Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Once again, I would refer—this time Senator Wong—to the statement made by the member for Hume in the House today. In that statement, he was very clear, speaking about representations and engagements he had with farmers in late 2016 and early 2017 regarding these issues—

Senator Cormann interjecting—

and, indeed, as Senator Cormann indicates, this was consultation dating back some period of time. This is about a local MP acting on behalf of his local constituents. We know that the only constituents those opposite are interested in acting on behalf of are, of course, their trade union mates. They don't seem to ever listen to local constituents otherwise. They certainly don't listen to the Australians who rejected their type of policy agenda at the last election. But on this side we expect our MPs to listen to their constituents, engage in their issues and, where appropriate, represent them.