Deborah O'Neill (NSW, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

We can see the resistance coming from there, because they do not want this conversation to happen. They do not want Australian people to hear how much the National Party have abrogated their responsibilities to the people of regional and rural Australia, and that is before I even get to education.

If you want a decent education in the bush, do not look for these guys to give it to you. In addition to taking $57 billion out of health, on the Gonski reforms, which they backed 100 per cent before they got in, the minute they walk through the door they tear up the agreements and they destroy any agreements still under construction. Then they add another insult to the people of the bush by taking $30 billion out of investment in our kids. That is $1,000 per child that these guys want to take away, and in country and regional Australia it is even more, because the needs elements are escalated in the bush. We have more Indigenous kids and more kids from low SES who need that support, and that is where the money would go. That is what needs-based funding does. The bush stands to benefit from the needs-based funding of the Gonski model. But these guys, who said they backed it 100 per cent before the last election, do not back it at all. They are trying to pull away from that all of the time, and that will hurt the bush. That will hurt our capacity to have a workforce that can continue to do the great work in the agricultural field that Australia is well known for around the world.

In addition to this, they talk about being trade oriented and wanting to do business with Asia. I am proud that the China free trade agreement was finally signed onto with very significant restrictions around 457 visas, hard-won by Labor to make sure that the government pulled back from the edge of completely ruining the opportunity for good workplaces in this country. But we have seen that this mob have even had a go at the curriculum to take out any Asia focus. Here they are: 'We want to help build trade. Let's increase our trade with Asia but let's just make sure our kids don't understand anything about Asia.' That is how hypocritical this government is.

In the minutes that remain to me I want to go to one of the major concerns that I think needs to be addressed with this government. We know that agriculture needs strategic guidance from the government. It does not need a government that is sending signals in a very competitive market that foreign capital is not welcome in the country. That is what it has been determined to do in recent months. There have been amazingly confused messages to an international market. It is playing to the crowd. I fear it is playing on fear in our community that somehow Asian investment in agriculture is not good for this country. I can only say that, having been to see the Ord stage 1 and stage 2, it is amazing when we see this level of investment and what it can generate in regional economies in terms of jobs, higher quality experiences, bringing in doctors, bringing in health professionals and creating communities where people really can see a future for their children.

This government should instead be showing leadership. They should be going out and saying,' We need investment and we're in competition for it with others.' Without that investment we cannot be internationally competitive and we will not exporting more. We will not be pushing our agricultural product up the value curve. We should be working together in this place to send a very clear message to the Australian community that they should not fear foreign investment in our agricultural land and agribusinesses in the country. We need that investment, and without it we will fall further behind.

Labor once again appeals to this government to give up the folly of trading off on what sorts of investment they think are acceptable today and what they might think tomorrow. Stop playing to the crowd. Recognise that, to meet all our aspirations in agriculture, we are going to need $600 billion of agricultural investment in this country by 2050. It is not going to come from within. Even if we put all of our super funds into agriculture tomorrow, it still would not be enough. By necessity, growing our agricultural capacity is going to need income and investment from foreign sources. We are in competition with others and we need to be inviting it—discerning it but absolutely inviting it.

This bill does represent one of the many things that will develop our attractiveness. I support the bill and commend it to the Senate.