13 May 2009

Tony Burke comments on claims of $1 billion Federal Budget cuts to agriculture

There’s some silly claims out there at the moment. People claiming that there’s been a $1 billion cut to agriculture. Now, let me be really clear here—that figure is a fiction. There are some cuts in the department, and obviously at a time of global recession the question governments have to ask is ‘what can we afford to do?’ You can afford to do less during a time of global recession than you can do during a boom. So there are cuts to Land and Water Australia, cuts to RIRDC, and some cuts to the department. They amount to $13 million, plus $3 million, plus $3.4 million—and if anyone wants to claim that 13, plus three, plus 3.4 equals $1 billion, then they’ve clearly got the mathematics wrong.