Address to the Rural Press Club of Victoria, Melbourne

ROYAL MELBOURNE SHOW
THURSDAY, 02 OCTOBER 2025
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Thank you for having me today.

I would like to start by acknowledging the traditional owners of this land we meet on today, and pay my respects to Elders past, present and emerging. 

I would also like to give a shout out to my fantastic colleague, Jo Briskey – the newly elected Member for Maribyrnong, who’s electorate we’re in today. 

I know Jo was here at the show yesterday experiencing everything that our agricultural sector has to offer. 

Jo has dedicated her life to helping people across her local community, which is why we’re really thrilled to have her on our team.

It is an absolute pleasure to be here at the Melbourne Royal Show – 177 years after the show society was first formed.  

I’ve had the great privilege of being the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry for just over a year and getting to visit shows and trade fairs up and down the country has been a real highlight.  

Whether it’s metropolitan shows like this, which bring the best of our rural communities and our farmers and producers to the city. 

Or country shows and fairs that are such a fantastic advertisement for the towns and communities where they are held.    

Of course, Melbourne is rightly considered a culinary and fashion capital, so people here know something about the quality of our food and our fibre.  

And the Melbourne Royal Show is a brilliant way of connecting the people who enjoy those spoils with the people who work so hard to provide them – our farmers. 

Our farmers are incredibly resilient.  

The people in this room, who provide such important coverage of rural and regional Australia, I know have a keen understanding of this.  

And while parts of Queensland and NSW are recovering from increased rainfall and flooding, in South Australia and other parts of NSW and indeed here in Victoria, communities are again dealing with the effects of drought.  

You’ll have your own stories, and you’ve been telling these stories in your publications, online, and on the air.  

They’re not abstract datasets or collections of statistics.  

They’re stories - stories about individuals, families and communities with rich, long histories, finding ways to endure and thrive in difficult circumstances.  

And the stories you have been telling here in Victoria are important ones. 

Our Government has been listening.  

We hear those stories.   

And we are responding. 

Our Government has announced a range of support measures aimed at making sure that our world class producers can continue to do what they do so well.  

We’ve boosted the Regional Investment Corporation, or RIC, by $1 billion, supporting farmers and farm-related small businesses access concessional loans when they need them. 

More than $363 million worth of RIC loans, across 402 loans, have supported Victorian farmers to date. 

We’ve committed around $520 million towards Future Drought Fund programs over the next eight years, with over $48 million in support already flowing here in Victoria. 

This includes $5.7 million under the Future Drought Fund’s Farm Business Resilience program, which has supported over 4,000 farmers to participate in more than 1,400 subsidised learning and development activities. 

This is all about supporting farmers to build resilience as our landscapes become more challenging. 

Since 2021, around $15 million in federal funding has also flowed to the Victoria Future Drought Hub, which connects farmers and communities with regional experts, innovations and new practices. 

I recently announced the continuation of these drought hubs across the country while we consider the independent review of the hubs, backed by a $104 million investment.  

As with all things, there is always room to be better, with the review suggesting some improvements, which we will take into account as we design the next phase of the Hubs program. 

Importantly, we’ve also invested an additional $2 million into in the Rural Financial Counselling Service program to employ more counsellors and to improve access to support in regions impacted by droughts. 

Around 960 people in Victoria are currently receiving the Farm Household Allowance. 

This is Federal Government income support payments for those farmers doing it tough. 

And the total value of Farm Management Deposits – which help farmers better smooth their incomes - held by producers in Victoria is more than $1.5 billion across 11,333 accounts – supporting farmers during drought and hard times. 

Each of these measures are supporting people across regional Victoria when they need it most. 

These investments reflect our commitment to real action.  

We know that it’s not enough to simply see the problems facing farmers and producers and say we’re listening. 

Or to say we know farmers and producers are doing it tough. 

We have to do the work of responding and supporting our farmers and producers. 

We’re proud of our record in doing just that.  

You already know that the Government has committed over $2 billion in additional resourcing to Australia’s biosecurity. 

Australia remains one of few countries free from some of the world’s most invasive pests and diseases thanks greatly to the success of these systems.   

And the success of Australia’s biosecurity system was demonstrated again right here in Victoria earlier this year with the latest eradication of the highly pathogenic avian influenza H7.  

This response highlights the great importance of working together on biosecurity across governments, industry, community, and other stakeholders. 

This same approach is helping to guide our preparedness activities for H5 avian influenza, with our Government investing $100 million to strengthen surveillance, preparedness and response capability. 

Keeping on top of biosecurity threats like H5 or H7 avian influenza requires ongoing vigilance.  

Our Government is committed to that.  

And we will never compromise on biosecurity.  

Our backing of farmers and producers is evident in our deliveries on trade, creating new market access wins and stabilising relations with some of our most important partners. 

Since coming into government, we have recorded 231 market access achievements, opened 29 new markets, protected 81 markets in the face of trade threats, restored 17 markets where trade was lost, and make 104 improvements to existing markets. 

This includes successfully removing trade impediments on $20 billion worth of Australian exports to our largest agricultural trading partner, China. 

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

In a time where global instability is affecting confidence. 

Australia is seen as a trustworthy partner.  

We’ll continue to work hard so that reputation stays intact. 

Just this week we have seen exciting new opportunities open up for Australia’s farmers and producers.  

The Australia-United Arab Emirates Comprehensive Economic Partnership Agreement comes into force and it eliminates tariffs on more than 99 per cent of Australia’s exports. 

This includes key agricultural products such as meat, dairy, grains and oilseeds, pulses, horticulture and honey, and will reduce tariffs on wine. 

Most tariffs on agricultural products sent to the UAE will be eliminated immediately, including on dairy, red meat, and grains and oilseed. 

While tariffs on a limited number of goods such as poultry, bread and pastry will be phased out over the next 3 to 5 years. 

In the 2024-25 financial year, Australian agriculture, fisheries and forestry exports to the UAE were valued at $1.7 billion, making the UAE our 12th largest agriculture export market. 

This new agreement will provide more opportunities to grow these figures.  

Importantly, the agreement also contains Australia’s first standalone chapter on sustainable agriculture and food systems, recognising agriculture’s essential role in driving climate resilience, emissions reductions and other environmental outcomes. 

And our Government is acting on climate.  

Last month our Government released its 2035 climate change target and the Agriculture and Land Sector Plan – which chart both our path towards economy-wide net zero by 2050, and agricultures contribution towards it.  

The Ag & Land Sector Plan has been informed by extensive consultation with our farming industry.

It seeks to build on and match industry’s climate ambition, while maximising the benefits for both producers and land managers alike. 

We’re investing more than $300 million towards our Climate-Smart Agriculture program, which is supporting our farmers and producers to adopt climate-smart practices that lower emissions and boost productivity. 

Just last week I announced the latest grants from this program, including more than $1 million to the Upper Barwon Landcare Network right here in Victoria, which will support training and mentoring for our farmers to improve their sustainability. 

We’ve put more than $28 million toward improving greenhouse gas accounting to help improve the understanding of both business and sector emissions. 

More than $90 million to towards the Zero Net Emissions in Ag Cooperative Research Centre, which is supporting innovation to develop new abatement options. 

Expanding the Carbon Farming Outreach Program with an additional $27 million to strengthen on-ground action. 

And more than $73 million for plantations across the country. 

Alongside these measures, the Australian Government is investing $1.1 billion to help unlock the vast economic opportunities on offer from low carbon liquid fuels.  

This is all about helping to maximise the economic and industrial benefits of the shift to clean energy and net zero.  

Which is why our Government is today kicking off consultation on the development of a National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy to support this exciting new opportunity for our farmers and producers. 

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

We have listened to supply chain stakeholders who have called for government to set out a direction for a domestic feedstock industry. 

Supplying bioenergy feedstocks is an exciting new commercial opportunity for farmers, foresters and regional communities but we want the industry to develop in a way that maximises those opportunities. 

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

This goes to the heart of what we’re about- taking action to assist our agricultural industries now, while providing a pathway into the future.  

Finally, I want to raise a subject of interest to many of the people who would otherwise occupy this Masterchef kitchen.  

It’s no surprise that a program like Masterchef is such a success in Australia.  

We are a multicultural nation rich with histories, stories and cuisines – from First Nations people to our latest arrivals.  

Those dishes take advantage of the incredible produce we grow, process and sell, both locally, and right around the world.  

Our food is sought after because of its quality, and because of its safety.  

The food that we grow and enjoy here, prepared by master chefs and amateurs alike, is also appearing on plates around the world.  

Our food system is a major national asset, but we can’t afford to be complacent. 

Our Government has undertaken significant work to improve food security and the Australian food system – including our new investments in biosecurity and in reducing emissions and climate resilience.  

We have 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 underlying challenges facing our food system and supply chains. 

These conversations have informed Feeding Australia – a new national food security strategy.  

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

Feeding Australia will help us to understand and prepare for those risks and challenges so farmers and stakeholders along the food supply chain can face the future with confidence.  

And so our friends and neighbours can continue to rely on Australia as a safe and secure trading partner.  

Ensuring we get the priorities of Feeding Australia right is incredibly important, which is why we have sought the input of farmers, producers, regional communities and stakeholders from across the food supply chain.  

We will also establish a National Food Council, which will advise government on the development of the Feeding Australia strategy.  

The council will be made up of members with considerable knowledge and experience from across our food system, ensuring Feeding Australia is a comprehensive plan for our nation’s future. 

In September of this year, I announced that Australia’s farmers and producers were on track to deliver a record result, with agriculture, fisheries and forestry forecast to pass $100 billion this financial year. 

This extraordinary figure is a result of strong prices for both livestock and animal products, but more crucially it stands as a testament to the hard work, ingenuity and resilience of our sector.  

Prices rise and fall, droughts arrive and break, and floods peak and fall. 

But through it all, our world-leading farmers and producers continue to contribute to our economy, our global reputation and our quality of life.  

All of us, in the cities as well as the bush, benefit from our agricultural communities.  

Our Government will continue to back them in, because they continue to provide so much for us.  

Thank you.