Kerrynne Liddle (SA, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Child Protection and the Prevention of Family Violence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Australian government, the Albanese government, has gone to war against almost every industry—resources, business and, notably, the agriculture sector. Look no further than the ban on live sheep exports, which will have an enormous impact for the sheep industry and associated industries and for rural and regional communities everywhere. When our farmers do it tough, so too there is a ripple effect for every Australian. In my home state of South Australia the agriculture sector is already facing a difficult season, and the Albanese government is just making it worse, with more red and green tape, more regulation that does nothing to improve productivity or prosperity.

Farmers work the seasons and know each year is different. South Australia had a very wet 2023, including severe weather lashing our state in December, ruining more than 50 per cent of the cherry crop and other fruit. But Mother Nature has since delivered a different story. It has been a dry run in 2024, topped by this week's uncharacteristically severe September frost. This winter's crop production is forecast to fall by nine per cent, and for canola it will be more than double that. Farmers are already talking of transporting fodder from across the border, yet another financial burden in a never-ending cost-of-living crisis.

Every Australian is impacted when farmers are hit hard. You know that because it is you, the public, who is paying at the supermarket checkout. The Prime Minister's face should be on every single supermarket receipt, every insurance bill and every utility bill, because it is his economic mismanagement that is adding to your costs. No matter if you are a vegan, vegetarian, pescetarian or meat eater, this is relevant to you. We know South Australians are paying at least 12 per cent more for their food, and South Aussies have had the sharpest increase in the nation. This month, fruit and vegetable prices have seen their highest rise since December 2022—higher prices and less choice. Higher prices are pushing more families to the brink and ever more are lining up to Foodbank and other charities, people who haven't been seen at these charities before. These are the new working poor—hardworking Australians who know that every dollar they earn is buying less because their real wages are down, along with their living standards. It is no coincidence South Australia has the most renewables in our energy mix. We also have some of the highest power prices in the country. This week we've heard there was no modelling on whether a newly constructed $600 million hydrogen hub in Whyalla will result in cheaper power for consumers despite investment by both the South Australian and federal Labor government.

Just like you, farmers are also paying more for their electricity and petrol. They are, like you, desperate for relief. But the piggy bank for many has already been raided. The Albanese government is not working for those in the cities, towns or regions and has failed to do what matters to make a difference for all of us. They tore up the agriculture visa even though agriculture needed 172,000 workers. They made enormous cuts to regional infrastructure. On water buybacks, they ignored the need for economic and social safeguards. They are locking up fertile farming soil on a reckless race to renewables, installing 28,000 kilometres of transmission lines and in situ infrastructure as well as clearing thousands of hectares of native bushland. They have made industrial relations changes impacting casual employment, which agriculture and regions rely heavily on. They're asking farmers to pay tax on unrealised capital gains on superannuation. It is unfair. It is madness.

The 39,000 people employed in agriculture, forestry and fisheries in South Australia, my home state, deserve much better. Those living in regional, rural and remote areas deserve attention, because when farmers are hit by government or by Mother Nature, all of us, everywhere across Australia, are impacted. The Albanese Labor government would do well to remember that. When farmers are impacted, we are all impacted, wherever we live.