Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Madam Deputy President, actions speak so much louder than words. Senator Watt pretended that the Australian Labor Party were concerned about drought and dairy, yet their actions in this question time belied that by virtue of the fact that each and every single question, bar one, was addressed to the issue of Mr Dreyfus's vacuous, venal and nasty letter to the police. They then suggested that there is now a criminal investigation into Minister Taylor. That's wrong—it is an investigation in response to Mr Dreyfus's letter and, given past performance in relation to Mr Dreyfus's letters, we will see a lot of taxpayer money being spent on an investigation into that, rather than into crime and corruption in New South Wales and elsewhere. And what's going to be the result? A big fat duck egg—zero, nil, nothing, zilch! That is what always happens with the letters that come out of Mr Dreyfus's office.

And so let the public be very much reminded that, whilst I'm sure Senator Watt will post up on social media his little five-minute speech as an indication of the Labor Party's concern on dairy and drought, the simple fact is that it's not part and parcel of their modus operandi because it is not about the government that they have a concern: their attraction is to the gutter and the trawling of the issue to which I have referred.

Let's make no mistake: dairy farmers are doing it tough. They have done it tough in the past and they will do it tough again in the future. I am sure that, with the assistance of good policy, there will be a better and brighter future for the dairy sector. If you are to have a code of conduct, if you want some government interference or assistance or help, what would you seek to do? Would you just say 'Canberra knows all the answers' or would you actually go about consulting? Wouldn't that be a good idea! And, what's more, that's exactly what Senator McKenzie has done. If Senator McKenzie had come into this place and said, 'I've got a code. Here it is. End of story,' who would have been the first people to criticise her for lack of consultation? It would have been the Australian Labor Party, with a little note for social media to say the minister has not consulted.

This is the typical display you get from an opposition that has resigned itself to opposition because it is unable to present good, positive policy platforms for the people of Australia to consider. They will trawl the gutter and then pretend they are interested in an issue and say, 'What has the minister done? We will say the exact opposite.' If that minister was consulting, they would say she should have acted. If that minister had acted, the argument from those opposite would have been that she should have consulted. It is one of these no-win situations. I have no doubt that the Australian farming community—in particular, the Australian dairy farming community—understand that in the Australian Labor Party they do not have a friend. Indeed, they have somebody who has never sought to look after the rural sector. We on the coalition side make no apology for consulting and seeking to support the vital dairy industry of this nation.