Kevin Hogan (Page, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge my neighbour, the member for Richmond, the previous speaker on this bill. The member for Richmond is a very pleasant person. We run into each other around the place quite often in the far North Coast of New South Wales. But I must take account to a couple of the things that the member for Richmond has just said about Labor having a proud record in relation to rural industries or agriculture. She said, 'I know many rural industries, if not all rural industries, had an issue in the previous Labor government.' The cattle industry in our area was aghast when the previous Labor government overnight stopped the live cattle export. That destroyed the beef industry in our area. It obviously meant that cattle that were bred for export suddenly were not. Far northern Australia was brought to its knees, and over the proceeding weeks and months, Mr Deputy Speaker Scott, because I know you would know, these cattle found their way south and prices were exceptionally depressed. We had cattle everywhere. We have starving cattle in the end because they were not able to be exported and we had a very depressed sector there.

The other one I would remind the member for Richmond of with regard to our rural industries was, with all due respect, the carbon tax. She made reference to the sugar industry as well as others. I can remind the member for Richmond that very few, if any, rural industries in my region, be they sugar, be they dairy, be they beef, be they anyone who used power, was happy with the previous government and their solution to climate change being a carbon tax, which did not change the temperature but—and this is the big issue here—made it very hard for them to compete. And we know that our agricultural industries are very much built around export. I think there is a bit of selective memory there.

However, let's get to the bill in hand. This bill, as we know, will amend the rural research and development legislation, and one of the big aspects of this bill, Mr Deputy Speaker—and I know you would be very appreciative of these changes—is to reduce regulatory burden on the rural research and development corporations. It amends legislation to remove requirements for RDCs to table certain corporate documents. This is to reduce regulatory burden and promote consistency between RDCs. In the interest of good governance, the RDCs will still need to produce these documents and make them publicly available.

This is in line with a big theme of this government. We on this side of the parliament know that we have to remain competitive. If we want to maintain our standard of life and to provide the social services that many people in our country require, we need to get the money from somewhere. To get the money we need the private sector in all sectors not just agriculture to be competitive, and this bill moves in that area as well. I know there is going to be legislation and legislation has already been introduced into parliament. We will have reduced $2 billion, which is not a small figure, of red tape in our first 12 months—double what we said we would do—because we understand and are very clear that this is very important to maintaining our competitiveness in many industries.

Dairy Australia, Forest & Wood Products Australia, the Australian Livestock Export Corporation and Sugar Research Australia will no longer need to table funding agreements or variations to funding agreements. Dairy Australia and the Australian Livestock Export Corporation will no longer need to table the annual report and other compliance reports. Again this all saves in red tape costs.

The Primary Industries Research and Development Act 1989 is amended to remove the requirements for the minister to organise annual coordination meetings for the chairs of the statutory RDCs. This is an unnecessary requirement. Again this bill removes a regulatory cost to them and indeed to government.

It is also important to remember that in 2014-15 the Commonwealth will provide funding of approximately these figures to the different areas: $11.6 million to the Grape and Wine R&D Corporation, $68.9 million to the Grains R&D Corporation, $5.1 million to Sugar Research Australia, $8.5 million to the Cotton R&D Corporation and $17.4 million to the Fisheries R&D Corporation. Again this is not money to be sniffed at.

The government in this bill very much recognises the importance of R&D in the agriculture, fisheries and the forestry sectors. The results of R&D help primary producers to produce more with less, giving them greater profit at the farm gate. Around $700 million per year is spent by the Australian government on rural R&D and extension activities. Within 10 years farmers generate a $12 return for each dollar the government invests in agricultural R&D. Australian farmers have an innovative culture. They know that R&D is essential if Australian industries are to keep pace and compete successfully in the international arena.

The 15 rural research and development corporations provide a mechanism for farmers and fishers to invest collectively in services that will benefit their industry, such as research and development and in some cases marketing. The government encourages investment by establishing and collecting a statutory levy if an industry so requests and by returning the funds to the relevant RDC, less the cost of collection. In addition, the government matches the RDC's eligible R&D spending up to the legislated limits. In the current financial year the government will provide an estimated $250 million to the RDCs. In recognition of the good work they do, the government has committed to an additional $100 million in funding for rural RDCs, starting in the next financial year. This funding boost will enable the RDCs to further contribute to farm productivity and profitability and better deliver cutting-edge technology.

Delivering on the coalition's 2013 election commitment, the first round of funding opened for applications on 15 October 2014. The guidelines include the research priorities for the first round of funding. The application period will close on 15 December 2014. Proposed research projects will need to address one or more of the research priorities that fall into these four areas: one, increase the profitability and productivity of primary industries; two, increase the value of primary products; three, strengthen primary producers' ability to adapt to opportunities and threats; and, four, strengthen on-farm adoption and improve information flows. There are a range of issues in Australian agriculture that can be managed through this process, such as improvements to wild dog control, better techniques to control Parthenium, and blackberry control using pathogens.

I want to make it very clear that this government has always been very in tune with the needs and desires of the agricultural sector. In our first 12 months of government, besides abolishing things like the carbon tax that were very damaging to the agricultural sector and agribusinesses, we have reinstated with full vigour the live export trade with our neighbours to again increase farm gate prices for that part of the agricultural sector. We also have free trade agreements with Korea and Japan. I know that most of the agricultural sector in my region would export around 70 per cent of what they produce, whether it be beef, dairy or macadamia nuts—and I could give you many other examples. Most of these products—well over 50 per cent—are sold offshore, so these markets are very important to us.

We did free trade agreements with Korea and Japan and are now also working on a free trade agreement with China. In fact, the Minister for Agriculture recently took a delegation to China. I was very pleased to organise for three or four industry sector representatives from my area to travel with the minister. They represented diverse agricultural produce. They have all come back and are very appreciative of the work the government are doing—the fact that we are trying to lower the red tape burden, have lowered their cost of production with the abolition of the carbon tax and are trying to actively work with them to give them access to new markets.

If the next generation of farmers in our communities are going to see a future on the farm, the one thing we have to do is improve the farm gate price, because that is the bottom line literally. If they are going to have a financial future and if the younger people are going to have a financial future in carrying on with the family farm or indeed entering the industry, that is what is necessary. So this, along with many other things we have done in the first 12 months, is focused on the agricultural sector. We want the agricultural sector to survive and prosper. I commend this bill to the House.

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