18 May 2009
DAFF09/247B

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry Tony Burke today said the National Party should clarify whether it has withdrawn bipartisan support for the Government’s drought review.

Mr Burke said he was concerned about comments from John Cobb reported today, which appeared to indicate the National Party no longer supported the drought review.

The Australian quotes Mr Cobb in relation to the drought review among others, saying the Government should have other priorities and criticising Labor for failing to ‘slash’ the number of reviews.

“This review has had bipartisan support until now and it’s very important to clarify exactly what Mr Cobb means by these comments,” Mr Burke said.

“The drought review is about finding a better way to support farmers, rather than drawing lines on a map to determine which farmers miss out on assistance in times of hardship.

“He also appears to be saying we should not have initiated the Beale Review into Australia’s biosecurity system.

“Our biosecurity system was justifiably put under the spotlight in the wake of the disastrous outbreak of equine influenza, which resulted in a hit of more than $1 billion to industry.

“If the National Party no longer supports these reviews, this should be made clear.”

In June 2008, Leader of the Nationals Warren Truss said the following in Parliament about the drought review:

“In relation to the review, as I said, the Opposition believes that it is quite appropriate to undertake a thorough review, particularly now this program has been going for quite some time and has used more than $2 billion of taxpayers’ funding.

“… I appreciate that the Minister is going into this with a constructive attitude and he can be assured that the Opposition will also be constructive.”