Putting the focus back on regional Australia can help get this country get back on track. The comparative success of the Nationals at the 2010 election remains a largely untold story. At some point we need to reevaluate the subsidies we give to renewable energy whose main effect is to increase the price of electricity for families and businesses. Our nation has apparently decided that it is immoral to go fishing in a tinny but apparently ok to strip fish somewhere else. Just because other countries do, there is no need to have the ability to quote our debt in trillions of dollars. A strong position does not necessarily mean, though it certainly involves, military capacity. At some point this country needs to reflect on its seemingly undying belief that windmills and solar panels are the future. The inquiry makes 21 recommendations of which the government accepts one. The Nationals have been the party to get dams back on the agenda. As a country we will continue to rely and require foreign investment but I am deeply concerned about the increasing control that foreign, state-owned companies are increasingly gaining over our strategic assets. Bridget gave her first speech to the Senate on Thursday and if her performance then is any guide she is set to be a superb performer for the Nationals in the Senate for a long time to come. When the Delphic oracles proclaimed that Australia feeding itself was apparently an inconvenience and it would be better to turn our nations food bowl of the Murray-Darling into a national park, it was the Nationals who said that environmentalism is becoming a foil for despotism and Australia losing the capacity to feed itself was probably not a wise thing to do. I also have ?full confidence? that the Federal Nationals can win government at the next opportunity and, in the words of the Prime Minister, successfully govern for a ?very long, long time?. It is evident in this room today that we are a people that relies on imports. We are not going to generate wealth by subsidising more expensive ways of doing things. We can not predict what future arguments our children might have with the companies that are investing in Australia. Barnaby Joyce Speech to Nationals Federal Council 28th August 2011 We live in the convergence of history. Their agreement with Bob Brown has cost them another $10 billion in off budget spending on renewable energy. It is very much a false illusion that a nation can stand alone as a nation of paper-folders and kitchen renovators. Nigel, Fiona and myself all achieved re-election and we welcome Bridget McKenzie from Victoria. We have to focus on the things we can control, not futile attempts at trying to change the world. Australia has a choice. This is an anti-productivity tax. Nigel has pushed to reopen opportunity for indigenous Australians by overturning the most restrictive and undemocratic aspects of Queensland?s wild rivers laws. Where did the debate come to turn this decision around? It was the Nationals party. Our policies are made in regional Australia, not in Sydney, not in Melbourne and not in Canberra. This revamp will provide targeted tax concessions to five rural areas. In contrast, the Nationals have succeeded over the last few years by putting the interests of regional Australia first, whether that is popular or not. The Nationals have been at the forefront of creating a Coalition taskgroup on foreign investment along with an inquiry in the Senate. I particularly want to thank the efforts of our Senate team. There is no prospect that this government can deliver a change of direction. Property rights must be respected and a fair pecuniary return must be given to the landowner. People like Fred Pascoe, Mayor of Carpentaria Shire and head of the Gulf Savannah Development Corporation. When the government has a problem with the Murray-Darling, Mr Windsor is rolled out to head an inquiry. Ladies and Gentlemen, the Nationals have put regional Australia and its interests back on the agenda over the past few years. But as the east rises it makes the wests problems all that more stark. Ladies and gentlemen, this is not only the most incompetent government in our history, it is our most negative and least- inspiring. In the north of our nation, they have delivered a plan to shut down the live cattle trade. Unlike other foreign investments, investments by state-owned companies must seek approval by the Foreign Investment Review Board no matter what their size. This program is all about attracting the people and the capital to make a regional Australia a more prosperous place. Our influence in all of these debates is why the Nationals remain relevant to regional Australia. Do you think the Australian people will reward governments that double their electricity bills? Of course we should look to become more energy efficient and do things with less. They have neither the authority nor the inclination to do so. Have a problem with a certain member north of Sydney, then Mr Oakeshott is rolled out to defend the government?s refusal for the Member for Dobell or the Prime Minister to explain themselves to Parliament. The government just increased our debt ceiling to a quarter of trillion dollars. Yes others were involved as well but it was the Nationals as a unified political force that worked to make sure we got this industry back up and running again. In accountancy you always knew a wheat grower had a problem when they had gone on a foray into aquaculture, deciding crawbobs and yabbies would be the future of the farm. For decades Queensland was the low-tax, development state thanks to his legacy. If we sit nine people at a table and that person there puts $100 in his pocket, and he walks across to that table and devises a series of transactions between each individual which moves that $100 around the table, then the GDP of that table will be $1000. It is the Nationals who are continuing to fight to maintain our ability to benefit from our huge fishing resources. I want to praise and recognise the performance of our Senators since the last election. Australia cannot afford to be sentimental. Our government decided to shut down a $300 million industry based on a TV program. Like regional Australia, I think our party has a bright future as long as we ceaselessly and fearlessly stand up for the interests of regional Australia. So often in the discussions about gross domestic product, that is GDP, people overstate the argument of proportion while losing focus on the location of the source. We must invest now and concentrate our efforts not in the benevolent thoughts that one can afford when you have money in the bank and a gentle economic breeze in your sails. We can?t keep making things more expensive, racking up more debt and putting up taxes, and still think that we can maintain the same wealth generation capacity that underpins our standard of living. We must understand Australias core business. Europe will deal with Europes problems, even though some of those problems might be insurmountable. All these products come in on a boat. What Australia must do is have a pragmatic and real assessment on how we can best reinvest in these areas to make ourselves stronger. The people of Hughendon and Richmond have access to about 2000 gigalitres of which only about 5 per cent is currently used. I believe our foreign investment review guidelines can be strengthened and the processes that the Coalition has established can suggest practical ways of achieving this. They are now the Labor party?s most loyal lieutenants. So, under this scheme, a superannuation fund would pay only 5 per cent, rather than 15 per cent tax on investments they make in nation-building infrastructure. The Greens? cause always follows this path: find the high-colour issue, beatify the cause, then never be satisfied as they ride the horse called Insatiable Nihilism to the town of Shut Down. That is not the fault of the locals, many of whom want to encourage economic development and build the infrastructure to do so. They have delivered, they?ve delivered in spades. Thanks to Labor, Queensland is now the State with the lowest economic credentials, where bats seem to have more rights than people, where farmers have had their rural soul sold by a Labor government, where fishing has become an immoral past-time, where the economic future for aboriginal people has been taken away so they can live on a ?wild river?, where the major industry of the north, the live cattle trade, can be shut down over night because apparently the nation is run by Four Corners, not a government. They have voted with the government in this parliament around 75 per cent of the time. It is the future of our party and it is the future of our country. Could we do the same to a foreign leader of a country armed with nuclear weapons? Obviously, even the existing law recognises that there is an issue with state-owned companies investing in Australia. Communal assets such as aquifers must be maintained. When they struck their deal with Julia Gillard the Prime Minister said she would ?deliver? for regional Australia. Just this Friday your nation?s gross debt topped $200 billion. It is great to have Nationals in government in New South Wales and Victoria and hopefully the Queensland element of our party will join them in government soon. When one wise sage came up with the brilliant idea to re-engineer our economy on a colourless, odourless gas, who was the sole, original voice that stood against this insanity? The Nationals party. They have continued the strong resurgence of the Nationals. The Nationals vision for the future is a basic but effective one. In the middle of our nation, they have a delivered a plan to shut down the food bowl of our nation. We can?t keep going on like this. These flows meander down through vast tracts of deep, self-mulching loams with immense food producing capacity. A plan that we know from our record delivers results. We must be professionally decisive about how we position ourselves. A wheat farmer is well advised to concentrate on how to better market and grow a wheat crop. If we emulate Labors ideas we will duplicate their results. There is immense opportunity in this nation to develop its disparate corners through greater investment in water security. Our nation demands absolute and utter pragmatism. Because it lacks authority, this government is focused on what the parliament can do for the Labor party, not what the parliament can do for the people. This was a policy that was put to the independents last year and a policy that they rejected in deciding to support a Labor government. This policy aims to leverage government funding by providing a 10 cents in the dollar tax deduction for investments in nation-building infrastructure. Why? Because he borrowed to invest in dams, electrify the rail lines, open international airports and develop the Gold Coast. The continuing importance of our party is reflected in the remarkable success we have had over the past year. Bossie continues to harry the Greens on everything from fishing to the Greens? intimidation and boycotts of perfectly legal businesses. The dams taskforce we have set up visited north Australia earlier this year. That is why the Nationals have been at the policy forefront over the past year to design positive programs to provide a future for regional Australia. We have not built a major dam in this country for over 20 years. The fact is that wind is double and solar 4 times more expensive than coal and gas fired power. We have the opportunity that we have always been denied, wealthy markets proximate to our ports. We have been doing that for centuries without a carbon tax. There is a third choice: no jobs. What we have domestically is a government prone to panic and tax. We can have cheap power and high wages or we can have dear power and low wages. The government says we have a problem with productivity but we are imposing a $9 billion broad-based tax to make the costs of doing business even higher. The independents have proven that they will put their own interests above those of their electorate. Likewise as an accountant, make sure you concentrate on clients not on peripheral distractions. People criticise the federal Coalition for being too negative but one of the most positive things we could do for this country is to stop this insane tax and stop this government?s record spending and waste. Looks nice but catches nothing. It is not parochialism, it is just plain common sense, that you invest in the parts of your business that makes you the money. At the moment, however, these review processes seem to work as effectively as the Venus de Milo would as wicketkeeper for Australia. The American people will insist that the US gets its own house in order which means that external events will become secondary issues. The reality is there is no such thing as green jobs, there are high paying jobs and low paying jobs. It is so essential for our nation that the Nationals continue to represent, protect and progress the interests of regional Australia. Georgetown sees at least 4000 gigalitres go down the Gilbert River every year. About the only thing they haven?t delivered is an election, and that suits Tony Windsor and Rob Oakesott just fine. This government is following a nihilistic, Greens agenda that wants to shut everything down. The fact is the Labor party are not thinking hard enough about the person working in the timber mill in Smithton, the person working on the cattle property near Tenant Creek, the person teetering on the edge of a new Murray-Darling Basin plan in Deniliquin or the person working in the steelworks in the Illawarra as they all shake their heads at the policies coming out of Canberra. Corporations may be strong but even they cannot defy governments. Fiona has led the charge to restore Youth Allowance and succeeded in giving the government its first defeat in this hung Parliament. I was astounded to wake up one morning to realise that our nation was being run by Four Corners. The fact is there is only one party in the Parliament that represents regional Australia. For this system to work property rights must be respected but these rights have not been receiving the same respect lately. Mining should not be located close to residential areas. And to shut down whatever is left they have delivered a carbon tax. The Labor party has got into this trap because they thought they could do a deal with the Greens. We didn?t invent the wheel by taxing walking and we didnt invent the car by taxing horses. It was the Nationals party that developed the Infrastructure Partnerships Scheme. But anyone who has ever dealt with the Greens knows there is no such thing as green peace. That persons name is regional Australia. In our region, great opportunity beckons with the rise of China and India. Much of the electorate out there does not enjoy the benefit of secure employment. The whole rationale of why people work is that the fruits of their labour are then reflected in real estate, in real assets. We have to have a virtual policy epiphany. Water security means food security. However, if that person had not turned up with $100 then GDP of that table would be zero. If Australia keeps mounting up debt, shutting down industries and concocting insane taxes for no effect, then we are in for an almighty fall. Now after two decades of almost unbroken Labor rule, Queensland finds itself as the most poorly performing state in the nation, with the highest unemployment rate. What has changed is the management. At the moment there are no large storages to harness this water and use it to produce more food. Even Rupert Murdoch can be hauled before Parliament. A more detailed response should properly wait for the findings of that inquiry but I think some things are pretty clear. What will the world look like with a Chinese superpower in our back yard? We cannot stop events of this magnitude beyond our borders so how do we prepare for it? To navigate such a precarious sea our nations leadership, in all fields, requires the greatest capacity of selfless aptitude, competence and perseverance. A clinical and unsentimental assessment of what your nation is best at is what is needed. This government is more focused on the 6 votes of the crossbenches than the 13 million votes in the electorate. It is our only defence. The Productivity Commission recently put these subsidies at over $600 million per year and that is set to increase as the renewable energy target grows. I would like to reflect on one of my mentors, Sir Joh Bjelke- Peterson. Following these tactics the Labor party has deserted their natural constituency. Nationals candidates won 38.6 per cent of the primary vote in the seats they ran in, a higher vote than the Labor party although a higher vote than the Labor party is not exactly benchmark of strength at the moment. The source of a nation?s strength is fundamentally its economic capacity. Stop increasing the taxes that hold us back, invest in our regions to increase economic opportunity and start paying back the debt so that we are stronger and more resilient. Under this scheme, individuals in eligible areas would pay no tax up to $55,000, and a family with one child would pay no tax below $75,000. The television you watch, the car your drive, the fuel that is in it, the DVDs you rent, the clothes you wear. I also want to pay tribute to the efforts of our State parties. A recent OECD report has concluded that Australia has a more liberal approach to foreign investment in agriculture than in other countries. Australia is at a crossroads of world political and economic affairs. So what has changed in Queensland? The resources of Queensland are the same, the people are largely the same and the prices for its exports, like coal, have skyrocketed. The reality is now clear that the independents are independent in name only. He sees that the only way for his fellow indigenous people to get ahead is to have access to the jobs and opportunities that other Australians take for granted. Prime agricultural land should not be destroyed. Somebody, somewhere has to be putting something on a boat to go in the other direction to pay for them. In 1980 we could store in dams about 4.5 megalitres per person. So far this Labor government has been in power for 1372 days and have borrowed an average of over $100 million each of those days. The government makes promises that it will deliver a surplus but in the last budget it made $18 billion of additional spending commitments, followed by a carbon tax which will actually cost the budget $4.3 billion. Where are our iron ore mines, our coal mines, our wheat farms, our cotton fields, our cattle industry and many of our tourism attractions? They are in regional Australia. Now the figure is just over 3.5 megalitres. It was the Nationals party that has pushed for a revamp of the zone taxation scheme. This year it has been the Nationals that have stressed that we need to keep control of our strategic assets in this country. Wacka pushed for the Senate inquiry into the insolvency industry which uncovered many questionable practices and called for the licensing of liquidators. What is the point of generations of my family paying off a property when overnight I can find out that someone has a superior right to the ownership of my place than I do? So who has been standing up to make sure that coal seam gas is developed in a way which respects these rights? The Nationals have moved this debate from the middle pages to the front pages partly through an inquiry that we pushed for in the Senate. The whole point of the tax is to make some industries uncompetitive so they we produce less and use less energy. As a miner said to me in Biloela, ?why is the government introducing a carbon tax to give me a green job, I like the job I have got.? And where are these green jobs? I am yet to meet one. I wish people would speak to Fred before they start making decisions that we should not have any more dams. The Federal Nationals achieved a primary vote swing of 4.4 per cent, bigger than the swing to the Greens of 3.97 per cent. I want to discuss why the Nationals party is so essential because it delivers pragmatic action in these areas. Yes he did borrow money at the start but when he left the Treasury was overflowing with cash. In the south of our nation, they have delivered a plan to shut down the forestry industry in Tasmania. Ninety per cent of that GDP is attributable to the nine people who were sitting there at the start. By 2050, if we don?t build any more dams, it will be below 2.5 megalitres per person.
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