THE June 16 GrowQld forum in Charters Towers was perfectly timed to be a showdown between Northern Australia Minister Matt Canavan and his then Labor shadow Shayne Neumann just weeks out from the July 2 federal election.
At the 11th hour, word from Mr Neumann’s office informed Queensland Country Life that the Member for Blair would no longer be attending. A pressing engagement in Sydney relating to one of his other shadow portfolios required his attention there, his press secretary said.
It was unfortunate but, perhaps, not unexpected, given that Labor representatives were conspicuous by their absence in the GrowQld discussion.
Repeated attempts were also made to get State Labor Natural Resources Minister Dr Anthony Lynham on the panel at Beaudesert in April. QCL’s invitations failed to make it past the first row of ministerial gatekeepers, leaving the Opposition’s agriculture spokesperson, now deputy Opposition leader Deb Frecklington free reign on the floor.
So when it comes to growing agriculture and rural Queensland, just how serious is the Australian Labor Party, which federal Opposition leader Bill Shorten declared “the party of regional Australia” at a funding announcement in early May for schools outside capital cities.
Reading the party’s policy document there doesn’t look to be much for agriculture.
Doing a search with the word “agriculture” turns up nothing. Amending that to “agricultural” brings up Labor’s animal welfare policy, which has been criticised by the National Farmers’ Federation and Wool Producers Australia and promises more red tape for farmers.
Bottom line: to grow agriculture, we need to build some dams and clear some trees (having trust in farmers’ abilities to manage their land) – and Labor, on its current record, doesn’t seem to want either of these two things to happen.
Some Coalition MPs say Labor is caught between the needs of regional Australia and the demands of inner-city electorates where the Greens are luring away traditional Labor voters.
Even blind Freddy can see that makes it hard for Labor to commit to expanding agriculture through, for example, building dams, clearing trees and wholeheartedly supporting live exports.
Publishing an animal welfare policy that features a photograph of a feral rabbit – a pest that causes millions of dollars’ damage throughout the country and is the focus of an expensive eradication program – also presents the party as out of touch with the bush.
For its part, the Coalition can point to the policies for rural Australia in its Agricultural Competitiveness White paper, or “Ag White Paper”, as establishing its “farmer-friendly” credentials.
The picture here couldn’t be clearer. Farmers need a strong economy to survive. A strong economy is vital for regional communities. When the economy weakens, Australia’s experience in years gone by is that regional communities suffer first and they suffer longest.
