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

It's still happening. It's 2019 and they still can't access farm household allowance. They still can't access it. They can't get this right.

Second, we need to incentivise investment in on-farm structure. I'm going to acknowledge some of the good things the government has done on this front. For example, we're with you on accelerated depreciation. That's good. We need farmers investing in on-farm infrastructure. That's a good thing to do. That gets a tick. That's a good thing to do.

The big missing picture is the third tranche, and that's resilience building, better preparing for drought and maintaining profitability in drought. This is the area this government hasn't been prepared to talk about for the last five years or more. Now it wants us to believe that this is the response. We had a drought summit after probably five years, or close to it. The Prime Minister—the new Prime Minister at the time—decided we needed a drought summit, a talk fest. No-one was there that hasn't been in the conversation 100 times before. There were no scientists or economists or agronomists, as we would have on our panel; it was just all the usual people who are well intentioned but who have a voice anyway, saying the same things we've all been saying for a long time. I do acknowledge those who bravely stood and talked about climate change and the need to act.

The great disappointment of the drought summit, other than the obvious, was that the Prime Minister's announcement came on the drought fund before the drought summit even kicked off—a slap in the face for everyone who was attending. They thought they were going there to make a contribution to the outcome, but the outcome was given before they walked in the door. That's an important point, because it highlights again what this fund is all about. Is it really all about finally embracing the need for a science based, strategic approach to long-term drought funding, or, really, is it about the next election campaign? Given the timing of this, it's pretty easy to come to the conclusion that this is not about helping our farmers. If they wanted to help our farmers, they wouldn't be robbing them of the investments that could be made out of the Building Australia Fund. After five years, this sudden rush to pretend they're doing something is not about our farmers, it's not about sustainable profitability and it's not about our natural environment. No, it's about the National Party, that mob that get four per cent of the primary vote nationally but get to run the government, or at least be a large part of the government. But people are tiring of it. They're waking up to them and they're coming after them, and this stunt, this slush fund they're trying to create to buy those votes back, will fail. People should oppose this bill.

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