Andrew Willcox (Dawson, Liberal National Party) Share this | Hansard source

A federal government has two main jobs. One: they keep their borders secure and their citizens safe. Two: they keep the citizens fed. This Albanese Labor government is failing at both. Agriculture is a cornerstone of Australia's success and should be one of Australia's biggest industries. If you look back through time, agriculture—the production of livestock and fresh produce—allowed millions of residents to live in cities. Think about it. If you live in the heart of Sydney or Melbourne and go to the shops, who supplies those apples, that lettuce or broccoli or that nice, juicy piece of fillet steak? That comes from a farmer. That farmer can sometimes be thousands of kilometres away from you and often has never visited your city. Every day, that farmer continues to ensure that we have fresh Australian produce on our tables. In fact, in 2023-24, the agricultural sector generated over $82 billion and employed over 250,000 Australians.

Food security should be at the forefront of everyone's minds. Ninety per cent of the fresh fruit, vegetables, meat, milk and eggs available in Australia is produced locally. However, the destructive policies from the Albanese Labor government are putting this in jeopardy. The government has shut down the live sheep export, putting hundreds of businesses at risk and increasing their financial stress, all because of politics. It's not because the market ceased—no, no, no, no, no! It was purely because of some crazy idea between Labor, the Greens and the Teals. Then the government imposed a container levy that our farmers have to pay for. Can you believe that? Our farmers must pay for the biosecurity of our international competitors. I shake my head in disbelief.

The price of energy is one of the biggest issues facing our farmers. Labor's reckless race to renewables is doing absolutely nothing to drive down the energy costs. Just this week, ecological experts are calling for a halt to new large-scale renewable projects. The Queensland government's former principal botanist, Jeanette Kemp, said there would be a considerable backlash if the public were fully aware of the extent of land clearing and fragmentation of valuable habitat to make way for wind farms. It's about time Australians fully learned the hypocrisy of Labor, the Greens and the Teals. They have brainwashed millions of Australians, including teachers, professors and our younger generation, claiming that they are the only ones who care about the environment. Well, it's here in black and white. They are the ones destroying it. They won't allow farmers to clear land to increase their viability—to plant, to grow—but they will allow clearing for steel structures. It's just bizarre. Life has never been easy under Prime Minister Albanese. Food prices have risen by 12 per cent. There is no water security because of Labor cuts of over $7 billion to critical water projects. The worst part: 34 per cent of Australian vegetable growers are considering leaving the industry. That's within the next 12 months.

There is a better way. A coalition government will reinstate the live sheep export trade. We will bring back the ag visa and fix the PALM scheme so it's working appropriately and effectively. We will ensure the 88-day backpacker visa remains in place, and we will not introduce a container levy that Australian farmers have to pay for. We will fix the energy crisis in this country by creating a mix of energy sources, instead of Labor's reckless race to renewables. We will stop Labor's proposed taxes on superannuation that will impact our farmers. The coalition will keep the supermarkets in check by delivering stronger penalties for anticompetitive behaviour.

We've just had an election in Queensland. What a marvellous result that was for every Queenslander. A Liberal National Party was elected under the leadership of David Crisafulli, and I congratulate the team wholeheartedly. I encourage the Prime Minister to head down to the Governor-General and call for a federal election. Australians have had enough. They've had enough of not feeling safe, they've had enough of crime and they've had enough of sky-high energy prices. They want to be able to afford to build a home. Australians are doing it tough and we need a Liberal National government.

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