NFF conference: Agriculture Minister Murray Watt hits back at farmers’ campaign

Newly elected NFF president David Jochinke said farming was in “the fight of our lives” as he launched the ‘Keep Farmers Farming’ campaign on Thursday, during his at times fiery inaugural speech.

“Our farmers are under siege. NFF’s public campaign … is an embarrassment for Minister Watt and the Albanese Labor Government. Every single Australian is feeling the impact of the pain and hurt being put onto farmers, because the end result of Labor’s bad policies are families being forced to pay more for food at the checkout.”

When he spoke at the NFF national conference on Thursday, Mr Watt said he was “surprised” the peak farm lobby group had launched the campaign.

“I think all of you know that my door is always open to listen, collaborate and for a little fella I think that I’ve got broad shoulders,” he said.

“So I was surprised to read … that the NFF is launching a campaign against the government arguing that, and I quote, ‘food and fibre production is not a central priority for the current Federal government’, that Labor is pursuing ‘a niche ideological agenda’ and that ‘Labor is wilfully ignorant of the plight of farmers’.

Mr Watt said he believed adding nearly $3 billion in new spending towards agricultural initiatives since Labor took office last May “felt like a central priority”, despite a “tight fiscal environment”.

“But I guess that’s just politics … and just like you have good and bad seasons, relationships between governments and political lobby groups will have their ups and downs,” he said.

Jason Gregory and Natalie Kotsios, The Weekly Times, 26 October 2023.

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