Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Yes. This is not the appropriate way to debate and to determine the future of wheat marketing in Australia. The Greens support, in principle, the concept of a single desk and grower owned control but we need to make sure that those structures are properly in place, that the oversight structures are properly in place, and that we get the transparency and accountability right. The Greens are not convinced that we have that, so we cannot support this bill in its entirety. We will support it being split, we will support the veto and we will support it being sent to committee for review, and for it to then come back in August to look at whether further amendments need to be put in place. But this is not the way to do business and it is not the way to treat wheat marketing in this country. We are very disappointed that the government is rushing this through. This is the government’s response to the Cole inquiry and the government’s response to how we market our wheat into the 21st century. You would think the government would give this place, and the community, a little more time to deal with this adequately and make sure we have got it right this time because I do not think there will be an opportunity to get it right at another time before we expend our credibility completely in the international sphere.