THE Queensland Labor Government will be confronted with a significant challenge this year.
In particular, Labor’s Member for Maryborough Bruce Saunders must declare his support or otherwise for the region’s local cane farmers.
Bruce Saunders needs to come clean and tell our local sugar industry if he and his Labor Party intends to scrap grower choice marketing laws which were successfully negotiated and passed by the LNP from Opposition in 2015.
We all know that Labor are no friends to regional Queensland, having proved that time and time again.
Labor have even stated that they will abandon our local farmers by repealing the Sugar Industry (Real Choice in Marketing) Amendment Bill 2015, which gives our cane farmers choice on who markets their sugar.
Whether Bruce Saunders and Labor will continue to attack our farming families remains to be seen.
Regardless, the local Industry, particularly the state’s 4000 cane farmers, need to know if Bruce will show courage and conviction and stand up to his more extreme left leaning colleagues.
This is an issue of principle. Will the Member for Maryborough representing a strategic sugar growing region sell out our local farmers in favour of overseas owned sugar milling companies from Singapore, Thailand and China?
Our farmers, who produce $2.5 billion sugar export industry, need this safety net legislation in place to ensure that they are not strong-armed by milling companies which hold a monopoly for cane processing.
The LNP will always back local cane growers to ensure they get a fair deal to market their sugar. Before the marketing issue was resolved by the LNP in 2015, lazy Labor incompetence cost the local farmers approximately $140 million in lost value.
I will stand up for local farmers and local industry and always put the interests of Queensland jobs first.
STEPHEN BENNETT MP
Member for Burnett
29 January 2018