Tony Windsor (New England, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As everybody is aware, the Cole inquiry came out this week and there are some enormous decisions that are going to have to be made over the next months in relation to the wheat industry. I spoke about it in a matter of public importance debate yesterday. One of the great concerns that has been raised since yesterday is that the Leader of the National Party, Mark Vaile, has recanted on a commitment that he gave in Victoria last year that essentially put in place a poll of wheat growers regarding substantial changes that might be made in terms of the future of the wheat industry. I see this as a very dangerous arrangement that is being put in place. I would like to place on record the reasons that I do have concerns.

The Leader of the National Party is saying in today’s Land magazine that he will not consult with growers and he will not be carrying out a poll, even though last year he gave that commitment that he would, but he will consult with peak bodies. One of the peak bodies I imagine he will consult with is the Grains Council of Australia—and I was a member of that council before coming into this place. When the ethanol debate was on, that peak body was more concerned about the motorists of Australia having a choice as to the fuel they used, rather than the potential to develop a new industry with the use of grain. That peak body has a whole range of agendas, some of which suit the various players within what is essentially a politicised body rather than those who are out driving tractors and growing wheat right across Australia. The other peak body I imagine he would consult, which supposedly represents country people and the farming communities, is the National Farmers Federation. I have great concerns there as well, especially when you look at their performance in the immediate past—particularly under the former president, who is now known as a traitor to his tribe in the north-west of New South Wales at least. Have a look at their stance on Telstra.

It is of great concern if these are the bodies that the Leader of The Nationals and the government take a lead from the future of a very important industry, the wheat industry. These are the very bodies that have let the farming community down. The traitor to his tribe, Peter Corish, the former leader of the National Farmers Federation, was run over by a bus in the US trade negotiations. He did not represent the people; he represented a political future for himself. This is not the way for the Leader of The Nationals, the Deputy Prime Minister, to stand up for wheat growers in the post-Cole era of the wheat industry.

What needs to happen is what he said in Victoria last year—and I supported him in this place. There are various options that people are looking at. As a wheat grower myself, I am leaning towards the option that the member for O’Connor has put up for public exhibition by way of a private member’s bill, but there will be other options—and so there should be. Those options should be put to every registered wheat grower in Australia in a poll. That is what the Leader of The Nationals, Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile, said he would do last year.

It is no wonder that people in country Australia are concerned about these people—the National Party in particular—because they do not have a solid stance in the representation of people. They say they represent people. They were there to represent the people on Telstra and then voted those very people down. They said there were guarantees in place on broadband and basic telephone services. They said they had given an undertaking to the traitor of his tribe, Peter Corish, as leader of the National Farmers Federation at the time, in writing. No-one has sighted that letter, and in the intervening months that tragedy has ensued. I urge the Deputy Prime Minister: stand by your words and hold a poll with registered growers. (Time expired)