Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on and support the Farm Household Support Amendment Bill 2017. I must note that it is pleasing to see the government working to address the issues that many have raised with me in relation to the farm household allowance. The complexity of the scheme has been a thorn in the side of farmers in my electorate and across the country.

The future of agriculture is something that is of particular interest and concern to me. My electorate is mostly rural and contains what I believe is the best agricultural produce in Australia. As I have often said in this House, we have apples, pears, cherries, strawberries and also beef, sheep and a range of crops. We certainly consider ourselves the food bowl of South Australia. I have seven different wine regions in my electorate as well—and they are farmers too—and a large dairy industry with 93 dairy farmers within the borders of my electorate.

As has been discussed many times in this place, by 2050 world population is expected to reach 10 billion people. That will provide a great challenge to our farmers, particularly as Australia's population is expected to be around 50 million, but I believe it also provides tremendous opportunity for the agricultural sector. But there is no doubt it is a sector with a number of challenges and that it is also in transition.

I have spoken at length about the future I see for Australian agriculture and how, if we put the right measures in place now, we will all benefit tremendously in the future. One of those benefits is supporting our farmers, because we really are on the verge of a great dining boom. For the last two decades, the Australian agricultural industry has been overshadowed by mining, yet the most recent statistics show more than 300,000 people are employed in agriculture, forestry and fishing nationwide compared to 230,000 people employed in mining. For too long, I believe, our farmers have been a forgotten driver of our economy and somewhat of an afterthought when we have times of great adversity. I think it is fair to say that governments of all persuasions have often been slow to act. It is time that this parliament and our nation paid better attention to farmers.

This bill begins to address the issues that have plagued the farm household allowance program. Farmers that I have spoken to talk about the complexity of applying for support and the lost productivity on account of having to be filling in applications and stressing about them rather than working the land. I applaud the government for recognising some of the flaws of the scheme.

This bill helps existing farmers by removing the waiting periods that apply to farm household allowance and ensures that anyone who is deemed eligible can access the payment immediately instead of waiting, in some cases, up to 14 weeks for payment. Farmers are not unemployed jobseekers. They are often employers themselves, and these are commonsense changes that will support the industry. It is completely reasonable that those who are deemed eligible and therefore deemed as being in hardship can access support immediately.

This bill also makes commonsense changes to the assets test to include water rights and shares in marketing cooperatives as farm assets rather than nonfarm assets. This is a sensible change and will bring more clarity to applicants who to this point have been very confused—and quite rightly so—over the distinction between farm and nonfarm assets.

Last week, at the invitation of the member for Indi, I visited Wodonga in Victoria. Whilst there I addressed a meeting of local dairy farmers and spoke at length about the challenges facing the industry. One of the topics for discussion was the complexity of the application for farm household allowance. Again, I am so pleased to see that the government has taken steps to address these concerns, but there are many other concerns that I believe this parliament should also be considering.

Along with my colleague Senator Nick Xenophon, I have approached the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Agriculture, Barnaby Joyce, regarding the application of the farm household allowance in relation to aquaculture. As it stands, wild-catch fishers are not eligible to receive support and some have seen significant depletion of fish stocks due to issues beyond their control. You could almost say it is a drought of the sea. Yet owners of oyster farms and tuna pens are eligible. I see this as a gross inequity. Support for the industry means support for the whole industry, and wild-catch fishers are certainly not immune to the pressures of the environment in which they work.

For example, the Lower Lakes and Coorong fishers have been challenged by significant increase in numbers in native long-nosed fur seals in the waters off the bottom of my electorate. This causes indiscriminate damage to the fish that are caught in nets and the nets themselves. This has resulted in serious ongoing costs to fishers, their businesses and their households, and yet, because they operate without a right or interest in land, they do not receive the same support as other fishers or, indeed, land based primary producers.

In a broader sense, I will continue to encourage the government to address emerging and ongoing issues that farmers face. After speaking extensively with farmers in my own electorate and now with farmers in Victoria, it is clear that there are many issues that cross state lines.

Farming is undergoing somewhat of a transition, as I said earlier, with the average age of a farmer now 54 years, and that is only increasing. There is no point of a boom in agriculture if there is no-one around on the farm to work. We need to put strategies in place to entice younger generations into the industry, and I believe this starts in the schoolyard.

My attention has been drawn to a program currently operating out of Mansfield Secondary College in Victoria that allows year 9 and 10 students to obtain vocational qualifications in agriculture by pairing them with local farmers who are providing mentoring to them. The students spend one day per week on a farm doing practical work and study geography and agscience in schools. Not only does this greatly beneficial for the students; but the farmers who have been involved so far are delighted with the program. It is great to see young hands on a farm, and it has wide-reaching benefits, including strengthening of ties in rural community ties and showing students that there is a viable career to be pursued in agriculture. Programs such as these, I believe, should be supported by the parliament and by the government, so that we can build the next generation. If we create the conditions that enable success, Australian farmers will thrive under their own steam, just like they always have.

I think many here are aware of the number of issues facing dairy farmers in particular. Since the deregulation of Australia's dairy industry in 1999, the number of dairy farmers has decreased and the volume of production has decreased from more than 11 billion litres in 2002 to nine billion litres in 2010. This is despite Australia's population growing. I want to see the dairy industry growing and thriving, not shrinking. I fear that the ongoing supermarket price war will have a deep impact on the industry. I meet with dairy farmers who are up at dawn for the first milking, and when the sun goes down they are still milking. They are often the farmers who are seeking this farm household assistance. It is just not right. My colleague Senator Xenophon is currently involved in the Senate Standing Committee on Economics inquiry into the dairy industry, and we all are awaiting their final report on 30 March.

As I said earlier, dairy is a significant industry in my electorate. Just like what we are doing here, the government recognised that the industry needed support and implemented the dairy concessional loans scheme. But, while these are federally funded, they are managed by the states, and this has led to inconsistency in application and process. In my state, the dairy concessional loans have been underutilised. I believe this is, in part, due to the state government refusing to consider water allocations and livestock as part of the land value when assessing eligibility. This is quite different to the Tasmanian government's administration of the same scheme, in which both water rights and livestock are assessed. This means that a farm's asset pool—means they have a much greater chance of being able to apply for the concessions loan scheme. I am advocating for these to be added as part of a federal government directive to the states to allow greater access to the loan scheme. We are also advocating strongly for dairy farmers who are outside of Fonterra and Murray Goulburn contracts to also have access to assistance as low farmgate prices are affecting every farmer, not just those connected with Murray Goulburn or Fonterra.

I think it is important to remember that farmers are not looking for a handout. That is certainly not what this bill does. All of the farmers I speak to pride themselves on not leaning on government subsidies like their Japanese, US and European counterparts do. At the same time, it is our responsibility as elected representatives to ensure that we do all we can to support industries in time of need. These measures do that, and I commend the government for introducing them.

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