Lisa Chesters (Bendigo, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development. Does the minister agree with National Farmers Federation President Fiona Simson, who says that 'the lack of a net zero target will punish farmers'?

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

I thank the honourable member for her question. I have great respect for the National Farmers Federation, but I'm not here as a member of the National Farmers Federation; I'm here as a member of the Nationals party to make sure that those people in regional Australia we represent are treated with respect and to give our best endeavours on an incredibly important decision so that they know that we have been dutiful in our task.

I also say—and this is really important—that a great kernel within the Nationals party is farmers, but even in my own electorate only 12 per cent are farmers, of which I am one. What we have done for those people in those electorates is the reason overwhelmingly those seats are held by National and Liberal parties' members, because what they have heard from the Labor Party in regard to their future has been pretty dire. If we go back through the record of the Labor Party, whether it's the carbon tax or the closure of the live cattle trade, it is not a good record at all.

We are also making sure—and this is fundamentally important—that in our deliberations we understand people in the working-class areas of Gladstone, Townsville and South Tamworth and are very mindful of the people of Singleton and Muswellbrook. Those people who live on the streets, who may not be farmers but are just as important, know that the Nationals are in there fighting for them.