Address to the National Farmers' Federation National Conference

CANBERRA
THURSDAY, 26 OCTOBER 2023

THE ALBANESE GOVERNMENT: DELIVERING FOR AGRICULTURE

Good morning everyone. I’m delighted to join you to help open this year’s NFF National Conference.

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

I’d also like to acknowledge all the dignitaries in the room today, but in particular outgoing NFF President Fiona Simson.

During your term, Fiona, you’ve worked with six Federal Agriculture Ministers and in my nearly 18 months in the role, I’ve valued your counsel and your willingness to find solutions for your members’ concerns.

I wish you the very best with your future endeavours.

I know you leave big shoes to fill and, based on his initial interviews, I know that incoming President David Jochinke is champing at the bit!

Can I apologise in advance David, as I have to return to Senate Estimates once I finish speaking but having got to know you in your time as Vice President, I look forward to working with you into the future.

WORKING TOGETHER

Since the election in May last year, the Albanese Government has been focused solely on Working for Australians, whether they live in our biggest cities or in the bush.

Delivering cheaper medicines and cheaper childcare, fee-free TAFE places, more GP bulk billing, building more affordable homes. 

These things help all Australians, whether they live in Brisbane or Bunbury.  

Today, I’ll outline how our government is delivering for the ag sector. I’ll talk with you about what we’ve fixed, what we’re delivering, and where we’re going.

Before that, though, I think it’s important that I address the campaign being launched by the NFF today.

I think all of you know that my door is always open to listen, collaborate and for a little fella I think that I’ve got broad shoulders.

In my speech, I’ll take you through some of the things we’ve achieved together, both in my portfolio, and by advocating across government.

So I was surprised to read in today’s papers that the NFF is launching a campaign against the government arguing that, and I quote, “food and fibre production is not a central priority for the current Federal government”, that Labor is pursuing “a niche ideological agenda” and that “Labor is wilfully ignorant of the plight of farmers”.

I have to say, it felt like a “central priority”, each time we delivered nearly $3 billion in extra funding for agriculture since taking office, despite a tight fiscal environment.

It didn’t feel like we were pursuing a “niche, ideological agenda” when we delivered the restoration of trade with our biggest agricultural trading partner.

It didn’t feel like “wilful ignorance” of farmers, when the Prime Minister personally raised live cattle trade disruptions with Indonesia in his recent meeting with President Widodo – disruptions that were lifted hours later.

But I guess that’s just politics, but I do think that both government and industry can do better.

And just like you have good and bad seasons, relationships between governments and political lobby groups will have their ups and downs.

Whoever is in power.

Ironically, it wasn’t that long ago my predecessor, from the other side of politics, called the NFF “ignorant”, “sideline critics” and “cowards”.

Language you haven’t heard from me, or any of my Labor colleagues.

Just as we should treat others with respect, we have a responsibility to be honest with each other and the wider community when we disagree.

I know, for example, that we don’t agree on all aspects of the Government’s plan to save the Murray-Darling Basin.

But we both agree that we must save this vital economic and environmental asset, because we’ve seen the results of a decade of inaction.

Contrary to the claims being made by some, our plan involves more time, more options and more funding to deliver the remaining water.

It is true that voluntary water buybacks are required to deliver the plan.

But it is not true, as is being claimed by some, that there will be forced buybacks, that they are the only option we are considering, or that we will ignore the social impacts involved.

Similarly on industrial relations, it is true that the Government was elected on a platform of lifting wages and delivering more secure work – including for farm workers.

A key step in doing so is closing the labour hire loophole – mainly used in mining and aviation.

What is not true are claims that this will make it harder and more expensive for family farms to employ their workers.

For starters, they generally don’t employ workers under an enterprise agreement, meaning the laws won’t apply.

In fact, there are only 82 EBAs registered for agricultural businesses across Australia.

Secondly, the laws won’t apply to farms that directly employ fewer than 15 people.

Thirdly, the laws don’t apply where labour hire is engaged for less than three months, exempting most farms engaging seasonal workers.

We all have a right to have our say in our vibrant democracy.

But we all have a responsibility to tell people the truth about those facts.

WHAT WE’VE FIXED

But notwithstanding those disagreements, we should also acknowledge the great strides we’ve made together, on behalf of one of Australia’s most important and valuable industries.

That cooperation between government and industry, not to mention good seasons and the hard work of farmers and their workers, has seen the industry inch ever closer to its $100 billion goal.

It started with cooperation, to fix serious problems in agriculture that were left behind by our predecessors, none more than biosecurity.

Weeks after coming to power in May 2022, we were faced with the threat of Foot and Mouth Disease and Lumpy Skin Disease on our doorstep.

In the face of alarmist calls from the Coalition to close the border with Indonesia, we worked calmly and cooperatively with industry.

And to this day, we’ve kept Australia free of both diseases.

What was more alarming was learning that the Federal biosecurity budget we inherited had been cut by about $100 million per year, jeopardising our biosecurity system and the department’s entire budget.

The good news is that we’ve fixed it, by our Labor government delivering our election commitment to sustainably fund Australia’s biosecurity system.

Something the NFF and many other groups called for, for years.

I was very pleased that the Prime Minister, the Treasurer and my Cabinet colleagues supported my ask, in this year’s budget, for over $1 billion in new biosecurity funding over four years. Locked in, forever, to protect Australian agriculture. By a Labor Government.

Importantly, the costs of this new sustainable system will be shared between taxpayers, risk creators and the direct beneficiaries of the biosecurity system.

Something the NFF called for, in its own submission.

Taxpayers, through the Budget, will contribute more, because we all benefit from strong biosecurity protections.

And for those who say importers should pay more – they now are, because of our government’s decisions.

Our predecessors refusal, since 2015, to review importers’ biosecurity fees and charges meant importers weren’t paying the full cost of those services, as was intended.

Again, we’ve fixed that, just like you asked us to do.

From July, importers now pay the full cost of the biosecurity services we provide.

As of this week, as a result of our changes, cost recovery from importers has totalled $111.3 million.

This includes an extra $13.2 million raised, which was not paid by importers previously.

As these and other changes roll out, we expect to raise an extra $100 million per year from importers from 2025-26.

Importantly, that’s about the same as was predicted to be raised from a container levy.

A levy the now Opposition promised in government, scrapped, and are now promising it again.

I don’t know about you, but I’d rather rely on money actually coming in than another promise from people who reneged when they had the chance.

In designing the new system, my view was that producers - as direct beneficiaries of the system – should also make a small contribution towards something that makes or breaks their livelihoods.

That’s why we’re implementing a Biosecurity Protection Levy on domestic agriculture, fisheries, and forestry producers, commencing on July 1st, 2024.

What that means for a cattle farmer is 50 cents a head, or for an apple grower, it’s less than a fifth of a cent per kilogram.

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

In total, under our new, sustainable biosecurity funding system, importers will pay 48% of the cost of biosecurity operations, with taxpayers paying 44%, and producers paying only 6%.

We will obviously keep working with the sector in implementing this change, but I think this is a fair and equitable way to deliver a better, more transparent and more efficient biosecurity system.
 
CHINA
 
Unfortunately, it wasn’t just biosecurity that needing fixing when we came to office.

You will have seen the work we’ve had to do, to fix the APVMA, our crucial agvet chemicals regulator, after advice was ignored and pork barrelled it into the then Minister’s electorate.

And our farmers were badly let down, when ties with our biggest trading partner were left in tatters, wiping billions of dollars off our export markets.

It took the election of a Labor Government, and many, many representations from Government Ministers, to begin stabilising our relationship with China.

You would’ve seen the news this week that China will review its tariffs on Australian wine.

On the back of trade resuming in cotton, timber, hay, horticulture and barley.

We delivered for Australian barley producers, and we hope to achieve the same resolution for the almost 170,000 Australians who work in the wine industry.

There is still work to do, and we will continue to advocate for the removal of remaining trade barriers, specifically in the red meat processing and lobster sectors.

We will do that, with the same calm and considered approach that has restored well over a billion dollars worth of trade opportunities for Australian producers.
 
WHAT WE’RE DOING

We’re not resting on our laurels, though.

Having fixed, or largely fixed, some of the mess we inherited, we’ve moved on to new ground, including in trade.

TRADE 

Since coming to government I’ve made growing trade and market access for agriculture a key priority, and we’re already making good progress.

Last year we recorded 107 technical market access achievements for Aussie producers, worth a potential $5.47 billion.

The UK-FTA, which the Prime Minister, Trade Minister and I all lobbied the UK to ratify, delivered the first shipment of Queensland raw sugar to London last month.

A new market worth more than $74 million to the sugar industry alone.

The Australia-India Economic Cooperation and Trade Agreement (AI-ECTA), which our government worked to ratify with India last year, has already delivered higher exports of Australian sheep and goat meat, lentils, cotton and oats, with new market access for Australian Hass avocados.

Something that Tony and others saw during our trip to India earlier this year.

We have also improved access for Australian producers to sell avocados to Thailand, stone fruit to Vietnam, mangos to Japan, dairy to Chile, seafood to Israel and sheep meat to the Middle East.

All while negotiating a new EU Free Trade Agreement.

This is a difficult negotiation.

No Australian Government has succeeded before.

And throughout these negotiations, this Labor Government has worked side by side with the agriculture sector.  

The Trade Minister and I have had countless meetings and conversations with your sector’s leaders and we have repeatedly made clear that we will only conclude a deal that is in Australia’s national interest and delivers new, commercially-meaningful market access for Australian agriculture.

That remains our intent.

WORKFORCE

But to get our world class product to these markets we need workers on the ground here.

After years of underinvestment in training, a hopelessly broken migration system and the impacts of COVID, every industry in Australia has experienced severe skill shortages.

The truth is, though, agriculture has faced challenges attracting workers for years.

And it wasn’t fixed by our predecessors’ hollow promise of an ag visa, which delivered lots of headlines, but zero workers, and was undermined by their own Ministers.

We’ve taken a different approach.

Following last year’s Jobs and Skills Summit, we formed the tripartite Agricultural Workforce Working Group, which brought government, employer groups and unions together to attract, train, protect and retain the workers the sector needs.

Of course, disagreements remain on some issues, but this cooperative approach – working with other Ministers and departments - has delivered:

Over 13,000 Fee-Free TAFE places for agriculture courses;

Agreed principles to underpin labour hire licensing;

A commitment to a Food Supply Chain Capacity Study, and an Ag Trade Apprenticeship; and

Agriculture’s voice being heard in the Government’s Migration Review, Employment White Paper and Housing Plan. In addition, our government has:
slashed the backlog of 1 million visa applications that we inherited,  
Returned backpacker numbers to above pre-COVID levels, and  
delivered record number of PALM workers for agriculture and meat processing.

And while I know there are some who oppose recent changes to the PALM scheme – changes made due to unacceptable exploitation that hurts this industry’s reputation as an employer – it’s worth noting that more employers have signed up to the new scheme than did so under the old scheme, and more PALM workers are forecast to arrive in November than in any previous month.

We understand that, like all industries, the workforce needs of agriculture are not yet fulfilled. But any honest observer would acknowledge there is a huge amount that’s being done.
 
WHERE WE’RE GOING

While we are certainly focused on how to protect and grow the agricultural sector here and now, with challenges like the collapse in livestock prices caused by oversupply and approaching drought, we also have one eye on the future.

My firm belief is that how successfully we deal with the climate challenge will define the next two decades of this proud industry.

Because as the Prime Minister often says, you either shape the future or let the future shape you.
 
SUSTAINABILITY
 
You’ve probably heard me quote ABARES findings, that changing seasonal conditions due to climate change have already reduced the average Australian farm’s annual profits by 23%, or nearly $30,000, over the last 20 years.

All forecasts are that climate-induced extreme weather will only increase in the years ahead.

Banks, insurers, domestic consumers and our international markets are all demanding ever higher levels of sustainability.

Equally, adapting to climate change presents opportunities to Australian farmers and foresters, to reduce their costs, generate new income streams and to build their soil health and other natural capital.

I’m proud of Australian producers’ contribution to emissions reduction and action on sustainability, boosting their profitability and productivity at the same time.

Many of these farmers come from multi-generational farming families, committed to passing on the land in a better state than when they inherited it.

But the fact is, we need to do more, and that’s something Australian producers increasingly recognise. Fiona recognised this in her National Press Club address this week.

Already our government is supporting and partnering with farmers to expand our forest plantations and increase uptake of climate-smart, sustainable practices, through hundreds of millions of investment from the Natural Heritage Trust, in R&D, in methane-reducing technologies, in the NFF-led Australian Agricultural Sustainability Framework and more.

And we’ve retained the $5 billion Future Drought Fund which will help farmers and communities become more prepared for, and resilient to, the impacts of drought.

Today I am very pleased to announce early actions our Government is taking to address some of the recent findings of the Productivity Commission inquiry into the Fund.

The Albanese Government will allocate $17.7 million for essential activities so that farmers and regional communities can continue to access information and support, as they continue to prepare for drought and drying conditions.

This includes a short-term extension to the Drought Resilience Adoption and Innovation Hubs, while their operations are evaluated, and the Climate Services for Agriculture program.

It will also kick start activities to evaluate key programs, better understand the needs of First Nations communities, and improve collaboration, information sharing, and the way we measure success.

And beyond these existing climate initiatives, we’ve begun consulting on the nation’s first Agriculture and Land Sector Plan, to help us reach net zero emissions.

This will be our government’s signature plan to set up this industry for a lower emission future. To ensure it not just survives, but prospers, in a changing climate. I encourage you to get involved.

CONCLUSION

Time does not permit me to go into the other work we’re doing to protect and grow Australia’s agriculture sector.

Things like:

• Investing in traceability, infrastructure and agtech; 
• Boosting value adding in agriculture, fisheries and forestry; 
• Developing a new animal welfare strategy; and 
• Building our resilience against natural disasters. 

But you can see there is an awful lot being done.

So, there should – this is an important, exciting industry that all Australians value and I’m proud to be its Minister.

Across biosecurity, trade, workforce and sustainability, we’ve begun work to fix the problems we inherited, we’re delivering on current needs and we’re planning ahead to take the sector forward.

All this work has been built on a strong partnership between an Albanese Labor Government and your industry.

I’ve been around long enough to know that we won’t always agree on everything.

But I reckon there’s a fair bit we do agree on and that we’ve already achieved - together.

And I know we’ll achieve a lot more for this sector if we campaign with each other, rather than against each other.

Thanks for inviting me and enjoy the conference.