Price blasts Albo for ‘hopeless photo-op trip’ to the Territory

By PETER ROWE

Shadow Indigenous Affairs spokesperson Senator Nampijinpa Price has called out Prime Minister Anthony Albanese over a visit to a NT cattle station tomorrow, saying it was a “blink-and-you’ll-miss-it trip” that would not endear him to the industry.

“The cattle industry has no reason to trust Anthony Albanese, and visiting a cattle station for a few hours isn’t going to erase the betrayal which he and the Labor party have shown to the cattle industry,” Senator Price said.

Senator Price believed the live cattle export ban introduced by the Labor government in 2011 as one of the most severe blows that Australia’s cattle industry had ever been dealt.

She said the Labor government has a proven track record of acting against the interests of Australia’s agricultural industry and our hard-working farmers.

“The phasing out of live sheep exports by sea is just the latest conquest by Anthony Albanese on his journey to kill Australia’s agricultural trade. Farmers right across this country know full well that Labor doesn’t intend to stop with live sheep exports,” she said.

“Anthony Albanese saw no problem in making light of the industry when he joked about live exports at an agricultural awards night in August last year while recalling his dinner with Indonesian President-Elect.

“Well Anthony Albanese is a joke himself if he is now going to suggest he is somehow on the side of hard-working Australian farmers and our agricultural industry.”

Senator Price said Anthony Albanese has continued to fail the broader Northern Territory community.

“He has, and continues to this day, to be unsupportive of some of the key reforms proposed by the Northern Territory government that would go a long way to combatting the escalating violence in the area.

“The Prime Minister won’t win votes by skirting around the edge of the Territory while simultaneously refusing to support reforms which would make a practical difference to the lives of the people who live here.”

Senator Price said the trip was nothing but a “hopeless, hapless photo-op – he should’ve said no and should’ve gone home”.