TODAY the Senate Inquiry into the Adequacy of Australia’s biosecurity measures and response preparedness came to Rockhampton to find out how Queensland is set up to cope with a potential biosecurity breach and the impacts that diseases like Foot and Mouth and Lumpy Skin disease would have on the region. SENATOR Matthew Canavan, Michelle Landry MP, and Colin Boyce MP said that this was important to ensure that Australia is able to cope with the risks of these diseases that are currently in our region, and make sure that we’re in a position to stop them before our industries are severely impacted. Read more

Nine Coalition Senators have moved today to remove the ban on nuclear power in Australia by introducing a Private Senators Bill. Australia is unique among large, developed nations with a legislative ban on nuclear power. Australia only ended up with a ban because the Howard Government needed to trade it off to get Parliamentary support in 1998 for the construction of a new, nuclear reactor for medical purposes at Lucas Heights. Read more

TODAY Senator Matthew Canavan, and Michelle Landry MP have put their support behind an initiative from Mark Woltmann President of the AFS Men’s Shed Inc and their pilot program of Flagging Our National Pride. This initiative would grow national pride by helping people to install flagpoles in their yards and provide an Australian flag for people to fly to help improve national pride. The support comes ahead of National Flag Day this Saturday. Read more

SENATOR Matthew Canavan, Michelle Landry MP, and Colin Boyce MP have called for the steel that will be used for the Rockhampton Ring Road to be Australian made steel to support Australian manufacturing. The ring road will provide a way around 19 sets of traffic lights and construction could contribute to Australian manufacturing as well. Read more

SENATOR Matthew Canavan, Michelle Landry MP, and Colin Boyce MP called for the local Central Queensland beef industry to make a submission to a new Senate inquiry on Australia’s biosecurity system with a special focus on minimising the risk of a foot and mouth disease outbreak. The inquiry is being conducted by the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport (RRAT) References Committee, chaired by Senator Canavan, with the first public hearing being held today. Read more

SENATOR Matthew Canavan has thanked the people of Queensland for re-electing him to the senate for another six years. “It’s an incredible honour to serve Queensland in Australia’s senate, and to be elected a third time is an absolutely enormous honour,” Senator Canavan said. Read more

The National Party’s Backbench Policy Committee released its Manufacturing 2035 plan on Tuesday. The plan outlines the National Party’s vision for the manufacturing industry and a broad policy platform to help encourage industry growth. The paper outlines a 9-point plan with the goal to double the employment in Australian manufacturing, to counter the trend of continuing employment stagnation in the industry. Employment in manufacturing has dropped from its peak employment of almost 1.2 million Australians in the 1990s, down to a new record low of fewer than 850,000. Read more

The Nationals Senate team has condemned the Greens for failing to back Australian agriculture and our world-leading live animal export industry. In opposing a Nationals motion backing Australia’s commitment and support for the $1.7 billion live animal export trade, The Greens thumbed their nose at the thousands of rural and regional Australians who rely on the industry Read more

The Labor Party has been exposed on its failure to support much-needed regional jobs in Queensland at the Acland mine. Minister for Resources, Water and Northern Australia Keith Pitt commended the strong show of support in the Senate from the Liberal National Government for the New Hope Group’s expansion of the Acland mine, in a parliamentary vote which also called on the Queensland Government to end the delays and approve the mine expansion now. Read more

Nearly 9 years to the day since the Labor Government’s blanket ban on live cattle export to Indonesia, cattle producers in the Northern Territory have finally had their win in court. On 7 June, 2011, the then Agriculture Minister, Joe Ludwig, signed a blanket ban on live cattle exports to Indonesia.  This was after a week of uncertainty for producers following a Four Corners report and suspensions of exports to 12 Indonesian abattoirs. Read more