David Coleman (Banks, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister to the Prime Minister for Mental Health and Suicide Prevention) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to rise to support this government bill, the Farm Household Support Amendment (Debt Waiver) Bill 2021, in its original form. The bill provides for the waiver of certain classes of farm debt, and it's a reflection of the government's support for the agriculture sector in this country. A significant proportion of the Australian economy is agriculture. It was once said that we are a nation founded on the sheep's back, and agriculture continues to be an extraordinarily important part of our economy right across this country. This government will always back Australian farmers every step of the way. That is reflected in the fact that so many Australians from farming communities support this government and elect members of this government to this chamber to represent the interests of agricultural communities. That is something that we are deeply committed to.

As a nation, we should be very proud of our agriculture sector and of the tremendous export opportunities that the sector has. With the announcement this week of the Australia-United Kingdom Free Trade Agreement, we've seen further opportunities for the Australian agriculture industry to market its products to that very large United Kingdom market. It might be sugar in North Queensland, or it might be other consumable products that are manufactured right here in Australia using the very best Australian produce. A whole range of agriculture sectors within this country will benefit from this extremely important free trade agreement with the United Kingdom. It's something that we as a nation have been seeking to put in place for some decades after the previous retreat of the United Kingdom from a similar arrangement in the 1970s.

It's just another manifestation of this government's deep commitment to the agriculture sector. We will always stand up for farmers. This bill, providing as it does for the waiver of debts in certain circumstances, is another example of that. This government can always be relied upon to stand up for our agriculture sector.

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