Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister representing the Deputy Prime Minister, Senator McKenzie. In an article in this morning's Australian entitled 'Farmers fear trade backlash if embassy is moved to Jerusalem', it is revealed that the agricultural lobby has sounded the alarm over Prime Minister Morrison's overhaul of Australia's longstanding and bipartisan foreign policy. Was the Deputy Prime Minister, the Leader of the Nationals, consulted before Prime Minister Morrison made the decision, and, if so, did the Deputy Prime Minister raise any risks about the impact of the decision on Australian farmers?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

That decision was a decision of cabinet and I won't be talking about that at question time.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Chisholm, a supplementary question.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The President of the National Farmers' Federation, Fiona Simson, has warned that the government must:

… take into consideration the impacts of any foreign policy decision, including its impact on trade …

Is Deputy Prime Minister McCormack so weak that decisions can be made by the coalition government that risk grave damage to the National Party's key constituency?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator, for your question. I completely reject the premise about the Deputy Prime Minister, Michael McCormack. He has been absolutely delivering for our farmers right across regional Australia and continuing a long tradition of our party standing up for the 30 per cent of Australians who don't live in capital cities. If we want to talk about decisions made by governments that have a significant impact on rural and regional Australia, I can think of no better example than the decision by the former Labor government to ban live exports.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Wong, on a point of order.

Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This is a question about the decision the government made and announced on Tuesday. That is what the question is about. It's not about what has occurred in the past.

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

You've reminded the minister of the terms of the question. The minister has 25 seconds remaining to answer.

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As I was saying, governments have to make decisions around their foreign policy decisions very carefully to ensure that they don't negatively impact our export industries, not just agriculture but mining et cetera Agriculture and mining, those two industries that the other side of the Senate refuses to support, actually underpin— (Time expired)

Scott Ryan (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Senator Chisholm, a final supplementary question.

Anthony Chisholm (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Isn't it clear that the Deputy Prime Minister's National Party colleague is correct when they describe him as 'an ineffective nice bloke'? Can the minister guarantee to the Senate and to Australians that Mr McCormack will still be Deputy Prime Minister this time next week?

Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Regional Services) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Yes, I can. For 100 years the leadership of the National Party has been the gift of the party room. We have had 14 party leaders in 100 years. In fact passing on the National Party leadership baton is an incredibly boring process. 'Black Jack', who ended up in a tie, had to wait 18 years for Fadden to retire to assume the leadership. Even in recent times deputy leaders have waited patiently for the current leader of the National Party to retire before they proceeded to leadership, because they aspire to ensure that the leader of the National Party, whoever that may be, is able to continue the strong commitment and delivery for rural and regional Australia.