David Johnston (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Abetz, the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. Will the minister inform the Senate how the Howard government is acting to remove uncertainty and secure the livelihood of Australian wheat growers?

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Minister for Fisheries, Forestry and Conservation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Johnston for his question and also acknowledge his very keen interest in ensuring that Australian wheat growers, particularly those from his home state of Western Australia, some of whom are fortunate enough to have a crop this year, are not disadvantaged by the fallout from the Cole inquiry. The government has moved quickly and expeditiously to remove the uncertainty facing our wheat growers following the handing down of Commissioner Cole’s report late last month.

I can inform the Senate that the government will expeditiously introduce the necessary legislation tomorrow to remove AWB’s veto power over wheat exports for a period of six months. In the current climate the government does not deem it appropriate for AWB to retain this veto power. For the duration of that period this veto power will instead be vested in my colleague the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Mr McGauran.

This will achieve two goals. Firstly, it will enable wheat growers, particularly those in Western Australia, to export their wheat other than through the AWB with the approval, of course, of Minister McGauran. Secondly, the six-month period will allow the government an appropriate period of time to fully consider the long-term future of AWB’s management of the national wheat pool. This consideration will be done in lock step with the wheat growers of this country to ensure that the final decision we arrive at as a government is the consensus of both government and growers.

We all know that Australia’s farmers are doing it tough at the moment. The drought has impacted very heavily on most of this nation’s wheat crop. The government did not consider it appropriate that on top of this terrible drought wheat growers be dealt a double blow due to the AWB affair. It is important to put in place an interim arrangement for the export of wheat, and I am confident that the government’s proposal will meet with the approval of the vast majority of Australian wheat growers. For this reason I urge all members of this place to support the enacting legislation when it comes before us for our consideration. Australian wheat growers cannot afford to wait.

In summary, it is not the government’s intention that the veto remain with the government in the long term, and we emphasise that these changes are not intended to pre-empt or predetermine any policy considerations by the government. The single desk is a longstanding policy and it is important that full consideration be given to all perspectives to find the best solution for Australia’s wheat growers.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister representing the Prime Minister, and follows the answer from Senator Abetz that was just given. In relation to the government’s decision today on wheat export arrangements, can he confirm that AWB will retain its single-desk monopoly? Hasn’t the government just shifted AWB’s veto power to a National Party minister who has been a defender of AWB’s monopoly? Will the minister for agriculture be consulting with AWB in deciding whether to exercise the veto power? Doesn’t this arrangement confirm the concerns of the member for O’Connor that the government is ‘guilty of trusting a mob of agropoliticians with close ties to the National Party’? Did the minister and others in cabinet who support the end of the single desk get rolled to placate The Nationals, who have ensured that they remain in control of AWB’s monopoly?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank Senator O’Brien for his question but note that I think Senator Abetz very lucidly and eloquently set out the government’s position on this matter. He made it clear that, following the release of the Cole commission of inquiry report and what it had to say about AWB, and in light of the particular circumstances of Western Australian wheat growers and our concern to ensure that in due course we put in place suitable long-term arrangements for the future marketing of wheat, we have decided as a government, and as approved by our coalition party room, that we will introduce legislation this week—which we look forward to the Labor Party supporting—to provide for the amendment of the Wheat Marketing Act so that the veto, which currently rests with AWB, will rest for six months with the minister for agriculture.

In the meantime, while that position pertains, the government will engage in a significant and comprehensive consultation process with the wheat industry and all growers to ascertain their views as to where we as a country go with wheat marketing, given the outcome of the oil for food scandal in Iraq, the role that AWB had in that matter and the report of the Cole commission of inquiry. We will conduct that consultation process during this six-month period. We will complete it in three months. The government will then consider, based on that consultation process, what the future direction will be for wheat marketing in this country. The Prime Minister indicated that, in effect, all options are on the table, ranging from the continuation of the single desk through to full deregulation. All options are open. We want to know what the growers in the industry think should be the future and then we will come to a decision, and no doubt we will bring further legislation to this parliament to give effect to the government’s decisions sometime next year. We think this is a proper and sensible course.

I reject absolutely the innuendo from Senator O’Brien. Minister McGauran is an outstanding member of this coalition government. He is a member of a coalition cabinet that has produced 10½ years of outstanding government in this country. That would not have been possible without the strength, unity and cohesion of the coalition, and the great contribution made by National Party members, senators and ministers to this government. Along with Liberal members and senators, they are proud defenders of the interests of rural Australia, which the Labor Party ignored for all its period in government and has paid no regard to during the wasted 10 years that it has had in opposition.

Kerry O'Brien (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Transport) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I ask a supplementary question, Mr President. Can the minister confirm what criteria Minister McGauran will apply in deciding whether to apply the veto power to block wheat exports, while he holds it? How can wheat growers have any confidence in the minister for agriculture using the veto power responsibly when he has publicly defended the single desk and AWB’s monopoly? And, for that matter, how can the community have any confidence in the minister for agriculture when he presumably will continue to argue for the single desk while exercising the veto power and working with AWB?

Nick Minchin (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Minister McGauran will of course be consulting with Western Australian growers, CBH, AWB and others with respect to the issue of Western Australian wheat exports and will then be reporting back to cabinet, and cabinet will consider the matter. Any veto that is or is not applied will then be, under due law, the responsibility of the minister. But, of course, the minister in his consultations will be keeping cabinet constantly informed, and cabinet will have much to say on the matter. The arrangements we have put in place are a very sensible outcome and will ensure that the interests of Western Australian growers are properly considered in the future of Australian wheat marketing.