Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

It is wonderful, heartening and refreshing to hear a Labor member sticking up for regional produce, sticking up for regional jobs and sticking up for agriculture. Whilst the Tasmanian member for Lyons says he agrees with most of the member for Murray's motion, I think we concur: we agree with most of what he said—not all, but most. As I say, it is refreshing to hear a Labor member actually sticking up for agriculture. It is not very common, Mr Deputy Speaker, as you would well know.

I do want to comment on a couple of things that the member for Lyons indicated. He said that we produce fantastic food here in Australia, here in regional areas. There is no argument with him there. I would actually even go a step further and say that we grow the very best food. In my area of the Riverina and certainly in the member for Murray's area, the very best food in Australia is grown. We need to do everything we can to protect and preserve those people and those industries who are growing the very best food to feed not just Australians but also many other countries and certainly those in the Pacific rim who otherwise would not have access to protein and fresh fruit unless it was coming from the member for Murray's area and certainly the Riverina.

The member for Lyons talked about the false arguments of manufacturing as opposed to agriculture—but there are no false arguments. I do not think you will find that there would be too much opposition to what the government has done to try to prop up the ailing automotive industry; however, now the government needs to stump up and step up and help the ailing agricultural industry. The member for Murray has called for support for fruit growers and workers in the local food processing industry. The motion:

(2) recognises the impact and toll that the increased cost of doing business has on local food processors;

(3) acknowledges the significance of iconic local food processors—

and certainly there is no more iconic than SPC Ardmona at Shepparton—

as key employers and contributors to regional communities;

Thousands and thousands of jobs are at risk if this motion is not passed by this House. The motion also:

(4) supports the ‘Toss a tin in your trolley’ campaign to encourage Australians to throw a tin of local canned produce into their shopping trolley, and urges supermarkets to promote this initiative;

That is a wonderful idea and it needs to be supported. The member for Murray also:

(5) calls on the:

(a) Treasurer to investigate an emergency World Trade Organisation safeguard action in respect of imported canned fruit and tomato produce; and

(b) Government to undertake an immediate and comprehensive anti-dumping investigation in respect of the request from SPC Ardmona and the canned food industry.

Certainly you would get no argument from me on that. I hope you do not get any argument from the government to absolutely back these important initiatives.

The Treasurer is going to be a very busy man in the weeks leading up to the election, as not only should he do what the member for Murray says with respect to this motion but he should also reject outright the proposed takeover of GrainCorp by Archer Daniels Midland, the American company—because we do not need our $9 billion a year grain harvest being decided by a boardroom in Illinois.

I am filling in for the member for Gippsland, who would like to be here but he is unable to do so. He was most supportive of the member for Murray, and his electorate is also very much at risk if this motion does not go through. The Gippsland food producers number many, including Patties, Vegco, Kerton Farms, Dennison Foods Manufacturing, Lion, Frais Farms, Happy Camper Gourmet and Murray Goulburn, and food processors Bonaccord, Bulmer Farm Fresh Vegetables, Riviera Farms and Covino Farms, which is also a producer. They all stand to risk their viability in the future if this food processing motion, put forward by the member for Murray, is not supported by this House.

The member for Gippsland wanted me to point out that food product manufacturing within the Gippsland electorate accounts for 2,524 jobs. We heard the member for Murray a little earlier say that many jobs are at risk. Bad public policy by this government and the global market trends that we are unfortunately suffering at the moment, with the high Aussie dollar and all the other factors, have provided a perfect storm of absolute risk for the food processing industry.

SPCA is the largest producer of premium fruit and vegetables in packages in Australia. It does a wonderful job. Production is based in Victoria's Goulburn Valley, a region with 870 full-time equivalent staff. They are taxpayers; they are good, hardworking regional people doing their best to make sure we have the very best product on our tables and doing their best to make sure that overseas countries have the very best product on their table. They are at risk because of a number of factors, but this government and this parliament can help by pushing this motion through and enabling that very necessary legislation to be passed to provide the help that they need.

SPCA indirectly supports more than 2,700 jobs in the Goulburn Valley region as well as those 870 full-time equivalent workers. The company directly injects about $63 million into the local economy through salaries and wages and provides apprenticeships, training programs, work experience programs and graduate student programs to young people in the region who want to stay in the fine area of the member for Murray's electorate. They want to stay regionally because they know that the freshest air is available in regional Australia and that the best lifestyle is available in regional Australia. They want to do what their dads, mums, grandads and grandmothers have done for decades past. They want to be involved in a great industry, but they will not be able to if we as a parliament do not support them and their industry.

In recent years, SPC Ardmona has utilised the products from more than 200 contract growers and suppliers of semi-processed fruit and vegetable products, such as fruit juice and fruit pulp, and has bought 150,000 tonnes of fruit and vegetables worth $32 million from contract growers. Those contract growers need certainty. They certainly have not had the sort of certainty that they absolutely need, due to poor public policy from this place—not least of which has been the Murray Darling Basin fiasco—which has been brought to bear by this very poor government.

SPCA has invested considerably in developing its business over many years, including major investments in production equipment and warehousing. It is doing its best to help this nation go forward. It needs this nation to help it in its time of need. SPCA brands include SPC, Ardmona, IXL, Goulburn Valley and Taylor's. We all know them; they are household brands. Unfortunately, they are not perhaps always at eye level in the supermarkets because of supermarket policies, but we know that they are the freshest and the best available for supermarket customers.

SPCA is suffering under the influence of a once-in-a-lifetime appreciation in the Australian dollar, which has made cheap imported food even cheaper. The current market reality is that the strong Australian dollar allows cheap imported products into Australia at way below the cost of production here—way below the cost of production in the member for Murray's seat and way below the cost of production in the Riverina.

Our farmers need help; they need help desperately. They need this government to step up—this government which talks about feeding the Asian food century demand, says that it has a national food plan and says that it cares about regional Australia but all too often shows that it does not by its poor public policies. It is extremely challenging for SPCA's branded Australian-made products to profitably compete. The Australian food processing industry may not survive to enjoy a more balanced playing field when the dollar returns to more normal levels. That is why it is critical at this juncture for this government to stump up, help and support the member for Murray's very sensible approach—a very sensible motion that we are hearing and debating here today to give SPCA breathing space through provisional safeguards. If it is not provided, viability of that company's position in the industry will certainly be under threat and it will have a devastating flow-on effect not just throughout the member for Murray's region and not just throughout regional Australia but, indeed, throughout the whole nation.

The government stumped up and helped Ford, which has now announced that it is closing despite the amount of money being poured into the manufacturing and car industry over the years. Whilst some people have questioned it, certainly this government now needs to show that it is also very much caring for regional Australia and a wonderful company such as SPCA, and certainly to show that it cares about the member for Murray's electorate. It has not done so in the past. I call on it to do so now in the interests not just of the member for Murray's electorate but of Australia.

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