Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Today the Wheat Growers Action Group and the New South Wales Farmers Association rallied outside these chambers. They were protesting about the Wheat Export Marketing Bill 2008 and related bill before us. They know that the major parties have signed off on deregulation of the wheat export market. And they know that only the Nationals stand with them in opposing the deregulation that will see profits from wheat growing move away from the family farmer to the shareholders of major international buyers. They knew what was happening, yet still the wheat growers came. They were in the gallery this afternoon. They came to see their representatives in this parliament change their lives forever. When the Senate divides on the Wheat Export Marketing Bill, wheat marketing in this country will be changed forever. They know that the Nationals in government negotiated a single desk for them but, with Labor in power, all that has come to nothing. The previous PM committed to a single desk.

For some senators, this is a debate about Cole and the war in Iraq—I think that is where the Democrats and the Greens are coming from—and, for others, it is about market principles. But, for the wheat growers and for the Nationals, this debate is about what to do when the market has no principles, when overseas countries subsidise wheat growers and corrupt the world market and when major multinational corporations play growers off against each other and inevitably deliver lower returns to growers. The only factor that should weigh on senators’ minds tonight when they consider their vote is the Australian wheat grower. They have a right to say how their product should be marketed. They have a right to be listened to. They have every right to protest when this does not happen. I went around to all the rallies in Queensland. I can honestly say that I could count on the fingers of one hand the number of people who wanted deregulation. Perhaps they were not game to go to the rallies or perhaps they were there and were too scared to speak up, because the overwhelming majority—I would say it is 85 per cent—of Queenslanders want a single desk.

What we had outside this place today was a large group that represents the majority of Australian wheat growers. By far the single-deskers were in the majority. I would put it up as high as 85 per cent. They have spoken. They have told us, the legislators, what they need to survive and keep their industry strong. They want the single desk for export wheat to remain. It is, in the end, as simple as that. They have talked to committees and ministers and to spokespeople and the media. They have talked to MPs and senators. But the bill before us is not about listening; it is about turning away from growers and their working families. I stress ‘working families’ because, when you are on a farm—and Senator Joyce is probably the only legitimate wheat grower in this Senate that I know of—