ADDRESS TO PARLIAMENT- BILLS-Agriculture (Biosecurity Protection) Levies and Charges Collection Bill 2024 - Second Reading

I'm very pleased that I have been joined here in the Federation Chamber by the member for O'Connor. The reason I'm pleased is that he understands farmers and he understands agriculture. He represents an electorate, as large as it is, that in an average year produces 10 million tonnes of wheat—10 million tonnes of wheat a year. I know that the Grain Producers Australia chief executive officer, Colin Bettles, is also in the chairs behind me, and I acknowledge his presence. Both the member for O'Connor and Mr Bettles were in parliament earlier this week to celebrate all that is good about grain production, all that is good about farmers and all that is good about agriculture. I note, too, on the speakers list—and I'm not using it as a prop, so I'll give it back—that it is dominated by coalition speakers, appreciating that the member for Ryan from the Greens just spoke. But this list is heavy with coalition members addressing this very important matter.

Every member of this House should be speaking on this bill because it is that important. As Labor has finally admitted—after being dragged, kicking and screaming, to the table—we are in a cost-of-living crisis. It's a crisis, I would argue, that has been brought about on Labor's watch because of its policies. Yet here we are, talking about slugging our farmers—our hardworking cockies; the best in the world, make no mistake—with what Labor calls a levy, but I'll call it what it is: a tax—a tax on them to do what? To pay for the biosecurity of their competitors' products coming in from overseas and going onto the same shelves as their own products. What other nation in the world would do something like this? What other country would be so god damn stupid as to slug its farmers, who produce the world's finest food through their hard work and sweat, to pay a biosecurity tax to prop up the not-so-good products coming in from overseas by their competitors? It just makes no sense!

That is why I can't understand why there are very few, if any, speakers from the Labor side. I saw and appreciate that the member for Moreton is on the list. He speaks on most pieces of legislation, and good on him for speaking. I can't understand why, when we are in a cost-of-living crisis, why every Labor member isn't speaking on this bill, particularly every Labor regional member. They should be defending what they're doing and explaining what this bill is all about, because the essence of this bill will mean that consumers will pay more at the grocery checkout. They'll pay more for their food. They'll pay more for their vegetables. They'll pay more, whether its imported food or whether it is home-grown, fresh produce.

To a degree, I don't really care that Paraguayan pawpaws—I'm not sure if they even grow pawpaws in Paraguay, but possibly they do.

Mr Ramsey: Sure they do!

Mr McCORMACK: I'm told by the member for Grey that they do. The member for Grey would know, he is another good farmer—a very good member from a farming electorate. I don't really care whether some of those products that we get in, Portuguese pears or whatever they may be, are going to be more expensive than what we produce here in Australia. That's because what I want to see is our farmers not only being able to compete fairly with the supermarkets and the duopoly prices that they give them—farmers, let's face it, are price takers not price makers—but I also want to see our farmers treated fairly when it comes to the prices paid at the grocery store. I don't want to see our farmers slugged unnecessarily because they have to pay for the biosecurity charges to assist their competitors from countries that, quite frankly, many Australians would not even be able to pronounce.

I say that with all due respect, because often you have to look at a label to see where the product comes from. Many of the products that we are getting are coming in from overseas, and I know that there are a lot of WTO arrangements in place but, gee whiz, I've seen too many cases of dumping over the years to know that our farmers are up against it. They are up against it. I know the WTO rules prevail and I know that there have been a lot of cases brought forward, but our farmers should not have to be treated unfairly by our government—their government—the government that is bringing in these new biosecurity taxes on my people, on the member for O'Connor's people and on the member for Grey's people.

It doesn't matter to Labor that our farmers are going to have to pay for this, which is a sad aspect of this wholly unnecessary, ill-thought, ill-conceived legislation. Don't take my word for it, Barry Large from Grain Producers Australia is encouraging all members of parliament, especially crossbench senators, to carefully consider the findings of the report that has been produced and to talk with producers actually impacted by this bad policy. His words were 'actually impacted by this bad policy'. Here's the challenge to Labor members opposite: start talking to your constituents, particularly if you are in a regional area. But, more importantly, don't just talk to them; listen to them. Thankfully there aren't too many regional Labor members, but I urge and encourage those of them who are in this place to listen to their producers, whether they're producing small volumes or large. Particularly listen to them.

Mr Large had this to say:

Producers across all farm commodities have provided a strong and unified voice against this proposal, given we already pay enough in levies to fund multiple public good outcomes—including environmental benefits and increased taxation generation for the nation.

The member for Ryan talked about the environment coming first. I don't necessarily disagree with her, but let's put people first. Let's put people at the heart of this. Yes, the environment is important. The best stewards of our environment are who? Our farmers. The member for Grey knows. They are our farmers, because, without good soils, without sustainable rivers, they wouldn't be able to grow the food that is the finest in the world, which is now going to have to compete, unfairly, with overseas interests.

Mr Large also said:

It's unpalatable and we really believe it should be scrapped … a good consultation period in the beginning would have saved us all a lot of grief.

Haven't we heard that over and over again, ad nauseam—the fact that Labor doesn't consult as it should, that it rushes through ill-thought-through policy? Mr Large also said:

Australian producers take biosecurity seriously on our farms every single day. That's why we already pay significant amounts to fund biosecurity protections directly within our own businesses.

He's right. He added:

We also pay directly through other compulsory industry levies that raise hundreds of millions of dollars, including biosecurity levies.

Here's the rub. Whatever amount of money this raises to pay for biosecurity—which is what Labor say it is for now—Labor, knowing how they love taxes and new taxes, will use this as a cash cow. This is the thin end of the wedge, because, when Labor see that this works and raises $10 million here and $10 million there, they'll say: 'The farmers are pretty easy to touch up. We'll whack 'em more. Why not? They make plenty of money.' That's what Labor think.

Our farmers work so hard, and, during COVID, along with our miners, they kept this nation going. Make no mistake; they kept this nation fed. They kept other nations fed besides. They kept our exports up, as did our miners. And our health professionals saved people's lives. Yet we hear, over and again, the Treasurer saying, 'What have we got to show for a trillion dollars of Liberal Party debt?' Well, it wasn't just the Liberal Party—it was the National Party as well—but there is not a trillion dollars of debt. It's nowhere near a trillion dollars, and absolutely every time he says that, and absolutely every time Labor get their talking points and read that directly from them, because they can't think for themselves, it should be disparaged.

David Jochinke, National Farmers Federation president, said:

We call on Senators to see commonsense and hit pause on this legislation so they can listen carefully to the criticism this flawed policy has drawn.

It's not just Australia's 85,000 farmers who have raised alarm bells, it's also the Productivity Commission, the Australian National University, the Office of Impact Analysis and even importers.

That's what he said. He called on senators. I call on members. Why doesn't the phone in the Labor whip's office start ringing hot with Labor members wanting to speak on this bill? Why isn't there a long list of Labor speakers? The member for Corangamite is just about to walk in, and I welcome her. I hope she is going to start the flood of Labor members of parliament coming in to speak about this important bill and to defend it passionately, because at the moment there is no defence of this bill. At the moment, there is no defence of this bill. There is absolutely no defence of this bill, because it's bad policy. It's not just me saying that; it's the NFF president and the Grain Producers chairman saying that. It's Michael Guerin, the AgForce Queensland CEO, who says:

Let there be no doubt, this biosecurity levy is a tax in thinly veiled disguise, and farmers resent being blindsided in this way.

My father wasn't a protester. He was a good, hardworking sheep-wheat farmer. He didn't like meetings. He once gave me the advice: 'Don't get on too many committees, because you'll have to turn up to too many meetings.' I really listened to him in that regard, didn't I! I like to think that I do my bit for farmers by being a political representative. But my father did turn up to the big rally outside this place when Bob Hawke was the Prime Minister, and Bob Hawke actually listened. He didn't do what the farmers wanted, but he actually listened. That is what a good government and a good prime minister do.

I hope that Labor starts to listen instead of just bringing in these flawed policies and this ill-conceived legislation at a time of a cost-of-living crisis, when people are already paying way too much at the supermarket checkout, when people are hurting, when food banks are getting people who would never have presented before, never have gone to Salvos or St Vinnies, turning up to get food hampers because they can't afford it.

What are we going to do? We're going to slug our farmers unfairly. We're going to cripple them with even more taxes that they can ill afford and can't pay. For what outcome? Nothing! It's a typical Labor policy which does nothing to help our good country folk, those people who don't mind getting dirt under their fingernails to grow the food and fibre that prop this nation up, that help support, feed and clothe this nation and many more nations besides. I say to Labor members: get off your backsides, get out into your regional communities, start listening to the farmers, start listening to the people who make a difference in this country.