MELBOURNE
WEDNESDAY, 26 JULY 2023

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Good morning everyone.

I’d like to start by acknowledging the Traditional Owners of the lands on which we’re gathering today and pay my respects to elders past, present and emerging.

And I reiterate the Albanese Government’s commitment to recognise our first peoples in our constitution and listen to their advice through a Voice to Parliament.

Because that’s what this is about - recognition and listening.

And we know we get better outcomes from government when we listen to the people affected by government decisions.

I’m delighted to join you all today at the Australian Grains Industry Conference.

It is an honour to speak to you as the Minister for Agriculture, and I am excited to share some thoughts on how - together - we can protect and grow Australia’s grains industry.

The breadth of attendees here today - from grains, oilseed and pulse producers, to food manufacturers, suppliers, service providers and more - is a testament to the importance of the grains industry.

Your industry is not only the largest agricultural industry in Australia but also a vital contributor to our national economy and rural communities.

So on behalf of the Albanese Government, I thank each and every one of you for your contribution.

STATE OF THE SECTOR

Today, the Australian grains industry stands at a critical juncture.

It is truly remarkable that the total production of Australian grains, oilseeds and pulses reached over $30 billion in 2022-23, around two and a half times the figure recorded during last decade’s drought.

But in spite of these incredible times, there are challenges ahead.

Such as changing weather patterns, from a prosperous La Niña period to drier conditions and the growing number of biosecurity threats facing the whole agriculture sector.

This is why it is so important to have a plan for the future, and for government and industry to work together, as we have been doing on a number of issues.

TRADE

Issues like trade, which plays such a crucial role in ensuring the industry's growth and prosperity.

That’s why I was so pleased to be joined by representatives of Grain Trade Australia, Grain Growers Ltd, Grain Producers Australia and the Pulse Council, on my recent trade mission to India.

The potential of the Indian market has to be seen to be believed.

Just this year, India became the most populous nation on earth, at 1.4 billion people.

Its middle class is large and growing fast, with a desire for healthy, clean, high quality food - the kind Australia specialises in.

And this growth is not likely to slow - I was surprised to learn there are as many 17-year-olds in India as the entire Australian population!

While in India, our trade delegation was able to see first-hand how our agriculture exports, including certain grains, are benefitting under the Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement.

Now it’s not exactly a secret that the Indian grain market is a difficult one to crack.

And grains is certainly a focus in our negotiations for a broader Australia-India Comprehensive Economic Cooperation Agreement.

I certainly made the case, in my meetings with five Indian Cabinet Ministers, including the Ministers for Trade, Agriculture and Food Processing, that we seek improved market access for key grains and pulses.

And I think this is possible - we don’t seek to swamp the Indian market and we couldn’t do that, even if we tried.

But we could meet some gaps in the Indian market, with our reputation as a modern, safe, reliable, and sustainable food producer.

By establishing win-win situations, we can support and boost Indian industry and food processing, while growing our own exports.

Of course, there are also challenges on the international trade front.

Russia’s decision to terminate the Black Sea Grain Initiative will exacerbate food insecurity globally, hurting those most in need.

This initiative was critical to ensuring the predictable supply of food, including to our partners in the Indo-Pacific.

That’s one reason our government is calling on Russia to return to the negotiating table.

We also continue to engage constructively with China on the path of stabilisation, which we firmly believe is in both our countries’ interests.

The full resumption of unimpeded trade is important for a stable and sustainable relationship.

It’s good to see some impediments being removed - for cotton, timber and horticulture products.

And I was pleased to see China’s recent publication of updated lists for wheat and barley establishment and exporters.

We see this as a positive step towards ‘business as usual’ in the agriculture trade relationship.

Similarly, the Australian Government remains confident of a positive outcome in the WTO barley review.

These have been positive steps on trade, but there are further steps to take.

You will have seen various Ministers in our government continue to make that point and I certainly have done so, during the first meeting between Australian and Chinese Agriculture Ministers in four years, held in Rome recently.

Alongside my colleagues in government, I will continue to advocate strongly for the timely resolution of all remaining trade impediments that still affect a range of Australian agricultural exports – because that is in the interests of both China and Australia.

Meanwhile, I recognise the importance of opening new trade opportunities for our agricultural industries and we are actively working with trading partners to do this.

I’ve already mentioned India, but there are more, such as the European Union.

Unfortunately, Australia and the EU have not yet been able to conclude negotiations on a free trade agreement, but negotiations will continue.

We recognise the benefits of a deal with this large and high value market, but we have made clear that we will only do a deal that is in the interests of both parties.

We are not prepared to do a deal that isn’t in the interests of our agriculture sector and our overall national interest.

INFRASTRUCTURE

One of the other challenges the grains industry regularly raises with me is the pressure on our grains logistics network.

I certainly acknowledge that recent record-breaking years have put a strain on the existing infrastructure throughout the country.

While there is no doubt more to do, nationally, our government is working towards the more effective movement of grain, including through significant improvements to road and rail infrastructure in grain growing areas in Western Australia.

In collaboration with the State Government and industry we’re jointly investing more than $400 million dollars in two projects for various rail upgrades and associated adjustments to local roads impacted by longer trains loading grain in the Wheatbelt and Great Southern regions of Western Australia.

It will also include various upgrades on roads used by the agricultural sector in the Wheatbelt, Midwest and Goldfields-Esperance regions.

Upgrades to allow longer grain trains will reduce rail freight costs for grain growers and increase grain export supply chain capacity.

The improvements will support the transport of more grain on rail and less by road, increasing efficiency and improving road safety. 

We are also working towards getting the Inland Rail project back on track, after years of delay and budget blowouts.

There is no doubt that Inland Rail is a strategic investment into Australia’s freight future to provide faster access to the ports of Melbourne, Port Kembla, Sydney, Newcastle, Brisbane, Adelaide and Perth.

And that’s why Minister Catherine King and our government generally is currently reforming the structure and governance of the delivery of the Inland Rail project.

So it actually gets delivered without any further budget blowouts.

BIOSECURITY

And while we work to grow the grains sector - through new trade deals and infrastructure investments, we must also protect it, by strengthening our nation’s biosecurity system.

Almost from our first day in office, the Albanese Government has taken decisive steps to protect our agriculture sector from growing biosecurity threats.

And in our May budget you might have seen that we delivered Australia's first ever sustainably funded biosecurity system.

I was pretty shocked to learn that the biosecurity budget we inherited was on track to fall by up to 20% or $100 million per year, because it was built on temporary, short term funding.

At a time when we face more biosecurity threats, I couldn’t believe - and wouldn’t accept - the cut to biosecurity funding that our predecessors had built in.

There is simply too much at stake to cut corners.

So, I was very pleased that my Cabinet colleagues approved new funding of over $1 billion over four years for our biosecurity operations.

Importantly, this included ongoing funding of $267 million per year from 2027- 28, so we don’t have a return to the temporary funding of the past.

Now, there’s been a lot of talk about who will bear the cost of this increased funding, so I’d like to take a moment to explain.

The key point is that the costs of this new sustainable system will be shared between taxpayers, risk creators and the direct beneficiaries of the biosecurity system.

As I’ve explained, taxpayers - through their government - will chip in a significant increase to biosecurity funding.

But something that many haven’t recognised is that importers are now also paying more.

As they should, being one of the largest creators of biosecurity risk.

In fact, we had already begun increasing fees and charges on importers in January this year, collecting an additional $38 million over the next three years to help reduce the risk of hitchhiker pests, like khapra beetle.

And then in our May Budget, we increased biosecurity fees and charges on importers by over $36 million per year, so that they actually pay the cost of the biosecurity services we provide.

We are also introducing a new charge on imports of low value items, worth less than $1000 value, which are a growing source of biosecurity risk – contributing a further $27 million annually to the biosecurity budget.

Again, I was surprised to learn that biosecurity fees and charges had not been properly reviewed since 2015, which meant taxpayers were picking up the tab for importers.

With our changes, importers will pay their fair share.

Now, there’s been a lot of talk about container levies.

And I note the Opposition is now calling for one, even though they scrapped the idea when they were in government.

We are investigating a potential levy of this kind, and we’re working through the various trade law issues that arise from it.

But it’s worth noting, that while others talked about making importers pay more, the Albanese Government has actually done it.

And in doing so, through our changes to biosecurity fees and charges, we’ve raised around the same amount as would have been raised by the killed-off container levy.So government and importers are paying more, for the improvements we are making. Which leaves producers.

My view was that our farmers should not bear the full cost of biosecurity operations, but as the direct beneficiaries of the system, it was reasonable to ask them to make a small contribution.

A very small contribution, when you consider the billions of dollars at stake.

So that’s why, from 1 July next year, we’re implementing a Biosecurity Protection Levy on domestic agriculture, fisheries, and forestry producers.

This levy will contribute to the sustainable funding of the biosecurity system, and for the grains industry, it represents an extra one tenth of one percent of the sale value of most grain crops.

What that means, all up, is that producers will only contribute approximately 6% of Commonwealth biosecurity funding in 2024-25.

This compares to the 44% contributed by government and 48% from importers.

I think that is a fair and reasonable way to share the cost of our world class biosecurity system, between taxpayers, risk creators and beneficiaries of the system.

So what does industry get in return?

Firstly, it means no more funding cuts to biosecurity, because we have guaranteed funding to maintain the current level of service in protecting our borders.

Secondly, this new funding model moves us away from short-term measures, where the system was funded on a two-year budget cycle, ensuring a stronger and more sustainable biosecurity system and also providing certainty to our ag trade sector.

Finally, it will also invest in better technology systems to streamline the biosecurity inspection process, ensuring more things coming into the country are being checked for biosecurity risk.

It also introduces better accountability and transparency arrangements, which will allow for greater insight into biosecurity revenue and expenditure.

I’ve had a lot of complaints from industry that people don’t know what biosecurity money is raised and how it is spent. I want to use these changes as a way of providing that transparency.

There is a lot to be done and a lot still to be decided. The consultation period on the new biosecurity protection levy will start soon and I encourage you to get involved via the Department of Agriculture website.

RESEARCH AND DEVELOPMENT

Finally, I’d like to talk about the importance of research and development to our grains industry.

By embracing innovation and investing in research and development, we can ensure the continued growth and sustainability of this industry.

For the past four decades, the agricultural sector has benefited through the 15-commodity based Rural Research and Development Corporations, helping to drive agricultural innovation.

These RDCs have been instrumental in driving research, development, and extension projects to deliver new and improved varieties, farming practices, technologies, and capabilities to the grains industry.

The Grains Research and Development Corporation has been a central part of this success, investing around $181 million in R&D in 2022-23 alone.

That’s why I am thrilled to be a part of today’s launch of the GRDC’s new research, development and extension plan for 2023-2028.

GRDC's new RD&E plan is designed to leverage these opportunities and unlock the untapped potential within our grains industry.

This plan represents a significant investment of over one billion dollars over the next five years to deliver remarkable advancements for Australian grain growers.

The plan revolves around four strategic pillars: harnessing existing potential, reaching new frontiers, growing markets and capturing value, and thriving for future generations.

Under the new plan, the GRDC aims to address critical challenges and seize emerging opportunities.

The GRDC’s RD&E plan focuses not only on pushing the industry to new levels but also on growing markets and capturing value.

$250 million of this investment will go toward blue-sky research aimed at delivering step-change innovations that will push growers towards a new frontier, and for RD&E to grow markets and capture value, ensuring the sustainability of the grains industry.

Grains Australia is another initiative of the GRDC and is another great example of industry collaboration and leadership, leading to a range of industry good activities and the establishment of a Pulse Council this year.

By investing in research and development, we are laying the foundation for a more sustainable, productive, and competitive grains industry, and I congratulate the GRDC and the entire industry, for your efforts in this regard.

CONCLUSION

In conclusion, the Australian grains industry is facing both challenges and opportunities.

Maintaining the boom times is itself a challenge, but with strong cooperation between government and industry, on issues like trade, infrastructure, biosecurity and innovation, I think we can protect and grow this sector for a long time to come.

Let us work together to propel our industry forward, ensuring a better tomorrow for Australian grain growers and future generations.

Thank you, and I wish you all a productive and inspiring conference.