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Monday, 21 November 2011
Page: 13130

Mr MITCHELL (McEwen) (19:17): That was just five minutes of rant with no evidence, no support, no facts and no knowledge. It was typical coalition carry-on. They sit on their hands and do nothing when it comes to supporting farmers and rural Australians. As always, there is the talk and the grandstanding. The member for Wannon carries on, but he could not produce one shred of evidence, because it is a political stunt. Not once in this debate have we heard them identify one single cut to the program. That is because there are none. This is where the failure of those opposite quite simply lies.

The government did announce an extension of the program. In fact, they put another $4.6 million in. I would love the member for Wannon to listen. I think he should apologise for what he just said. We extended this program to $14 million from the original $9.6 million. It was fully subscribed, which is why it stopped. He scurries out of here. He could not bring forward one piece of evidence. The government put a program in place and increased the amount of funding. It was fully subscribed and then it stopped. That is what happened.

Mr Tehan: So you led them down the garden path!

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order!

Mr MITCHELL: Respect the chair, you dill! Their lack of plan for support for these communities will hold regional Australia back. It is an absolute disgrace that people like that come in here over-refreshed and carry on. In our 2011 budget we announced the extension of the exceptional circumstances exit grants to $14 million, as I said, to ensure that eligible applications that were lodged prior to the program's closure could be processed and funded.

Mr McCormack: Mr Deputy Speaker, I rise on a point of order. I think he has made a bit of an imputation there by using the word 'over-refreshed'. I think that is unparliamentary. I ask him to withdraw it, please.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I do not see that as unparliamentary.

Mr McCormack: Or suggesting something that he is not.

Mr MITCHELL: The exceptional circumstances program offered time-limited one-off exit grants for farmers whose farm enterprise was, or is, located in an area covered by the exceptional circumstances declaration after 1 July 2010. This initiative provided an exit grant of up to $150,000, advice and a retraining grant of up to $10,000 to assist in planning for farm exit, and a relocation grant of up to $10,000 to pursue new employment opportunities. It was clearly stated that the program would be available until 30 June 2012 or—and this is the bit that those opposite deliberately ignored—until all the funding was taken up. It is not that hard: you have a pot of money and when you spend it there is nothing left; that is the end of the pot. They say, 'You shouldn't do this, but you're reckless in your spending and you throw money away.' So when we budget things, when we make the funds available, we are bad and if we continually put money in we are bad. It shows one thing: it shows that the only thing those opposite can do is say no; that is all they can do. Also, we made it clear that anyone who believed they were affected by the closure of the program could seek a review or make an appeal. And we are working closely with people to lodge act of grace claims. What that means is each claim will be considered on its merits.

After 11 years of neglect and unsuccessful programs under the coalition government, they are now trying to affect the future of Australia's farming sector. We are trialling two reform measures in Western Australia. Central to this is an exit grant system that moves farmers from a crisis management approach to risk management and increasing skills and training. As Mr Zappia pointed out earlier, we are actually about trying to keep farmers on the farm and keep them going, keep them working and doing what they do best. Those on the other side fail dismally on this part and it is further evidence that they know nothing about farming. (Time expired)