Address at AgXchange Australia 2025

[Acknowledgments omitted]

Bringing farmers and producers, researchers, innovators, leaders and decision makers from agriculture together in one place for these couple of days is no small feat.

As we’ve heard, you’re all busy on your farms doing your jobs, and that’s what we expect.

And that’s what you want to do and you enjoy.

But the conversations that we’ll have here will contribute towards the future of our industry.

The priorities of this year’s event – innovation, sustainability, risk, farming communities and the supply chain – are central to our Government’s priorities for agriculture.

We’re working to ensure that Australian farmers and producers alongside the networks that process, promote and deliver the products have the best conditions in which to do your important work.

We know that one of the most critical challenges facing farming in this country is sustainability.

We hear this word all the time.

It’s not just a challenge for us, governments around the world are tackling the goal of reducing agricultural emissions and managing climate risk while maintaining production of food and fibre to feed growing populations.

Supporting resilient and sustainable farming systems will be central to helping our farmers manage these risks and capitalise on the opportunities.

We sadly already see the devastation of extreme weather events that DJ talked about, not just for our farmers, their businesses and their livelihoods but also for their families, their communities and on the overall mental health and wellbeing of people.

I saw it firsthand earlier this year when I visited farmers and producers in this beautiful state impacted by flooding, something I know that some are still recovering from.

I saw it again during recent visits to drought-affected communities in both Victoria and South Australia where I met with local farmers and key stakeholders to hear directly about the impacts and how we can work together to ease the pressure for farmers and communities from across the many parts of Australia that are experiencing prolonged dry and drought conditions.

But this is not just about listening, it’s about investing.

And our Prime Minister committed an additional $1 billion into the Regional Investment Corporation to help those farmers who are being impacted.

But it’s not just about that drought support, as I said.

Our Government also committed at the time to broadening the Regional Investment Corporation’s scope to also include assistance for improving climate resilience and adaption on farm for farmers.

This is no small investment.

We listened to what farmers and industry told us on the importance of the Regional Investment Corporation.

This is about giving certainty going forward.

We listened and we responded, and we continue to listen as we invest.

We look forward to working with all of you to ensure that this expanded scope for the Regional Investment Corporation supports the sector’s resilience and its ambition.

All of this work is connected and speaks to our government’s focus on the many and varied factors that contribute to the long-term sustainability of our agriculture sector.

Just last week our Government also released our 2035 climate target, which charts our pathway towards economy-wide net zero by 2050.

Alongside this announcement was the release of the Agriculture and Land Sector Plan, one of the six decarbonisation plans that span the breadth of our economy and the first for Australian agriculture.

I recognise that so many of you in this room and so many out on the land played a key role in the development of this plan.

It has been informed by your experiences, your own work and your own industry targets and ambitions.

Our plan seeks to match your ambition, and it builds on the incredible work so many of you have already undertaken to date.

The plan does not set an emissions target for agriculture and land despite the many industry peak groups having already done so.

As the National Farmers Federation rightly pointed out last week, the sector plan recognises that Australian producers are global leaders in low emissions food and fibre production already.

It supports a balance between agriculture, carbon storage and nature repair and that the decarbonisation must benefit farmers and our regional communities.

That’s why the plan has established a framework that enables producers and land managers to contribute to and, most importantly, benefit from the whole-of-economy transition.

It outlines four fundamental areas to guide both industry and government action, and we’re delivering a range of policies and programs to support each one of these.

That includes:

• Investments to improve greenhouse gas accounting to help improve the understanding of both business and sector emissions,

• $87 million for the Net Zero Emissions in Agriculture CRC that supports innovation to develop new abatement options,

• The Carbon Farming Outreach Program expansion to strengthen on-ground action, and

• Investments in our tree plantations.

All of this has been delivered by the Albanese Labor Government.

Again, we saw the ambition and we matched it.

This significant funding is already rolling out across the country and providing farmers and producers with practical assistance.

That’s because we know we cannot afford to ignore the challenge that we are getting from a changing climate now and into the future.

But we also need to grasp the opportunities that are knocking at our door.

As a former President of the WA Farmers, a proud beef producer from the Badgingarra in Western Australia and a member of the NFF’s environmental committee said last week on Radio National, we need to do more to address climate change, we can’t wish it away.

When asked about not pursuing a net zero approach, he said people aren’t looking at the facts, climate change is not going away and just doing the same thing is not an option.

That’s why the Agriculture and Land Sector Plan and our continued collaboration with you is just so important.

Today, applications have opened for the latest batch of the Support Plantation Establishment program grants, as part of our $300 million investment to strengthen, support and continue a sustainable foresty sector now and into the future.

The program is also contributing to Australia’s net zero targets as new plantations can also be registered for the ACCU scheme.

On-farm plantations are also supporting productivity while providing shade and shelter for livestock and crops, improving soil and water quality and enhancing the biodiversity.

We continue to build on our commitments so farmers get the opportunities of this transition.

Just last week, our government also announced that we’d be investing over $1 billion to boost onshore production of low carbon liquid fuels.

This is an incredible opportunity for agriculture as well as for our regional communities.

Providing feedstocks for bioenergy will open up new commercial opportunities for so many while simultaneously reducing emissions in our aviation, our maritime and our transport sectors.

The Clean Energy Finance Corporation predicts that a bioenergy industry in Australia could be worth $36 billion by 2050.

And we are committed to ensuring that our farmers, our producers and our regional communities all benefit from this economic opportunity for Australia.

But we know it’s not just funding that is required to ensure our farmers and producers rightly benefit.

That’s why our government will also soon kick off consultation on the development of a National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy.

This new National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy will help establish a coordinated national direction for the sustainable development of bioenergy feedstock production in Australia.

We’ve listened to the supply chain stakeholders that have called for government to set out a direction for a domestic feedstock industry.

Supplying bioenergy feedstocks is an exciting new commercial opportunity for our farmers, our foresters and regional communities.

But we also want to ensure industry develops it in a way that maximises those opportunities.

This is another way that the Albanese Labor Government is ensuring we get better outcomes for our farmers, our communities and for our country.

Ensuring we get the priorities right as part of the National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy will be critical, which is why I encourage all the stakeholders in this room and out on the land to get involved in the development of this strategy.

Of course, sustainability has become an increasingly important attribute to both consumers and investors in all markets, but particularly in agriculture.

As we heard from DJ, increasingly sustainability credentials are being considered in trade policies and investment criteria in many countries.

That’s why our Government is committed to supporting the agriculture sector to develop consistent sustainability credentials so that the sector can access and grow export markets and capture the rewards of our sustainable agriculture practices.

But this is not the only way our Government is backing farmers and producers to grab new market opportunities.

We want Australian farmers to capitalise on the outstanding reputation that they already have as producers of the highest quality food and fibre with some of the lowest emissions on the planet.

We are, after all, a trading nation.

With Australia forecast to export now around 80 per cent of our agriculture, fisheries and forestry production to more than 169 markets globally.

This is the most diversified our agriculture trade has ever been thanks to our farmers, to the government’s work but, most importantly, the hard work of those in this room and on the land.

The world is continuing to buy our agricultural products in record volumes.

Australian farmers and producers, as we’ve heard, are on track to deliver a record result in 25-26.

Recent forecasts from the Australian Bureau of Agricultural Resources Economics and Sciences – ABARES – as we all know and love – forecast the value of Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry to exceed the $100 billion this financial year.

As I said, this is the result of innovation and persistence of so many of our extraordinary farmers.

These numbers and the story that they tell about the hard work, the innovation, the resilience of our industry are something every Australian benefits from and should be proud of.

Particularly in our regional and rural communities from where most of it comes.

Our Government knows the tremendous responsibility we have to support this success and to build on it.

We’ve put securing outcomes for our farmers at the centre of our trading relationships, advocating for Australian agriculture on the global stage.

Australia’s network of free trade agreements has continued to deliver valuable opportunities for our red meat, our grain, our seafood, our wine, our horticulture and so many other agricultural industries.

Our government is working to deliver real dividends to our farmers.

And I know how critical the red meat industry here is in the great state of Queensland where we are meeting today and the incredible success of this industry in recent years underscores what hard work can help deliver.

Since May 2022, the Government has facilitated new access and listing approvals for more than 100 Australian beef meat establishments across more than 20 markets.

We've continued to open and improve market access for red meat, including beef, to several markets, including the EU, the United States, Peru, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Vietnam.

This comes as Aussie beef has had back-to-back record-breaking export years.

In 2024-25 alone Australian beef exports from Australia to the globe are worth more than $16 billion, in just that one year.

Supported by reinstated and improved market access, these exports have increased 62 per cent compared to almost $10 billion in 2021-22.

This growth includes increases to our largest market in the United States and our second largest in China.

The central message here is that the world wants our produce and our government is laser focused on ensuring that we can take advantage of these opportunities.

Our high-quality produce is world renowned.

Our food system is a national asset, but we cannot afford to be complacent.

Our Government has undertaken significant work to improve food security and the Australian food system.

We saw during COVID that we do have some weaknesses.

We’ve made new investments in biosecurity and in reducing emissions and climate resilience.

We’ve listened to farmers and the community who have called for government to work with industry to set out a vision for Australia’s food system because we understand the importance of addressing these underlying challenges facing our food systems and our supply chains.

That’s how we came to develop Feeding Australia, a new National Food Security Strategy.

Feeding Australia will be a plan for farmers and a plan for all Australians.

As I said, while Australia is forecast to export around 80 per cent of our agricultural production, we’re still exposed to global supply and demand pressures, to changing climate and other risks.

Feeding Australia will help us to understand, to be prepared for those risks and the challenges so that our farmers and stakeholders along the food supply system can face the future with confidence.

And so our friends and neighbours can continue to rely on Australia as a safe, secure trading partner and supplier of their nutritious food.

Last month we opened consultation on the Feeding Australia discussion paper with submissions closing on 1 October.

We’ve asked stakeholders such as yourselves to consider issues as supply chain, productivity, innovation and economic growth.

This paper will help shape our Feeding Australia strategy.

Ensuring that we get the priorities right for Feeding Australia is incredibly important, which is why we’ve sought the input of farmers, producers, regional communities and other stakeholders right across the supply chain and the food system.

When our food and supply chains are productive and resilient, it can help reduce financial strain on households.

It ensures our farmers benefit from domestic and international trade and that Australia continues to be well-positioned to support countries that rely on our world-class products.

There’s so much to be proud of in our $100 billion agriculture, fisheries and forestry sector.

So I want to reiterate once again that our government has farmers’ backs.

We know we can keep achieving for our farmers through collaboration, including with the National Farmers Federation.

And our government has a proud track record when it comes to collaboration.

Look at what we’ve achieved together:

Working with farmers to improve sustainability and climate resilience that I’ve spoken about today.

Working with farmers to support record exports of Australia’s incredible produce.

Working with farmers to produce and protect Australia’s agriculture sector from pests, weeds and diseases through our world-class biosecurity system.

We’ve only achieved all of this through collaboration and by working together.

I hope by reiterating today what we’ve managed to achieve together for our farmers that we can achieve more in the future, it is a good reminder of the power of our collaboration.

Let’s keep working together to achieve for Australian farmers and producers, who we all know are the best in the world, something we all agree on.

Enjoy the next couple of days.