Rebekha Sharkie (Mayo, Centre Alliance) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to support this motion. The agriculture sector is incredibly important. It's an economic contributor to Australia and it is the lifeblood of our regional towns. Australian agriculture accounts for an astonishing 55 per cent of goods and services exported, 2.4 per cent of value-added GDP and 2.4 per cent of employment. The sector continues to thrive despite the often destructive nature of Australia's climate variability. As Dorothea Mackellar so aptly wrote, we are a country of droughts and of flooding rains, and we're also a country of bushfires.

It's important to note that our continued success in the agriculture sector is not a product of chance. It's a product of hard work, undertaken over generations that have respected the land and incorporated good environmental practices as our knowledge and awareness has grown. This hard work and dedication on the land only tells part of the story. Science and application of scientific research has ensured tremendous year-on-year improvements in every aspect of agricultural production. The member for Indi's call on government to fund a network of 200 context-specific extension officers to provide outreach into our services and advice on technology, products and practices that will help farmers lower their emissions is sensible, and we know from experience that this will be successful. Australia already has lower emissions per unit of beef produced than our other major competitors, such as Argentina, Brazil, India and others. Our herd management, tree planting and other practices have assisted farmers to achieve this. However, our emissions intensity for our beef still remains higher than in the EU, US, Canada and New Zealand.

The good news, like our continued crop-yield improvements, is that the investment in science through public-private partnerships is funding solutions. One solution is FutureFeed's use of a specific type of red seaweed known as asparagopsis as a feed supplement that significantly reduces methane emissions. Feed lot trials in beef cattle using less than one per cent of asparagopsis show a reduction in methane production by more than 95 per cent. That's extraordinary. That is huge. As a side note, this native seaweed is a reminder as to why we need to make sure that we ensure our marine environments are pristine. Irresponsible destruction of those marine ecosystems will deny future opportunities. Everything is interlinked.

The importance of science assisting farmers to transition to lower emissions practice is essential, and it is not limited to preharvest treatments. In the parliament last year, I was pleased to negotiate funding for a post-harvest treatment plant for South Australia, and I look forward to the government working with the state government and the industry to complete the project. This plant will dramatically reduce product spoilage and consequential waste, minimise pesticide and other chemical use, and open markets to countries that we've never before been able to get our products into.

On the emissions front, the Australian farm sector averages 14 to 16 per cent of our national greenhouse gas emissions. This is slightly above the global average of around 13 per cent. Community expectations, trading obligations and climate variability will continue to put pressure on Australia's farmers to reduce their emissions and their carbon footprint.

In this context the government must contribute and provide assistance, and I support the member for Indi's motion here. I think we need to work side by side with farmers, and this motion seems to me to be incredibly sensible. The spend will be very good value for money and it will put more professional jobs in our regions, as well. Many of our farmers are at a real crossroads. They're not sure where to go and what to do with respect to future farming and emissions. I would encourage the government to work with the member for Indi on this motion. Let's make this a reality.

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