Press conference in Hobart, Tasmania

SUBJECTS: Tasmanian agriculture and aquaculture sector, Budget; potential east coast flooding, Threatened Species Action Plan, Tasmanian AFL team.

CAROL BROWN, TASMANIAN SENATOR: Well, thanks for coming here today. It’s a real privilege to have the federal Minister for Agriculture, Senator Murray Watt, with us today. Murray has a big tour set out for Tasmania. He’s going to be visiting the electorates of Franklin - Julie Collins’ electorate, and also the electorate of Lyons - Brian Mitchell’s electorate. He’ll be going down and having a look at Hanson’s Orchards and then heading out to Triabunna. So to hear more about that, I’m going to hand over to Murray. 

MURRAY WATT, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Thanks very much, Carol. I think we’ve got The Mercury arriving, so we might just give them a few seconds to join us. 

OK, Well thanks everyone for coming along today. My name is Murray Watt, the new federal Agriculture and Emergency Management Minister in the Albanese Government. And I’m really pleased to be joined by two good friends of mine from the Senate – Carol Brown and Catryna Bilyk, both of whom do a fantastic job standing up for the great state of Tasmania when they go to Canberra, and even when they’re back home as well. 

This is my first visit to Tasmania as the new Minister for Agriculture and Emergency Management. And it was important for me, I thought, to get down to Tasmania, even though I’m from Queensland – a long way away – to really hear firsthand from farmers, from farm workers, from the forestry industry and the fisheries industry as well, to really get a better picture of some of the challenges that are facing the Tasmanian agriculture sector. 

As Carol said, over the next two days I’m going to be travelling basically right up and down the east coast of the state, meeting with apple and cherry growers, seaweed growers as well around Triabunna, meeting with Tassal to talk about the salmon industry and fisheries industry. And, in fact, already this morning I’ve had the great fortune to go on to one of the vessels of Australian Longline Shipping who, of course, do a terrific job fishing in the Southern Ocean out of Hobart as well. 

So, as I say, the real point of this trip is to hear firsthand from people working in the agriculture sector in Tasmania about what’s going well and what isn’t going well so that we can be taking those views on in partnership with the local representatives here to make sure that the agriculture industry in Tasmania goes from strength to strength. 

Tomorrow I’ll be meeting with wine growers around the Tamar Valley as well as going to a sawmill. So it’s going to be quite a comprehensive trip. And I think one of the reasons for doing this is that the Albanese Government understands that agriculture, forestry and fisheries are really important industries for Tasmania. They generate a lot of wealth for this state. They generate a lot of employment for this state, and they have a very strong future under the Albanese Government, especially with some of the policies that we took to the election. 

I’m happy to take any questions about anything in particular you’d like to talk about. We obviously have the federal budget coming up in a couple of weeks’ time, and I, along with senators like Carol and Catryna and all the other Tasmanian representatives will be arguing hard to make sure that Tasmania gets its fair share from the federal budget. My focus, of course, will be making sure that we do our best to deliver some of those election commitments that we took, particularly in the forestry, agriculture and fisheries space, that we took to the election as quickly as we can. So there’s lots of work to be done. But, as I say, I think the industry here is in good shape, but with more support from our government we can take it from strength to strength. 

Just before I take questions, I might also just briefly touch on the emergency management role. And, of course, we’ve all seen that there is some more bad weather predicted for much of the east coast of Australia, right down here to Tasmania as well, over the next few days. Particularly from this weekend we are expecting some quite heavy rainfall in much of the country, including Tasmania. We’re obviously particularly concerned about some of the catchments in New South Wales which have already received flooding in the last couple of weeks, and really over the last few months. It’s meant that catchments are very wet and it’s not going to take a lot of rain to see quite extensive flooding, particularly in New South Wales but other parts of the country as well. 
So can I just ask everyone to make sure that they’re staying abreast of the warnings over the next few days. Unfortunately we have seen loss of life. – a young five-year-old boy in New South Wales recently with the floods, and it’s another warning that we all need to take extreme care around flood waters and listen to warnings, follow the directions. Please do the right thing to keep you and your family safe going ahead into this high-risk weather season. 

Happy to take any questions. 

JOURNALIST: You mentioned that you’re meeting with fishing industry stakeholders such as Tassal. Are you meeting with groups opposed to that industry, because there is quite a lot of opposition here in Tas? 

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, on this occasion I won’t be meeting with anyone outside of the industry. I thought it was probably important to go and actually see some of the fishing industry in operation first. But I’m certainly well aware that there is- there are strong views about the fishing industry and particularly aquaculture in Tasmania. It’s an issue I’ve discussed with our local representatives before as well. 
And I think our message as a government is that we support the industry. We support the fishing industry, the aquaculture industry, the jobs that it creates. But all of the industry needs to understand that they have a social licence that they need to comply with the laws, they need to demonstrate that they are adopting best practices around environmental management. It’s in the interests of the industry and its workers to make sure that the industry retains a good reputation with the public because that’s key to its long-term future. 

That was one of the discussions I had this morning with Malcolm and his team from Australian Longlines, is they’re very well aware that their continued prosperity and continued growth of the industry relies on having a good reputation amongst the public, particularly around environmental sustainability. And that applies equally to the aquaculture industry as well. 

JOURNALIST: When it is such a divisive issue, why would you only meet with one side? 

MURRAY WATT: Well, as I say, the point of this trip is to really hear from the industry firsthand, whether we’re talking about agriculture, fisheries or forestry. This won’t be my last trip to Tasmania. As I say, I’ve already had discussions with members of our Government about these issues, and they’ve raised these issues with me too. So there’ll be other opportunities to be in Tasmania to hear from a range of other people that unfortunately there isn’t time to meet with this time. 

JOURNALIST: If the industry has a reputation of being incredibly secretive, do you think you’re going to get the full picture? 

MURRAY WATT: Well, I mean, the approach that I’ve taken as the minister so far is to weigh up the evidence, to listen to all sides, to make sure that people get a different – get a different say. As I say, I’ll be having future discussions with people who have concerns about the industry as well. I would hope that the industry makes sure that its dealings with the public and with the Government are very open. As I say, I think it’s really important for the industry to do that for its continued future. 

JOURNALIST: Labor has announced plans to mitigate the number of threatened species. Will you be working with Tanya Plibersek and the agricultural industry to make sure [indistinct]? 

MURRAY WATT: Yeah, Tanya’s been doing a great job as our new federal Environment Minister and, as you say, just this week launched a new threatened species plan for our Government. Obviously agriculture has a role to play in making sure that we protect biodiversity, protect our vegetation, protect our native fauna as well. And one of the things I’ve been really heartened by since taking on this role is how keen the agriculture industry is to manage its resources sustainably. 

It's a bit like what we were saying in relation to fisheries and aquaculture – I think there’s a growing understanding across the agriculture sector in general that sustainable production is key to the industry’s future. It’s key to maximising returns from the natural resources that are used in agriculture. But it’s also increasingly expected from our trading partners as well. We see countries in Europe and elsewhere around the world increasingly demanding a higher standard of sustainability from our agricultural producers. Many of them are already doing fantastic work, and I think there’s more that can be done in partnership with the new government. 

JOURNALIST: Do you have plans to meet with Tasmania’s Agriculture Minister? 

MURRAY WATT: Yes, I do. I’ll be meeting with Jo Palmer tomorrow in Launceston. I’ve got to know Jo quite well already through our dealing through agricultural ministers’ conferences, but it will be the first time that I’ve actually met her in person. I’ll also, of course, be meeting with the shadow Agriculture Minister and a range of other shadow ministers while I’m here on this trip to make sure that I’m getting a full picture of the industry and what it needs going forward. 

JOURNALIST: A couple for Carol if we can. Carol, as a proud Tasmanian and Assistant Infrastructure Minister, what role are you playing in the negotiations for an AFL stadium here? 

CAROL BROWN: Well, as you say, I am a proud Tasmanian, and every Tasmanian that I’ve spoken to is really keen to have a Tasmanian AFL side and AFLW side. So at the moment we – the Federal Government - hasn’t received an ask by the state government and, as has already been pointed out by Minister King, any ask or submission that is put forward will be considered. 

JOURNALIST: Does that concern you that the state government hasn’t come to you and asked for any money? 

CAROL BROWN: What really does concern me is that there seems to be a position taken by the AFL that somehow Tasmania is to be treated differently, that we have to provide a stadium before they’ll even consider – or that it will be considered at the same time as being given a licence. Tasmania is well regarded in football – in the football sphere. We have produced champion players and we deserve a football team without having to jump through hoops put in place by the AFL. This has been going on for a very long time. And it’s about time the AFL actually stood up for Tasmania and said, ‘yes, you have a licence, now let’s just work towards putting it all in place, putting a team in place’. 

JOURNALIST: The AFL has said – whether it’s fair or not – they have said that from their point of view the team is contingent on a new stadium. So, then if – 

CAROL BROWN: So as I’ve said, the Tasmanian government – the AFL have been working with the Tasmanian government and the Tasmanian government – it is contingent on the Tasmanian government actually putting an ask to the federal government. As I understand it, that has not happened. 

MURRAY WATT: All good? Thanks everyone.