Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture. Will the minister inform the House how this government is delivering on its election commitments through a plan to boost the competitiveness of Australian agriculture?

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

I thank the member for Forrest. As a dairy farmer she, probably more than most others, would want to know about the future of agriculture as designed in this green paper. The member for Forrest, after getting married, went straight back to the farm. It was like, 'I love you and you love me, so let's hold hands and go and get the cows and milk them.' The member for Forrest has two children—Kim and Kylie. I think Kim is still on the land.

It is extremely important that we understand that the future of agriculture has got to have a deliberative path. I am happy with the fact that we have received over 680 submissions from the Australian people on this green paper. It is a formative document and it goes to the essence of what being on the land is about. It is about getting a fair return at the farm gate. It is about making sure that with the overwhelming work done by the farmer more of it actually gets back to the farmer, because we know that if they do not make the money they are not actually going to invest in their farm.

You would be aware, Madam Speaker, that in 1900 the farmer got about 85 per cent of the final retail price of their produce. By 1950, it was down to about 50 per cent. Today, it is about between 10 and 15 per cent. And this is for the people who actually do the work.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

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

Well, you might not think they do the work but have you actually been on a farm? We have to make sure we give the capacity and outline the capacity for a greater return to come back. In some instances, this might be by reaching further down the production chain and by the utilisation of cooperatives. In some instances, it requires infrastructure of government. I would like to thank the Deputy Prime Minister for the marvellous work he has done—the $300 million that he has put on the table for the inland rail.

I would also like to state that we have already started on our dams process, where another $15.9 million went on the table for the GABSI scheme; we have actually started Chaffey Dam and have started the Menindee storage lakes; we are building dams and are going to build more; we have actually opened up markets to Bahrain; we have actually opened up markets to Cambodia; after four decades, we have opened up markets to Iran; we have actually opened up markets to Egypt. But we have more to do. This is a document that I ask the Australian people to go over and to also make sure that they are a part of—as we head towards a white paper. We know that the white paper becomes policy, and that becomes the future of our nation. That is how the member for Forrest, and for Kim and for Kylie, get a future on the land.

Opposition members interjecting—

An incident having occurred in the gallery—

Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We will have some silence, thank you, and that does include the applause from the gallery.