Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The minister would be aware that most of our beef, pork, poultry and even dairy products come from grain not grass. Is the minister aware that in the United States this feedstock grain is only $178 a tonne while in Australia feedstock grain is sorghum and is priced at $234 a tonne? The American feedstock grain is of course dried distillers grain, more concentrated and therefore more nutritious than grain sorghum. Since it comes as a by-product of ethanol, can the minister advise what progress is being made with the ethanol inquiry? Finally, can the minister assure the House that the government ethanol inquiry encompasses biodunder cattle feed production from Sarina’s ethanol plant which, combined with some moderate water projects in North Queensland and dried distillers grain, is likely to see, as in America, Australia dramatically increase protein production without diminishing grain or sugar exports?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for his question. For all the talk about people not knowing where they stand, I do not think that is an accusation that will ever be levelled at the honourable member for Kennedy. There is no doubt that the high grain price is an issue that people in the livestock industries are perilously aware of. There is also no doubt that the ethanol debate is not nearly as simplistic as the simple food-for-fuel debate it is often depicted as.

I have visited the Sarina mill to which the honourable member refers, and I have seen and spoken to the people there about some of the opportunities for that ethanol plant and the way forward. The specific question goes to what is happening with respect to progress on the inquiry. There is a review, as has previously been made public and as I have spoken to the honourable member about, being conducted jointly by me and the minister for energy. There is, particularly with the current global food crisis, a great deal of complexity playing into world prices and the individual protectionist policies of some nations—and the United States is the one referred to in the question. Our growers have also taken a particular hit with respect to seven or eight years of extended drought. Those issues all play in together.

In terms of the progress, the current part of that inquiry is a review of all existing government policy. Once that review is complete, we will then move forward to look at the issues that were raised specifically in this question. We will then be in a better position to get that balance right in making sure that we deliver economic opportunity, energy security and also a better deal for those who are reliant on various forms of grain, and, in particular, sorghum.