Pandemic chaos shows our food security isvital

Nationals MP Peter Rundle has provided an insight to what the pandemic looks like through the eyes of a country politician.

The Roe MLA said his team had been working hard behind the scenes to help deliver COVID-19 information as restrictions started to bite in the community.

Mr Rundle said his offices had been bombarded with phone calls from concerned residents and farmers.

“The COVID-19 crisis has created a fair few headaches behind the scenes. My team has had to come up against challenges and we’ve had to adapt to a different style of dealing with our constituents,” he said.

A major obstacle involved the Government’s decision to close gun shops.

“We just had to bear with it because we had to support the Government’s decision, however the entire Frankland General Store had to be closed because of the products they sold and that really affected the country town,” he said.

At a time when domestic food security was paramount, Mr Rundle said the public recognised the importance of farmers more than ever.

“Over the past 18 months, our farmers have been attacked from all directions — from their use of glyphosate to their animal husbandry. Farmers have had a constant battle to justify their worth,” he said.

“It is a shame that it has taken a pandemic to highlight the undeniable fact that our farmers are amongst the best in the world and produce commodities essential to our survival.”