HUME MP Angus Taylor will not say whether he supports Barnaby Joyce’s comments drawing a link between Labor’s end to live cattle exports and an upsurge in boat arrivals from Indonesia.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
As the fallout continued yesterday from the Deputy Prime Minister’s remarks at the Regional Leaders Forum in Goulburn on Wednesday night, Mr Taylor would not draw the same link.
Asked three times whether he agreed, Mr Taylor would only say that Mr Joyce’s main point was the decision three years ago “did untold” damage to the relationship with Indonesia.
“My view on live exports has been consistent and what Labor did was a disaster for the cattle industry in this country,” he told the Post.
“It severely harmed our relationship with Indonesia and it should never be repeated. We saw farmers suffer for three years after that debacle at a time when international prices were higher than any time in recent history.
“There is no doubt it damaged the relationship... The good news is we have stopped the boats coming.”
Most of the 100-strong crowd at the ABC forum at Goulburn High School howled down Mr Joyce after he drew the link.
“Might I remind you that when we closed down the live animal export industry, it was around about the same time that we started seeing a lot of people arriving in boats in Australia,” he had said.
Pressed by host Chris Uhlmann on whether he really thought Indonesia had “unleashed the boats” in response, Mr Joyce replied:
“I think it’s absolutely the case that we created extreme bad will with Indonesia when we closed down the live animal export industry.”
The exchange was among several lively ones at the one-hour forum.
Mr Joyce, Shadow Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Joel Fitzgibbon and Greens leader Richard Di Natale faced the people.
Pre-submitted questions ranged from the current milk industry plight to foreign ownership of Australian agriculture, telecommunications, renewable energy, climate change and closing the gap for regional Australia.
Mayor Geoff Kettle was disappointed his question wasn’t accepted. He wanted to ask about the parties’ incentive plans to attract industry and business to this region from outer Sydney.
Others had more luck. Goulburn district resident Tony Walsh put the hard question.
“Why is that telecommunication companies charge $100 for a terabyte of data in capital cities and regional cities like Gellong and Tamworth, but for small towns like Collector, Gunning and Dalton they charge nearly $10,000 for a terabyte?” he asked.
Mr Fitzgibbon stood by Labor’s original NBN proposal which he said delivered wholesale equal access to everyone, whether they lived in regional Australia or not.
“Barnaby Joyce wants to get rid of that so that people in the regions pay more,” he said.
It sparked a feisty exchange between the two, which Mr Uhlmann tried several times to control.
Mr Joyce said under the Coalition, people would pay the same whether it was satellite, wireless or fibre to the node. He talked up the number of mobile phone towers the government had built.
Mr Di Natale accused the government of being “stuck in last century” and not realising that investing in key infrastructure like telecommunications was “key to unlocking the regions’ potential.”
But asked by Mr Uhlmann whether it had answered his question, Mr Walsh replied he had asked about Internet, not mobile phones.
“I wanted to know when I’ll get a terabyte of data, but according to your plans, it will be never,” he said.
Goulburn High School student Natasha Dawson asked how the parties would reduce housing and travel costs for rural students attending university.
Ms Dawson, a Year 11 student, hopes to study law.
Mr Di Natale said The Greens had voted against both major parties’ winding back of rural scholarships.
He also denounced negative gearing as a means of “locking young people out of the housing market.”
Mr Uhlmann gave all the speakers food for thought.
“If you go to university from this town you are 43 per cent less likely to return with a degree,” he said.
Mr Joyce acknowledged there was work to do in equalising access, while Mr Fitzgibbon stressed the need to strengthen regional universities.
The forum fielded questions from around Australia, but another local, Mark McColl got a guernsey.
“How do you close the gap in regional areas so that people in regional areas can get educated, good housing and services without having to move away?” he asked.
Mr Joyce said the secret was infrastructure, such as the inland rail project from Melbourne to Brisbane, decentralisation, underpinning and understanding commodity prices and “not going on butterfly chasing exercises.”
Mr Fitzgibbon said regions needed to strengthened to take control of their own destinies, hence Labor’s Regional Development Australia initiative.
But for Mr Di Natale, it was also about investing in TAFE, infrastructure and the NBN.
“You have to do all these things and use a bit of creativity and imagination which is just lacking in politics today,” he said.
Two other locals, Anna McCormack and Bradley Albrighton also asked questions on coal seam fracking and “why should I vote for you?” respectively.
Mr Uhlmann described the forum as “willing,” in fact a “little too willing on occasions.” “But the idea was to engage and not to make it too sterile,” he said.
“I just hope people found it informative. The audience here was great and there was a big audience around Australia.”
Mr Uhlmann said he was “interested to see the fallout in next couple days.”
The forum can be streamed online via ABC iView.