Federal member for Calare Andrew Gee says he won’t be using the current drought and climate change to gain political points ahead of the upcoming election.
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Rather, he wants to make farmers more prepared and resilient so they can continue to operate on the land well past the election.
“I believe most people want to look after the environment and that includes dealing with climate change. I certainly do,” Mr Gee said.
“Tackling this issue needs to be done responsibly and not recklessly. Instead of using the drought to score cheap political points, the responsible thing to do is build resilience and preparedness amongst farmers and farming businesses.
“I think a great local example of the right approach was the Australian Government’s $2 million contribution towards a $5.38 million biomass boiler at MSM Milling, a farming business at Manildra. This project helped MSM reduce energy costs and environmental impacts while supporting local jobs.”
His words come after Labor’s Jess Jennings said the National Party was in denial about climate change and letting farmers down.
Mr Gee said that Bill Shorten’s approach was “extreme” and would lead to higher power prices, impacting many businesses, farming included.
And it would be Mr Jennings who would have to face Calare’s farmers.
“If Bill Shorten becomes prime minister, Jess Jennings is going to have to front up to local farmers and explain to them why their cold storage sheds are too expensive to run and how our agricultural co-ops are going to be able to afford to keep employing people in the face of huge price hikes,” Mr Gee said.
“And if Labor was really serious about helping farmers through drought it would back the Regional Investment Corporation and the local jobs it brings instead of pledging to take it apart, it would not destroy the backpacker work visa program which is so crucial to getting crops harvested, and it wouldn’t be planning to raid the retirement savings of farmers by snatching their tax rebates.”