Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Cities and Regional Development (Senate)) Share this | Hansard source

Spontaneous! Senator Sinodinos, it's great to see you back, mate—thank you. Spontaneous combustion happened at this club. I wouldn't dare think that that was convenient—I would not even suggest that there's anything inappropriate there. I believe there was a coronial inquiry and they couldn't find enough evidence. I think they said that there was a homeless person who might have started the fire. Well, after questioning from Labor senators—and all the senators were listening around the room—all of a sudden, out of nowhere, the authorities have opened up the investigation again. Hollywood can't make this stuff up, you know? Everything about this forced relocation of the APVMA by the then Minister Joyce has got a stench about it. When all is said and done, if we cannot, what's the word, provide the staff—the man and woman power—and we can't find the 58 or whatever scientists short we are, which is not having a go at the rest of the people who have been told, 'You either move or you get a redundancy and go,' where's the logic in this?

While we're supportive of the bill, we'll just continue asking about that relocation, but we're having real, serious dramas about why there has to be the governance board. And I come back to that, Mr Acting Deputy President Brockman, because you and I both know, as all senators here do, that, crikey, they're all over us like a cheap suit! They're checking out our travel—and so they should; it's taxpayers' dollars—and every senator in this place is aware of that, as are the members on the other side. Some have slip-ups, and thankfully they get caught and get a smack across the ear, and that's fine. But how does a government come out on a bipartisan inquiry and a bipartisan bill, then at the last minute whack in their governance board?

Someone could come to me and say: 'Do you know what? These are the reasons why, and put a compelling case,' and then say: 'We have to do it because we don't trust the APVMA'—and I'm not saying this; this is what could be—'they're not capable of doing their job properly, even though they're scientists and experts in their field. We just want to give a couple of mates a job.' Well, I've got no idea! So when we get into the committee stage, I'll be really interested to hear what's going on, bearing in mind that there are Senate estimates next week. We know how it all works: one thing that the department is very good at is getting back to us rapidly with questions taken on notice. They do; the agriculture department is very, very good, and I've said that many times. It's just a shame that there's a dark hole in the minister's office which they fall into and we can't find the answers for about three months. But, anyway, that's nothing new.

So, in saying that, in the best interests of our farming communities and our food producers Labor will always continue to act in their best interests. We consult widely. But we also have to understand here—and this is another one that gets up my nostrils—that the industry itself is not supportive of this governance board. So how can a government go out there and tell us a fib that it's not going to cost in any way? They've been ratted out; it is going to cost. And how can they say they've consulted, when industry itself has told us that it's not supportive of it? This is really like just saying: 'I'll have a brainwave; I'll go and pork barrel. I'll pretend that I'm consulting and I'll pretend that it's not going to cost us anything. I've got to do it'—for whatever reason I don't know; a club burns down in the middle of the night for some reason that we don't have an answer for but the police are looking into it—and we're supposed to sit here and just say: 'Look, help yourself! Just knock yourself out!'

No-one supports it, it costs and you didn't tell us the truth. What was the rush? On that: I know that at the end of the day we will support it. But I can guarantee one thing: I, myself, am not convinced for one second that this is a move that should be applauded. It should not be applauded. For want of repeating myself, if there are cases put forward where we can relocate—where we can put agencies out into the regions, boost the economy in the region and it's in the best interests of the food producers—then I give full support; not a problem. But this is a shambles created by a shambolic minister, and I don't think anyone can jump up to former Minister Joyce's defence and say: 'Geez, you got it wrong, Sterle! You got it wrong; you're mistaken! He's one of the most efficient ministers around and, crikey, he is one of the best things that ever happened to the agriculture industry and rural Australia.' I'm not: I just hope, for crying out loud, that we get the answers that we seek.