Labor’s cynical agriculture pledge too little, too late

Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor can’t be trusted on its hollow promise to deliver a food security plan, after treating the sector with contempt, with new taxes, soaring energy prices, and a crippling Industrial Relations (IR) and workforce agenda.

Mr Littleproud said Labor had ignored calls from industries across the supply chain for almost three years for a security and resilience plan, to get food from paddock to plate.

“Australian farmers have struggled through Labor’s cost-of-living crisis,” Mr Littleproud said.

“The cost of food production has skyrocketed, with gas up by 34.2 per cent and electricity up 32.3 per cent, leading to food price increases of 13 per cent.

“The solution to short-term energy price pressures is increasing the supply of gas. Australia needs to drill its way out of this cost-of-living crisis.”

Mr Littleproud said it has taken Labor until the dying days of its government to promise a National Food Council and a National Food Plan.

“These were key recommendations in the Agriculture Standing Committee’s ‘Feeding the Nation and beyond’ report from November, 2023 – almost 18 months ago. The industry-led Food Alliance has also called on Labor for this action since 2022.”

Mr Littleproud added while the Coalition supported an end-to-end supply chain food security plan, Labor’s announcement was piecemeal and neglected key factors that impacted food production and the supply chain, which was driving up the cost of food.

“Labor has created issues all along the supply chain. Farmers cannot get the workers they need, while Labor’s cuts to regional Australia have also driven up the cost of food.

“In just three years, Labor has shut down the live sheep trade, scrapped the Agriculture Visa, announced new taxes on farmers and their superannuation, cut roads funding, messed with the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) worker scheme and implemented crippling IR reforms. Labor’s promise today is desperate and cannot be taken seriously because they have turned their back on regional Australia and the agriculture sector.”

The Nationals as part of a future Coalition Government will fix 10 bad Labor policies:

• Create a mix of energy, rather than Labor’s all-renewables approach, which is destroying agricultural land and driving up the cost of food.
• Reverse Labor’s cuts to regional infrastructure.
• Stop Labor’s truckie tax and vehicle efficiency standard.
• Bring back the Agriculture Visa and fix Labor’s PALM scheme mess.• Stop Labor’s changes to the Murray-Darling Basin.
• Introduce an import container levy, so our own farmers don’t pay for the biosecurity risk created by international competitors.
• Scrap harmful emissions profiles, or Scope 3.
• Stop Labor’s proposed taxes on superannuation, which will impact family farms.
• Ensure the 88-day backpacker work visa remains in place for the agriculture sector.
• Reinstate the live sheep export trade