In my recent 1,500 km travels to communities in Mallee I visited Birchip, Horsham, Nhill, Natimuk and Pyramid Hill – and one after another people came to me asking:  how are we going to protect our prime ag land?

In Canberra on Monday 2 March I, with Nationals colleagues, have brought the protection of prime agricultural land to the fore as we presented a Bill on Monday morning - which I wrote - called the Prime Agricultural Land Protection Bill 2026.  NSW Nationals MP Alison Penfold introduced the Bill as I am not permitted to, as I have Shadow Ministry responsibilities.

I have been fighting for regional communities in Mallee and responding to the horrifying stories of poor treatment of farming families and shocking community consultation.  This month, The Nationals drew a line in the sand on the railroading of regional communities by saying the Commonwealth should not fund projects that trash prime ag land.

The shocking treatment of farmers is most evident through the Allan Victorian Labor Government’s agency, VicGrid, sending threatening letters late last month to 27 farmers who oppose the VNI-West transmission line.  Farmers have made it very clear that for VicGrid it is “access denied” – and I support their property rights.  Naturally, I urge everyone to operate within the law in exercising their rights and to protest peacefully.  It breaks my heart that Labor’s reckless renewables rollout and railroading of communities has come to this.

As farmer Emma Burke said late last month “they’re not considering agriculture at all”.  Emma is right, and she is one of many brave Mallee farmers I want to dedicate the Prime Agricultural Land Protection Bill 2026 to.  The Nationals are considering agriculture and our food security as our top priority.

Food and fibre doesn’t just happen, nor does good farming soil.  Prime Ag land is a managed system – fertilised, irrigated, cultivated, protected from erosion, nurtured by our farmers – for generations - to provide food security for Australians.

Recent government-backed projects have treated Mallee, intergenerational farming families and prime agricultural land with utter contempt.

I am proud to have written a Bill that says social licence matters, a Bill that appoints an independent umpire - a proposed new federal Agricultural Commissioner – to decide disputes between farmers (on one hand) and government and big business (on the other) who usually have the deep pockets and government power to force their way onto farms.

The Nationals will map our agricultural land and incompatible projects won’t happen on our best farming soil.  We need prime ag land to grow food and fibre for generations to come.  The world’s population is getting bigger while good farming land is disappearing.  We must protect our most vital national asset.

In these globally volatile times, the Australian government must get its priorities in order and food security is number one – not only for us, but for future generations.

Speaking of future generations, this last couple of weeks Labor have been exposed playing a nasty trick in Loddon Shire, pretending on federal election eve in May that $5 million in federal funding would help end childcare deserts in the region.  As we now know, Albanese Labor government was giving that funding to Wedderburn for a centre Victorian Labor had already committed in 2023 but clearly didn’t have the money for and needed to be bailed out.  Meanwhile, communities in Loddon Shire who were working with Council, myself and stakeholders hoped to receive the $5 million Labor had led them to believe was on offer for either Inglewood or Boort.

In Parliament this week I called out Labor’s mean trick on Mallee voters and Loddon residents and sought a meeting with the Minister for Early Childhood Education to extend additional funding to give Loddon the childcare centre support they reasonably believed they were going to receive.

I can’t express in words my fury that Labor not only tramples our farmers and regional communities, but then plays mean tricks on Mallee families.

Labor act like feudal lords, lording it over us beyond Bendigo and Ballarat, as though we don’t matter.  Mallee matters, and I encourage you to contact your Members of Parliament to tell them disrespect is not okay.