By Aaron Cordy
THE men and women who work the land of this vast country are as diverse as the country itself in what they grow, produce, raise, and farm. What our farmers have in common is hard work and feeling like they are being stiffed by the Federal Government that spends more time listening to anti-farming activists when it comes to what’s best for the industry.
On Tuesday, September 10, a convoy of 40 trucks and farm vehicles numbered more than 2,000 farmers and supporters, led by the National Farmer Federation, perched on the lawns in front of Parliament House in Canberra to send a powerful message to the people who determine the policies that impact farmers’ livelihoods.
The industry concerns raised include:
- The activist-led ban on live sheep exports by sea
- Refusal to settle the live cattle class action
- Calls to scrap the Diesel Fuel Rebate and proposed new taxes for biosecurity and superannuation
- Calls to scrap the 88 days of specified work for backpackers
- Water buybacks in the Murray Darling Basin and protecting the Great Artesian Basin
- Unnecessary red tape from Scope 3 emissions reporting
- The community impacts of energy and renewables developments.
A strong local contingent was at the rally in Canberra, including Federal Member for Nicholls, Sam Birrell.
“What I’ve found with a lot of farmers is issues around the endless bureaucracy that they have to deal with. Farmers are telling me they have to pay a compliance fee for almost everything,” said Mr Birrell.
“It might not seem like a lot on its own, but by the time each one is added up, it’s like death by a thousand cuts. If they’re not getting great prices, some of them are, some of them aren’t, the impute to run a business keeps going up, up, up and up, and the Government doesn’t seem to have any sympathy for that.
“Most farms are small businesses. This government seems to design industrial relations where the only people who can understand it, and the only businesses who can do it, read through 700 pages of law, are really big corporations. And they don’t seem to care about the family farm, where one of the family members does all this work. It is just getting harder and harder to do.”
Locally there have been farmers selling up and looking to sell due to the current economic crisis, which has not been made easier by the government.
“That’s what the risk is. It is not daily news that people just give, or people say, I was thinking about expanding my business but the government has just made it too hard I’m not going to bother. I think that’s happening more than we realise,” said Mr Birrell.
“I do make the point that there are ways to protest your message, and these farmers were very respectful of our community and what they are going through.”
