After the Turnbull Government reduced the backpacker tax to 19 per cent there remains a high level of discontent in the sector and community about the ill-conceived tax, and other bursted thought bubbles like the baby bonus and the back down on superannuation.

Take the backpacker tax, the Government knows they have made a mistake which is why they have thrown $10 million at the problem to try and attract overseas workers in time for summer fruit picking and viticulture work.

The fact is, for the last 12 months the Government has done very little to ensure we continue to attract backpackers to our shores to assist our agriculture sector.

Decisions like the backpacker tax displays how the Government takes regional communities for granted. They are all spin, no policy substance, and it is now catching up with them after three long years.

The reoccurring thought bubbles and policy blunders we keep seeing are symptomatic of a Government riddled with internal division and the continued ankle nipping of Tony Abbott.

This is why no one was surprised by this week’s Newspoll which shows a fall in support for the Coalition in rural and regional Australia.

It really saddens me to see the agriculture sector which works so hard to generate the best produce suffer because of policy made on the run by this Turnbull Government. They are already hurting at the moment with excessive flooding in many low lying areas and they don’t need a government messing around with policy settings they clearly have no knowledge of.

The sector is looking for strong leadership at a time of both challenge and opportunity, but all they see in the Turnbull Government is confusion and dysfunction. I am calling on Barnaby Joyce to visit Tasmanian farmers and apologise to them for this government’s failure to recognise their contribution and rectify their failed policy approach in this area.

Overnight, it has been reported that Mr Abbott has been telling Conservatives in the UK that it is likely he will be Prime Minister again – further evidence of the internal division bubbling within the Turnbull Government. Enough is enough!
SENATOR HELEN POLLEY SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER TO THE LEADER (TASMANIA) SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR AGEING SENATOR FOR TASMANIA