Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I was listening to Prof. Ted Kolsen, Dean of the Faculty of Economics at the University of Queensland—the most distinguished economics faculty in Australia, with many contenders for Nobel Prizes over the years and many other accolades of which they can be greatly proud—and he said that there were three great shames in Australian history: the way we treated the first Australians, the way we treated the men that came home from Vietnam and what we did to the dairy farmers. I will vividly remember, until the day I die, when Senator Julian McGauran raised the issue that day in the National Party room that I was in. I do not think I have ever been so disillusioned—traumatised is probably the right word—by an event in my life. When it actually came in—I am a pretty tough customer and things do not worry me a lot—I lay in bed that day until 11 o'clock just staring at the ceiling because I knew exactly what was going to happen. When they deregulated the wool industry, we went to a suicide every two months in western Queensland. Thank you, Mr Keating! When they deregulated the sugar industry, we went to a suicide every two weeks. Thank you, Mr Truss and Mr Beattie! When we were going to deregulate the dairy industry, everybody knew it would be infinitely worse.

I hope I am not out of school in quoting Julian McGauran on this, but Julian, as he walked out of the party room that day, said: 'That's it. It's all over red rover for the National Party. They're finished.' I think that seven members left that day. There is no National Party in Queensland; it is the LNP, which is an affiliate of the Liberal Party, not the National Party. There is nothing left of it in Victoria. There is nothing left of it in Queensland—it does not exist in Queensland, actually—and there is not a lot left in New South Wales either. You can thank your current leader because he was one of the architects of the deregulation of the dairy industry. In New South Wales and Queensland the price for fresh milk, within one day, dropped from 59 cents a litre on average to 42 cents a litre, and this is all a matter of public record: the ABS figures, the inquiries that have been done, every single one of them clearly indicates exactly that figure. That is what deregulation did. I do not blame Woolworths and Coles. They are out there to make a quid and, if they can get away with paying 42 cents, they would be damned stupid to pay 59 cents. If there is social dislocation on the issue, that is a matter for government to address, not Coles and Woolworths—they are not there to be Santa Clause.

So what do you do to fix it up? There were 21,000 dairymen in Australia, and now there are under 7,000. My area had 240, and the last time I looked at the figures we had 42 left. One of the towns up there has the highest suicide rate in Australia. Of course, I am not one to be surprised by that. I knew it was coming down the line for us. I punished myself by going and visiting those 12 or 15 dairy farmers in that first week of deregulation. I do not know why I did it. It was some sort of salving of my own conscience, I suppose, because I was in the party that had done it to them. On every single one of those farms the husband and wife were the only workers there, they did not employ anyone, they got up at 5.30 every morning of their life and went to bed at 7 o'clock at night—they might have a bit of camp in the middle of the day. How would you like to do that? How would anyone anywhere like to live like that? These are the people that were utterly destroyed. We thank the government and the Treasurer very much for calling a debt summit. He called a debt summit because farm debt had risen from $700,000 per farm to $1.1 million per farm over the last two or three years and the matter is very critical. Since the debt summit late last year, the figures for last month are $1.4 million of average debt per farm. We have gone from $700,000 to $1.1 million late last year, to $1.4 million now, and the dairy farmers in Victoria are in open rebellion. Why wouldn't they be?

If they are taking it out on their traditional political parties—the Liberals and the Nationals—who can blame them? In fact, they would be very brainless if they did not take it out on them. One bloke down there at Shepparton said to me: 'You're Labor.' I said: 'Well, I wouldn't like to be Liberal or National Party here. I'm not Labor but—'

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I am loath to do this to the member for Kennedy but, it being 12 pm, private members' time has concluded.

Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

When do I get to finish it?

Ms Anna Burke (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Just for the member for Kennedy: in accordance with standing order 41, the second reading will be made an order of the day for the next sitting. When the second reading comes on, the member for Kennedy will have another opportunity.

Bill read a first time.