Russell Broadbent (McMillan, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One of the most strategic and important events across Gippsland and Australia will happen this weekend with the 50th staging of the Lardner Park field days. This will be the 50th year that Lardner Park has hosted the four-day Farm World event. The emphasis this year will be on food and fibre and food and fibre's importance to this nation. There is a great history to this event but this year there will be a first also: this will be Nicola Pero's first year as the CEO at the Lardner Park field days.

In many ways, this event mirrors the progress of Gippsland and the way we have worked within our farming community and the part of our business community that affects agriculture. One of our great firms, Vin Rowe Farm Machinery, mirrors the history and success of Farm World itself. More than 50 years ago, together with local agricultural machinery dealers John Woods and Earl French, Vin Rowe founded the Warragul Field Days, now known as Farm World, one of Australia's largest farm machinery exhibitions.

Being part of Farm World has a great history. It was Gough Whitlam who went to Farm World and told the farmers they had never had it so good, for which he copped the opprobrium of many right across the nation at the time. The now Prime Minister, Malcolm Turnbull, has presented as the guest speaker at the Farm World luncheon. The luncheon will be held tomorrow, but it looks like we will be held back in this place and will not be getting to that luncheon. I think every Premier of Victoria has presented. John Brumby was so impressed with Farm World that after he went there as an official guest at the luncheon he went back next day to have a look around. That was really nice: seeing John Brumby with his family just wandering round. The day before he was being the Premier, but on this day John Brumby was, just like the rest of us, there to soak up the atmosphere and note the innovation and opportunities in agriculture, which has changed so much. New types of grasses are planted now, there is new machinery that puts carbon into the soil—there has been a whole shift away from the fifties and sixties Farm World that we knew.

I congratulate all of the people who have been connected with Farm World over the past 50 years. I congratulate them and I encourage them in continuing for the next 50 years because they showcase Gippsland and they showcase farming, particularly dairying. Their focus on enterprise and innovation is very well received, and we thank them for it.