George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support wholeheartedly the Farm Household Support Bill 2014. In doing so, I pay tribute to the Minister for Agriculture and my good friend the member for New England. He is a man who is extremely passionate about Australian agriculture, particularly passionate about family farms, and about ensuring that farming families can continue on into the future. We have heard some talk in the public sphere—notably Paul Howes, the head of the Australian Workers Union—that farming families are no longer needed in Australia, that the ma and pa families are something of the past. I am glad we have a Minister for Agriculture that does not subscribe to that view. Because the many farming families throughout my electorate of Dawson—farming families who are engaged in enterprises such as sugar, tomatoes, capsicums, fruits, vegetables and cattle—want to continue, and they want their farms to be handed down through the generations. This is something that is in the blood. I could not grow a lettuce actually, I have to tell you, Mr Deputy Speaker, but I come from a generation of cane farmers. Every time I see a stalk of sugar, I want to hug it. It is something that is in the blood. I salute our Minister for Agriculture, who recognises this and wants to protect farming families in Australia, and I look forward to seeing a lot more positive policies from the Abbott Liberal-National government and the Minister for Agriculture to help this sector and farming families.

The bill before us seeks to implement an income support payment for farmers and their partners who are in financial hardship. It is called the Farm Household Allowance. Australian history has been a rich narrative of tough people battling tough conditions. Our reputation as one of the best agricultural producers in the world is counterbalanced with bouts of droughts and floods. While the harsh conditions are nothing new to our farming families, they operate in a different environment to that of their forefathers. The great wealth that was once produced by family farms during good times helped tide families over during the bad times. The boom times are no longer the boom times of old, in some respects. Increased competition, more regulation and a cost base, escalating due to things such as the carbon tax, make farms much more vulnerable. It certainly does not help when governments decide to shut down things such as the live cattle trade overnight and without warning. It does not help, as I said, when the government imposes a carbon tax that actually impacts on trade exposed industries such as agriculture.

Right now, though, our farmers—especially those in western Queensland and western New South Wales—are battling what is quite clearly the worst drought in a century. And in response to these tough times the Abbott Liberal-National government is delivering a range of measures to assist these drought impacted farmers. The measures outlined in this bill provide for up to three years of income support for farming families without the need for a weather related trigger, and that is very important. The means test will provide more equitable treatment for people who lack sufficient means to support themselves. The assets test will be higher than mainstream limits, recognising that family farms—the actual farm asset itself—cannot be drawn upon for self-support as easily as can other types of assets.

I note that we are a signatory to the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and that article 9 of the covenant talks about the right to social security. This is a case in point in relation to this government acting for a segment of the population: when everything goes to hell, there is not adequate support for them. Through these measures, we are making sure that the safety net is indeed there.

So the government stands ready to support those in our community who are most vulnerable through no choice or fault of their own—they are simply subject to the vagaries of the weather and, unfortunately, to government policy of the day, which can sometimes be deleterious on their enterprise as well. But our goal is to ensure long-term self-sufficiency in the agricultural sector, and to this end the legislation that is before us includes provisions for a farm financial assessment and requires allowance recipients to enter into a financial improvement agreement. That means that recipients of government funds through this measure will undertake education or training or even off-farm employment that will increase their capacity and ability to deal with the situation that is before them and, frankly, to keep the family farming tradition alive in this country. When applicants meet those eligibility requirements they can gain access to further benefits, such as the health care card, the telephone allowance, remote area allowance, the clean energy supplement, pharmaceutical allowance and rent assistance. So, there is a range of different benefits that derive from this legislation.

The Farm Household Support Bill provides an income support payment for farmers that aligns with social security laws that exist in other areas, where that is possible. As a Liberal-National coalition government we want to ensure that farming families are treated fairly and that they have access to the same benefits and services that other families facing difficult circumstances have access to. For families who are living outside of the city, access to a whole range of services becomes something of a problem. Isolated families do not have things like regular waste collection services. They do not have access to community libraries. They do not have access to adequate sporting facilities, parks and recreational areas or even business facilities that we take for granted even in small country towns. As much as these things impinge upon lifestyle, it is far more serious when farming families reach the point where they have difficulty in just putting food on the table. When things are truly, truly tough, it is our responsibility as a nation to ensure that help is there. We do not want these families to feel they are completely cut off, with no hope for the future. Too many farmers have been in a position where they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel, and we must do whatever we can to provide that light at the end of the tunnel—to provide, as I said before, an adequate safety net.

And I hope that we go further than just that. I hope that we are able to go further very soon in this parliament, and remove other impediments to the agricultural sector, such as the carbon tax, which I know equates to about $20,000 per farmer in the sugar industry. I hope we can actually pass reforms that get rid of all the red tape and regulation surrounding the process of registering agricultural chemicals. Here I must commend the parliamentary secretary, the member for Kooyong, for the work he has done in this field, because it will be of tremendous value to farmers right across the nation. The red tape introduced by the last government was completely unnecessary and did absolutely nothing, and the repeal of that red tape will put useful tools and agricultural chemicals on the farms quicker and at a cheaper cost. If there is one thing we want to do, it is to make life easier for these people on the land who are going through such terribly trying circumstances right now. We need to let these farming families know they are not forgotten. We need to let them know that we are going to help them through their darkest times. We need to let them know that we are going to help them to build a brighter future.

My electorate is a narrow strip of coastal North Queensland. It is about 400 kilometres that stretches from Mackay through to Townsville. It is a very agricultural electorate, taking in the largest sugar-producing region in the country. But it also has other agricultural, pastoral and horticultural industries; in fact, would you believe that Bowen—so famous for its mangoes—also produces two-thirds of Australia's winter tomato crop? That is the kind of electorate I come from—a very, very strong agricultural electorate. I have to say that, being on the coastline, my electorate enjoys a higher and more consistent rainfall—particularly after a cyclone comes along. But we have been in drought before. Coastal areas also suffer drought, but not for long, and not as harsh as those who are out in western Queensland and north-western New South Wales have had to go through. Our hearts go out to people who battle those dry conditions, day in and day out, sometimes for years on end. Australia has always held very romantic notions of the bush and the battler, despite the fact that most of us now live in urban area, probably just a few minutes walk from a local cafe, or a hairdresser, or a hardware store. However, the strong connection and affection for farmers and rural communities comes to the fore whenever our sunburnt country is in the grip of droughts, flooding rains, or bushfires.

When times are tough, people stretch out their hand and offer help. We like to think we all do—but in some cases we see situations where people are kicked when they are down. I have to note once more my disbelief that the green movement is coming together next week—in the middle of the harshest drought we have seen in a long time, while farmers are reeling from it, and from government policies—to promote vegetarianism and veganism to the entire nation with Meat Free Week. They want to encourage people not to eat meat for a week. That is why I have launched my counter proposal, the 'free meat week', where I am encouraging Aussies—and the member for Wright might get into it—to support Aussie farmers by putting on a barbie and shouting some free meat to their neighbours and mates. We need to stand up to this green movement, which kicks our farmers while they are down.

When times are tough, people who are real, genuine and compassionate stretch out their hand. Right now, times are very tough for our farmers. It is time for this government, in a bipartisan manner, to reach out a hand and deliver fairness, equity and a fair go to the people who put food on our tables. With those words I commend the bill to the House.

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