Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Trade) Share this | Hansard source

Our farmers and our exporters work incredibly hard to secure export contracts around the globe, and the last thing we want to see is them lose the reputation for reliability and lose contracts simply because they can't get their goods to market. So businesses across the country—exporters across the country—have welcomed the work of IFAM. Indeed, in Senator Rennick's home state of Queensland, the Australian Reef Fish Trading Company in Cairns said, 'Without IFAM we would be in survival mode.' Instead, in the last two months they've put on two new people and increased their administration officer from part-time to full-time. The availability and reliability of flights has allowed them to commit to buying fish from the boats. That's kept the boats in business and their crews in jobs, with flow-on impacts to fuel suppliers, mechanical workshops, bait suppliers and wholesalers. SunPork in Kingaroy says, 'The IFAM initiative was an extremely useful stimulus when transport came to an abrupt halt and our normal freight avenues were cut off.' Prime Fish from the Gold Coast acknowledges that, 'Because of IFAM, we've been able to get produce to where it needs to go.' (Time expired)