WITH an open agenda for a half-hour timeslot, our journalist Dannielle Maguire asked Armidale Express readers what they wanted to know from Member of New England and Minister of Agriculture Barnaby Joyce.
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Armed with your questions and a fruitcake made using her mother’s recipe to act as a distraction should conversation stumble, she skipped off to her coffee date with Mr Joyce this morning.
Here’s a sneak peak of how it went down ahead of Wednesday’s paper.
Dannielle: “If there’s an awkward silence get into the fruitcake.
“Disclaimer, I’m not great at small talk – I once started a conversation asking a guy if he had ever got a chicken wing stuck in his beard.
Barnaby: …
(awkward silence)
Dannielle: “Let’s get into the questions.”
Do you support Halal and Kosher certification?
- Alex, asking from our website
Barnaby:
"Yes I do.
“I believe that if it’s right for a person to have their own requirements of how they eat, then it’s not really for us to be religiously commenting on what they do.
“We’ve had a long history selling Halal into the Middle East. It gets a real return back into the Armidale district – a massive return.
If I was to loose that market, it would really affect the price that we’re getting around here and the money that would be going down the Beardy Street Mall.
“If we didn’t have the Middle East market, that would go through the floor.
“My goal in agriculture is to get as many markets as possible and expand markets and my primary concern is getting the best possible return back to the farm gate.
"And if that means I’m selling to Halal markets, I’m selling to Halal markets.
"We stun all stock – the stunning principal is that when they’re slaughtered, they’re not aware of it."
Why when a significant number of your electorate are against #CSG do you not intervene at federal level?
- Rachael Sowden, asking on Twitter
Barnaby:
“We have a clear set of principals on coal seam gas.
"Number one, don’t go onto prime agricultural land, don’t destroy aquifers because they’re common property, if someone’s there first don’t destroy the quiet enjoyment of someone living on their place but if you can abide by those principals, that is, you’re not going on prime agricultural land, you’re not destroying aquifers, and you’re not destroying the quiet enjoyment then if people want to negotiate a deal where they’re not hurting anybody but making money for themselves, why would I argue with them?
"[Coal seam gas companies have to] make sure there is a fair return that goes back to the districts, that is that you fix the hospitals in Armidale, that you fix the [aged care] facilities in Guyra – the money you’re making gets reinvested back into the district.
"And make sure a fair return goes back to the landholder.
"If I can get a better return back to the farm gate for them then I want to because I know that that’s the person who will invest back into their district."
What else did Mr Joyce have to say? Was the awkward-silence buffer used? Did the fruitcake taste dry?
Find out in Wednesday’s edition of the Armidale Express.