The National Farmers Federation (NFF) is calling on the farming community to attend a rally in Canberra next week, which will start with a convoy past Parliament House.
The rally is being called a push back on ‘anti-farming agendas’, blamed for dictating outcomes in Canberra.
NFF president, David Jochinke, said farmers’ voices were increasingly being drowned out by activists who wanted to shut down Aussie farms.
“The common thread in every issue we’re facing is that they’re all driven by niche interest groups who don’t understand or support Aussie farmers,” Mr Jochinke said.
“Australian farmers are the best in the world, we consistently deliver the highest quality produce and we want policymakers to work with us to grow more in Australia.
“We want to tell all parliamentarians ahead of the next election they should listen to farmers, not anti-farming activists, when it comes to what’s best for our industry.
“It’s our chance to come together and send a clear and positive message that we deserve a seat at the table, and we deserve a fair go.”
There are a number of local farmers keen to go and show their support at the rally, including Forge Creek farmer, Trevor Caithness, who has several issues on his mind.
“We seem to just go along with everything in the country,” Mr Caithness said.
“But there’s a continued lack of government support for rural Australia, and it appears the government is governing for an inner circle of about 50 kilometres in our capital cities.
“There’s a continual drive of road safety forced on the transport industry, yet our regional roads are less roadworthy every day.
“We have to acknowledge that both the State and Federal governments are broke and will become creative about what funds they can extract from the community, whether that’s a death tax or inheritance tax I think we’re probably in line for something like that.
“And there’s the unregulated way renewable energy and timber plantations are being approved, the unplanned and unstructured approach is dividing communities dramatically.
“Why can’t we have small areas of plantations or forestry dotted across the region instead of large swathes of productive land taken over?
“It seems the only way now our government and the media listens or takes notice is when we rally.”
Mr Caithness said rather than complaining about the government at the pub or the footy, people should attend the rally to show the government the collective concern.
The Canberra rally was originally called for by the ‘Keep the Sheep’ live export campaign, now there are several priority concerns to be highlighted, including:
– The activist-led ban on live sheep exports by sea
– Calls to scrap the Diesel Fuel Rebate
– Proposed new taxes for biosecurity and on superannuation
– Calls to scrap the 88 days of specified work for backpackers
– Water buybacks in the Murray Darling Basin and protecting the Great Artesian Basin
– Unnecessary red tape from Scope 3 emissions reporting
– The community impacts of energy and renewables developments
The protest rally will take place on Tuesday, September 10, with the convoy from 8am-10am and the rally at 11am at Federation Mall, opposite Parliament House.
All details are on the NFF website.
