Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I know it might be appealing for a member of the National Party to ask me to abandon all process, but I would encourage the member to do what some of his colleagues have done—one even met with me today on this issue—and that is to ask, ‘What is the process we should follow to make sure that the recommendations come in from the state government on the revised boundaries?’ We will make sure that the National Rural Advisory Committee, every member of which was actually an appointee of the previous government, deals with the issue immediately and that we have proper process to make sure farmers are not left in the lurch when they are continuing to face tough times. But what I will not show any sympathy for is someone who, unlike his colleagues, refuses to engage in the process and decides he would rather get the headline and jump up and down here. Every day he delays in engaging with the process he leaves the farmers in his electorate out in the cold.

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