George Christensen (Dawson, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister, . Will the Deputy Prime Minister outline how the government is securing the future of agricultural production in Australia, including in my electorate of Dawson? Is he aware of any threats to the ongoing viability of the agricultural sector and the thousands of hardworking Australians 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 and acknowledge the hard work that he has done, especially with the sugar industry and especially in support of the sugar code, making sure that people get a fair return back through the farm gate.

Of course, one of the greatest concerns that the member for Dawson has, and which he has conveyed to me, is what has happened to the price of electricity in Queensland. The price of electricity in Queensland for a tonne of sugarcane back in 2012 was $4 and today it is $15—the electricity costs. For a tonne of sugar, back in 2012 it was $35 and today it is $135.

What this shows, of course, is the Labor Party policy—the insane process in Queensland—where a state that has 6.4 per cent renewable power now has a policy to go to 50 per cent renewable power. If you want to know about the Labor Party policy, it is quite clear if you want to see what it looks like: Labor Party policy looks like South Australia. It looks like South Australia, and in South Australia we have seen the complete chaos that happened when people were caught in lifts, when they had to stop operations mid-way through, when the traffic lights went off and when the tuna fishermen lost their catch. This is all a sign of the chaos of Labor Party policy on power.

Most importantly, what we see in South Australia is the dearest power in Australia. That is what they have managed to deliver. That is Labor Party policy. We note that the power prices are predominantly driven by the policies of state governments and that state governments are supposed to be driving what is happening in the power market.

But now we have the Labor Party at a federal level also endorsing that policy. So we have the absurd position where a nation which is the largest exporter of seaborne coal and which will soon be the largest exporter of gas, which is the largest venue for uranium resource in the world and which has huge solar and wind power, is now—under these Labor Party states—having the highest power costs in the OECD. This is what Labor Party policy looks like.

The Australian people who live in the weatherboard-and-irons are fearful of the Australian Labor Party and what they are doing to their cost of living, their standard of living and their jobs, because the Labor Party have an aversion not only to the Galilee Basin—they don't believe in coalminers either—but even to saying anything to do with coal-fired power. They won't say it. The member for Maribyrnong won't go to the dispatch box and mean it.

There is a huge division in the Labor Party because they do not believe in labourers anymore. That is the biggest thing about the Labor Party: the Labor Party no longer believes in labourers. The member for Hunter and the member for Shortland are impotent to stand up for workers on their side of the political fence—to stand up for people and to drive an agenda which will bring back the standard of living and protect those most vulnerable. This side stands up for those who are vulnerable. We are going to help those— (Time expired)