Leader of The Nationals and member for Maranoa David Littleproud has said the appointment of a new Agriculture Minister won’t change the Federal Labor Government’s litany of disastrous decisions that have impacted the agricultural sector in just two years.

Julie Collins has inherited the agriculture portfolio after Prime Minister Anthony Albanese reshuffled his cabinet and moved Senator Murray Watt to Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations.

“During the past two years, Labor’s agenda has increased taxes, cut funding, abolished industries, and failed to stand up for farmers, which is driving up the cost of living for Australian families at the supermarket checkout,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Julie Collins won’t change anything because agriculture is seen as a stepping stone into cabinet for Labor members and Minister Collins will toe the line.

“When Julie Collins was last Shadow Minister for Agriculture, she visited farmers outside Tasmania on two occasions over 18 months and could not detail one Labor policy in the election debate.

“Julie Collins has no interest in agriculture and has been punished for her poor performance in housing, so now not only farmers will pay but all Australians will pay through higher prices for their food and fiber from a government uninterested in agriculture.

“This Labor Government’s treatment of farmers has caused the industry to take an extraordinary vote of no-confidence in this government, Murray Watt and Anthony Albanese which hasn’t been seen for more than 40 years.

“Murray Watt and Anthony Albanese’s only lasting accomplishment was to unite ag industries in their disdain for the Albanese Government.

“From being slow and weak to take action on major supermarket gouging, to trying to push through a Fresh Food Tax and abolishing the live sheep export industry, this Labor Government has failed farmers time and again, and I call on the new Agriculture Minister to step up in Cabinet and start reversing the wrongs of the past two years.”

“Murray Watt has left a legacy of treating Australian farmers with contempt and ignoring their needs during his time as Agriculture Minister,” Mr Littleproud said.

“There won’t be too many farmers sad to see Murray Watt’s departure and if this Labor Government’s track record over the past two years is anything to go by, his successor won’t treat farmers much differently.”

This article appeared in the Allora Advertiser, 31 July 2024.