Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

That is right. The biggest epiphany since the road to Damascus. This is the man who is supposed to be the independent arbiter. This is the man who was supposed to have been removed. To be honest, he has just become a mouthpiece for the government. Contemporaneous to his elicitations on this issue was his reappointment. Surprise, surprise!

Even the sole mouthpiece of the government has been unable to give us one case where the Birdsville amendment has been used to remove the proper competitive structure of the marketplace in such an onerous way that it affects the consumer. But consumers driving down Parramatta Road or the Ipswich Motorway can see where they are getting exploited. They just have to look at the price of petrol on the billboards. Working mothers pushing trolleys through checkouts at one of the major supermarkets—and about 80 per cent of the market is centralised—can see where they are getting touched. Farmers who are getting 45c or 50c a litre for milk at the farm gate—they are probably getting a bit more now—