Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like with Farm Household Support Bill, I can indicate that the opposition will be supporting the Farm Household Support (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill and, again like the previous bill, we will be taking a bipartisan approach to this debate as best we can. I do resent my very good friend the member for Grayndler provoking the Minister for Agriculture throughout his summation speech. Up until then it had been pretty tidy. Of course people like me, with my 30-minute contribution to that last debate, did point out a few flaws in the government's approach to agricultural policy—not the least being that the minister, who spruiked his agricultural white paper, has not included in its terms of reference any reference to climate change or natural resource sustainability. I think this is a huge omission and I think, in his more private moments, he would concede it is an enormous omission. I suppose, given that there are so many climate change deniers on that side of this place, it was going to be a little embarrassing if not uncomfortable to be discussing the impacts of our changing climate on the agricultural sector.

I suppose the situation is somewhat difficult for the minister. When I was a minister, I had an infrastructure minister who was interested in infrastructure within the agricultural sector, including our grain supply chain. This is something I know the minister must be struggling with and I give him my sympathies on that matter. I am very pleased to help him in anyway that I can as he lobbies his own side for some investment in infrastructure in this country. One of his own on the other side, the member for Hume, suggested through the ANZ Port Jackson Partners report that, to fully capitalise on the food production opportunities afforded to us in Asia, we will need something like $500 billion to $600 billion worth of investment in this country. Obviously, much of that will come through foreign investment, but we will need a government in this country which is interested in investing in our economic future.

I do resent my good friend the member for Grayndler provoking the minister, because it causes me to travel a little bit off course. I promised those on my side that I would be very brief in speaking on this bill, unlike on the last one. I will be moving the second reading amendment as circulated in my name. I am sure that Mr Butler, the member for Port Adelaide, will be happy to second that amendment. I will be moving that amendment with some reluctance, because I am not keen to muddy the waters on what is a non-controversial and important bill, which of course had its beginnings in the BERL report under the former Labor government.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, with greatest deference, is that an amendment to this consequential amendment bill?

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, it is a second reading amendment to this bill. I have circulated it. It criticises you, Minister, for cutting quarantine resources to your department, which is something you would almost expect me to do given the likely impact—

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think the member might have the wrong bill.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Okay, I am on the wrong bill.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are dealing with the Farm Household Support (Consequential and Transitional Provisions) Bill.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

A person who was not a gentleman would take great advantage of that, but I will not. I will let that one pass. However, I will take you up on a couple of other points. The member for Grayndler, with his 50 acres of farm at Hyde Park, who grew up tough in the suburbs of Sydney, should understand that one of the reasons we are not dealing with climate change in the white paper is that, whatever your position is, I do not believe we can change it back—not from Australia and not single-handedly. We certainly cannot change it back with a carbon tax, because we have actually got a carbon tax. We have got one—so everything now should be better; it should be fixed. If we look out there at the great vault of heaven, it is around about where we left it before the carbon tax was introduced. But what I do know is that we are all poorer; I notice that. If a tax fixes the climate, let us just jack up the GST—that should fix it; that could do it as well.

The other thing I noted was that the absolute spear-chuckers on this—the Australian Greens—did not go so well down in Tasmania the other day. It is quite clear that, if this is your calling card, you have not got much of a political future. That is because the Australian people are now focused on other things such as getting some money on the table, keeping their job, getting the price of power down and basically trying to cut the cloth to fit the wearer. You are just not going to win a trick with a carbon tax. If I were to give my meagre advice, I would say that it would make life a lot tougher for us, and a lot easier for the Labor Party, if they ditched the carbon tax, because it just gives us spruiking capacity on every issue. Anyway, as long as you keep it, we will keep knocking you down over it.

There are a couple of other issues here. Infrastructure is a good point. That is why we have allocated $300 million in the forward estimates for inland rail. I was deputy chair of the dams committee and I hope at some stage to pursue that agenda in a greater way. I know that if we do and we try to build some dams there will be a battle. When that piece of infrastructure comes up it will be interesting to see who stands in the way, because we know the Greens will. They will be out there fighting for the frogs and fighting for the moths; there is no doubt about that. They will be out there making sure that every toad is sacred while we will be trying to make sure that we actually build something and have a mechanism that creates commerce, that creates a future and that gives the nation a greater place to go. One of the greatest deliveries of infrastructure was obviously the Snowy Mountains scheme. There were some political giants that stood behind that process. In the future, when we try to build the next lot of dams, we will see whether those giants still exist or whether we will have people who will just stymie the process, who will drag it down, who will try to belittle it and who will try to make sure that the boggomoss snail has more rights than people. I note the member for Grayndler has returned to the chamber. He is like moth to a flame—he cannot stay away.

The member for Grayndler might be the person who stands up to the Greens. He will understand, because he is the actual people's choice. The other guy is just a usurper. He is sitting there, but he is not there for long, because the people's choice is just over there. The people's choice is going to move up and he is going to move back; that is basically what happens. He moves up and the other guy moves back. And the lady behind, the member for Sydney, keeps on focusing on sections that would fit neatly between the ribs. Anyway, I digress.

Christian Porter (Pearce, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

She has been one of the most incompetent, so that puts her up the pecking order.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Do not knock Senator Conroy. Senator Conroy has been exceptionally good in the incompetence stakes. Anyway—

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Deputy Speaker, I raise a point of order: this has been a broad-ranging debate and I have been one of the culprits, but we are really straying well beyond relevance now.

Ross Vasta (Bonner, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I call the minister back and I call him to order.

Mr Albanese interjecting—

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I think it is vitally important that we get this through tonight, so we have to stop the interjections. I thank the chamber for its attention.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.