately put to work. The panel will include a representative of a national farm leadership group, a leading soils and environmental science expert, a water projects and water efficiency expert, a leading economist, a soils advocate, a representative of a natural resource management group, the chair or CEO of the Council of Rural Research and Development Corporations and the secretary of the relevant COAG committee. The panel will report to the minister for agriculture and will be asked to provide a detailed plan within 12 months. Labor will also restore the Standing Council on Primary Industries, a COAG committee for agricultural matters that was charged with progressing the Intergovernmental Agreement on National Drought Program Reform. That COAG committee was abolished by the Abbott government as soon as it took office. Labor will restore that committee and put drought policy reform back on track.

Labor has many concerns about the bills currently before the House. Labor will not rush this legislation through parliament. It should be carefully considered by a Senate committee. Given no money will be spent until 2020-21, there's plenty of time for a Senate committee to scrutinise this legislation, to test the government's motivation in establishing the fund and to consider what the government plans to spend the money on.

We see a government that has ignored regional Australia for too long. Their drought policy response has been non-existent. They have come up with on-the-run policy reform at the eleventh hour and expect it to be waved through parliament. Australian farmers and regional communities deserve better. They deserve a government that understands the issues they are facing and will help them prepare for the challenging conditions they're going to face in the future. They deserve a government that has a real plan for whole-of-industry productivity and a resilience-building agenda. They deserve a Shorten Labor government that will work with regional Australia and prepare for the future.

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