Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I just want to quickly sum up this debate and I thank those who have made a contribution to it. At the end of the day, it is Australia’s farmers who are going to pay the bill for this. It is Australia’s farmers who will pay the bill. We have seen from what is happening in the dairy industry at the moment that, when there is a shift in costs in the industry, the farmers pay. The Grain Council said the farmers would pay. The beef processors said the farmers would pay. It depends on what savings would be achieved, but the farmers are going to pay the bill for this.

What we would like to see is a genuine reform process. That is what we are asking for. We are happy to talk; we have said that in our contributions. What we do not want to see is farmers paying for government to reform itself. That is what they believe is going to happen and that is what we believe is going to happen. So let us have a genuine process, let us deal with it properly, and make sure that Australia’s farmers, who are contributing so much to the economy this country, who are exporting up to $30 billion worth of product on an annual basis, do not end up footing the bill for the process that the government has put in place which can only be described as flawed.