Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Hansard source

It is interesting that the letter that was emailed to me and a number of my colleagues from the New South Wales Farmers Association says this:

Senator Marise Payne supports the Association’s request for an Inquiry and a recent letter the Senator has written to the Federal Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Hon Peter McGauran states that, ‘Senate Committees are an effective method of investigating matters of community concern, and I believe that the significance of this matter’—

that is, quarantine—

‘requires the most accountable method of inquiry’.

It will be very interesting to see if Senator Marise Payne votes on this matter and, indeed, whether she supports the opposition’s proposal. It will also be interesting to notice what other myths and legends are promulgated in support of a position which clearly does not have the support of farmers in the state of New South Wales and, I suspect, all around the country.

Maybe the administration of this portfolio is the reason that we can expect opposition from the government. You would have to say that this government is captive in terms of portfolio allocation to arrangements between the Liberal Party and the National Party, and I know that Senator Heffernan is privately critical of the fact that the National Party gets the primary industries portfolio despite the lack of talent—