Mr RAMSEY (Grey—Opposition Whip) (16:15): I have severe doubts about the last statement. I do defend the Labor Party in my electorate when people say to me, ‘Why do they hate us so much?’ I say, ‘I don’t think the Labor Party hates miners or farmers, but they think they can bear any amount of pain that they inflict upon them.’ They say, in the Labor Party: ‘They’ll be alright; those farmers have got big utes and things. They always whinge about everything, and they don’t vote for us anyhow. They’ll be able to soak it up, don’t worry. We’ll be able to grab a few green votes in the city.’ Don’t think that this isn’t about that. They say, ‘We’ll be able to grab a few green votes in the city, and they’ll get over it.’ They say the same to the miners.
I attended the Keep the Sheep rally out the front this morning. I don’t think any members opposite did. From my estimation, there weren’t 200 farmers there; there was somewhere between 2,000 and 3,000. I didn’t put them all down the sheep race and count them personally. I can count by about five at a time, but that’s the number I reckon were there. Farmers had come from my own electorate, and I recognised them. They came up to me and said g’day to me.
It’s no wonder the banning of live exports has galvanised farmers, because there’s no science behind it. There was precious little consultation and no courage. In fact, the industry has jumped through every hoop. Millions have been spent on upgrading ship ventilation; on decreasing onboard stocking rates; on better handling, feed and water systems; and on having mandatory onboard vets, resulting in close to negligible stock losses. Additionally, the ESCAS system ensures Australian animals are tracked beyond demarcation and slaughtered in approved facilities. We’re setting the standards for the world.
I led the coalition ag policy committee through the sheep country of Western Australia in March this year. I had one meeting in Adelaide—a hundred people rolled up there—and we staged another seven meetings across WA, culminating at the Wagin Woolorama. I have to say: we went there because the government members would not. We went and talked to the farmers there because government members would not. One of the things we told them was, ‘We will fight for you here in Canberra, but we can’t win the battle unless you’re prepared to fight for yourselves.’ Well, they showed today that they are more than prepared to fight for themselves.
But it’s not just in relation to sheep that farmers are being attacked. We have the recommencement of the indiscriminate water buybacks, and others have mentioned that. There’s the closing of the fully sustainable Gulf of Carpentaria gillnet fishing to protect the reef thousands and thousands of kilometres away—someone should look at a map. There’s the building of transmission lines and renewable energy parks all over farming country—and that is even starting to bark in my electorate, I have to say. There’s the abolition of the ag visa program, reducing the instant tax write-offs and imposing a biosecurity levy on farmers to inspect imports brought into Australia by non-agricultural businesses. Really! There’s the abolition of the native title respondents fund, the commitment to expand Australia’s parks and reserves from 20 to 30 per cent and the new vehicle emissions standards, which punish people who live in regional and remote Australia, in particular farmers. We’ve got the scope 3 emissions coming down the pipeline, and some big emitters are buying up agricultural land to offset their emissions. I heard the APVMA mentioned by the minister earlier, and now it’s looking like they’re going to ban paraquat for all intents and purposes. This is an incredible assault on farming. But it’s not just farmers; they’re after miners as well. Last night, I attend the Mineral Council dinner and I heard their CEO, Tania Constable, lay down quite clearly what the minerals industry think about what the government is doing to them. She said that Labor risk returning the mining tax wars between the big resources companies and the Gillard government. ‘We want cooperation, not conflict,’ Ms Constable said. The sector was under siege and being punished by the Albanese government for its stream of reckless, restrictive policies, industrial relations changes, raids on mining royalties, new regulations, and a looming threat of onerous and arbitrary environmental approvals.
Of course, we’ve just seen in this last week the Blayney goldmine disapproved, if you like, something that had already been through the process with the local Indigenous owners then some fringe group claimed to have an interest and the minister folded like a deck of cards. No wonder Australian farmers and miners are upset with this government.