E&OE.
Give us a shout out if you’re from WA!
Give us a shout out if you’re a farmer and you’re worried about your future!
Give us a shout out if you’ve got kids or grandkids who just want to follow a family tradition but can’t!
I want to give you a shout out today to say welcome to Parliament House.
I wanted to be here with the Prime Minister to give you a message, to say that we weren’t going to destroy your industry, but the Prime Minister can’t give you that guarantee.
But I’m here instead with David Littleproud and with all of my colleagues, with Matt Moran, with people who care and have come from WA, like Michaelia Cash, Rick Wilson and the amazing Melissa Price and all of my colleagues who are here on the stage today, because we have your backs and we’ve committed to this industry. We’ve committed to your sector. We want to make sure that there’s a bright future for you, for your kids and for your grandkids.
I want to thank you all very much. You’ve come here to Canberra at enormous expense. People have spent literally thousands of dollars and taken days away from earning money.
The truck drivers who are here have given an enormous amount, and they are sending a clear message, and the message to this Government is that we don’t want to destroy the live export industry.
We have an incredibly important international reputation, and across the world, Australia is respected.
People have looked to Australia and they’ve seen over a long period of time, a reliable partner, somebody who won’t squib once you shake a hand of somebody you intend to supply a product to. But for the first time in a long time, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in agriculture, it doesn’t matter whether you’re in mining, it doesn’t matter what sector you’re in at the moment, there are people around the world in these markets who are looking to the Albanese Government, and all they see is great uncertainty. They worry about what’s next.
Mines with proper approvals closed down, farms who have for generations worked hard, have built an asset, have been involved in a legal industry, are now being told that there is no future for you.
I think the Prime Minister should revisit his decision not to be here with us today, to come down and say to you that the Albanese Government has made a terrible mistake.
Now answer this question, Prime Minister; why would you say to the farmers of Western Australia that you have no future?
Why would they ignore your pleas?
And it’s not just farmers, it’s people who are involved in every aspect of the supply chain, people who are involved in providing feed, people who are contractors, people who are in small towns, people who benefit from the money that you spend in your local communities. They are all the ones that are going to be negatively impacted by this Government’s bad decision.
We want the whole of Australia to hear this message:
This is an important point – I know there’s a lot of focus in WA, there’s a lot of passion for all of us in the audience today and up here on stage, but I want every Australian to understand there is a human cost to this bad decision.
There are families who, at the moment, are crying over a kitchen table, wanting to understand what their future is.
There is no replacement for them.
The Minister, Murray Watt, who was up with us at Beef Week and didn’t have the decency to look farmers in the eye there to say that he’d already taken a decision.
The Government says, ‘well, you can just box meat and you can export that’.
That is not a reality. Let’s be very clear about it.
I’ve heard the Prime Minister say it, and I’ve heard both Ministers now say it – it is completely untrue.
What the Government’s doing here – and people in Sydney and people in Melbourne and Brisbane, people in Hobart, people right across the country need to hear the message that there is a human face to this bad decision.
The fact that you are here today, I want to say thank you very much for the passion, and I want every Australian to look into your eyes and know that they have a choice. They can support you or they can support Anthony Albanese.
I want them to be with you.
I want them to be with you, and I want the future to be as proud for you as it was a generation ago.
I want your kids to be there with you and to support you in the business and to be ultimately able to put you into retirement, but at a time of your choosing, not the Albanese Government’s choosing.
So what we’re talking about here is common sense.
Is there support for common sense in this audience?
The common sense we want is for West Australian farmers to be given a future.
We are here as Liberals and Nationals today to send a very clear message to you – that we support your today and we support your tomorrow and your future.
Thank you for making the effort to be here.
We, from the very first moment this announcement was made, committed that we would reverse this bad decision.
I recommit that to you today when we win the next election, and we can do that with your help.
Thank you very much and all the very best. Thank you, thank you.
[ends]