Doorstop at Carrick, Tasmania

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
CARRICK
THURSDAY, 7 MAY 2026

SUBJECT/S: Green Sheep project.

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: It’s a pleasure to launch the Green Sheep project here today. It's a three-year project. They're only just a couple of months in and this is about a $3 million investment from the Federal Government but importantly, it's also about collaboration. Sheep Producers Australia are leading the project, but they're working with NRMs and with Landcares on the ground and across four states of Australia in terms of making sure that we can help sheep producers right across the country.

JOURNALIST: What are the outcomes of the program?

COLLINS: Well, what it will do is provide practical tools for farmers to be able to know their number in terms of their sustainability and how to improve that. And this is really important, particularly in terms of global markets and the changing global context of trade.

JOURNALIST: Is it burdening farmers with extra red tape?

COLLINS: What it's doing is helping farmers. It's about using technology and practical tools for them to be able to measure what they're already doing very well. I'm able to say regularly, our farmers are some of the best on the planet and they really are. They have some of the lowest emissions, some of the least amount of water use, some of the least amount of fertiliser, some of the least amount of tilling, and they get some of the best results. They're incredibly innovative and efficient.

JOURNALIST: So, this isn't going to be something that slows down anyone, or it's just another step?

COLLINS: This is about supporting farmers in terms of being able to measure their sustainability and about being able to improve it and be able to prove their sustainability in terms of what they're already doing.

CAROLYN CAMERON, SHEEP PRODUCERS AUSTRALIA: Hi, I'm Carolyn Cameron, the Green Sheep Project Manager for Sheep Producers Australia.

JOURNALIST: Fantastic. So, yeah, tell us a bit about this Green sheep.

CAMERON: So, the Green Sheep project is a national project working with natural resource management groups across the country to both understand and improve and report on climate and natural capital on farms. And we're really excited about launching it today because that means we could get going and get the information back to our sheep producers. 20,000 sheep producers nationally that manage 65 million hectares of Australia's landscape. So, it's really important that we get it right and that we are able to tell that story to the market, to the financier and to other systems that want to know how sheep producers are doing their bit for sustainability.

JOURNALIST: Yeah. Are consumers keen to know about that, know what the impact of their food is on the planet?

CAMERON: Consumers are interested, want to know whether their food is and particularly the market as a whole, like supply chains want to know what they're selling to their consumers. And also banks and others want to know that they're putting money into sustainable organisations.

JOURNALIST: And can this be tracked through from the farm to the supermarket shelves?

CAMERON: Yes. Yes. So, the people that we have working with us on our project advisory group are the standard-setting people and also the ones that track how animals move through the supply chain. And so you'll be able to tell, eventually, about the animal, where it lived, what happened to it and the sustainability on the farm where it was raised before it went to the other.