Labor raiding bone-dry farmers and their communities - Media Release

DR ANNE WEBSTER MP

Shadow Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories
Shadow Minister for Regional Communications
Member for Mallee

Labor raiding bone-dry farmers and their communities

Friday 6 June 2025

The Albanese and Allan Labor governments are acting in concert to raid desperate farmers for money when they are on their knees, Member for Mallee Dr Anne Webster said today.

“Today we learned that the Albanese government’s radical raid on retirement savings considered exempting farmers, but decided not to,” Dr Webster said.

“Meanwhile, the Allan Labor government’s greedy land tax is only off the table for 1 year due to farmer protests, but there are two common themes here.

“Firstly, Labor’s concerted movement to grab money from farms is attacking unrealised capital gains, that is, paper profits.  Labor is targeting hypothetical profits – money a farmer does not yet have in their hands.  Land tax doesn’t tax what you’ve earned, but the increase in your asset value.  Taxing self-managed superannuation funds for the increase in asset values, such as the family farm, similarly raids farmers for money they have not earned and, right now, do not have. This tax is super big and super bad.

“Second, both federal and state Labor does not give a rip that our farmers are in the grip of drought or horrendously dry conditions.  Let me put this in bold type so it’s clear – farmers are not making money, they are going backwards!  Labor is taxing those with assets, but no income.  This is the politics of envy and Labor are Green with envy – literally – as they strike a deal with the radical socialist Greens to ram their radical super tax through in Canberra next month.

Ross Johns from the Wimmera Mallee Environmental and Agricultural Protection Association told national television this morning Labor’s tax on unrealised capital gains will force farmers to sell.

Dr Webster shared Mr Johns’ concern: “Is this the real objective here – to kick farmers while they are down, forcing farmers to sell so Mallee can be further converted into an industrial wasteland of transmission lines, mines, panels and turbines?”, Dr Webster said.

“It’s no coincidence that Victorian Labor’s struggle to reach their radical energy targets and failures to establish wind turbines offshore, sees the energy company cowboys offering tantalising income streams to farmers.  I remind everyone, Labor tried to hide their analysis that without offshore wind, 70 per cent of regional Victoria will be needed for energy generation. Worse still, no sooner would energy project income come in the door, Labor will grab it through their taxes.  It’s perverse, it’s wrong and not happening on my watch.

“While we need to drought-proof Mallee and regional Australia, we also need a Labor-proof fence to protect Mallee farmers from greedy, out-of-touch and uncaring Labor governments.”

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