Darren Chester (Gippsland, National Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

Australians are hurting, Australians are angry, Australians are frustrated and, after four years of this incompetent Albanese government, Australians are worse off. This last fortnight tells you everything you need to know about a government that simply doesn't care about regional people.

We've had the energy minister with his head up his own—battery. First, he denied there was a fuel supply problem then he said we were scaremongering and then, a few days later, he said it was a national crisis. The biggest crisis right now is the crisis of incompetence in the cabinet room, because we then had the agriculture minister telling every peak body that she knows more about farming than they do.

The deal with the European Union is a free trade agreement for the rich and famous—cheaper EVs and fancy cheese at the expensive local dairy industry workers. I'll come back to that later, but we also have this Prime Minister, who promised to govern for all Australians, happily sinking the boots into one of our most important export sectors—the agriculture industry—just so he could get another photo opportunity with a world leader.

The Prime Minister said no-one would be held back and no-one would be left behind. If I could just capture that bulldust coming out of their mouths, I could fertilise the entire country and solve the other crises our regions are facing now.

The Prime Minister has fundamentally broken his promise to govern for all Australians. The European Union free trade agreement is just the latest example. It was all about that photo opportunity with the world leader rather than a good deal for our farmers. Yesterday I asked the minister for agriculture whether she actually really believed it was a good deal for Australian farmers. Amongst all the waffle, all the spin, all the Labor talking points, she said: 'What I would say to the member opposite is that we're strong advocates on this side of the House for farmers and producers, and that's what you've seen from us since we've been in government.' The minister herself couldn't even say it was a good deal. I give credit to the minister. She's not stupid. She wasn't going to say it was a good deal, because she's been reading the same feedback that I've received. Here's what the peak agricultural bodies have been saying. Let's start with the VFF president, Brett Hosking, who said:

At a time when farmers are getting smashed by devastating water buybacks, skyrocketing fuel and fertiliser costs, we've been hung out to dry for the sake of getting the deal done.

It's pretty embarrassing. For farmers, no deal would have been better than what we've been dealt.' NFF president Hamish McIntyre said:

Australian farmers are extremely disappointed. They will now pay the price for this subpar EU deal for decades to come.

Then we have the Cattle Australia chair, Garry Edwards. He said:

… we have been misled by an apparently disingenuous trade negotiation, with amateurs playing a game against professionals.

The deal that has been struck is simply appalling for agriculture and regional Australia …

It goes on; it just keeps on coming. The chair of the Australia-EU Red Meat Market Access Taskforce, Andrew MacDonald, said:

To land a deal so far below what other suppliers have secured is genuinely bewildering.

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