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

Regional Australia is critical to driving our economy post-COVID. We know that agriculture and mining are key industries that stabilise our economic growth. We know that, by supporting the agricultural industry, we've supported international freight task as supply chains have been challenged by COVID-19. Additionally, when our own domestic supply to supermarkets was challenged, particularly last year, we set up transport arrangements to make sure that we could get food from farm to distribution centre to supermarkets, so that Australians who were in lockdown could still access high-quality food. We've negotiated an agricultural visa, which we look to to address some of those workforce shortages that are a result of our international border closures. Every single step of the way, our government is supporting Australians in rural and regional Australia to get through this pandemic and to come outside stronger.