Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

Australians, including Australian farmers, are hurting because this country has been dragged into another US forever war. It's ironic that the Liberal Party came in with this motion today; the Liberal Party are a party that supports this war. The National Party are a party that supports this war. The Labor Party—the government—are a party that supports this war. One Nation, another war party, are a political party that supports this war. They come in here today and they criticise the government for its lack of preparation. Well, I accept that, but you also support this conflict.

No wonder people are cynical and anxious about where this is all going to lead. Yes, Australian farmers should be concerned about input prices into their production, be it diesel or be it fertiliser. They should be concerned because there is no exit plan from this war. There's not even a plan B. We've been repeatedly lied to about this conflict. Where does it go from here? There is such a high level of anxiety in this country right now. Why are we being drawn into this war, queuing at petrol bowsers and paying more at the supermarkets because of countries like Israel and the US, who won't even tell us why they went into this war in the first place? Is it because of Israeli elections in a few months? Is that why we're all suffering? Could it be that simple? Who knows? But we know one thing, and that is that we need truth and we need transparency.

Let's talk about the fertiliser market, very quickly. It has been an issue in this country for decades—the fact that we have to import a lot of our fertilisers. Various governments haven't dealt with it. It's a good time to be having this debate now, when we are suffering under these conditions, but this is a long-term structural problem.