Susan Templeman (Macquarie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

Yet again, we've had patronising comments from the other side that somehow Labor members do not understand what it's like to be in the agriculture sector. You've heard from someone who grew up on a dairy farm and lives in that area. You've heard from people in Tasmania, where agriculture is part and parcel of how that economy works. You're never very far from a farm in Tassie—an oyster farm, of course, being my preferred option. But I think there's a real gap in understanding. These people opposite me seem to think they own a space. I'm sorry: when you fail to act, you vacate the space, and that's what has been happening.

I'm not a farmer. I grew up in a city, but my dad grew up on a sheep farm not far from here, in Yass. His twin brother farmed that farm until his death. So, like many city people, I've been really fortunate to spend holidays on farms. But, more than that, I was fortunate to be in Old Parliament House as the rural reporter for the 2UE network back in the eighties. This was a time of great change in the sector, when technology was really just starting to come through, and I was always very happy to spend time with the National Farmers Federation, hearing from them about what they needed the then Labor government to do. Those two worked hand in hand. So this nonsense that Labor somehow can't work with farmers—you go back to that government, and you'll see great achievements and great collaboration.

I was then very fortunate throughout my professional career, when I had my own business for 25 years, that much of that was spent working with rural organisations. In fact, my very first client was the former New South Wales Farmers Federation. So I have spent hours, days and weeks of my life thinking about the issues that face farmers, and that was before I became the member for Macquarie—one of the key periurban agricultural areas in New South Wales. So don't patronise us. How about you listen to the things that we see in our communities? You might learn something that's useful. We would love you to learn from our communities, because they feel that they've been abandoned by you.

Over my five years as the member for Macquarie, I have really come to understand more deeply the unique environment that periurban agriculture is. I have breeders of prize cattle, which of course are showcased at the Hawkesbury show—the biggest agricultural show in New South Wales outside the Sydney show. I have uni students who are hoping to take over their families' farms and I have people who have farmed the land all their lives, like John from Enniskillen Orchard. He has fought to protect periurban agriculture for decades and decades.

I have the incredible Hawkesbury Harvest, which promotes the pick-your-own agri-tourism side of the agricultural sector. I have all the Maltese vegetable farmers, who were so badly affected by the floods, and the newer arrivals, the Asian market farmers and growers. Then, of course, I have the orchardists, with the apples around Bilpin, and the flower growers. The list goes on and on. It shows that in a relatively small space we can have a bit of everything. If you're a Hawkesbury farmer or, for that matter, a Blue Mountains farmer, you have been through a lot. You've been through drought, you've been through bushfires and you've been through floods which have washed away your crops. You're still probably looking at great big holes in the riverbank where you used to grow things. That applies to the turf farmers as well.

And they trusted government; they trusted government to do the right thing by them and they haven't seen that happen. That's the danger with biosecurity: the failure. They're trusting that the government will act on that. Yet the analysis that comes out from the inspector-general is that the system is not in a strong position to address the diverse and evolving biosecurity risks and the business environment expected in the next few years. Those opposite cannot sit back and do nothing, let alone take no action on climate change. It's going to exacerbate those things. Now is the time to act for the sake of our farmers.

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