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

If you want to extend, I'm happy to keep going. The reality is that this is what due process should look like—that is, making sure that there aren't any undue impacts on the industry right across it. That's what we've done. We've been calm and sensible and decisive. We've let industry tell us what they want. They came back and told us. It took them time, but we got them there. That's what good governments should do.

An opposition member interjecting—

Well, you're not listening. The reality is we're also supporting our farmers. When they talk about the returns that our farmers are getting, let me tell you: we've taken an agriculture industry from $30 billion to $60 billion in the last eight years. You know how we did that? It's the trade agreements that we put in place. We took off the tinfoil hat that those opposite are wearing. Every time we put a trade agreement up, those opposite tried to slaughter it. Trade agreements are good for this country. We are a nation of 25 million people but we produce enough food for 75 million people. If we don't engage the world, if we don't embrace the world in free trade, then we won't have regional and rural communities—communities that I live in, people that I represent, people that I see every day. The opportunities that the free trade agreements provide are putting money back into their pockets and back into the pockets of our regional communities. These are the sorts of actions that we put in place with the trade agreements with Japan, Korea and China and with the TPP-11, of which those opposite said, 'No, don't bother about it; it's never going to be done.' Lo and behold, we've done it.

Now we've also made an even greater investment in trade. In the last budget, we delivered an extra $51 million to create an additional six agricultural councillor positions to complement the 16 that are already in place, to make sure we get market access for all those commodities, particularly for dairy. We're making sure we get market access commodity by commodity. We're breaking it down and putting in place those people that can have that government-to-government relationship we need to ensure that we get access and take advantage of the trade agreements that we've put in place.

The member for Hunter talks about climate change. Well, let me say that every year this government has invested over $300 million into research and development around giving our farmers the tools, the science and the technology to be able to adapt to a changing climate. We've done it. The climate has been changing since we first put a till in the soil. As primary producers, we continue to adapt and we're adapting better than anyone else. Those investments have made sure that we have, as primary producers, the tools we need to make returns. I'm proud to say that, for the first time, as the national agriculture minister, at the last ministerial council I brought together all the states to have a coordinated approach so that all our research and development—the research and development the states are doing and that we're doing—is coordinated to make sure that we get better bang for buck.

The member for Hunter wants to cherry-pick on points but really hasn't gone into the substance. If he wants to become the agriculture minister, he needs to understand these, because there is a responsibility to those regional and rural Australians, those people, those primary producers out there, particularly those dairy farmers that have done it tough and that we've seen hurt. We've seen the significant reduction from around 8½ thousand to 6,000. We had to act and we did. We acted with industry and we will continue to act. There are other pieces of legislation that we will continue to work through to make sure. And we talked to the dairy farmers.

Dr Mike Kelly interjecting—

I'll take the interjection. I can't remember the last time you'd seen a dairy farmer. The reality is this: we have been calm and decisive about making sure that we put in an environmental framework. To try to undertake a political stunt where you're going to engage with the ACCC, who have just completed a report that effectively says nothing about supporting this fanciful idea that the member for Hunter has put up, will not work. They understand it's nothing more than a stunt. There's no substance, and it's actually cruel. It's actually a cruel hoax to the dairy farmers of this country. It's a cruel hoax to try to politicise the issues that they've had.

This is about leadership, not politics. And, while the member for Hunter has said that he's disappointed in my performance, I can say that I'm proud of the fact that I have reached across the aisle. For the first time in this nation's history, we have an agreement on the Murray-Darling Basin Plan, the biggest environmental plan in this nation's history. It is—since Federation. And you know what? It only happened, Member for Hunter—you might want to learn this—because I reached out across the aisle to the member for Watson, and he helped. We worked together. Do not politicise people's plights for your own political gain.

This government will continue on a journey of putting a strong environment around our farmers to ensure they make the best returns. It doesn't happen overnight. It has to be done properly with due process; otherwise, you'll end up with a mess that we've had to fix over the last six years from Labor. (Time expired)

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