Budget, Rural and Regional Queensland
Mr PERRETT (Gympie—LNP) (2.49 pm): The Treasurer might try to spin that the budget is ‘unashamedly’ for regional Queenslanders, but rural and regional Queenslanders are not suckers. They can pick spin a mile off, especially when the government continues to slash and burn our once great Department of Agriculture and Fisheries. The department will lose more than 106 full-time equivalent staff, including staff from Biosecurity Queensland and the Queensland Rural and Industry Development Authority. The majority of the cuts come from the government’s callous closure of the Queensland Agricultural Training Colleges, with no plan for our next generation of farmers. There will also be losses to our front-line biosecurity staff.
At the same time as Brisbane bureaucrats have swelled by more than 25,000 since 2015, the departments that support our rural and regional industries continue to miss out. This is governing from Brisbane for Brisbane. Labor does not care about farmers and the regions they support. Labor does not care about the $20 billion agricultural industry that is employing more than 300,000 Queenslanders across the supply chain and contributing 15 per cent to the state’s total exports. The AgForce CEO, Mike Guerin, said—
It is clear that Government doesn’t value agriculture strongly enough nor understand its vital role in the economic, employment and social fabric of rural, regional and remote Australia.
He also said—
This government continues to demonstrate that it has no vision for the ongoing development and sustainability of broadacre agriculture …
The Queensland Farmers’ Federation CEO, Travis Tobin, said—
… agriculture seemed to be missing out on its fair share of stimulus funding needed to address some critical competitiveness and productivity issues and progress growth initiatives.
…
Without more targeted and deliberate action from government, agriculture will not fully capitalise on the exciting opportunities that are unquestionably there.
Canegrowers said that the government had missed a clear opportunity to make significant structural changes to reduce electricity prices. The minister operates under a culture of secrecy. The minister continues to hide the independent drought report he has had since January. Industry and farmers are still frustrated they do not know what the drought support and reform will look like. The government continues to hide the invasive weeds report for more than 2½ years. The minister sat on the report into the agricultural colleges for more than six months, just to release the bad news under the cover of Christmas. The minister’s desperation for relevance is why he is now resorting to self-praise.
It is extremely disappointing that there is no extra funding to combat feral pests and weeds that are running rampant across the state—issues that come up as I talk with farmers right across the state.
Labor’s unfair vegetation laws, anti-dam agenda, underfunding and mismanagement of biosecurity, and closure of the last remaining agricultural colleges means no area is safe. Labor’s anti-farmer agenda is hurting rural and regional Queensland and farmers are not buying it.