Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Sherry. I refer the minister to comments made by the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in a speech to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation on 19 November:

Governments must refocus on investment in agricultural research and development to boost productivity within the constraints of land and resource availability.

What steps will the government take to ensure that this approach is upheld in government policy in all Australian jurisdictions?

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That is indeed a very good question. I want to observe that 19 November was my birthday, and unfortunately I was not reading the transcript of the minister’s speech presented at the United Nations. So I will regrettably have to take that one on notice.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I should convey many happy returns to the minister for 19 November. As the minister takes that on notice, in the light of Mr Burke’s statement about the importance of investment in agricultural research, can the minister advise whether Minister Burke has made representations to Minister Carr about the CSIRO being forced to close the Rendel livestock research laboratory in Rockhampton and the plant research laboratory in Merbein near Mildura and being forced into the 50 additional job cuts in science research generally?

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are ranging very far and wide geographically. We have gone from the UN to a number of places in Australia.

Opposition Senators:

Opposition senators interjecting—

John Hogg (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Order!

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr President. As I was saying, I do find it somewhat puzzling that a supplementary question—and there will be another one coming, I am sure—can be posed about a speech at the UN and then we switch back to Australia and it is still relevant. I will not decry the question on the grounds of relevance, but it is an interesting development. As I indicated previously, I am happy to take the question on notice.

Marise Payne (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. I remind the minister that my first question was about refocusing on investment in agricultural research, so the first supplementary question was directly relevant. My second supplementary question—let me not disappoint the minister—is: can the minister advise how Mr Burke’s comments measure up with the New South Wales Labor government’s decision to sell off nearly 90 per cent of Hurlstone Agricultural High School in Western Sydney and its productive land, and also the world-leading Glen Innes Agricultural Research and Advisory Station? Will the minister make representations to the New South Wales Labor government to prevent these sales from occurring, both in Glen Innes and at Hurlstone, and Hurlstone itself becoming unviable and no longer productive?

Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Superannuation and Corporate Law) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I do not think it would surprise the questioner, given that this is her third attempt in a very, very wide-ranging question—geographically at least, and on a range of issues—that, in order to provide her with a fully informed answer, I will take it on notice.