Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the important matter of agriculture. People often may see the seat of Fisher for its glorious Sunshine Coast beaches, but they don't actually go west of the highway. But you don't even have to go west of the highway; we have some fantastic agricultural businesses operating in my seat of Fisher, including one of the largest eastern seaboard fisheries, operating out of the Mooloolaba harbour, in prawns and tuna. I want to send a shout-out to Heidi and Pavo Walker of Walker Seafoods, who are fantastic local businesspeople in my electorate. They are a sustainable fishery and they do a great job, so a shout-out to all of them and to all the people that work on our wharves at Mooloolaba.

I also want to take the opportunity to welcome my friends from the Queensland parliament that are here today. I think they're here to learn all about the Federation Chamber, so I'm hoping that they're acting like sponges and taking in all of this wisdom that they're no doubt hearing. I want to send a shout-out to my good friend in particular, the member for Glass House, Andrew Powell, who's doing a great job as the state's new tourism and environment minister.

It's a good segue when we're talking about agriculture, because all people see in the federal seat of Fisher are the beaches, as beautiful as they are, but the seat of Fisher is still classified by the Australian Electoral Commission as a rural seat. Some of my rural colleagues and my state colleagues might have a bit of a chuckle about that, but the seat of Fisher still holds very important agricultural industries in the farming of pineapples, bananas, strawberries of course; so many different industries that are the lifeblood of Australia. The Sunshine Coast could very well be the fruit bowl and the food bowl of our country.

The challenge that we face, of course, is that our real estate prices are so high that it is very difficult to make a go of farming on the Sunshine Coast on a broad scale. But if you go to any farmers market on a Saturday or Sunday morning, you will see so many small farmers and boutique businesses that are selling their wares. It is a great privilege to be the member for Fisher because, while agriculture is a smaller part of what we do in Fisher, it is a very important part.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Hear, hear!

Andrew Wallace (Fisher, Liberal National Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Of course, the member for Riverina would be much more qualified to speak about agriculture, and I'm very pleased that he's made it into the Chamber to talk about agriculture. That said, I come from a small farming family. We had a farm on the Mornington Peninsula with about 280 acres, which for the member for Riverina and many of the people that he represents would be a postage stamp.

We have some fantastic cattle growers in Maleny and west of Maleny in places like Conondale and Cambroon. While they are small, the quality of their produce is incredible. I send a shout-out to Clif Hefner and Theresa Craig, who are stalwarts of the LNP but who also have a stud farm on the way to Conondale. They do a terrific job, not just in their own farming practices but in helping many other farmers as well through their consultancy work. So I give a shout-out to them.

To all those people in Fischer or right across the country who are toiling right now, whether they are working on the land or on a tractor, farmers are the salt of the earth. They work damn hard to put food on our tables. I wish that more people in the city could actually see and experience what it's like to have to earn a living from working with their hands and growing the food and fibre that Australians rely upon. I want to send a shout-out to each and every one of them. It might sound a little strange, but, in my experience, many of these people who are working on the land actually listen to parliament as they work. I know I used to when I was on the tools. So I want to send a shout-out to them and thank them for their service to this country. It's often a bit of a lonely existence doing what they do, but I take my hat off to them and I thank them for their service. I'm very pleased now to hand over to the member for Riverina.