Doorstop at Parliament House, Canberra

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
PARLIAMENT HOUSE, CANBERRA
WEDNESDAY, 27 MAY 2026

SUBJECTS: Securing more fertiliser for farmers, Tax changes announced in the Budget

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: I'm really pleased to be able to announce today that we have been, through Export Finance Australia and our fuel and fertiliser facility, been able to secure two additional cargoes of fertiliser, that is urea, coming from Indonesia. This is about 80,000 tonnes, and now brings our total of six cargoes or shipments coming to Australia with over 200,000 tonnes through Export Finance Australia, and the work we've been able to do with fertiliser companies. We have been busy since this war broke out and its impacts globally are also impacting here at home. We have been doing everything that we can do to shield Australian farmers from the worst impacts and to make sure that they have access to critical inputs such as fuel and fertiliser, particularly diesel. And Minister Bowen, obviously on Saturday, talked about how we've been able to secure more fuel into the country. We're now over 800 million litres in terms of fuel. This fertiliser I know will be important for farmers, and they have some surety in uncertain times when it comes to the plantings that they're currently undertaking across the country.

JOURNALIST: Just on the tax changes coming through, Minister, is it just for it is just a wedge more than that, just bundling everything together? That's what the opposition seem to think.

COLLINS: I don't think it's any surprise that the first sitting week after the Federal Budget that as a Government, we want to legislate what we announced in the Federal Budget. I don't think that that should come as any surprise to anybody.

JOURNALIST: Is it more a case of being reckless that it's legislating first and then asking questions later, like having any sort of potential carve-out being legislated weeks after the fact or after everything's already in place? Is it just an attempt to rush it through?

COLLINS: As the Treasurer has been very clear, this is the way that we would normally go about any of the types of changes that we are making. This is the usual process. The first sitting week after the Federal Budget, we are introducing legislation tomorrow to implement our changes in the Federal Budget.

JOURNALIST: And with all the wild weather that's coming through, we'll see that farmers are having issue with their crops with the shortage of urea and diesel. Now they're getting a hit with this wild weather. What message do you have for farmers?

COLLINS: We know that some Australian farmers have been having a really tough time. We know that there has been drying conditions, we know that there's been flooding, there's even been bushfires in recent months. We know that some Australian farmers have been doing it really tough. We also know that this war in the Middle East is impacting globally and that Australian farmers have not been immune. We know that they're having higher input costs, which is why as a Government we've moved very swiftly and quickly to do our best to shield them from the worst impacts and to make sure that they have those supplies that they need to make sure that our food security system is strong.

JOURNALIST: With the new deal with the urea, when are the farmers expecting that to get to their farms, their properties?

COLLINS: I've been very clear that we have enough fertiliser in the country or on the water on its way to Australia already for the current winter sowing season. What we're talking about at the moment is securing enough for the rest of the season and we've been pretty clear about that. Certainly, now with over 200,000 tonnes secured through Export Finance Australia and of course our fertiliser companies continue to also bring in fertiliser through other means into the country and our fertiliser working group continues to meet each and every week. I also have meetings every single week with the agriculture industry since the outbreak of this war, to hear from them about the situation on the ground. Thank you.