Russell Broadbent here, your Federal Member for Monash.
Labor governments of late seem to have a bone to pick with farmers. I’m not here for it, and neither are peak representatives from our Ag industry.
The National Farmers Federation have passed a ‘no confidence’ vote in the current Albanese Labor Government and they staged a walkout on the Minister for Agriculture during their post-budget breakfast.
You have to wonder - a Labor Government usually puts the working man first, well that’s what they are meant to do - isn’t that who our farmers are? Isn’t that who the people working for our farmers are? Workers?
Proposed policies by the Labor Government will have a disproportionately negative impact on farming and food production in Australia. These policies include the Biosecurity Protection Levy (which has now been shelved) – the proposed tax on larger super balances including unrealised gains - and simply the absence of funding for Regional Australia from the Federal Budget handed down in May.
Regional Australia is the food bowl of our nation, and frankly – could be the food bowl for nations abroad. In other countries, they subsidise farming operations to get them going – whereas in Australia, they are being taxed for farming. We are blessed with some of the most productive land and great weather here in Australia, but our farmers are still doing it tough under a Labor government.
Our food does not come from Woolies or Coles - it comes from farmers and the people that work with them. And it is in the nation’s best interest to support all of them.
It’s not until you’ve got dirt under your fingernails that you understand how much we owe to our farmers or how much is owed by so many to so few, as Winston Churchill said.
That’s Justice as I see it.
