Well the
Nationals are out there trying to ‘spin’ their party as reasonable and balanced
in the hope of repairing political damage caused by the recent Ministerial Code of
Conduct-Use of Parliamentary Entitlements scandal.
This was former
National Australia Bank rural financial adviser, Nationals MP for Maranoa since
July 2016 & Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources since December
2017, David Kelly Littleproud.
The
Sydney Morning Herald,
2 March 2018:
The heir to Barnaby
Joyce's portfolio has declared he has nothing against renewables, believes
climate change is fundamentally reshaping agriculture, and called on city
dwellers to wake up to the economic heavy lifting being done by Australia's
farmers.
David Littleproud, the
banker who came within a couple of votes of snatching the Nationals leadership
last week, has no intention of emulating the former deputy prime minister.
"I am in favour of
renewables, make no mistake," he said. "It will mean we will have
cleaner air to breathe, there is nothing to fear in that."
The Agriculture
Minister, who party leaders hope will appeal to a new generation of voters,
said renewables needed to be brought in a way that "doesn't impact someone
being able to put a light on or a farmer being able to put a pump on".
"The stark
reality," he said, is farmers had been trying to deal with the effects of
climate change since they were "putting till in the ground".
The 41-year-old rejected
calls from environmentalists for an agricultural climate change adaptation
plan, but says that's only because farmers will need to do it themselves or
risk losing their crop.
His comments mark a
relatively climate-friendly shift from Mr Joyce, who promoted Mr Littleproud
into cabinet before Christmas....
What David
Littleproud does not say is that he has never voted against the
Liberal-Nationals party line in the House of Representatives to date.
Which means
he is on record as voting against:
And voting
for:
Tighter
means testing of family payments
Then there is the question of a potential for conflict of interest as the minister responsible for water resouces. Given his father-in-law owns one of those farming operations which allegedly have largescale unapproved earthworks which effectively dam floodwaters for unmetered water harvesting.
Then there is the question of a potential for conflict of interest as the minister responsible for water resouces. Given his father-in-law owns one of those farming operations which allegedly have largescale unapproved earthworks which effectively dam floodwaters for unmetered water harvesting.
Somehow I don’t
see Littleproud making much headway with what he calls “a new generation of voters”.
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