Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise tonight to talk about drought. That may seem a little incongruous, given that all we seem to be hearing on the radio and seeing on television at the moment is the plenitude of rainfall around the country, but, unfortunately, there are many places in this country that still have not received reasonable rain. As a representative of rural and regional Australia—

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

And a very good one!

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you for your interjection, Senator Abetz—I do not want to slip under the radar how many farming communities are still suffering very much from the effects of drought. It is quite easy to listen to radio reports and believe that the whole country is being inundated by rain from the heavens, but it is not entirely true. It is great to see the water where it has happened. It is wonderful for producers in the regions where it has rained, but we have to remember, particularly in this place, that there are many people who still have not received rain. It is vitally important to recognise that, even where we have received rain, the effects of the drought continue. In some areas across this country we have had drought for up to seven years and it takes more than a few inches of rain here or a shower of rain there to alleviate the effects of drought. This is an incredibly serious issue because it affects not only farming families but farming communities. There are flow-on effects right throughout rural and regional communities, and knock-on effects when there are no farm incomes to flow on to the agricultural sector—to local agribusinesses, the local fuel station, the local newsagent, local supermarkets, local clothes shops, the local chemist and the local butcher. They are all people in the community with families who deserve to know that the government in this place is the doing the best they possibly can for them.

Having had a change in government, we are now starting to see the government’s approach to those rural and regional communities, and I must say that I have been absolutely appalled to see that approach because that approach has been to put in place measures that cut spending to rural and regional Australia. I know that Labor, with their new-found fiscal responsibility and this wonderful attitude they now have to this fiscal responsibility, think it is important to cut spending, but they have started with the bush, with rural and regional Australia. They have started with the very people who are least able to cope with the funding cuts. I reiterate: one shower of rain does not change the effects of seven years of drought. Actually I did notice that it was the Minister for Finance and Deregulation, not the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, who put forward these cuts, which I find quite surprising, really. As hard as I have searched I cannot see where the agriculture minister has (a) had anything to do with this—so maybe he has been completely sidelined—or (b) made any comment on nearly $500 million worth of cuts to regional Australia; he is the agriculture minister. A lot has been made about him coming from Beverly Hills in Sydney. I do not particularly care; I just want an agriculture minister to do a good job.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Who cares?

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Abetz, I will take that interjection—who cares? Minister Burke keeps running around the countryside saying, ‘I’m a city boy and I know they’ll know better than me.’ He hides behind the fact that he is a city boy but thinks he is still going to do a good job. Maybe he will, but we certainly have not seen any sign of it yet. Travelling around the countryside from one state to another does not mean you are doing a good job as a minister. The proof of the pudding is in the eating but, so far, all we have seen from the agriculture minister is a bunch of cuts to rural and regional people.

The most interesting thing is that these communities are some of the poorest in the country—some of the lowest socioeconomic communities in this country. But what has the razor gang done? The razor gang has targeted rural and regional communities, which I think is appalling. It is not fair and it is not right. What we have seen is nearly $100 million cut in drought assistance. What government minister would think of cutting assistance to regional communities at the end of seven years of drought? Apparently, from what I have been able to glean from what Minister Burke has said, it is because we have had some showers of rain—it is all more optimistic—and the forecast is good. He has not gone into the lounge rooms of those people who have not had a decent income for years and years, but the forecast is good so therefore ‘we’ll cut the program’. If that does not show how out of touch Labor are with regional communities I do not know what will. These are working families that are trying to put food on the table, make ends meet, get through this drought and find some light at the end of the tunnel. They are hopeful that they will make it through and be able to stay on their farms and keep producing food and fibre for this nation.

But what do Labor do? They cut funding to regional drought programs. I do not know about anybody else in this chamber but, to me, that is stupid. Around this country I am sure people would be asking, ‘Why on earth are the government doing this?’ There are a range of other things in this trillion-dollar economy that they could perhaps have started with rather than rural and regional Australia. They should be ashamed that they have taken nearly half a billion dollars away from rural and regional communities at this time—hopefully we are potentially coming to the end of the worst drought in Australia’s history—and it shows a lack of empathy and understanding. I suggest that the minister do a lot more travelling around, because, from what we are looking at now, so far he probably has not helped at all. But then again maybe it was out of his hands; maybe it was the finance minister. Maybe the agriculture minister had absolutely nothing to do with it.

Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like Senator Wong.

Fiona Nash (NSW, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Like Senator Wong—they had absolutely nothing to do with it because they have no input and they are not taken seriously. We have only to look at a couple of other programs that have been cut, including a $10 million cut from drought research. Senator Wong is continually going on about climate change and the importance of dealing with that—and it is important—so why on earth would you cut funding to drought research? We know that this is one of the driest continents in the world, and we know that we are going to be facing drier times, but what do the Labor government do? They cut funding to drought research.

We are continually hearing Labor saying how important skills are and that they are the only ones who can fix it, but they have slashed nearly $50 million from the apprenticeships incentives for agriculture and horticulture program. I might be missing something here but these are skills that Labor are continually talking about yet we see the slashing of an apprenticeships program. It has become a clear Orwellian case—they think that, if they keep saying things, the people out there in the Australian community will believe them. Well, our job here is to make sure that they realise the truth of what is going on here.

There are other things like ending the extension that was proposed to the living away from home allowance for Australian school based apprentices. These are working families. These measures were put in place to help them, but Labor are cutting the funding to them. They are working families in rural and regional Australia who were hoping against hope that their worst fears would not be realised—that Labor might not be like the Labor of old but actually be prepared to do an empathetic job. But, no, we are not so lucky. People need to realise what Labor are going to do—what they are starting to do to rural and regional Australia—and be aware that it is not fair, not right and not on.