Llew O'Brien (Wide Bay, National Party) 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 outline to the House how the Regional Investment Corporation will make it easier for farmers and investors to manage their finances and raise capital for investment? Is the Deputy Prime Minister aware of any alternative approaches to raising finance?

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 and note that, even around Maryborough, there have been real concerns about the dry start to the sugar season and how they did not intend to get the crush that they expected at the Maryborough sugar mills. Of course, what this means is that we are always working with our farming community to make sure we get the very best outcome for them. We cannot afford the interest rate subsidies anymore that we had in the past, but we can afford to make available concessional loans, which are not only better for the farmers—the rates are 2.47 per cent, the lowest rate at the moment—but also put the competition on the banks. You would think that by putting competition on the banks with the set-up of the Regional Investment Corporation we should have wide support to make sure that we get a very competitive price. The Regional Investment Corporation has been a goal of the National Party and regional Liberals, and even the member for Kennedy, for such a long period of time, but, rather than talking about it, we are actually doing it; we are actually setting it up. It is going to capitalise up to $4 billion—$2 billion in water infrastructure alone, to build our dams and make our nation a stronger place, and $2 billion in concessional loans. It has the mandate in the future to expand where it goes. It will be set up in the member for Calare's seat, at Orange, where we already have Paraway financial, part of Macquarie Bank. We have a large section of the National Australia Bank's rural investment unit set up there, we have the Rural Assistance Authority and we have the New South Wales department of agriculture to create a centre of excellence at Orange in financing. We have a vision for creating Orange and making sure it grows as the premier venue for financing rural investments in Australia. We are going to be part of that and this multi-billion-dollar organisation is going to be part of that process as well.

He also asked about whether there are alternative finance methods. I know that the Labor Party are flippant about this, but we must get to the bottom of exactly what connections are between members of parliament, regardless of their side, and foreign entities that have an influence on them. This is incredibly important. The front page of a major newspaper yesterday revealed that an ALP donor is linked to a Chinese spy. That was yesterday. The member for Maribyrnong, the Leader of the Opposition, convinces himself that he is completely across these details, especially with questions regarding Senator Sam Dastyari. It says in the paper:

In what is the first direct link between a donor to Australian politics and an operative of a foreign intelligence service, Fairfax Media can reveal one of Helen Liu's Australian companies sent $250,025 to a Hong Kong company that American authorities believe was a front for Chinese espionage.

It later says:

Wincopy Pty Ltd, Helen Liu's Australian company which sent the money to Liu Chaoying's firm in 1996, later gave $20,000—

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