Labor leader Luke Foley says LLS rates should be held in drought, tells farmers their veg is ‘communal property’

But it’s a brave man who tells a room of farmers their native vegetation is “communal property”, and Mr Foley’s insistence he would repeal new native vegetation rules certainly got some members’ hackles up. 

The Auburn MP also drew an angry response from Roads Minister Melinda Pavey, who insisted Mr Foley was ‘fibbing’ when he claimed only 15 per cent of money from the roads budget was going to the bush. 

Following on from the Premier’s speech an hour or so earlier, Mr Foley talked the talk with producers on drought assistance options, backing improvements on east-west freight links, and triumphing a fresh food precinct at Western Sydney Airport. 

“I’ve been telling State and Federal governments to look at The Netherlands, where Schiphol has transformed itself into an export hub for processing food and fibre,” he said.

“That followed strong leadership by the Dutch government. The Netherlands is now the second largest exporter of food – in the world. We can emulate that for NSW farmers – through the Western Sydney Airport.’”

He said his first priority should he be elected Premier next march would be to lead a mission to Canberra to get more clarity on an intergovernmental drought agreement. 

“NSW farm communities are doing it as tough as they’ve ever done and see no real relief until the drought ends,” he said.

“Agriculture demands an immediate reaction to that situation now – and a medium term plan for an world-class industry.”

Taking questions from the floor, Mr Foley said he was not opposed to building more dams and water infrastructure.

"I'm very open minded on this. I'm not an ideologue on these matters."

But when pressed on his party’s opposition to the current native vegetation regime, he admitted he would be pushing for the laws to be walked back. 

He told Native Vegetation Committee chairman Mitchell Clapham: “We have a view that the vegetation on the land around this state are communal assets.”

Former Labor Premier Bob Carr famously enacted a producer-prohibitive native vegetation regime overnight in 1995. 

Mr Foley did promise that he would not dictate any rules to farmers and was willing to work with them on this issue. 

Meanwhile, Roads Minister Melinda Pavey said Mr Foley had “enjoyed way too much fudge at today’s gathering of NSW Farmers” because he had mislead delegates about the government’s regional road budget spend.

Ms Pavey said it was 50 per cent – not 15 per cent – of the state’s road budget that was heading for regional NSW.