Andrew Broad (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister outline how the government's policies, including the scrapping of the carbon tax, are contributing to the growth and prosperity of the dairy industry and agriculture in Australia more broadly?

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

I thank the member for Mallee for his question. The member for Mallee with an electorate of about 74,000 square kilometres is very aware of the agricultural sector. One of the great things that this side of the House has brought for the member for Mallee was the Wimmera-Mallee pipeline, one of the biggest engineering projects in delivery of water, and it was brought about by this side of the House. That is what we gave the people of Mallee.

What did the Labor Party give them? The Labor Party gave them a $100,000 carbon tax bill to operate it. That is basically what they gave them from that. Then we went on to the Sunraysia Modernisation Project, another massive infrastructure project for Mallee. What did the Labor Party give them? They gave them the carbon tax bill for the operation of the pumps.

There is a clear understanding of the difference between the two sides. The Labor Party gave Murray-Goulburn a $14 million a year tax bill to process the milk including between $1,300 and $7,000 a year per dairy shed. That is what the Labor Party gave them. What did we give them? We gave them the record high price for dairy product on 30 June this year.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

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

The member for Hunter!

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

We are business people and we get the business done. What did the Labor Party do for agriculture? There was a decline in employment in agricultural jobs of 50,000. I just want to quote to you what CommSec says about what has happened in the last year of this government. CommSec says:

Jobs in agriculture have posted the biggest annual gain on record.

That is what we are doing. We are actually creating people's jobs. We got them back the equivalent of the town of Ballarat in terms of job numbers—that is basically what is happening. What I am very proud about is that in those jobs we know that there was a massive increase in people employed in the meat sector—and you did the live cattle job, didn't you?

There is also an increase in the mushroom sector. You know a fair bit about what happened to jobs in the mushroom sector, don't you? Absolutely, and you might like to tell us about jobs in the mushroom sector one day soon, because we are reading about it in the paper. We will keep on expanding markets into China—dairy exports to China last year went up by 100 per cent.

Mr Shorten interjecting—

So while you were lighting candles in front of wind chimes and we were reading your obituary on the credit card, we were doing the business and building the economy.

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

Madam Speaker, I rise on a point of order. The CommSec document from which the minister was reading gives no credit to the government for any of those figures—

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

There is no point of order. The member will resume his seat.

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

I ask him to table a document, Madam Speaker.

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

There is a request for the document to be tabled. Does the minister wish to table it?

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

There you go. Read it and weep!