Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

He smashed him, did he? Check the polling figures in Armidale, Minister. Yes, the minister is strong in Tamworth, but he is weak in Armidale. So he is going to use $26 million of taxpayers' money to move an agency to Armidale so he can secure his seat. That is what this is all about. He does not mind destroying the authority along the way, to the great detriment of farmers and others in this country.

The minister can also not just talk about exports but do something about them. He can turn his mind to what is happening in the meat-processing industry in this country where hundreds of people are losing their jobs because this minister has no plan. He talks about free trade agreements, but we cannot get protocols. Horticulture, in particular, cannot get access to those new markets. It is all right to have an FTA, but you have to have protocols. There is an enormous range of technical barriers still yet to be overcome, but you never hear the minister talk about that. This is a minister that talks a lot. He loves the spin. He sees everything through the political prism. He sees everything through his own political ambition. The minister at the table, Mr Chester, knows that better than anyone in this chamber; he is a victim of it. He sees everything through his own political ambition. There is never any substance. It is all spin, no substance.

The loser, of course, is the Australian agricultural sector. As a consequence, the key losers are every person living in this country who are not realising the dream to be the provider of high-quality, safe, green food in Asia. This minister has no plan and has no strategy. He is all spin, no substance. We are all the losers.

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