TRANSCRIPT: Interview with Graham Richardson, Sky News Live, 29 May 2019
E&OE
Subjects: Women in Cabinet; funding for drought and flood recovery; live animal exports; trade relationships; farming workforce; water allocations and infrastructure
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Michael McCormack, welcome to the program.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Thanks, Richo.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Now can I start with women? It’s always a good topic, women, but people have said that the Nats have a problem with women. Do you have a problem with women?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, we’ve got six fantastic women in our party room now, once Perin Davey gets across the line and the counting suggests that that is what’s going to happen. But Sam McMahon in the Northern Territory; Susie McDonald, LNP Queensland who’s going to sit with us; Bridget McKenzie making up our upper house female team. And then of course we’ve got Michelle Landry re-elected for the third time for Capricornia, who would have thought? And of course Anne Webster, elected for the first time in the seat of Mallee in Victoria. So with six fabulous women, that's triple the number of female representation that the Nats have had previously.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Yeah because you mentioned Capricornia, that was always a Labor seat like forever, wasn't it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Yes. Michelle was the first LNP, first Nat, to actually win- or first Coalition to win the seat back to back twice. She's now done it three times, and not only that, she's really established a healthy margin there. So she's turned a very marginal seat. You'll remember that in the 2016 election, she was the one to get us that magical 76 number in the House of Representatives. So she’s- was one of the first called indeed this time. So she's done fantastically well and she works very, very hard and she deserves every success that she's gained.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Yeah. And so [inaudible] women in the team, but the moment you'd all be focused - men and women - on the drought, wouldn't you? I mean, it's still been a big problem for you. It's not something that I can see, I can still go and I can buy my meat at the butcher, I can buy my fruit and veg. I don't know there's a drought, but you do.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
And look, Graham, that's a common problem, and indeed it's one we're trying to address. I know the Prime Minister and I announced a new proactive policy whereby schoolchildren are going to be- have the promotion of knowing where their goods come from, where their farm products actually originate from as part of a really good initiative teaching them exactly that cows produce milk and that's your dairy products. It just doesn't come out of a bottle out of a metropolitan supermarket. But more than that, we've elevated drought to the Cabinet table so David Littleproud, as well as water policy and as well as natural disaster management, he's also going to have drought and he's at the Cabinet table and certainly that’s a real focus of this government. The first order of business when Scott Morrison became the Prime Minister was to visit Quilpie in outback Queensland, to visit a drought community. The Tullys’ out there in Quilpie and of course that $7.2 billion now of drought assistance that we've provided, that's not going to end. We're going to continue to monitor the situation and continue to stand side by side of our farmers.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
You’ve had a bit of rain. Is there anywhere not in drought? Because at one stage I saw a map which had basically eastern Australia in doubt- in drought, I should say.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, Tasmania is okay. Tasmania is okay but, you know, they feel the effects too when there's a natural national downturn. And Western Australia is starting to get dry. You know, we've had a few decent showers. Yes, you're right, and you know across Wagga Wagga - my area - there's been a couple of falls of nearly an inch of rain but the fact is, a couple of decent showers don't break a drought. It's going to take many more showers. It could rain for the next 40 days and 40 nights, it's not going to break the drought and it's not going to make up for the losses already incurred by farmers who, you know, are destocking heavily as we speak. And the abattoir numbers - the meat processing - hasn't diminished in any way, it's still continuing. And so that, of course, means that many of the ewes and many of the heifers are going, many of the cows are going to slaughter and for processing because farmers, quite frankly, can't afford to feed them. And that means that then it's going to be three years before they're replenished, as far as the breeding herd is concerned.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Yeah. How does a farmer pre-plan? Because you can't pre-plan the weather.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well they can use, of course, farm management deposits. There have been several financial efforts made. And, of course, again I say David Littleproud is going to be in charge of rural financing. So we've established the RIC at Orange that’s going to help with making sure money gets to farmers in an appropriate way. We received a lot of praise as a government for getting money out the door when the North Queensland floods hit, and we’ve done as much as humanly possible to do it with the farmers too, but of course we’ve been tweaking the Farm Household Assistance measures. We’ll do more, and we will as I say stand side by side with these farmers. They’re experiencing- not just farmers, small businesses in rural communities as well. So they’re still doing it tough, a few showers won’t break the drought, but on the horizon it does look as though it’s going to be slightly better season than it was last year and that's welcomed.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Now you see Donald Trump declaring a trade war with China. How does that affect your constituency?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well we need, of course, China to be prosperous. And of course you know because China is one of our- is our biggest trading partner and we want to make sure that our farmers have those supply chains through Chinese markets. Of course the China free trade agreement with Australia has been very, very successful. And it's one that many farmers indeed throughout the Riverina and South West New South Wales, Central West, the area that I represent, many farmers have increased their profits significantly thanks to that CFTA arrangement, thanks to the work that Andrew Robb, that Simon Birmingham and Mark Coulton indeed have done in recent years to boost our trade.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Yeah, there’s- these trade deals, they get criticism from some of the trade unions that they're sacrificing jobs. Are you happy with them overall?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Oh, absolutely. And you look at the arrangements that we've got with South Korea, with Japan. Of course we've brokered a new arrangement with Indonesia, and the work continues with India. And of course the UK presents an opportunity too, given the Brexit fallout. But there are always trade opportunities and of course we've had a free trade arrangement just brokered with Peru not that long ago. And so we're getting on board with making sure that our farmers, indeed our small businesses, indeed our service industry has markets to which they can take advantage of. And that actually creates jobs. I know that trade means jobs and more trade means more jobs.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Well what about the farmers? What do they think about the live cattle, live sheep export? Do they like that or not? I mean do they fear it in the end, that the other people will just take it up and they won't need us in the future?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I'm sure they will need us, Graham. I'm- I know our West Australian farmers rely very much on the live animal export industry. Australia is the only country in the world with the Export Supply Chain Assurance Scheme in place so that animal welfare is placed front and centre of everything that we do, and the fact is if we aren't filling that trade opportunity then another country which doesn’t have the ESCAS arrangements in place doesn't put animal welfare front and centre of what they do, they will take up those markets and animals elsewhere will be mistreated. So Australia treats that live animal export industry in a very considered way. There are a new range of penalties thanks to what our government has done. There are new arrangements as far as making sure there are independent inspectors, and there's more penning room to move for the sheep, more ventilation. So for the sheep and cattle industries they are absolutely vital, particularly for Western Australia and to a lesser extent South Australia but also obviously the Northern Territory. It's a significant industry up there and we will keep it keep it going.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Yeah I- I'm one of those who was pretty horrified by some of the images you saw but I understand that we've got the industry going.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Oh, we all were. Yeah, absolutely. Well, it means jobs and certainly for Aboriginal stockmen and the like once that trade was shut down by the previous Labor government, I mean they didn’t have jobs and for many of them, they still haven't got their jobs back. And so you know, they're pretty much our focus too.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Now let's hope so. Now, I- Bridget McKenzie. You gave her a job and it’s a job a woman hasn't had before is it?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well, she's the 34th Agriculture Minister in this country and she's the first woman, and I know she's going to do an amazing and fantastic job. She lives in Wodonga, she's got obviously Victoria- regional Victoria very much at heart coming from Victoria. But indeed right across the nation. I think she's going to do a great job, she's getting out there already talking to stakeholders. I've spoken to Fiona Simson, who of course heads up the National Farmers Federation. I've spoken to Kay Hull who's the head of AgriFutures. They've welcomed the appointment. They, you know- and they recognise too that David Littleproud did a very, very good job, an excellent job in fact. But Bridget McKenzie deserves this position, deserves this opportunity and she'll do a fantastic job for farmers and for rural communities right across Australia.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
… so your average farmer who's a bloke of course, there aren't too many women farmers. I know there are some but there aren't too many. How do they react to her?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well I read a report that not that long ago – late last year in fact – where the average age of the Australian farmer these days is the wrong side of 60. But in 10 years’ time the report was suggesting that that's going to be about 38 years old, the average age within a decade because of the number of women entering the workforce in agriculture because there are so many opportunities and so many more farmers. Indeed most farmers these days are far better educated than their fathers or mothers were and they're bringing that technology, that innovation to agriculture. It's a brave new world in agriculture and you know, you only have to look at the three ladies I just mentioned – Fiona Simpson, Kay Hull and Bridget McKenzie – indeed to see just that. And women are playing a very, very vital role in agriculture. I know they're going to make a huge difference. Elizabeth Stott, a farmer from Gogeldrie in my- where I used to represent, out near Leeton, farmers like her they make such a significant difference and they’ll continue to do that.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Now I can remember these vivid images of farmers trying to bury lots of oranges and things because we couldn't do anything with them and competition was too great and all the rest of it. How do our citrus industries go these days?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well that's why we're trying to increase our trade opportunities because you and I both know, Graham, that Australian farmers not only are they the best environmentalists and not only are they the best carers of country and rivers, but they also grow the very best food and fibre. And we want to make sure that there's more opportunities for that citrus, for that beef, for that sheep meat, whatever they're growing – cotton – whatever the case might be, we want to make sure that there's an export market for it because we can't use it all domestically. And that's why we're forging ahead with our trade and investment opportunities, and that's why I've got great reliance on Mark Coulton and Simon Birmingham to do just that.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
Well you've mentioned cotton, there’s the big argument about what we do with the rivers. And cotton takes out a lot of water. You still support having a cotton industry?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Oh, absolutely I do and the fact is our cotton growers in Northern New South Wales and elsewhere, they haven't had a water allocation for three years. So I think it was a bit over the top to be blaming them for the lack of water in the Darling – the Darling which has unfortunately dried up where they measure it down in Menindee, 57 times in the past 57 years. It was obviously a very, very sad situation but the fact is our cotton growers further north haven't had a water allocation for three years. Just like the rice growers and irrigation farmers at Deniliquin, they also haven't had a water allocation for about three years. I'm looking forward to going in and seeing them next week. I know the Mayor down there, Norm Brennan, is keen to see me and to talk about what we've planned as far as drought assistance and what we can further do for our irrigation farmers. And obviously coming from that part of the world, I know how important it is that the government does make sure they have the right policy settings in place. But we feel for these farmers, we know that we can't make it rain but we'll be there beside them to help them through this drought.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
You go to Bourke and you see those walls where the steamers used to come up the Darling, all the way to Bourke. I mean what happened? I mean I'm not blaming farmers or anybody else but how did we lose all that?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Well some of them did get sand-wedged too. I know the Wagga Wagga paddle steamer got stuck at Narrandera one day and it's still there, it's now just an iron shipwreck, and that did happen too. And I know that when Sturt on his adventures, Charles Sturt through Australia, he carried his whale boat on his shoulder more often than he actually rode it up the up the river, up the streams. And you know Australia is a country, as Dorothea Mackellar said, of flooding rains or devastating droughts. And it's never been any different but we just have to work with what we've got. That's why I'm so pleased that I’ve established the National Water Grid following on from the additional half a billion dollars for the National Water Infrastructure Development Fund. Because, Graham, there's one thing that we need to do as a nation and that's build more dams, build more water storage infrastructure. I know you've talked about this…
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
I have.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
…as have others. We need to- yeah, you have and I've listened intently, we're acting, we're getting on with it. And I want to work with states, I want to work with stakeholders and I want to work with key scientists. So I’ll- I'd like to keep you informed about this and make sure that we actually get on and build dams. Because it’s one thing to talk about it and another …
GRAHAM RICHARSON:
[Interrupts] When was the last dam build in Australia?
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
I hate to think probably back in the back in the ‘80s. But it's been way too long, Graham, it's been decades. And we need to make sure that we that we get on and do it. We've invested $176.1 million dollars in Rookwood Weir, of course that's in Ken O’Dowd and Michelle Landry’s area but we want it, we need to get on and do it. But we've been stymied part of the way by the states, that's why the National Water Grid has been established to take the petty politics out of it, to put the best available science, to take on board the advice of key local stakeholders, and just get on and build it.
I'm looking forward to coming to David Littleproud’s electorate in the Granite Belt next week to talk about the Emu Swamp Dam. I'm hoping that the Queensland Government in good faith with us will get on and help us build that. I know Brent Finlay is a big, big supporter of that in the Granite Belt area there, near Stanthorpe in Queensland. We just want to get on and do it. And as I appear on your show more times in the future, because you and I are going to be around for a long time Graham, I want to be able to sort of tell you well Graham today we've turned the first sod for the first dam for quite a while.
GRAHAM RICHARDSON:
And I tell you what, I'd love to have you on this side. Thanks very much for your time Michael.
MICHAEL MCCORMACK:
Good on you Graham, all the very best.