Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Sustainability, Environment, Water, Population and Communities) Share this | Hansard source

I will give advance notice that when my time runs out I will be seeking the call again. I have a few issues to go through. But I think it has been helpful to allow the run of questions because some people wanted to touch on the same areas, so it has allowed me to incorporate those into my answer.

I will flag in particular for the benefit of the member for Riverina the two issues he raised. One arguably goes to either the minister for energy or the minister for climate change and is difficult to deal with in the context of the appropriations here. The second one, which was a reference to the Foreign Investment Review Board, is managed exclusively by the Treasury. I do not begrudge at all the opportunity that he has taken to put his views on the record but there is little in the context of this particular debate other than to say that the government supports investment in agriculture.

First I will deal with the concessional loans for farm businesses in the farm finance package, which have come up a couple times. Concessional loans will give farmers breathing space to focus on growing and improving their farm business. The government is working with the state and Northern Territory governments to make products available across the country via appropriate delivery agencies. We want to take a flexible approach when working with the states and territories to ensure the loans are directed appropriately and are best suited to the farmers in their jurisdiction. As of 29 May this year, since farm finance was announced on 27 April, the department has chaired four teleconferences with senior officials from each jurisdiction. The first was convened on 30 April, at the Commonwealth's request, to discuss the government's announcement.

In addition to these teleconferences there have been many direct discussions with officials, jurisdiction by jurisdiction. However, at this stage we have not resolved signing on to these loans with any of the states. We encourage them to do so. It has been one of the issues that the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has been raising in the context of challenges that Queensland graziers and pastoralists are facing at the moment.

Even if you were to accept, which the government does not, the arguments about national parks that are put forward by the Queensland government, opening up national parks deals with a small subset of stock levels in drought affected areas. There needs to be an approach which reaches to all of the people who have stock and who are in a situation of crisis. The loans are one of the tools to be able to do that.

On the issue of national parks, I am obviously aware—speaking on behalf of the minister for agriculture—that there have been calls for national parks in Queensland to be used for grazing for drought affected cattle. While the management of national parks in Queensland lies within their responsibility, many parks may have been established to protect matters of national environmental significance. Under Commonwealth environmental law, actions that have or are likely to have a significant impact on a matter of national environmental significance require approval.

The words here from the minister say 'from my colleague, Minister Burke' but that was obviously not prepared for me. It will sound weird if I start talking about discussions with myself. The minister I am representing has been talking to me about the question of grazing in national parks. But the administration of environmental law is exclusively one for the environment minister and one where the decisions for the environment minister have to be made strictly according to law, not according to the policy of the government. With that in mind, as I made clear here yesterday, the legal powers that were available under national environmental law to prevent cattle grazing in the Alpine National Park were largely there because there was a heritage decision in place. There is no such heritage decision in the Queensland areas. So the government policy thinks that the approach taken by the Queensland government is ill-advised and also inadequate in terms of the genuine crisis that many farmers are facing, and this carries through to some of the criticisms of farmers who have managed their stock levels very carefully and feel they have now been placed at a disadvantage while neighbours get free adjustment. Others have said, 'Well, it is one thing is there is feed, but if there is no water in these areas they are of limited utility.' We do not feel it is a comprehensive solution in a way, shape or form. It is not the way we approach national parks. Notwithstanding that, any actual intervention would depend on national environmental law, and the powers here are quite different to the powers as they stood in Victoria. (Extension of time granted)

A number of biosecurity issues were raised, in particular the issue of post-entry quarantine. In July 2012 the Commonwealth announced the site acquisition of a 144-hectare parcel of land in Mickleham, Victoria for the construction of a new post-entry quarantine facility. The new facility will consolidate existing animal and plant quarantine services in a single integrated site and will provide Australia with the newest and most advanced technology and operating practices available. The department continued to consult stakeholders during the development of concept designs for the new facility. The project was referred to the Parliamentary Standing Committee on Public Works in early 2013. The referral was a critical step in the delivery of the project. The Public Works Committee must approve the proposed works before construction of the facility can proceed. In terms of what progress has been made, in the budget the government announced funding of $379.9 million over seven years for construction and operation of the new facility for high-risk plant and animal inputs. This built on the government's announcement made in the 2011-12 budget when a commitment to fund further development of future post-entry arrangements was made which included detailed design work and procurement activities related to land acquisition along with funds for the maintenance and refurbishment of existing facilities.

Government operated facilities to manage high-risk imported animal and plant species are key component of our biosecurity system. A secure and efficient facility discourages smuggling and reduces biosecurity risk associated with the importation of new genetic material which is necessary for Australian agriculture to maintain competitiveness and productivity. I might add that the issue of whether or not our post-entry quarantine facilities are adequate and up to date has been a very pertinent one in Australia, particularly following the Callinan report into the outbreak of equine influenza. On that occasion where systems had collapsed and the operation of a quarantine facility was not up to scratch we ended up consequently with a number of deeply serious challenges that carried a very high cost. So to be establishing a new post-entry quarantine facility and making sure that the operation of it has a high level of stakeholder engagement is not just a good thing to do, it is actually quite essential to make sure that we are properly able to manage the biosecurity challenges in a country where one of our key strategic advantages is that, compared to other countries, there are many weeds, pests and diseases that we do not have, and we want to keep it that way. When something comes in that has not previously been here, we saw with equine influenza just how bad it can be.

I have covered the national parks issue for the member for Calare. We also had the issue that was raised elsewhere of the national drought reform program itself and the agreement for the states and territories to drought reform. This is something which has been going since 2007 when, in addition to the ministerial council, we started the ministerial forum with state and territory ministers, originally chaired by myself and now chaired by Minister Ludwig. We work together to try to see how we could eliminate the challenges that occurred with waiting for exceptional circumstances declarations and the injustice of lines on maps where you have two farmers side by side facing identical climate circumstances and identical challenges—one received a high level of assistance, the other received nothing.

The Gillard government is delivering on its commitment to reform drought programs. We are moving to a pro-active rather than a reactive system. We want to ensure farmers are able to prepare for challenges and manage risks. No longer will we have to wait until farmers are in crisis before assistance can be offered. This is about helping Australian farmers get back on their feet and prosper and succeed in the future, ultimately delivering a more productive agricultural sector. On 3 May this year the minister signed an agreement with the states and the Northern Territory to formalise National Drought Program Reform. This package focusing on risk management and preparedness includes the Farm Household Allowance, which provides case managers to support farm families as they make decisions about their future. The Farm Management Deposit Scheme and taxation measures including the enhancements to the deposit scheme—announced as part of Farm Finance—a national approach to farm business training, a coordinated and collaborative approach to the provision of social support services, tools and technologies to inform farmer decision making. The agreement outlines the roles and responsibilities for each government in implementing the package from 1 July 2014. The agreement also includes a framework that will guide government decisions to increase or introduce support when conditions are declining while still meeting the reform objectives.

A number of members raised the Rural Financial Counselling Service and I thank them for doing so. The Rural Financial Counselling Service program continues to provide free and confidential financial counselling services to farmers, fishers and small businesses who are in financial difficulty and need support to manage the challenges of change and adjustment. Rural financial counsellors are well placed to refer clients to GPs and other government and non-government service providers. The Australian government has announced additional funding for the service for two financial years to 30 June 2015. An amount of $5.9 million will provide 17 additional full-time equivalent rural financial counsellors. Until implementation of the new Farm Household Allowance on 1 July 2014, the government is continuing to provide the Transitional Farm Family Payment. Farming families can apply for up to 12 months' household support paid at the same rate as Newstart and the Transitional Farm Family Payment is available to eligible farmers regardless of location or the reason they are experiencing financial hardship.

For those issues, we have the breakdown of most of what has been covered. I might sit down so that the shadow minister has an opportunity to put a couple of extra things on the record.

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