Cathy McGowan (Indi, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for that. I look for to working with you on that. Mobile phone technology is really important.

Another issue is positive messaging about the industry. We hear about the crisis and the demise but in fact the industry has got a fantastic future. And we need to talk more about the business skills. As we move, develop and grow, how do we actually get the business skills to our farming families? That includes working with farmers as employers. They are some of the issues that the Alpine Valleys farmers are working on.

I want to move on to an amazing thing that this community did in addressing the crisis that we are facing in the dairy industry. Last Wednesday, a community meeting was called and 100 farming people turned up to that meeting including service providers and local government representatives. I was delighted to welcome the member for Mayo, representing the Nick Xenophon Team, who came and spoke about the Nick Xenophon Team's agricultural policy. I have to say how well she was received. Thank you, member for Mayo, for coming, and we really look forward to working with you as you develop your agricultural policies. There is a lot in what you have got to offer us.

As a result of that meeting, I was asked to bring a number of issues to Canberra. The representatives wanted a clear vision of how community groups like the Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathways Project can actually work with government. They said, 'But, Cathy, where do we fit? Where is government going to work with us? What is the connectivity here between a community group that has got all the industry together in a region and the Commonwealth government?' They were so right because there is no connectivity. What do they do? How can they have input into the industry when there is no place for them? They need a clear vision for links between government, industry and community groups.

The representatives also asked for a strategic approach for all levels of education. They see that educating not only farmers but the workforce is going to be key for the future. The Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathways Project, I have to commend them. They have done a fantastic job working with Tallangatta high school not only in getting educational programs out onto the farms but also in building with the careers teacher an understanding of all the other fantastic jobs that go with agriculture—the science, the marketing, the manufacturing, the distribution, the education, the international trade—that we can offer in rural and regional Australia if and when we have a growing agricultural sector.

Education is really important as is investment in the next generation. There is no shortage of young people who want to come to agriculture and be involved in the industry but the how is a real challenge. So one of the projects that the Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathway Project is working on is farm succession and transition. How can you provide security for the older farmers who want to stay a little bit in agriculture through maybe share farming, helping with the financing, so we get the new generation coming in and get the transfer of skill and knowledge and all that wonderful culture of our community passed on to a new generation. The Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathway Project is actively working there.

I want to put some data on the table about how important the dairy industry is already in my electorate and what enormous potential it has to grow. In Indi, just in the north-east, 80 per cent of the arable land is used by the dairy industry. It is 30 per cent of the farm gate income, which is huge. We have got over 750 effective full-time local jobs working on farm, in manufacturing and in the service industry. That is not inconsiderable, 750 jobs. We estimate that is over $380 million into the supply chain so this is a really significant industry.

While we are going through change, there is opportunity. It does not have to be the end. I really support this debate today to say, okay, the farm household allowance is a stopgap measure to provide a safety net but where is the plan? Where do we want the dairy industry to grow to? That is the main thing I want to talk about today. The Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathways Project have got a plan to lift performance of all farmers up to the top 25 per cent. They are really focusing on people, engagement, knowledge transfer and new skills. They are implementing their workforce strategy, bringing kids out of school and talking about where the jobs are. They are actually working on farm succession and transition and have a target of 50 per cent of farm family businesses having a strategy in place. What an innovation that is: actually working with your farmers—and that is all your farmers, your young farmers and your oldies—to have a transition scheme in place now so that you can bring people with you; you can have the change; and you can grow your industry.

And they are really actively working on the schools engagement process. I am a great fan, clearly, of education and how important it is. It needs to happen at schools. It needs to happen in vocational education and training. And we need then to work with our universities to make sure that we have the degree courses and the pathways through. I am delighted to say that we do have that in Indi. We have great work happening with La Trobe University and CSU. It is good to have you there.

But finally my comments are these. We have an opportunity with the dairy industry. Sure, it is going through a crisis, but we will move through that. With the right partnership and the right vision from government about how we can work together, we can really grow this industry.

In closing: representatives from this community meeting will be in parliament in the week of 20 March. I look forward to bringing them to Canberra, introducing them to the relevant ministers and their staff and talking about how we can take this fantastic model and grow it in my electorate but also take it to those other electorates throughout Australia that need a bit of a road map about how they can move from crisis to growth. The Alpine Valleys Dairy Pathways Project is doing the work. It is growing businesses, and it is growing leaders.

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