JULIA Gillard’s appointment to Prime Minister (PM) last week did little to dispel concerns from bush voters about her Party’s policies on climate change, water and the environment and was certainly not going to change anyone’s vote.
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Producers at the Victorian Farmers Federation (VFF) annual conference expressed worry about background players – particularly factional parties and the Union – and whether there would be a “certain amount of remuneration” for their support, according to Leonard Vallance, Nandaly.
“Are we moving into an era of transparent policy-making or will we see power brokers in the Labor Party doing background deals for their own interest?
A member of Kevin Rudd’s ‘kitchen cabinet’, many producers felt PM Gillard had been a big part of the controversial policy decisions of the Rudd Government. and as such, said little would change.
“I don’t believe things will change dramatically within Labor because of the factional parties,” St Arnaud mixed farmer Barry Batters said.
“I’m fairly negative as far as thinking this will be a good thing for the bush.”
VFF President Andrew Broad said there would be “interesting times ahead” and that he had been impressed with work completed by Labor’s Minister for Agriculture, Tony Burke.
“I think he’s been a very good agriculture minister for a guy that comes out of a Sydney electorate,” Mr Broad said.
“In his time he’s done that very effectively, been engaging and listened.”
He said the same challenges remained and the VFF would like to see a significant shift in the policy direction of the Government.
“The challenges on most people’s mind will be water; we have one department upgrading, another buying back.
“Irrigation water is being taken out of rural communities that will see them decimated.”
“People using water to produce feed are some of the most efficient producers and effective users of water we’ve got and I don’t think the Government has a good comprehension of this.
“The Federal Labor party needs to make a significant policy shift to regain rural confidence.
“They have an opportunity now to prove their worth to the Australian community, but if they continue down the same path with plans to introduce a tax scheme on emissions … as well as the Resource Super Profits tax, I think the electorate will hold them to account.”
