Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's almost like we live in outer space here. Is the minister, the government and the opposition aware—

Honourable Members:

Honourable members interjecting—

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You listen, your motor vehicle industry is completely gone. Your whitegoods industry is gone. Forty per cent of your cement industry, when you're constructing a house, is gone. Forty per cent of your steel industry, when you're constructing a house, is gone. Your glass industry is gone. Your textile industry is gone. What do you say, this is a success story?

You keep making reference to rural Australia. There could be many speakers in this place that might question my intelligence or my abilities, as they do very often, but they don't question the fact that I represent rural Australia. As a person that has had cattle all of my life—half my class at school were sugar cane farmers and are still my very best friends to this very day—I know all these industries intimately.

How good have we done in agriculture? Our beef numbers are down about 20 per cent the last time I looked. Our dairy industry is down 30 per cent in its production the last time I looked. The sugar industry is down 17 per cent. The sheep herd is down 70 per cent—a direct result of Mr Keating's deregulation of the wool industry. We are net importers of seafood and pork. Where the hell was the benefit for rural Australia in all this great free trade? Point out to me where it was.

Let me be very specific about the North American Free Trade Agreement, both the Fin Review and The Australian said this is all about dairy, beef and sugar: 'The value now to a dairyman is the equivalent of one ice cream a week.' So we get nothing out of the dairy agreement. I think it is in 14 years time that the restrictions on beef will be removed. I've represented the beef industry. I probably have more beef cattle than everyone else in this place. I've owned cattle all of my adult life—some 50 years—and I've never heard a single beef cattle man say to me, 'We have problems in entering the American market.' The American market's been a very open market, so there was never anything to be gained in the beef industry. The third industry was sugar. We were wiped like a dirty rag. And the minister said, 'There will be no agreement without sugar.' He came into this place and moved for the acceptance of the American free trade deal without sugar in it. Is it any wonder that the National Party does not exist in Queensland anymore? They're affiliates of the Liberal Party, not the National Party. Is it any wonder that the people have walked away?

Where is the benefit? It's not in the motor vehicle industry, the whitegoods industry, the textiles industry, the glass industry, the steel industry or the cement industry. It's not in beef, dairy, sugar, sheep, seafood or pork. Where the hell is the benefit? And are you telling me that these countries are going to honour their agreements? These are countries very noted for the rule of law. Countries like Brunei, Mexico, Peru and Vietnam are hallmarks of the rule of law. And they're going to honour this agreement? Are you serious? I repeat, because there are a number of members here who weren't here previously—and I have a very great respect for Tony Abbott; I liked him personally and I think he was a good Australian, whatever his shortcomings may be—that when Tony Abbott stood up in this place and led the applause on the free trade deal with China, I interjected: 'You just signed your own death warrant, my friend. There is no-one in Australia who is cheering for this except you imbeciles over here.' They are the only people who are cheering this one on. The people over here can start looking at their endorsements because the trade union movement has had a gutful of them. They sold out the worker lock, stock and barrel. It was not the Liberals that introduced s. 457 visas; we know it was Labor that introduced the s. 457 visas. I was there when the federal president of the CFMEU said, 'We will not brook any further s. 457s coming into this country.' The architects have been the Labor Party even more than the Liberal Party—

Kevin Andrews (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order! The member for Kennedy will resume his seat for a moment. The question is that the bill be agreed to. Does the member for Kennedy want the further call?

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Katter's Australian Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

No.

Bill agreed to.