Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Mallee for his question. The member for Mallee, more than most, would understand the importance of agriculture, coming from a seat with dairy, beef cattle, meatworks, flour mills, citrus, stone fruits, cereals and wool sheep—he has the whole gamut in the seat of Mallee.

It is extremely important that the Australian people understand what this government has done in bringing forward the 100 per cent write-off for water reticulation deductions so that we can create a more secure farming future by allowing people to plan for droughts by delivering more land over to the greater security of irrigated agriculture. This is a major investment, and we have known that this investment has worked in the past—it has worked in the past with the section 75B deductions, which were instrumental in creating investment in places such as St George and the irrigated agriculture that is there.

It underpins other things that are happening right now, such as the record prices in cattle; the record prices that we are getting in meat sheep and mutton; the strong prices in cotton; and the strong prices in cereal grains. But it is not just there. We also started, as of budget night, the 100 per cent write-off for fencing. Now I acknowledge, as an accountant, that it is very rare to see a farmer who actually builds a new fence. They all seem to be repairs and maintenance! But now we have a case where we can make sure that all the fencing is a 100 per cent write-off straightaway.

This is a stimulus not just to people on the land but also to the rural merchandisers—the rural merchandisers that sell the steel posts, that sell the wire and that sell all the implementation. This is a deduction not just for the farms that are turning over less than $2 million but for all farms.

It is also a great pleasure to be able to announce—and this is all part of the white paper process—

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