Mr Burke launched a scathing counter-attack on shadow minister for agriculture, National Party member John Cobb, who last week lambasted Mr Burke for the timing of the review over the harvest period, and calling for the review’s time constraints to be relaxed.

Mr Burke claimed that the narrow time frame of the review was caused by a Coalition amendment to the Wheat Export Marketing Bill, and said in the Government’s original draft, the review would have commenced in 2010 and continued through into 2011.

“The Opposition amended the legislation to fix a hard deadline of July 1, 2010, meaning the Productivity Commission must begin its consultation before the end of the year to meet the deadline.”

He said Mr Cobb had egg on his face over his statement, in which he said “anyone with the slightest knowledge of the wheat industry in Australia knows that November through December is the busiest time of the year for grain growers”.

“This is a classic ‘own goal’ by the Nationals and John Cobb,” Mr Burke said.

“Mr Cobb thought he was being tough on the Government, but he was actually criticising his Opposition colleagues from the Liberal and National parties.

“The Nationals claimed to have strong views on the wheat reforms – now no one knows what they believe.”

In Parliament, Mr Burke delivered a broadside intended specifically for the National Party, who he accused of living in the past on wheat marketing.

“While I will admit that the Liberal Party did play a constructive role generally in dealing with the wheat marketing issues, the Nationals would be better off getting the parents on the sideline to say ‘No, you are meant to be running that way.’

“Instead, we have a party that is still pining for the days when wheat farmers were told who they had to sell to.”