Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you for your question, Senator Davey. I know you, as a proud New South Wales irrigator who grows rice and also the occasional mung bean crop on your farm, are very interested about our government's plans to grow the profitability and productivity of our primary producers.

Regional Australia has long been the engine room for our economy, with more than 31 per cent of our annual GDP coming from regional Australia in 2016-17. In fact, since we came to government, Australia's total farm production has gone up 25 per cent. This is because we recognise that our farmers can grow the best produce in the world and feed the world. Seventy-five per cent of the food and fibre produced in our regional areas is actually exported, and Australian farmers feed 40 million people across the world. In fact, the value of ag exports was estimated at $48.981 million in 2017-18, up almost 29 per cent since we came to office. Senator Birmingham touched on some of the reasons for that increase in exports for agriculture and on the subsequent increase in local jobs around regional Australia. It is because of the free trade agreements our government has signed. We've also invested $51.3 million to continue to grow our agricultural exports and seize market opportunities in global food chains to support market access requests.

Maintaining our biosecurity though, as a nation with a pest- and disease-free status, is the central value proposition to underpin that export growth. It is something that our government has invested significantly in. We also continue to partner with the taxpayer and levy growers to have a world-class research and development facility to increase on-farm innovation and profitability. Our government has prioritised farmers— (Time expired)