Mr JOYCE (New England—Minister for Agriculture and Deputy Leader of The Nationals) (15:30): I would like to agree with some of that speech. Regional Australia is the heart of Australia, I agree with you. Hear, hear! Well done! And I agree that the GDP of this nation would disappear were it not for the contribution of regional Australia from dairy, from wheat, from grains, from sugar, from beef and from mining, which the Labor Party does not support, bringing in the mining tax and the carbon tax. But there are other parts of that speech that are just factually incorrect. At this point we have approved over 1,179 applications for the interim farm family payment, which is direct assistance, so when they say that not a dollar has gone out that is factually incorrect. On the second issue, we have had two iterations of the drought package. The first was the realignment of the farm finance package, which went through, with $10 million also for water. The second iteration includes $280 million of concessional loans at four per cent, which is great, and we have now got the agreement signed off. I said that would be done by June and it will be done in June. So the money is going out. In fact, we have got $420 million going out at 4½ per cent, we have over 1,100 payments of the interim farm family payment and we have approved $20 million to go towards water infrastructure. While I was here in the chamber I have already got a thankyou from a former member, Sandy Macdonald, who has managed to get access to some of that money— Mr Fitzgibbon: Good bloke! Mr JOYCE: Yes—to assist in basically doing one of his watering points. So the money is going out. But when they say, 'You don't have a vision for regional Australia,' well, what's $300 million on the inland rail? What is that—a block of flats? That is real vision because that creates a corridor of commerce from south-east Queensland through to Melbourne, a corridor of commerce that actually advances the interests of people, especially in the seat of Parkes— Mr Coulton: Yes. Mr JOYCE: and right down through Shepparton. This is real vision. Do you know how much the Labor Party had put towards that for the next 10 years? $30 million. What were they going to do with that? That is the sort of vision you get! So we have 10 times vision that they had. What vision do you call $6.7 billion on the Bruce Highway? What do you call that? A lady in a nightie? That is real vision. What do we call it when we managed to actually turn around the live cattle trade, when we have record numbers going through Townsville? I call that real vision and real direction. What do we call it when we open up the trade to Egypt? I call that real vision. What do we call it when we open up the trade to Bahrain in live cattle? I call that real vision. What do we call it when we get the protocols through so we can open up the trade into Iran? I call that real vision. What do we call it when we have record numbers moving out, in live sheep and live cattle? I call that real vision. What do we call it when we are getting record increases in the movement of chilled and frozen beef into China? I call that real vision. I call it happening in agriculture, and it is happening under our watch. What do you call it when in January they suspected that we may have a $100 million deficit, and we got a $1.4 billion surplus, so we got a $1½ billion turnaround, and it was predominantly driven by agriculture and it happened under our government? I call that real vision. This is how we actually start getting the money coming back in. This is how we get the money coming back in, and it is under us that it is happening. What do you call it when a government brought in tree-clearing laws? Who did they come in under? Labor Party. That is the sort of vision you get with the Labor Party: new caveats on closing you down. They came in with tree-clearing laws and when they were not doing that they decided to change the temperature of the globe, single-handedly. The carbon tax. I remember that. I don't know how it is going. We have got a carbon tax. It has been awfully warm lately, so I don't know whether it is working. We are certainly paying for it. And we have still got it, even though we won an election on it. What vision have you got for regional Australia on that? I will tell you what it is. Your vision is that when a person gets up in the morning and turns on the electric radio they pay the carbon tax because you believe you can change the temperature of the globe. When they decide to go out and knock in a steel post, the steel post is made out of steel, so that has a carbon tax on it. When they want to roll out some barb to keep the cattle in, that is made out of wire that is made out of steel, so that has the carbon tax on it. When they move diesel onto the place, that comes in under the carbon tax. You are putting the carbon tax on it everything. This is the vision of the Labor Party: basically, taxing every mechanism of production. You are trying to say that is a vision. Well, I tell you what, it was so visionary they kicked you out of government—that is how visionary it was. What we are trying to do is basically remove the impost so we can get the economy going. We are doing this in a position where you left us with this absolutely incredible debt. To think that when we handed government over to you we were actually lending money to the world. We were rich. We had money. But by the time you handed government back to us we were going out the back door. We were going broke. That is the predicament you have landed this whole nation in. Now we have this ridiculous scenario where at this point in time we are paying a thousand million dollars a month in interest, 70 per cent of it going overseas. That is a thousand million dollars a month that we will never see again. We could be spending it on hospitals, on roads, on so many things, but we are spending it on interest. Yet they say that is not a problem, that is not an issue, that is contrived, that it does not exist. As I said, you have stolen most of my thunder because you gave us a great rendition of the other things we have done, such as the quarantine facility. I accept that we are building an in excess of $300 million quarantine facility and I think we are doing a splendid job at that. That is real investment in biosecurity. We do admit that we did keep the diesel fuel rebate. I accept that we have gone into bat for regional Australians and have kept the diesel fuel rebate. Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting— Mr JOYCE: They would not have much luck under you guys. I admit the temerity that I personally would move an office from Sydney, God help us, to Armidale. That cannot possibly be helping regional Australia, to move it to a regional town. Let us leave it, let us put it where former minister Joe Ludwig had it, in Brisbane. Correct me if I am wrong, but the Leader of Opposition Business, who was the minister for agriculture at the time, had it at Kogarah. There is a big rural centre if ever I saw one. Every time I go through Kogarah I cannot help but think of cows and sheep and sunflowers. Mr Coulton: A lot of hydroponics. Mr JOYCE: There may be hydroponics there but it is certainly not a big regional area. We have said that we want to move part of the ministerial office into a town with a university known for being at the forefront of agriculture. I do commend the shadow minister because for once the Labor Party's vision has involved having a person in the portfolio who comes from the area. That helps. I do not know how much agriculture is done in Mr Burke's area but I do not think it is an awful lot. Mr Truss: He has a least number of farmers. Mr JOYCE: The least number of farms. What other visionary things are we doing in agriculture? We have got Roads to Recovery. That is predominantly in regional areas. Who is responsible for that? The Leader of the National Party. That is the sort of vision you get. Look at the free trade agreement we got with Korea—that is pretty visionary. We have got a great advancement in the prospects there. Who is also currently negotiating to finalise the agreement with China? We are. Who could not finalise it? Those opposite. Who could not finalise the Korean agreement? They could not. Who could not finalise the Japanese agreement? They could not. Who brought us the carbon tax? They did. Who gave us the mining tax? They did. Who thought of the Roads to Recovery? We did. What exactly is your vision? What exactly is the vision of the Labor Party when it comes to regional Australia? Mr Fitzgibbon interjecting— Mr JOYCE: I tell you what, you built yourself a freeway to your electorate. I noted that. He is worried about me moving an office to Armidale but built a freeway to his front door. The last time I saw something like that it was in New Orleans. That was a great outcome and you are to be commended for your work. But these are the visionary things that are showing that people in regional Australia believe that now they have a regional development minister and an agriculture minister who actually has lived the experience, who lives in the area and who is bringing agriculture forward. I absolutely thrilled and proud of the job we are doing and I am absolutely thrilled and proud to be given the ministry to look after it. Mr Fitzgibbon: Mr Deputy Speaker, on indulgence, I plead guilty on the Hunter Expressway. The DEPUTY SPEAKER: That is an abuse of the standing orders. I call the honourable member for Franklin.