Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

STERLE () (): I, too, rise to make a contribution. I listened intently to Senator Brockman. I know Senator Brockman's commitment to rural and regional Western Australia, and I've enjoyed working on the Senate Standing Committee on Rural and Reginal Affairs and Transport with Senator Brockman for many years. In fact, Senator Brockman, I wish you were still there; we miss you, seriously. I have worked on that committee for 18 years and I've chaired either the legislation or the references committee for 15 years. I've spent a large chunk of my time in this parliament representing the best interests of Australia's food and fibre producers and processors, and I get that.

I must clarify a few things, if I may. I heard what Senator Brockman said, but I will say this: I have not spoken to any of my colleagues in Western Australia about this. I've not spoken to the minister or any of them in the WA state Labor government about this.

I only know what I've read in the papers, and I have seen the photos of big town halls and the angry farmers. I've seen that. I take on board that Katanning has a population—and you were there—of 3,000, and no doubt they came from far and wide, but that's still a significant number of upset people. I get all of that sort of stuff.

I read today's West Australian and saw there was a number of upset people. Senator Brockman, you've been around for a long time and you also know how this works. We have been told very clearly, and I've read it clearly in the paper and I've heard it in commentary, that the state opposition did not oppose the bill. Now, you said it was guillotined. I know how the guillotine works because I'm the only proponent in this chamber of 76 senators, regardless of being in government or opposition, who always screams for the guillotine at damn two o'clock in the bloody morning when everyone is talking rubbish. So, Mr Deputy President, through you—and I'll withdraw if I've upset anyone—I know how the guillotine works.

But there is a difference. You say that there was no consultation. I've spoken to people in mining. A person I spoke to last Monday night at a function said there was no shortage of consultation. He wanted me to know that because he also wanted me to pass on the message to Minister Plibersek that there had been a heap of consultation; it's just that a lot of people didn't turn up. This is what I've been told. I have no reason to make this stuff up. So there's a little bit of mischief going on there.

I'll get back to the use now and again of the fantastic instrument that is the guillotine, and I wish we had more of it. There's a difference in being guillotined, if that was the case, and the difference is in voting for a piece of legislation or not voting for a piece of legislation. We've seen the guillotine rolled out in this place many times over the years, and we've seen both sides oppose it. We've seen the Australia Labor Party oppose the guillotine or get guillotined, but then go and vote against a bill. On your side, Mr Deputy President, we've seen the LNP, when Labor has rolled it out, oppose it, but they certainly don't fall in line behind it and vote for it. So there are some real misconceptions here.

I say this with my hand on my heart: next Saturday I was hoping—I was invited—to be a guest of the Livestock and Rural Transport Association of Western Australia at their national conference in Busselton. I would have loved to have been there—I have a convoy here on Saturday that I will be addressing—because I would get to the bottom of how tough things are, I have no doubt. But it's very mischievous of the LNP to want to tip this bucket of 'it's all your fault; you didn't consult; you rammed it through'. There's still no explanation: why did the two Liberal members in the House vote for it? I can't answer that. We should tell the truth. I think there are four Nats in there, too, who voted for this piece.

Could it have been explained a lot better? Absolutely. I have no argument there. I wish it had got to the stage where it could have been explained. And I understand the frustrations when people have a heck of a lot of questions and they're not receiving answers to their questions. I get that. I've been in opposition for many years. In my previous life as a union organiser I used to ask a lot of questions, and no-one wanted to answer them—and when they did, half of them thought they could lie to get their way around them. It was very, very frustrating.

I also note, and Senator Pratt may be able to help me out here, that the minister, Minister Buti, has now said that nothing is off the table. I believe that's what I read in the Sunday Times the other day. I read that they want to revisit this and start talking again. Let's hope that we get to a situation. I'm not afraid to say at times, if I haven't got something right, 'Let's work together and try to get something right.' I have this vision and this hope that the Western Australian state government will sit down with industry, who should now engage—they should've engaged earlier, instead of just saying they're not turning up to the meetings—and, hopefully, we can get some pacifying here.