Agriculture secretary Adam Fennessy sat through an awkward moment on Thursday morning, as a political dispute between senators forced the Senate estimates committee he was appearing before to suspend, before he could even give his opening statement.
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The Agriculture Minister, Murray Watt, was addressing the Rural & Regional Affairs & Transport Committee when Nationals senators Bridget McKenzie and Matt Canavan interrupted him.
"As Agriculture Minister, we've laid the groundwork to protect and grow this sector while fixing a range of problems we inherited from our predecessors," Senator Watt said in his preamble, before addressing trade links with China.
"More than $3 billion has been returned to the agricultural sector since the removal of trade barriers with China," he said.
"And in more good news, I can reveal that last night, we received notification that five more Australian meat processing establishments have had their suspensions removed, meaning they can resume exports to China immediately."
![Agriculture secretary Adam Fennessy didn't even get to his opening statement before his committee was suspended. Picture by Elesa Kurtz Agriculture secretary Adam Fennessy didn't even get to his opening statement before his committee was suspended. Picture by Elesa Kurtz](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/143258707/df1fe354-191c-4d0c-b3ed-e1766560b510.JPG/r0_83_1620_997_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
But Senator Watt was cut off by comments from Senator McKenzie and Senator Canavan, with Senator McKenzie requesting the statement be tabled "to check it's factual under the standing orders".
Acting chair of the committee, Labor senator Raff Ciccone, asked Senator McKenzie to withdraw the comment, but she refused.
"You made a remark suggesting that what the senator was reading now was actually against standing orders. Could you please withdraw?" Senator Ciccone asked.
"I was questioning the factual nature," the Nationals senator hit back.
Unable to reach a resolution, the committee suspended for a short pause, before Senator Watt resumed his opening statement.