PRIME MINISTER:
Barnaby and I were in Bourke earlier today.
It’s good now to be here in Longreach in western Queensland with Bruce Scott, the local member. As is pretty clear, the impact of this drought is not local – it spreads over wide areas of our country. That’s why it’s important that there be a strong, appropriate national response.
It’s also very clear from talking to a wide range of people here in Longreach that drought doesn’t just impact on farms or farmers. It impacts on communities, towns and ultimately on the whole national economy, particularly in places like Longreach which is overwhelmingly dependent upon farming.
Earlier today in Bourke, which is similarly overwhelmingly dependent on farming, drought is not just an economic addition, it’s not just a state of weather, it is a natural disaster and that is why it is important that there be a strong and suitable; a fair and responsible government response. That’s what we will be seeing quite shortly.
So, I am going to ask Barnaby just to say a few words and then I am going to ask Bruce to say something on behalf of his local people.
AGRICULTURE MINISTER:
Thank you very much, Prime Minister. I have said that in Bourke, but it is really important that western Queensland also understand that whilst here in Longreach we still are dealing with the same drought.
Droughts don’t respect state borders and it is extremely important that we also understand that even though we have the paradox of coming around and you have had a good shower of rain that doesn’t mean that it is the end of the drought. In fact even if the rain kept going you would have to wait for a body of feed to grow, for cattle to be finished off, for them to get to market at the appropriate price. This for many people who have been doing it tough for a period of time, who have been trying to manage their own way, who for the last year and a half have been saying well I’ll just run down the bank account, I’ll just run down the resources, I will go without but they get to a point where they say no business plan can last that long.
So, it is great to take the Prime Minister of Australia around. I really mean it. It is so important. I have been saying all along it is great to take Muhammad to the mountain. I mean in the Western Plains we have the mountain of issues which is the drought.
It’s great to be here with Bruce and also with Vaughan Johnson who do a power of work to make sure that their people are well and truly represented.
I would also like to give my thanks to the good people of the fourth estate who have gone out of their way to travel around and from time to time get themselves bogged outside of sheds.
BRUCE SCOTT:
Well, thank you Barnaby and thank you Prime Minister.
I have got to say this is the third visit you have made to the rural electorate of Maranoa here in Queensland inside 12 months so you really are a great friend of the bush.
I know you are always wanting to know what is happening not just by me personally but coming back here the second time inside 12 months to Longreach I think indicates your interest and, I think, commitment also to rural issues out here in the bush.
Can I also say that listening to people here today, I think, is the best tonic we can have outside of a good fall of rain as we leave. Listening to the stories helps us all to make sure we represent them in Canberra and I know that is what you have been able to hear today.
Prime Minister, the other thing we used to say was that there was nothing more Australian than meat pies and Holden cars. I think we can now say it’s meat pies and our agricultural producers because it looks like General Motors are leaving us, Ford are leaving us, Toyota are leaving us but the agricultural sector will be the manufacturing industry and the food producers that will always be here with us. I know that you support and interest will make sure that our response here to the extreme drought, this natural disaster, is one that will certainly meet the support of the people we have met today.
Once again thanks again for being out here with us and it is, I think, a great tribute to the people of western Queensland because you have taken the time to be out here today. Thank you.
PRIME MINSTER:
Thanks Bruce
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, a lot of the people here simply want to know whether your Government has their back not just merely through this drought but well beyond in terms of terms of trade for the business that they’re in.
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, the point I am trying to convey to people is that, yes, we do, because this country was founded on, as much as anything else, on agriculture. It used to be said that Australia rode on the sheep’s back. It is true that in more recent times our resources sector has carried us but the truth is in hundreds of years’ time we will have probably exhausted many of these minerals but we will still have our land, we’ll still have our farms. That is why farming is something that will be with us forever in a way that can’t be said of almost any other industry. The point I make is that it is always a tonic to be amongst country people and the first thing you know when you hear country people talk is that they’re not victims they are fighters. They are fighting for their communities, for their families, for their future and that is a good thing and a good government supports people who want to help themselves.
QUESTION:
If that’s the case why do you allow your Environment Minister to make decisions but be legally protected if those decisions go very bad and I am thinking specifically of coal mines in the Galilee Basin?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I am not quite sure what particular issues you are driving at here but what we have seen historically in this country is a happy coexistence of mining and agriculture and I would like to see that continue. Now, plainly there is some agricultural country which is so productive and so important that it should be protected against other uses. There is obviously a whole lot of water issues that need to be taken extremely seriously and then there are farmers rights that need to be taken extremely seriously. I don’t believe that it is good for anyone when you see mining companies just muscling in to people’s properties because they can. So, there are lots of important issues that need to be considered here but the broad point I make is that this country has long had a tradition of farming and mining coexisting and let’s try to ensure that that can continue.
QUESTION:
So why would you make governments unaccountable for the decisions they make? If you are not going to be legally liable for making a bad decision if it turns out to be bad – why would you do that?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, you are making a general point you are throwing, if you like, a general issue to me and I would rather deal with any specific problems that you’ve got. The general point I make in response is that mining and farming should be able to coexist in the future as they have in the past.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, how do you reconcile your position now on farming with the Opposition on manufacturing and I am thinking specifically of the car manufacturing industry. Doesn’t every Australian deserve to have access to assistance if they are potentially going to lose their job?
PRIME MINISTER:
There is a world of difference between a company coming to the Government saying prop up our business and the Government helping people to respond to a natural disaster. I mean, the one is a problematic market and businesses have to be able to cope with problematic markets, the other is a natural disaster and that is where the community has got to rally together to help.
QUESTION:
Mr Abbott, it’s one thing to be here but when will action come for [inaudible]?
PRIME MINISTER:
We are going to act within days rather than weeks. Now, that doesn’t mean tomorrow or the next day but very soon there will be a significant response by the Government.
QUESTION:
Prime Minister, drought has been going on for so long now. Why has it taken so long for you to come out on a tour like this?
PRIME MINISTER:
Well, I was in Longreach back in July of last year for the campdraft, the famous campdraft. I was here in this very Hall of Fame back in July and at that stage they had had one bad season but it was really only with the failure of the wet in large parts of Queensland so far as least that it became very, very intense. Now, Barnaby obviously has been conscious of the developing problems here for some time. We’ve only been a Government for five months and I have got to say you will get far more in drought policy out of us in six months than rural and regional Australia got out of the former Government in six years. We are a Government that in the marrow of our bones understands what it is like to live outside the metropolitan centres of our country.
AGRICULTURE MINISTER:
Can I just add one thing to that because it is very important and that is that one of the first packages that this Cabinet put through whilst in Government was a drought package where we moved tens of millions of dollars into the drought affected areas of New South Wales and Queensland by a readjustment of the farm finance scheme. What I will also say is that we found an extra $10 million for water articulation purposes, $7 million of which is in Queensland and is rolling out right now because we’ve signed it up. This Government actually on one of its first instances started with a drought package and so what you are seeing now is the second iteration of the drought package and that shows a Government that is very adroit on its feet in dealing with the issues of western Queensland.
PRIME MINISTER:
Thanks so much.
[ends]