Simon Crean (Hotham, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

I apologise, Mr Deputy Speaker, but this gets me very angry because it should not have happened. It did not happen under our watch. One would expect that the National Party, who have so often claimed to champion the interests of their members, would have looked after them but they have done no such thing. They have disgracefully let their members down and I hope that that will be remembered in full the next time their members come to vote.

Australian wheat growers feel terribly cheated and now they are being asked to expect the solution for the next six months to rest where? In the hands of another National Party minister for agriculture. Why should they hold such confidence? That is the question that I think has to be posed in this chamber. The truth is that we have no choice but to go along with this proposal in the interim. But why is it that the coalition government—the National Party in particular—knowing this damning report was going to hit them, have not after all that time been able to come up with a solution and measures to take them forward? These measures today are simply a stopgap and have been trotted out by a desperate government on the last day of parliament and in the shortest possible time in an effort to buy time while they figure out what to do next.

The bill effectively takes the single desk power away from the Wheat Board and gives it to the minister for a period of six months. It is obvious that the government does not know what to do beyond that. We know that serious divisions have occurred within the coalition over the future of the single desk. I will never forget that wonderful interview between the member for O’Connor and Senator Joyce on Lateline one night. We were distracted by some other issues at the time, but this was pure diatribe against each other—and these are supposed to be people within the same coalition parties and with the collective interest of the nation at heart—a screaming match on national television, blaming each other, no solutions, diametrically opposed. And that is where the future lies?

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