Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Tourism and International Education) Share this | Hansard source

It is quite simple: the more infrastructure we as a nation have in place to export our high-quality produce to the world, the greater the return to our nation will be. In fact, rural goods exports have grown by 9.7 per cent in financial year 2013-14 and by a further seven per cent in financial year 2014-15, and we have continued to observe strong growth in the first quarter of this financial year, up 12.3 per cent compared to the same period in the previous year. These figures highlight that agriculture is becoming an increasingly fundamental pillar of our economy—as we committed to making it at the last election—and the future prosperity of the nation. This is why the coalition is delivering on our vision and our plan to back agriculture, and we will continue to do so.