Mark Coulton (Parkes, Deputy-Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources. Will the Deputy Prime Minister update the House on action taken by the government to ensure the Australian agriculture sector continues to strengthen the economy and regional communities? Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any threats to this sector and the thousands of hardworking regional Australians that it employs?

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. He will be more interested than most during the budget discussions tonight, because I know of the interest he has in such great projects as the inland rail. Inland rail has been discussed by so many governments before, but this is the government that is actually going to deliver on it. This is the government that will deliver on bringing an economic corridor of commerce from Melbourne up to Brisbane on standard gauge, revitalising places such as Albury and Dubbo, making sure that Narrabri and Moree, Goondiwindi and Toowoomba are all part of a new horizon of economic growth that is closely associated with vital infrastructure and with agriculture.

The bulk movement of products of wheat, of coal, of cotton, of beef: these are the projects that we know will assist our nation to pay its bills, to get ahead, to give people an economic opportunity in the western districts to go out and have the chance to buy an affordable house and have the economic prospect of actually having a good job.

When we came to government, we were given an awesome task. They talked about doubling our economic production—it was $48.6 billion then—and we are well on the way. We are 31 per cent there. The member for Parkes realises this and understands very well the record prices we are getting for cattle, the record prices we are getting for meat sheep. I sold sheep the other day myself, and we got record prices there. The record prices for goats—and here's one!

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister will resume his seat.

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

Yes, the Deputy Prime Minister will return to the microphone and withdraw. Then he will resume his seat straight away.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I withdraw.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The Deputy Prime Minister will resume his seat. Now having dealt with that, we have a very poor record on these points or order.

Government members interjecting—

Members on my right! The member for Hunter—

Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting—

again, rewinding the tape. You have not got the call yet. The member for Hunter on a point of order. If it is a frivolous point of order, he knows the consequences.

Joel Fitzgibbon (Hunter, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It is a very serious point of order on relevance. The Deputy Prime Minister was not asked for a list of commodity prices. He was asked, 'What action is the government taking'—

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Hunter will resume his seat. The member for Hunter well knows that there are a number of elements to the question, and the Deputy Prime Minister is in order.

Barnaby Joyce (New England, National Party, Leader of the Nationals) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Amazing. We have just been discussing inland rail and exactly what it is going to do to assist regional production. I am absolutely proud that I am part of a government that is actually delivering this. It is going to be seminal to the advancement of these regional areas. But what is also amazing about the inland rail is that it gives us the chance for further production of steel—maybe steel in places such as Arrium at Whyalla. I was at Whyalla last week and at Whyalla they are very excited about the 800 kilometres of steel they are going to lay down for the Adani mine.

We actually believe in working men and women having a job, and they will be supported by this. It looks like we have some interesting friends. It looks like the CFMEU are onside with us and the AWU are onside with us. But there is one group that are not onside with the steelworkers. There is one group that is not onside with the coalminers and that is the Australia Labor Party, because the Australia Labor Party have given up on representing labourers. They are too cool for labourers. They think that labourers are a bit passe. They have moved on from labourers. So we will start looking after labourers, we will start looking after the people in the steelworks and we will start looking after the coalminers, because we know Labor are not going to look after them. We will start looking after them by making sure that we rollout the inland rail and the steel requirements and making sure that we support these jobs and that we give these people these opportunities. So it is a great future we have in agriculture. We have the runs on the board. We had 23.7 per cent growth in the 12 months to December 2016. We are actually making people wealthier. We have record prices in cattle— (Time expired)