Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

Labor's policies are not only driving up inflation and making the housing crisis worse but also a direct attack on Australia's farmers and our world-leading agricultural industries. Labor will soon introduce legislation that will risk food and fibre production in the Murray-Darling Basin, which is valued at more than $20 billion per year. Labor has chopped water security projects like the Hells Gates Dam in Queensland, and these are critical for our food security. Australia is already a net food importer and has been for many years. In 2021 the deficit grew to $7 billion, and according to the Bureau of Statistics food imports have grown by almost five per cent every year since 1980. Most of these imports come from countries with much lower quality standards and poorer land stewardship credentials, like China, Vietnam and Indonesia. Labor's obsession with climate change is destroying prime agricultural land, with transmission lines, wind farms and solar panels contaminating the land with heavy metals. It's attacking our livestock farmers by forcing them to account for methane emissions while New Zealand excludes its agriculture from carbon accounting.

In 2019 Labor voted for my Protecting Australian Dairy Bill, but, since coming to power, it has done nothing for an industry still in crisis. Of course, Labor aims to end the live export trade, which supports thousands of jobs in regional Australia. Labor continues to pursue bilateral and multilateral free trade agreements that force Australia's farmers to the bottom end of a very uneven playing field. Labor is chopping infrastructure projects that are a vital part of our food supply chains, increasing costs for both farmers and consumers. Labor must end its offensive against Australia's farmers in the best interests of our nation and its people.