Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Government Services and the Digital Economy) Share this | Hansard source

I indicate that the opposition will be supporting the amendment moved by the member for Kennedy. As he has rightly highlighted in his contribution, the primary industry sector is enormously important to Australia's prosperity. Indeed, there is a goal of achieving export income of $100 billion. There has been very significant progress towards that over the last few years and the coalition strongly supported that when in government.

Of course, what needs to be recognised—and the members who have contributed have made this point very effectively—is that farming, primary industry, has some characteristics that are very different to other kinds of businesses across the economy. Many farming enterprises are family businesses, being built up over generations, and many farming businesses take substantial risks: if there's a drought, that could go for a year, or two years—or four or five. The harvest could fail, and that can happen, year after year after year. Families in many cases there are really hanging on, and it's very, very tough. It's a boom and bust industry: of course there are other times that are good—global commodity prices are high, the weather is good and the harvest is good, and farmers receive a substantial sum of money for their harvest.

But of course that cyclicality, that boom-and-bust nature, is something that's unlikely to be looked on in any receptive way by aggressive unions seeking to push into territories that they presently do not have a strong presence in. And we know that's one of the agendas behind this bill: it's to expand the role of the union movement to support it to get greater coverage, across many different parts of the economy, and there's no doubt that farming is one of the sectors in their sights. So, this government is of course dancing to the tune of the union paymasters.

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