Damian Drum (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Deputy Prime Minister. Will the Deputy Prime Minister please outline to the House how regional Australians have helped to drive the nation's recovery from the pandemic?

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. I wanted to thank more people, but the Prime Minister hasn't really left me any. Obviously, the member for Nicholls is very aware of the work that is done, especially in the horticulture industry. He would also know how important Shepparton is to the processing of so many of the foods that we eat. It's an incredibly important thing that the Australian people, through the time of the pandemic, which we hope that we are getting—we are learning how to live with the virus, and that's the way the world is going to go. We have to move on. We have to get people back their rights, liberties and freedoms. We have to make sure that people live in the Australia they were born in.

One of the greatest freedoms they can have is the capacity to eat. It's people in regional Australia, farmers in regional Australia, especially in the seat of Nicholls and in other seats such as the seat of Riverina, the seat of Parkes and the seat of Mallee, who are all incredibly important. These people provide the most basic element of our liberties and our freedoms in Australia, and that is that we can feed ourselves. Not only do we feed ourselves, but we feed millions of other people around the world. That is something to be truly thankful of.

Likewise, the miners in so many parts of our nation: whether they are iron-ore miners, coalminers, gas, gold, bauxite or copper, they are the ones who underpin our terms of trade and the value of our dollar, which give us the standard of living that we enjoy and which, in fact, we take as a birthright. These are the people putting product on the boat, and if people didn't put product on the boat then we would not be getting off the boat all the imported accoutrements of our lives, from our phones to our fuel, cars and clothes, because there would be no value in our currency. So every day we note these people, some of whom are derided. We thank them because they are the people who underpin the essence of wealth in our nation. Of our 10 biggest exports, one is from the service sector, and all the others are from mining or agriculture.

We have to also note that this nation would not exist without the thousands of kilometres that are travelled. We need the transport workers who do it. The transport workers are a vital part of that. I note the member for Wright has been hard at work. I thank the member for Wright for all the work he has done—and I will thank myself to be a long way from the member for Wright, when I can get home! This has been a tough year.

Finally, I think it incredibly important to thank the families who have had to tolerate the issues pertinent to the pandemic, and, most importantly, thank those who have dealt with those who are the most vulnerable in the aged-care sector in regional areas. You're the only one left, Mr Speaker, so I thank you—and I also thank the member for Fowler! (Time expired)