Agmates Editor Steve Truman writes:
If Prime Minister Kevin Rudd (pictured left) listens to the overwhelming majority of Australian Wheat farmers and scraps the controversial legislation to deregulate bulk wheat export he will succeed in alienating a generation of Australian farmers from the Liberal party.
Independent federal MP Tony Windsor’s poll of 24,000 wheat growers across Australia showed that whopping 80% want the single desk system retained. The poll showed only 14% of wheat growers supported the Labor Governments proposed controversial legislation to deregulate bulk wheat export marketing. Just 6% wanted to see the legislation go further.
The leadership of the National Party, Warren Truss (pictured left) & Nigel Scullion are to be congratulated for taking a stand on behalf of it’s constituents against the rampant Free Trade policies of its coalition partner the Liberal party.
Labor has said that it wants the new legislation through by June 30th. The coalition parties in opposition still control the Senate until June 30th.
The Nationals have stated they will stand up for Wheat farmers and oppose the Governments bill. The Liberal’s have stated they will defy the wish of the majority of wheat growers and support labor in the passing of the bill.
This is the first time in living memory that the Coalition will split on the floor of Parliament over an issue.
Liberal MP’s who enthusiastically support the labor Governments legislation have waged a “dirty tricks” campaign throughout the inquiry:
Western Australian Liberal Senator Judith Adams (pictured left) a wheat grower from Western Australia told the inquiry:
“I might add that Western Australian Wheat Growers now support the removal of the Single Desk…….. the majority (of WA Wheat farmers) feel they have had enough and want to get rid of it.”
The poll in fact showed 71% in that state backed the single desk, while only 22% among WA farmers wanted to see the System scraped. An independent poll of wheat growers by the Western Australian Farmers Federation had also show that 7o% of it members backed the single desk.
Liberal MP and Federal Member for O’Connor Wilson Tuckey (pictured left) is another Liberal enthusiastically supporting the legislation. Mr Tuckey carries some weight with the inquiry as his electorate covers one of the largest wheat growing districts in Australia.
Mr Tuckey actually supported the position that just 6% of growers polled. In his submission to the Senate inquiry he said not only should the Single Desk be scrapped but individual farmers should be free to export wheat in bulk directly to foreign markets under the new wheat export arrangements.
NSW Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan (pictured left) who sat on the inquiry stooped to the lowest levels. When the inquiry sat in Canberra he was booed and heckled by a group of 50 wheat farmers when he told Nationals Senator Barnaby Joyce that he was talking “Bullshit”.
Later outside the inquiry Senator Joyce told Mr Heffernan to “Stop making a Goose out of himself” as he tried to disrupt a press conference that was happening with the Senator Joyce and the group of farmers.
In NSW, the state that Senator Heffernan represents the single desk was backed by 87% of farmers.
Independent Federal MP Tony Windsor (pictured left) is calling on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to listen to the majority of Wheat farmers and scrap the proposed legislation.
“The single desk had “a higher approval rating than Kevin Rudd at 70% so it’s very hard to justify its scrapping”, he said.
National Party Senators Barnaby Joyce & Fiona Nash and NSW Nationals State MP have championed the case for retaining the single desk throughtout the inquiry.
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Have your Say!
The Liberal Party hasn’t learnt a thing from it’s thumping at the last Federal election. They are still not listening to working farming families. What do you think?
Leave your comment below or click on the blue word comments.
Tags: Wheat
Well it will take some fancy maneuvers to deter the free marketers from doing us in, had the Nationals been a little more determined in government then we would certainly not be facing the current position. The Libs have always been the Libs and Labor is more rationalist and extreme every time it is returned to power.
Can I suggest a DisHonor board, those ministers who have destroyed our nations industries, we could start with John Kerin…Labor, for doing the wool industry in.
Do we have any further nominations?
Rowell Walton
What a good idea Rowell,
So we’d start with Nominations - Each nomination has to have reason why they are nominated. Then at the end we could vote and come up with a ranking. 1-10 of minister who have destroyed rural industries.A board of shame.
So you are nominating Labor Minister John Kerin …… for doing away with the Wool Floor Price Scheme.
I won’t have any input - because I can’t report it and participate. Now like all properly run elections we’ll need a seconder for your nomination for john to be in the running.
So Lets throw this open as you suggest. Do we have a seconder and any further nominations?
Mind you if we do this it won’t achieve much, but it will be a bit of fun. A bit of name and shame.
What a good idea, a lot of people in the higher positions of our farm organisations have become puppets for the government of the day.
I would like to nominate Warren Truss for overseeing the deregulation of the dairy industry.
Look at the mess this has created with three states now not able to produce enough milk for its own needs.
G’day John,
So Now we have 3 nominations:
Labors John Kerin…….. For Buggering the Wool Industry……Nominated By Rowell
Seconder: - No one as yet.
SFO - Pastoralist & Graziers WA……. For helping to Stuff every industry they represent……. Nominated by Greg
Seconder: - No one as yet.
Nationals Leader Warren Truss ………. Deregulating the Dairy industry…….Nominated by John
Sconder: - No one as yet.
You need to have others second the nomination before they can be eligible for the vote. (Rule 1. If you nominate someone, you can’t act as a seconder for any nomination.)
So do we have a seconder for any of the above nominations? (Rule 2 - A person Can only nominate or second once.)
Do we have any other nominations?
G’day Greg,
Well here I am, Its 2.34pm EST….. this is continuing on from your comment, but it’s up here in the same area as the discussion started.
All you have to remember is - If you want to reply directly to what someone has said, click on the “Reply to this comment” directly under and too the right of their comment. Your comment will appear directly below their comment.
If you want to start a whole new discussion my making a statement of your own on the published article, just go to the reply box at the bottom of the page and leave your comment. It will appear at the end of the comments list as a new comment, which other people can reply to you at.
Hope that helps everybody.
If nothing else it will be useful to see if those who have been hurt by particular policy changes still retain their hurt, or whether they simply get on with life and the political pain is short lived.
It is one thing to make a lot of noise prior to changes but if people just forget who did it and no longer retain the memory, then the political risk is minimal. A bit of noise and then they are gone.
Of course Burke is said to consider still that those who responded to the Windsor poll are a minority, and they may well be, but as far back as the first meetings to see if there was support for domestic deregulation large gatherings of thousands only ever found a small minority supporting the deregulation, and guess what, no matter if they went along and expressed their view or not we were deregulated. I believe it has been the same through most industries and this of course has produced an apathy born of experience…they deregulate; no matter if you tell them you don’t want to or not.
In Labors case of course no political support is available in the bush so no political damage either.
Rowell,
I think that you are a little unfair on the Nationals-without them John Howard would have deregulated-Howard was forced to allow growers to set up a single desk through the WEMA process.
I believe that the Liberals are well and truly at risk of completely alienating themselves.This legislation is completely indefensible and in time The Parliament will be forced to admit that it is-in other words the politicians will be called to account.
I would just like to add that attending the last Wheat Export Bill in Canberra on 22nd April was a sobering experience.The Liberal and Labor senators were indistinguishable-they all sniped at us and showed an alarming lack of knowledge on the Wheat Industry.Bill Heffernan was deservedly humiliated at the Press conference that he attempted to gate crash.
One of the positives of the day was that we received fantastic press coverage and I thought that the journalists were beginning to ask the right questions because their level of understanding had increased.
WE growers must not give up on this-the stakes are far too high and the battle is far from over.
Rowell
A dishonour board .I like it.
It will have to be sizable as there are many other than ministers who will end up on it.
The PGA for instance will be a starter as every industry that they represent is stuffed.
G’day Greg,
Mate, just a suggestion. If you had clicked on the “Reply to this comment” under what Rowell said, this comment would have automatically appeared under his comment.
I’ll show you what I mean - it just makes it all so much easier to follow. Go back up to Rowells comment and I’ll continue there……… it’s 2.32pm EST