David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Nicholls for his question because he, better than anyone, knows the importance of exports in the agricultural sector, particularly in his seat of Nicholls. It has a very rich and proud history of it. Overall, exports through Australian agriculture are so imperative. We are simply a nation of 25 million people; we produce enough food for 75 million people. So, if we don't engage with the world, if we don't trade with the world, then we don't need the number of farmers we've got now and we don't need the communities that are there to support them, like the Sheppartons of the world.

There are over 270,000 Australians who are employed in the farming sector. Three in five of those jobs are tied to international exports. That's why this government has been proud to secure free trade agreements with China, Japan, Korea, the TPP-11, Hong Kong and, only in the last couple of months, Indonesia. And now we're working with the EU and the UK to secure more trade agreements. Before that, we made significant investments in agricultural counsellors. We've taken them from 16 to 22 positions. These counsellors sit in embassies and high commissions around the world, and they work at a government-to-government level in breaking down non-tariff barriers and getting rid of red tape, and making market access even greater and simpler for our farmers, saving our farmers money and putting more money back into their pockets.

But we're not just looking at those international governments and how we can remove barriers; we're looking at ourselves. Last night we made a significant investment, over $230 million, in streamlining our export platform to make it fit for the future and make it single touch. If you are a citrus grower wanting to export at the moment, you'll fill out 20 application forms to export your product around the world. This investment will bring it down to one. This is an investment in those communities, in making sure that we get out of their lives as quickly as we can and get them into international markets.

We've gone further. We're working with complementary measures with all the industries, whether they be meat, fish, horticulture or even grains, in looking at how quality assurance is done. I'm proud to say the red meat sector has led the way on this. We're looking to invest in technologies even for them. They're now transitioning to smart glasses, manufactured in Brisbane, that allow audits to take place externally. This is saving man hours and money. When we are able to undertake these types of initiatives in a constructive way with industries, starting at red meat and working through, consulting with those industries, we're going to save that industry alone $40 million a year. That'll go back into the process and the farm gate.

When we implement all of these changes, in the next 10 years, it will potentially be over $1 billion that will go back through the processing sector to the farm gate. If we make these investments and the money goes back into those businesses' pockets, they are the ones that will be out there employing and creating the new jobs, particularly in regional Australia. This is a smart investment in regional Australia and in agriculture, helping reach its $100 billion goal by 2030.

See this speech in context