Press conference in Freshwater, Queensland

PRESS CONFERENCE
CANBERRA
TUESDAY 6 AUGUST 2024

SUBJECTS: On Farm Connectivity, Commercial Broadcasting Tax

MICHELLE ROWLAND, MINISTER FOR COMMUNICATIONS: Good morning, everyone. It's great to be here at Mark's farm, just outside of Cairns in Freshwater. We're here with a very positive announcement about digital connectivity and our Ag sector. For that reason, I'm so pleased to be joined by my most excellent colleague, the Minister for Agriculture and Small Business, Julie Collins. Also, Matt Smith, our amazing candidate for Leichhardt at the upcoming federal election. And great to have Jen Medway here from the Regional Tech Hub which is operated by the National Farmers' Federation. And also Steve from the local Canegrowers Association.

We know that productivity in our farming sector is so important, and one of the best ways to enhance that is through AgTech. The Albanese Government has been offering a most innovative program to the farmers of Australia, and that is through our $30 million On Farm Connectivity Program. This is an example of a recommendation that was actually made by farmers, just like we've got here, so many years ago. We picked up that, in a report of the Regional Telecommunications Review, that we needed to encourage the uptake of AgTech, and how could we incentivise that occurring?

We therefore went to the election with a commitment and, really, the first of its kind, to have this sort of rebate system. And with $30 million we've been able to see, through our first round, the incredible uptake. That was fully subscribed and it was over $2.5 million of that in Queensland alone, and some quarter of a million in the Cairns region. What this does is it subsidises equipment and technology solutions for farmers to make sure that they can, not only experiment with, but certainly get the benefits of AgTech.

Some of those examples include soil monitoring, livestock - making sure that we can trace the provenance - but also connectivity itself through antennas and increased connectivity solutions, not only in the farm house, but also expanding that to the fields. You can even see on the equipment behind me, there is technology on just about every piece of farm equipment these days and that helps to measure, not only yield but also traceability, and ensure that the best use of the farmers’ time is able to be made. It also has a number of safety features as well, because a lot of this technology does mean that farmers don't need to go right across their property, they can actually monitor everything from soil moisture to the levels of dams and other devices, actually, remotely.

So, this is a great announcement that I've got today. Not only are we opening round two of the Regional Connectivity Program and the On Farm Connectivity element of it, but also we are increasing the amount of money that is available in grants from $15 million to $18 million. We're also decreasing the threshold for that equipment. Previously it was $3,000, now it's $1,000 and that means that more equipment can be obtained under this. We're also increasing the amount of farmers who will be eligible to take this up where previously the threshold was $2 million and now it's $4 million.

This has come about because, through our first round, we took the feedback, saw how successful it was, and asked those participants how we could make it even better. The Albanese Government is always looking for ways to improve connectivity in rural and regional Australia, to enhance the productivity of our farming sector and to ensure that such an important export facility not only remains viable but can continue to grow and to compete.

So, I'll hand over to Minister Collins to say a few words, and thanks very much, Matt, for having us along today as well.

MATT SMITH, LABOR CANDIDATE FOR LEICHHARDT: Thank you.

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE: Thanks, Minister Rowland. It's terrific to be here with Minister Rowland, with Matt, with Steve and with Jen. I thank Mark also for allowing us to be on his farm today. I've been the Ag Minister now for just over a week but I recall, in opposition, Michelle and I talking about this program and why it's so important to Australian producers. Listening to Mark and to Steve and to Jen about how important AgTech is for the productivity of Australian farmers has been really important today. They are the reason that we are changing the program, as Minister Rowland has outlined, because we have listened to feedback. We are engaging with farmers and producers across the country and listening to them and taking them seriously.

It's terrific to be here today for this announcement of $18 million for round two, to improve AgTech access and traceability and productivity for farmers here in Australia. We know that this program was successful last time. I look forward to meeting more primary producers across the country and talking to them about the success of these programs and how we as a Government can support primary producers here in Queensland and indeed right across the country to get better access to connectivity and to get better access to AgTech to improve the productivity.

We know that Australian farmers are already some of the most innovative in the world. We know that our agricultural production adds to our GDP. The value of it is in the tens of billions of dollars. We estimate around $89 billion this financial year is what our primary producers are returning to Australians in terms of value. So, these programs are critically important to make sure that Australian farmers continue to be world leaders and at the edge of technology, and able to utilise that technology to improve our productivity even further. And importantly, to ensure traceability when we get pests and diseases and we need to deal with those right across the country. Thanks very much for having us today

SMITH: Thank you.

SMITH: Thank you very much for coming along today. My name is Matt Smith; I am the Labor candidate for the Federal seat of Leichhardt. Thank you to Minister Collins and Minister Rowland for coming up here today for this announcement. This is great for a seat such as Leichhardt, which does have such a heavy agricultural bent. Particularly as you head out of Cairns we've got cane farms, we've got some cattle farms up in the Cape that could take hours to drive across – it’s the size of Victoria. So, the ability to have this level of connectivity to monitor stock, to monitor crops and yields is an absolutely fantastic initiative. And being able to give farmers a way into this level of technology, as an Australian first, is something that the Labor Government is very, very proud of and will continue to improve, as both ministers said, our yield, our productivity, and will take the Far North and other farming areas around Australia into the 21st century. Thank you.

ROWLAND: Jen.

JEN MEDWAY, GENERAL MANAGER, REGIONAL TECH HUB: Thank you so much for having us here. It's been fabulous to meet Steve and Mark and to see the fabulous cane that's grown here - one of the industries that this program is definitely supporting. But also we see a really wide variety of farmers being able to take up this opportunity. And to be honest, it is making a difference. This funding does mean that people that, perhaps, may not have taken up the opportunity to improve their On Farm Connectivity are able to do so, and we've definitely seen that through the regional tech hub. We are there as an ear, I suppose, to understand what some of those challenges are - it's a completely free and independent service. And it's supporting this program in terms of being able to help people to understand what their options look like, walk them through and understand, I guess, the implications for that and to point them in the right direction if they do need some of that support in terms of understanding their suppliers and some of the other details around that connectivity.

We welcome the announcement, particularly the additional $3 million is a fantastic win for the sector. And we are certainly looking forward to working with more farmers, particularly those up around Cairns, but also nationally in terms of understanding what some of their options look like and how we can help boost productivity and encourage people to take up that increased opportunity for connectivity. Thank you.

COLLINS: Yeah, sure. It'd be great to hear your practical examples that we're talking about.

STEPHEN CALCAGNO, CHAIRMAN, CANEGROWERS CAIRNS: Welcome everyone and I’d like to thank Minister Rowland.

I'd like to thank the Government, the Albanese Government, and Minister Rowland for bringing this forward. I think it's a great win for the agricultural sector. Myself, we're in pain, as you know - the Far North. If you go up and down the coast, cane is the dominant crop. It's fair to say we're growing- we are, as sugar cane, we're growing a third-world crop in a first-world country with the expenses. So, we need every little bit of help we can.

In the future data acquisition, it'll be the next thing that opens up productivity gains for our sector. And I think it's fair to say that transfers to every agricultural sector in Australia. But to have that data, that we can take advantage of it, we need a strong communication and our network that we got to connectivity to take advantage of it.

On farm, as a farmer, I can only give a couple of examples. You can go from the basic thing of, as you see now, you've got irrigation that can be monitored on a mobile phone. There's no need for that farmer to go out to check on whether it's working, whether all the nozzles are working so, that's one practical example. It even goes to, like, every farmer has got a lot of overhead diesel tanks, et cetera; even security systems, it can go to there. But then you've got the other leap where you get in the productivity that, as a grower, we can harvest a crop and set a paper-based - which is a pretty broad-based way, it's not very particular - we can go to electronic ticketing within that paddock which is traceable back from the mill. That we can have a look at our productivity gains, where our weak patch is, and that all ties in that we can go to exactly that spot. Even when there's an outbreak of pests and disease, we know that we can monitor in on it.

So, look, as I say, it's the next- this is the next big leap for Australian farmers. And I congratulate the Government for letting us have access to that to help us along the way.

JOURNALIST: Can we just ask you, do you take advantage of this [indistinct]…

CALCAGNO: No, I haven't. No…

JOURNALIST: Planning to?

CALCAGNO: I've got a lot of other stuff to do, but, this time, I'll be looking very closely to it, yeah.

JOURNALIST: Thank you. It's obviously just going up from $15 million to $18 million. Is $3 million enough to better support farmers who are doing it tough, as we just heard from Stephen?

COLLINS: Well, what we know is this is an innovative program. It was taken up well last time, which is why we've added the additional money to this. This is part of the Government's billion-dollar investment in better connectivity for regional and rural Australia. There's always, of course, more to do. But this is about listening and responding to farmers, which is what our Government has done.

JOURNALIST: Could more be done, though, to better support farmers in different ways in terms of- especially those that are so many overhead costs and additional fuel and transport that are [indistinct]…?

COLLINS: Well, as I said, it's just one way that we are supporting Australia's agricultural system, and farmers on the ground particularly. We're doing it through the billion dollars in Better Connectivity (Plan) for Regional and Rural Australia, and this program is part of that. We're also doing it in terms of instant asset write-off through my small business hat. A lot of these primary producers are also small businesses.

In the last Budget, you know, we had over $640 million in targeted support for small businesses because we understand that some small businesses are doing it tough. And generally, as a Government, we are supporting households and small businesses in times, particularly you know, with things like tax cuts for every working Australian. Every Australian, of course, on 1 July, got their tax cut. Every Australian household is getting their energy bill rebate. Every small business, a million small businesses around the country, are also getting energy bill rebates. As I've said, the instant asset write-off. And importantly, programs like this that support innovation and support farmers in terms of their productivity on-farm. So it's just one part of the Government's broader agenda to support people out on farms.

JOURNALIST: Can farmers double dip? So if they got a rebate the first round, can they come in again for this second one?

COLLINS: I'll hand over to Minister Rowland.

ROWLAND: Yes. The applications, when they are open, anyone will be able to apply. The criteria are publicly available. But exactly as Minister Collins said, the first part of this was very successful, had a great uptake. And I should stress, this has never actually been offered by an Australian Government before and certainly not at this scale. So, we've taken the lessons from the first round. We look forward to people who actually had a good experience in the first round, but new people who might not have been aware of it. And particularly since that criteria have been expanded, it's really important for those farmers to take advantage of this. And again, this is the first time that it's being done. We're improving it in these ways. But certainly, we are always looking at ways in which we can assist better connectivity at scale for Australia's farmers.

JOURNALIST: $13 million in rebate, do you actually have a rough number of how many sort of farmers took this option up?

ROWLAND: We had around 250 that were probably just in Queensland alone. But certainly, all of that was expended. And in the Cairns area alone, it was quarter of a million. The numbers may vary depending on the types of rebates that we're given and the amount of equipment. But certainly, we want to expand this so even more people have that opportunity, and we look forward to seeing that when the second round opens. So stay tuned. When it opens, we'll be very sure that the Regional Tech Hub has all of those details, that Jen is able to give people information and encourage them to apply as well.

JOURNALIST: When will Commercial Broadcasting Tax for regional broadcasters be cut?

ROWLAND: Well, we actually extended the rebate already as a Government, and we understand the pressures that are on regional media at the moment. In the broader media reform agenda certainly, the Government is looking at all of these options. We know that this is a very trying time for the sector. We've had ten years of neglect and of failure to instigate media reform. So, we continue to be engaged with the sector about their needs. We understand in particular that this has been a time when a lot of jobs are being laid off, and the impact of the digital platforms, in particular, has really changed the business models of the sector. So, we'll continue to engage and to examine all of those aspects in the context of broader media reform. But certainly, we appreciate the sector has been very engaged in terms of understanding some of the regulatory reform that is needed, not only in the commercial TV sector, but also in the radio sector as well. So, we’ll continue to prosecute that as a Government, because we understand the importance of the Fourth Estate and the fact that regional media in Australia is under particular strain in that regard.

JOURNALIST: But we've been talking about it for ten years and a good three years with you as Shadow and now Comms Minister. When will commercial broadcast tax for regional broadcasters be cut?

ROWLAND: Well, again, I think we need to appreciate the context for this. This is something that was brought in under the previous Government. The previous Government, when it last changed media ownership laws, brought in the commercial broadcasting tax. We have extended and also made sure that those rebates are more available for regional media, and we appreciate the cost pressures that they are under. So, we continue to examine this in the context of broader media reform. We look forward to those reforms coming to fruition in terms of regulatory changes within this term, and certainly, we appreciate the urgency of this and also the engagement of the sector.

JOURNALIST: Come election time, you’ll be travelling across regional Australia campaigning for votes. How will it feel to not have regional broadcasters in those areas following you around like we are today, knowing you could have avoided that by abolishing commercial broadcast tax?

ROWLAND: Well, what’s really important here is the Government do everything it can to make sure that we have a viable fourth estate. That is absolutely essential for our democracy. We do that in a variety of ways, including ensuring that we have the regulatory settings right and also ensuring that we have properly funded regional media, not only in terms of our public broadcasters but also that the incentives are there for our commercial broadcasting sector as well. It is a challenging environment. It’s challenging in terms of the shift in advertising revenues, it’s challenging in terms of the way in which the media has structured and how that has been very much upended by the rise of the digital platform. So we are dealing with this as a Government. We’ve had ten years, prior to us coming to office, of inaction. We have instigated the most comprehensive media reforms that we have seen through the instigation of our prominence framework which is specifically designed to make sure that Australian broadcasters, that their content is readily capable of being found, and also our changes to the anti-siphoning list as well. So it’s through media reforms such as this, through ongoing engagement with the sector and making sure that our regulatory structures are fit for purpose. They’re the best that Governments can do to ensure the viability of the sector.

JOURNALIST: Obviously votes are so important come election though. How will it feel to not have regional broadcasters in those areas following around like we are today, knowing you could have avoided that by abolishing commercial broadcast tax?

ROWLAND: Well, the objective of course is to ensure that we do have a viable sector, and we appreciate the ongoing engagement of the sector. It’s also one of the reasons why we continue as a Government to examine broader media reform, to ensure that we do have that viability. There would be no one in Australia who doesn’t want to see a strong regional media sector. We know it’s been particularly challenged because of the high costs and also the way in which the market has been distorted by the rise of the digital platforms.

JOURNALIST: I just have some questions that I’ve missed [indistinct]… The Federal Government recently announced $302 million for the Climate-Smart Agriculture Program, this [indistinct]… projects. Why is it important Governments and communities educate and support farmers in ways like this?

COLLINS: Well, as I’ve said before, what we know is, is Australian farmers are some of the most innovative around the world. We also know we have an incredibly high value product that is sought after, particularly when it comes to food safety around the world. We have some of the best farmers in the world and what we need to do is to make sure that our farmers have access to global markets, we need to make sure that our farmers can continue to farm in a sustainable way and that’s why programs like what we’re announcing today is so important to help farmers with that productivity, with that sustainability on farm, and the other programs that the Government is working on. As I said here today, this is just one program of a broad suite of programs that our Government is providing to support people on the farm.

JOURNALIST: With so many groups involved in the Regional Soils Coordinators, it allows for a more coordinated national approach. Why is having a targeted national approach to farming challenges so important?

COLLINS: Well it’s about making sure that we have some consistency around make- supporting farmers when it comes to soil health, but it’s also important about making sure that we work with our farmers through climate change. We need to make sure that our farmers have resilience and that we support them to be resilient on farms so that we can continue to produce high quality products here in Australia that we can have go right around the world.

JOURNALIST: Are we able to grab Steve just for a couple more questions? [Indistinct]…?

CALCAGNO: I don’t know, after what you just [indistinct]… [Laughs] Yeah?

JOURNALIST: You mentioned about some of the struggles, can you talk us through why first of all you haven’t decided to take up the funding thus far? And what some of the measures you hope could be help- could implemented to help you better support your practices?

CALCAGNO: I don’t think- I don’t think it’s-  don’t hold a cross against me for not applying the first round. You’ve got to realise that- I think if you want to focus on that, farmers have got a lot to do during the day and to keep up with things, there’s stuff coming all the time on this thing and that’s why connectivity is really important. You know, our life is here, our business is [indistinct]. So don’t hold that against me, I’ll be looking at it now because it’s as technology forward, it’s a necessity. Now I just want to add one thing as I was listening there that I didn’t say before, and far from me to defend the politicians but I think this is a really good program. You’ve got to understand agriculture in Australia and I know- I know she’ll be backed to fall, alright? That’s been my whole life, we’re fourth generation. Jennifer could help me in the other industries but I think they’re pretty well the same. Australia is an export agricultural sector. We haven’t got the population, right? Sugar is 88 per cent, 90 per cent exported overseas to markets to get high premium and we get premiums for that, alright? And I think it’s that same with sheep, with cattle, with everything. But what the consumer – and Australia’s no different but overseas is no different to Australia – what the consumer wants now is traceability. So that traceability to keep that- what was the- what you were saying- our income? The agricultural sector?

COLLINS: Yeah.

CALCAGNO: About 80s? Yeah? That-

COLLINS: $89.5 billion this financial year.

CALCAGNO: Yeah, that traceability, right? And sugar is about $2 billion of that, $2.5 billion. That traceability is what they expect now. The consumer wants to know where that sugar comes from, it’s the same as the meat, everything. So this little bit of an investment by the Government has got big benefits for us in markets because, giving you another example, Canegrowers did a market analysis, we’re a $2 billion export industry. For every dollar we- that we generate in sales overseas, by it going around in the economy, it actually accumulates to $6.42 to the economy. So instead of a $2.2 billion industry, we’re actually a $15 billion to Queensland industry. So I think because there’s a little bit of money coming to it to help the Ag sector along the way, I think don’t begrudge it because it’s got big payoffs. Big pay offs to the economy.

JOURNALIST: It’s obviously going to help with efficiency on farm as you…

CALCAGNO: Exactly. And as the younger generation comes in, they’re looking at more efficient ways because it even- I will even go so far as to say it actually addresses because you can access this new technology as it comes up. It actually addresses- we’ve got a big problem in the cane industry which is labour shortage, you know? You’re flat out getting anyone to help you. I’ll be quite frank, I’m going to be practical because I think everyone needs to hear, my planting crew to go planting, they’re 72 years old, average. I can’t get- young fellows don’t want to come. I go out there and ask someone, nah, not interested. All they’ve got to do is sit on a tractor and look at me all day, which me and my son – he’s 25, he invested in farms and that – me and my son, we’ve just- we have a joke. You know, they’re 72, we’re going to have to start carrying defibrillators around with us and we’re trying to think of the next generation we can employ. So technology’s going to help with that with us. I know it’s a bit of a blunt instrument what I said, but I just worry people aren’t getting what this Government, what this program can achieve for the Ag industry and for the Australian economy.

JOURNALIST: Are you potentially looking at backpackers to assist you?

CALCAGNO: There are people, backpackers. Yeah, there are backpackers but I’ll be quite frank, we’re a seven-day industry- we’re a seven day a week industry and backpackers are good to a certain extent but then they like a good time. They’re travelling. They’re not reliable and please don’t put that on TV. I’m just saying, they’re- they’ve got a different mindset but, there are some backpackers that are working in the industry.

JOURNALIST: Do you think that there are some farms that are set in their ways that will look at this and say, it’s not for me, it’s in the too hard basket? Would you encourage them to give it a go?

CALCAGNO: I think it’s up to our industry to drive it forward and promote it. That’s the key to this, promotion because let me tell you, there’s people, there’s older generation farmers that embrace technology. There’s no problem with that. I don’t think that’s an issue at all.

JOURNALIST: Yeah. Thank you so much.

ROWLAND: Thank you.