Farming peak bodies will be keeping the Albanese Government in the freezer this winter after an appalling sequence of decisions that have agriculture and Federal Government at loggerheads.When the Liberal-National Coalition were in government we were united with the farming sector, pursuing a $100 billion farmgate value target by 2030.
During Federal Budget week, the National Farmers Federation representatives and others walked out on Agriculture Minister Murray Watt’s post-budget address when he mentioned the government’s ban on live sheep exports by 2028.
Within days the NFF passed a vote of no confidence in the Albanese Labor Government, the culmination of months of indignation from 50 or more commodity groups that opposed Labor’s biosecurity levy.
Such was the unity from farming bodies that everyone in the Senate other than Labor could see the $50 million per annum biosecurity levy was a stinker and the enabling legislation was, at the time of writing, unable to pass into law.
Our cropping farmers faced around $500 per annum (and collectively about a quarter of the bill) under the levy proposal, and I thank my Liberal and National Senate colleagues for their hard work in securing a temporary block of Labor’s divisive biosecurity levy plans.
I hope it becomes permanent.
Labor’s disinterest in paying their fair share of funding for electronic traceability (which we already have in Victoria) forced the sheep industry to pull out of the national rollout.
Clearly, Labor thinks it can raid the theoretical farmer piggybank for budget savings while spending over $315 billion more on their pet projects – equivalent to $30,000 per household – since coming to government.
The May budget will spend $24 billion alone recruiting 36,000 more bureaucrats.
Time and again Labor robs regions to buy votes in the cities, a message my guest, shadow agriculture minister and Nationals leader David Littleproud is discussing on Thursday and Friday, May 23-24 on a visit to Mallee.
For our farmers’ sake we cannot return to government fast enough.
