Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Environment, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I'm not asking about individual business decisions. Obviously the laws we make in this place have an impact on the cost of doing business. That's what we've been talking about. You've just told me that I am wrong for suggesting that anything we do here has an impact of that nature. I'm asking about Australian farmers who are relying on this business. I just wonder whether, as part of the broad-ranging consultations that have occurred that you've talked about, whether this sort of thing, with the stakeholders, the NFF or the Queensland equivalent et cetera, might have reached into the consultation process and indicated that the facilities that Incitec Pivot owns, what sort of an impact any changes to the arrangements they operate under would have on the farmers. Hence my question about how many farmers rely on their products.

While you consider that, energy and fertiliser make up half of the total operating cost to grow crops like oats, wheat and barley. Has there been any assessment of the financial impact of Labor's changes to the safeguard mechanism on farmers that grow these crops?