Brett Whiteley (Braddon, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister update the House on what the government is doing to boost the competitiveness of the Australian dairy industry? How will removal of the world's biggest carbon tax benefit dairy farmers in Australia, particularly in my electorate of Braddon?

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mr Whiteley interjecting —

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There will be silence on my left! The member for Braddon has asked his question and will desist. I will call the Minister for Agriculture when I have silence on my left.

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

I thank the member for Braddon for his question. I was in Tasmania just the other day, and it is great to see Tasmania getting ahead under our government. It is great to see a government, our government, that is now getting 54 cents a litre for milk. It is great to see a government that is now putting money towards the Midlands, and they are making the choice there of whether they go out of sheep and into dairy.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Franklin!

Opposition members interjecting—

The member for Grayndler will desist or leave—one or the other.

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

It is a hard choice to make, because under our government they a getting $100,000 for a B-double of sheep. That is because of the actions of our government. Under their government, if a sheep died I know you would throw it in the gully. With prices like those under our government you would have to give it a state funeral, I suppose!

Under our government we have moved 16,000 litres a milk a week from the North Coast of New South Wales and it is getting between $9 and $12 a litre. Our government is supporting the $80 million development of what Devondale is doing to expand their plant in Tasmania. Under our government we are actually getting turnaround. We have three months to go and our figures for dairy production basically equal your figures for the whole year. Under out government we are actually getting things moving ahead. That is why under our government agriculture is up 19.3 per cent in value for the quarter compared with what it was. The problem is that if you get their government back—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Charlton on a point of order.

Pat Conroy (Charlton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My point of order concerns relevance. Has the minister found a $100 leg of lamb yet!

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member will remove himself from the chamber under standing order 94(a).

The member for Charlton then left the chamber.

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

Then there is the sobering news after the terrible trio—Batman, who is no longer with us, Robin, who still resides with us, and the butler, Alfred Pennyworth—went to Townsville. They said they would get rid of the carbon tax, but, of course, they did not. That is why under their government there was a 400 per cent increase in the price of refrigerant gases, which the dairy industry uses. That is why under their government there was an increase in the power prices. We have the big dairy farmers paying between $10,000 and $15,000 in power prices, and, of course, those prices went up.

Under their government they still believed in a 6.85 cents a litre increase in diesel prices, because they believe they can make the world cooler. Under their government they believe in making you poorer. Their policy is to make you poorer. They are to be remembered by making you poorer. Their No. 1 policy if you want them back is to make you poorer, because they believe that they can single-handedly cool the planet from a room in Canberra. They believe in this peculiar place where if you put Australian coal into Australian coal-fired power plants, it is a bad rock, but if it moves over water to another country and makes people in that country warmer or cooler—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister will resume his seat. The Manager of Opposition Business on a point of order.

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Finance) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I refer to page 505—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The minister advises he has concluded his answer. The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat.

Opposition members interjecting—