In the first
week of the sitting of the new Federal parliament, the member for New England
in NSW rose and gave his maiden speech to the House of Representatives. Barnaby
Joyce is not only the new member for New England but also has been appointed
Agriculture minister in the Abbott government. Barnaby has been a player in federal politics for some time
and is one of the few who has moved from the Senate to the House of Representatives
and in a smaller again club of those who have achieved being an elected Senator
in one state, Queensland, to another state lower house seat.
Barnaby
in his speech
talked of family connections in the seat of New England and the
importance of agriculture for Australia in the past but what was most refreshing was his
support of the family farm and determination for a future of a strong, vibrant
agricultural sector.
Photo Barnaby Joyce sourced from The Land
“My social belief, like most individuals' social belief, was immensely
affected by that same life experience. It was premised on the notion that
people who work hard and live decent lives, producing a good that has real
worth, should be fairly paid and fairly dealt with. A nation that does not
defend these people has lost its more noble instincts. In China this week the
ruling Communist Party announced greater property rights for farmers. So this
belief is ubiquitous and current. The farming community has always had to live
with the belief that we make sacrifices because things will get better, but the
better never seems to happen.
Now our debt between government and private sectors is massive. Many
major businesses in mining and agriculture are now foreign owned and gone. The
family farm of the 1970s is generally unviable, and the deft hand of an
external conscience has crystallised so that farm management practices have to
conform to a view whose religion is a quasi-alternative environmentalism—of
forms, of paperwork and of trees having attained an anthropomorphic character.
We have evolved to the ridiculous extent where animal rights are
interchangeable with human rights.
My initial introduction to the agriculture portfolio handed over by the
previous Labor government replicated the industry. It has been usurped to a
point where, in many instances, it is the mere ambassador for agriculture.
Water and vegetation are with state and federal environment departments. Sale
of many agricultural products and land is with Trade and Treasury. Even
determination of the use of agricultural products is held by independent
authorities within the agricultural portfolio, with no say by the minister. I
commend the Prime Minister for his decision to put forward a white paper to
investigate the ways our nation can better deliver an agricultural outcome. If
we are solely reliant on mines, we will live in a boom-bust cycle. If our
future is only in services then we must contend with lower wages—one click away
on the internet—as anything that can be done on the computer can be done
somewhere else by someone else at a cheaper rate. We need a strong, vibrant
agricultural sector for the future of this nation”.
The speech makes
mention of a white paper into agriculture, indications are that is not going to
be a token endeavour but a policy area of priority for this government. To hear
that the minister, Barnaby Joyce wishes the paper to deliver policy that will rebuild
resilience back into agriculture is for farmers like the listening to that first
storm sound on a tin roof after prolonged drought. The elation is countered by
those thoughts in the back of the mind of needing meaningful follow up to
ensure a better future.
Barnaby
stepped down from his Senate seat midterm to successfully contest New England.
His replacement as the constitution requires is appointed by the Premier of the
state of someone from the same party as the retiring member. Barry O’Sullivan was
selected by the LNP party and should be the current Qld Senator replacing Barnaby but finds
himself in a strange dimension of purgatory as you can read about in this
Courier Mail article. Of interest is O’Sullivan’s role in the
development of the white paper.
"I think it's important that Queensland is represented as soon as
possible because issues are on foot that need to be dealt with," Mr Joyce
told The Courier-Mail.
"The LNP has selected Barry O'Sullivan and it is now for the
parliament to send him down."
Mr Joyce is already planning an informal role for Mr O'Sullivan that will
put him in an influential position in the development of the Abbott
government's Agricultural White Paper.
"If he's sitting in his room at home, he's no use to anyone," he
said.
"You have a resource at your disposal for the development of policy
and currently that resource is not deployed."
Mr O'Sullivan welcomed the role and said he wanted to travel around
Queensland to speak to farmers and other industries and "feed in as much
information as I can to the minister for him to consider for his White Paper in
2014."
This white paper is too important for farmers to be affected
by a political side show. Agriculture is clearly at crisis point as Ben Rees
highlighted in his paper, Agriculture
in Crisis - Rationalise or Reconstruct, presented at Merredin, Western Australia on April 15th 2013.
“Today, rural Australia
is at a cross-road: more of the same or, a new direction. For thirty years, the
farm sector has been reconstructed and adjusted by successive political
administrations and their advisors. The rural sector has been also bullied by
community group spokespeople from the, environment, animal welfare, consumer
groups and media.
Hopefully, this paper
can contribute to understanding the failure of policy and encourage exploration
of policies to rebuild a prosperous rural Australia. In this process farmers
must recognise their role is to reject rationalisation; and, fight for a new direction.”
There are
many farmers who would like to discuss positively solutions to the current
crisis facing agriculture with any politician who wishes to come to them for
information in the development of the white paper to build a resilient, strong
and vibrant agricultural sector.
