Farming farewells at 2016 poll

Love him or hate him, NSW Liberal Senator Bill Heffernan won’t be contesting the 2016 election but his raw brand of honesty combined with an unmistakable grounded life-size understanding of agriculture will be sadly missed in the corridors of power.

Senator Heffernan turned 73 this year and was first elected to the Senate 20 years ago.

During that time, he continued running his family grain and livestock farm at Junee which added strength to his ability to cut through political arguments concerning potential policy outcomes for agriculture, like the thwarted $3.4 billion take-over of GrainCorp by US multinational food giant Archer Daniels Midland in 2013.

Senator Heffernan will also be remembered for his colourful off-the–cuff humour, forthright comments and often inarticulate use of the English language during Senate estimates hearings.

His replacement Hollie Hughes is a disability support advocate form Moree and is in the vulnerable sixth position on the Liberal’s NSW Senate ticket.

Former Nationals leader Warren Truss stepped down from his Queensland seat of Wide Bay after 26 years, with the electorate now at short odds to be retained by the party’s candidate Llew O’Brien.

Mr Truss was a farmer before entering politics and was a popular Nationals leader from 2007 until mid-February this year, until being replaced by Barnaby Joyce.

He turns 68 later this year and is also a former Minister for Agriculture, Trade and Customs and Consumer Affairs, and in the latest stage of his career was Minister for Infrastructure and Transport and Regional Australia.

Like Mr Truss, Queensland NLP Maranoa MP Bruce Scott entered federal parliament in 1990 having been a wool producer and graingrower before that and stepped down at this election at age 72.

Mr Scott served as the Minister for Veterans' Affairs from 1996 to 2001 and at the end of his time in Canberra was the Deputy Speaker, from 2012.

LNP candidate David Littleproud is an almost certain bet to win Maranoa.

One of the shining lights of the Coalition’s ministry for the past three years and former National Farmers' Federation Executive Director Andrew Robb is another leading farm advocate who won’t be returning in the next parliament.

Mr Robb was Trade and Investment Minister in the Abbott/Turnbull government where he was instrumental in signing major, historic trade deals with China, Korea, Japan and the Trans Pacific Partnership.

Mr Robb’s retirement announcement prompted NFF President Brent Finlay and other political analysts to describe the Victorian Liberal MP as Australia’s greatest ever Trade Minister for clinching the trade deals which cut significant trade barriers and opened export market access, for leading farm products like beef, dairy and horticulture.

Another former farmer and bush advocate stepping down at this year’s election is Ian Macfarlane for the LNP in the Queensland seat of Groom.

Having been first elected in 1998 and at age 61 - and recently served in the federal cabinet where he sat for half his political career - Mr Macfarlane could have easily justified running for another term.

But the former Queensland Graingrowers Association and Grains Council of Australia President and NFF Executive Member indicated, like Mr Robb, he wanted to pursue a private sector career post-politics, which may include agribusiness but while remaining in his home town of Toowoomba.

He’s set to be replaced by John McVeigh who was a former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in the last LNP Queensland government.

Former Shadow Agriculture Minister John Cobb was first elected to federal parliament in 2001 having been involved in agri-politics beforehand.

He continued farming, running beef cattle but at 66 years of age, announced his retirement decision this year, shortly after Mr Truss was replaced as Nationals’ leader.

Mr Cobb was Shadow Agriculture Minister from 2008 to 2013 where he led attacks on Labor over the snap live cattle export ban to Indonesia, cuts to biosecurity and farm R&D spending and failure to resolve FTA’s in key export markets for farmers.

He was also instrumental in putting together the Coalition’s agricultural policy from Opposition which led to the $4 billion Agricultural White Paper released last year and the sector’s resurgence in economic prioritisation for the national economy.

Nationals’ candidate Andrew Gee – the party’s former NSW State MP for Orange – is expected to win Calare, in central west NSW.

Liberal MP Sharman Stone represented the northern Victorian seat of Murray for 20 years and also decided to step aside at this election, shortly after being elevated to Chair of the Coalition’s agricultural backbench committee.

Murray is a three-cornered contest involving former Fremantle Dockers AFL coach Damian Drum who is the favourite to win, slightly ahead of Liberal Duncan McGauchie who is the son of former NFF President, Don McGauchie.

At age 50, former Small Business Minister Bruce Billson is retiring for the Liberals in the Victorian metropolitan seat of Dunkley, having been a champion of leading reforms involving the agriculture sector in the previous parliament, including improved market competition and transparency laws and Country of Origin Labelling standards.

In the northern NSW seat of Paterson, Bob Baldwin is also stepping down having served briefly as the Assistant Environment Minister where he helped achieve legislative reforms welcomed by farmers in the Murray Darling Basin Plan late last year, through the 1500 gigalitre cap on water buybacks.

WA Labor Perth MP Alannah MacTiernan is also stepping down after one term in federal politics but has been active in rural affairs issues – including the ongoing grain on rail campaign – dating back to her time as Infrastructure Minister in the former WA Labor government.

One-time Labor Agriculture Minister and Queensland Senator Joe Ludwig is also stepping aside at this election and was serving in the role when the controversial Indonesian cattle suspension was handed down in mid-2011.

Other leading critics of the live export trade from the ALP – WA Fremantle MP Melissa Parke and Victorian Wills MP Kelvin Thomson – have also opted not to recontest their seats.

After one term in one of the most spectacular rises and falls in Australian political history, mining magnate Clive Palmer and leader of his self-named party has elected not to re-contest his Queensland rural seat of Fairfax.

Mr Palmer made an appearance at the 2014 NFF congress in Canberra where he urged farmers to hit the government harder to negotiate better outcomes on trade deals.