SUCCESSIVE budgets have been a disaster for farmers, says JOHN COBB
Federal Agriculture Minister Tony Burke has shown no interest in standing up for his agriculture constituents against a rampant Federal Government.
Regional Australia, and agriculture in particular, has borne the brunt of the Government's economic schizophrenia.
In its first year, the Government told Australians the "inflation genie" had been let out of the bottle and cuts to spending had to be made.
Agriculture bore the brunt of those cuts.
In the first budget, existing agriculture programs worth $334 million were cut by more than a third.
Gone were programs such as FarmBis, the $54 million National Food Innovation Strategy.
Agriculture research was also hammered with a $63 million cut in the CSIRO's budget, which resulted in the closure of three agriculture research institutes.
The second budget was even worse. A third of the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry budget was cut, resulting in 312 job losses.
Also cut was $35.877 million of the quarantine and bio-security program.
This resulted in 125 jobs losses.
The budget papers reveal the abolition of all drought programs post 2010 and the axing of the 60-strong graduate program within the agriculture department.
The $42 billion stimulus cash splash and the massive debt the Government is running up are leading to higher interest rates which could not come at a worse time for family agriculture.
Mr Burke has also failed to stop the ideological war being fought by the Water Minister Penny Wong against agriculture in the Murray Darling Basin.
Not one dollar has been spent on water infrastructure either in the delivery system or on farm, yet billions of dollars have been bought forward to fund more water buy-backs.
Tony Burke does not understand the vital role that agriculture plays in the social and economic fabric of the nation.
Nowhere is this more obvious than the debate surrounding agriculture's role in global warming and the Government's emissions trading scheme.
I do not believe that excluding agriculture from the emissions trading scheme has been a big win for agriculture.
It could not be have been included for myriad reasons.
Even though agriculture will not have to purchase permits, it still will be the most impacted of any industry.
Perhaps the most telling point of the Government's first two years in office is its desire to frighten Australians into believing that climate change will destroy our way of life unless we pass its Carbon Pollution Reduction Scheme.
Other than a new carbon tax on farmers, the Government has not increased research spending into practical, productive areas that will give farmers the tools to cope with climate variability.
All productive agricultural research has received is a funding cut, which makes you wonder just how serious the Government is about ensuring the nation's food security.
