13 November, 2007

Transcript of the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Peter McGauran, addressing the NSW Farm Writers’ Association in Sydney

PETER MCGAURAN: Thank you. Mr Jock Laurie, President of the New South Wales Farmers Association, Mr Mike Babcock, President of Ausveg, Mr Enzo Allara, President of APL, distinguished guests and members of the media.

Thanks Bev for that introduction. I genuinely appreciate the New South Wales Farmers Writers Association [sic] making this venue and gathering available to me to launch to Liberal and National Party's Agricultural Policy for the 2007 election.

Unlike my opposite number who was here a short time ago, we will have a printed document encompassing our policy with a number of new initiatives within the context of our longstanding directions available to you.

The current public spotlight on agriculture, and arguably it's been burning more fiercely than for a very long time, is not just about drought and climate change and water scarcity. Because it also highlights something else very important. That this country cares deeply about its farm sector because of the vital role it plays in the social, environmental, and economic fabric of our nation. Our farmers have always shown innovation, flexibility and the capacity to adapt to change. And that's what keeps them productive, what keeps them competitive.

And these are essential qualities for governments too. That's the yardstick against we, also, in our performances should be assessed. Our government's aim is to work with farmers to create an environment of opportunity. Our goal is very clear: profitable, productive and competitive sustainable industries. Easy enough to say, a great deal more difficult to bring about.

Australian agriculture must be competitive and adaptable to change, have access to international markets, and have a well-managed sustainable natural resource base. Farmers and land managers are at the forefront of managing our land, water, flora and fauna. Heavy responsibilities, and too often left alone to carry them.

But the face a great dilemma. How to remain profitable in the face of increased competition and tougher terms of trade while maintaining and improving those resources all of us in Australian society depend upon. All the time dealing with drought and reduced water availability, evasive plant and animal species, threats and risks to biosecurity, and climate change.

The challenges are formidable, but the coalition won't let farmers face them alone. We know there is no one-size-fits-all approach to sustainable agriculture. We reject out of hand the idea that there is a formula, let alone lines on a map, that can determine a farmer's viability. There are not unviable farmers, there's unviable farm enterprises.

There are a great many farm businesses, as dependent mostly on family contributions, in low rainfall areas. In the same way there are some businesses that are not sustainable under those same conditions.

We have to avoid the gross generalisations that too many, from a far distance I hasten to add, seek to impose on agriculture. The Government, I believe, has an impressive track record of working with different sectors and all commodities in this regard.

Look at each according to its need and its requirements. Don't bring a formula that might be applicable to one sector to another. And we're continuing to develop approaches that meet the needs of farmers and protect valuable natural assets for future generations.

This year's budget was a very strong pointer to the Government's underlying support for agriculture and agribusiness, because it provided certainty for communities, particularly for farmers and land managers whose livelihoods depend directly on sustaining our natural resource base.

We allocated nearly $2 billion over five years to the Natural Heritage Trust. The NHT has meant that every inch of this country is now covered by natural resource plans jointly agreed to by communities and governments. There are 56 regional authorities. Every part of Australia links into one of those regional authorities.

And we've brought all the stakeholders together to better manage the assets within those boundaries. Many of those regional authorities work better than others but overall we're all moving in the right direction and achieving high results. And we're unique in taking such a continent-wide approach to managing our natural resources. We also committed almost $840 million to Landcare through to the year 2011.

Landcare, as you well know, is one of the great success stories of Australian agriculture. And no one person, government, or organisation can lay claim to its entire success. Instead it is a true groundswell of community involvement. Around 75 per cent of farmers and land managers are involved in Landcare activities or benefit from them. It's an iconic institution and it's attracting more and more support from the wider community, which adds to its reputation.

The coalition government has also announced an investment of $50 million for an environmental stewardship program, the realisation of long-held ambitions by farm organisations and championed by the NFF. This groundbreaking new program will create long term partnerships to manage our natural resource base for current and future generations.

By providing ongoing payments, we will encourage farmers to undertake on-ground works including fencing, replanting and restoring degraded areas and managing weeds and pests. And by offering contracts for up to 15 years, we will help deliver the environmental outcomes the community wants but above and beyond the capability of individual farmers. It is a sharing of the load for farmers in high value asset areas. The environment and the wider community benefit.

One of the key threats to our natural resource base is from feral pests. They have a devastating effect on our environment and our economy. CSRO estimates that pest animals cost Australian agriculture more than $730 million each year.

A re-elected coalition government will commit $15 million to establish and consolidate a national program of pest and feral animal control and eradication. The new program, importantly, will include: a community grants component with a focus on controlling pest animals during drought; a research and development component, including a demonstration project; and a fund to target those pest animals that damage our environmental assets, most notably rabbits and camels.

Just as destructive as feral pests and animals, however, are weeds. Australia loses a staggering $2 billion in lost agricultural production because of weeds. Over the past four years the coalition has provided leadership and coordination through Defeating the Weeds Menace Program.

To build on the success of the Defeating Weeds Program, the coalition is committing a further $30 million to continue this highly successful program. This funding will continue the important work of the Weeds Cooperative Research Centre, provide community grants for locally-based weed control and provide large commissioned grants to support large-scale weed management projects.

The drought has underscored the urgency to reform the way Australia's water resources are managed. The Government's National Plan for Water Security is a much and bold needed plan, designed to put rural water on a sustainable footing over the next ten years and to make sure this precious resource is allocated in an equitable way across all irrigation areas, with particular emphasis on the Murray Darling Basin.

The Government has allocated $10 billion, as you know, to bring about the changes necessary to make sure our water resources are shared fairly and that old leaking infrastructure - estimated across the board to lead to 30 per cent wastage - is brought into 21st century technology. The plan is being rolled out and funding has started to flow as we speak.

A number of projects that will modernise irrigation systems and save river water currently lost to evaporation have already been funded. And a call for proposals for pilot on-farm efficiency projects have been advertised.

As we grapple with water management, the prospect of long-term climate change also looms large. It is clear our climate is changing as a result of greenhouse emissions and that these will effect agriculture. To address this, the Government has committed to establishing an emissions trading scheme from 2011. A cap and trade scheme, whereby greenhouse gas emitters have a cap imposed upon them but which they can trade off by way of offsets to meet their liabilities.

Importantly, agriculture is not part of the liability side of the equation for the foreseeable future, in that whilst the resource sector or electricity generators will immediately be required to cap their greenhouse gas emissions, agriculture will not.

But at the same time agriculture will participate from day one in the offsets aspect of the cap and trade system. There are opportunities for a number of farming districts or regions by way of vegetation and plantation.

It's only fair that agriculture be excluded from the scheme in its initial stages. Until we have reliable and affordable ways of measuring emissions at the individual farm level, it would be wrong to include agriculture.

Agriculture will, however, be involved in designing the scheme. Agriculture will be firmly and determinedly at the table in the construction of the Government's carbon trading scheme. There'll need to be very close consultation with stake holders about their involvement.

So far more than $225 million has been invested by the coalition in agriculture climate change projects, with almost $10 million committed to the National Climate Change and Agricultural Plan which I have direct responsibility for administering.

Historically, Australian farmers have shown extraordinary resilience in the face of the world's most - one of the world's most variable climates. They're showing it again now under the grinding effects of the most punishing of droughts. We recognise the personal courage and resilience of farmers and their families, and rural communities collectively, in surviving the drought and being poised to take full advantage of everything agriculture offers into the future.

But we must also recognise their interminable skills. No other generation of farmers could have got through the drought in such a fashion as this modern generation, over the past six and some cases, sadly, seven years of drought. The real reason that Australian agriculture performs as one of the leading sectors of the Australian economy is because of the productivity rate of 2.4 per cent, which is averaged over the last 30 years despite drought.

They have been skilful managers of their businesses and very careful custodians of their natural resource base. So whilst the wider community in Australia and the media focus in the human dimensions of the drought, thankfully in drawing attention to its toll in emotional and psychological ways, we must also salute the business acumen of Australian farmers.

It hardly needs to be said that the outbreak of equine influenza has been a dramatic reminder of the consequences of introduced diseases. The coalition is committed to maintaining and enhancing a transparent quarantine system based on science. A system that meets our international obligations and protects us from pest and disease incursions.

An important element of this has been our world-leading National Livestock Identification Scheme, NLIS. NLIS provides swift and accurate trace back for managing disease outbreaks, as well as responding to food safety incidents, and provides confidence to consumers and markets about the integrity of our livestock. A major selling point in those very exacting and demanding North Asian markets.

To remain a world-class system, continued investment is required to reinforce the capacity and capability of NLIS. A re-elected coalition government will commit a further $15 million to support the NLIS. The funding will create a mirror database, a sheep industry database and further training for farmers and users on the system's features and benefits.

Biosecurity and quarantine are vital to the competitiveness of our agricultural industries globally, and the coalition is determined to make sure that any deficiencies are identified and rectified. Following the last major review of quarantine by Professor Mal Nairn some 12 years ago, there have been many examinations of various aspects of Australia's quarantine activities.

The latest of these is obviously the Callinan review into the outbreak of EI. At the conclusion of the Callinan review, a re-elected coalition will conduct another major review of the overall quarantine system. I expect that to commence approximately in April 2008, when the Callinan inquiry is scheduled to report. And for the Government's review to then report its hearings and consideration of submissions towards the end of 2008, possibly by November 2008.

The review will take account of the findings of all previous reviews, including the Nairn review, and also look closely how the system is currently working and what should be done to make it more effective.

Our international competition is fiercer than ever. Our terms of trade are tougher. And of course the environmental challenges are greater. And if our farmers and the communities that depend upon them are to prosper, we must tackle the challenges of operating in the global marketplace.

Exports from regional Australia are growing three times faster than exports from metropolitan centres. Over the past 20 years, exports of beef, sheep, meat, wine, and dairy products particularly have increased dramatically in response to the growing demand overseas for high quality products. Australia's guarantee of food safety is of course a major selling advantage we have.

A re-elected coalition government will invest an additional $11 million in the export partnership fund to help emerging export sectors, including the farm and food sectors, gain access in international marketplace.

To further assist our international trade and horticulture, I am delighted to announce that a re-elected coalition will invest $6 million to expand international markets for Australian horticulture. This funding will provide an Australian agricultural councillor in Taiwan, as well as support research necessary for fresh horticulture to access markets.

Another impediment for many in small niche and emerging industries is the legitimate access to suitable crop protectants and animal health treatment. To further support horticulture and speciality crop producers, a re-elected coalition government will provide $6 million to address the minor use chemical problem.

This will give them access to a better range of safer and legal crop protectants. It will allow Australia to join Canada and the United States research program, and undertake a review of minor use permits to identify and register other speciality crop users.

In rural Australia, agricultural industries provide around 14 per cent of employment opportunities. Food processing is Australia's largest manufacturing industry, with total sales of around $70 billion each year. It accounts for 18 per cent of manufacturing employment, with 40 per cent of that being non-metropolitan areas.

As so much of our food processing takes place in rural and regional Australia, I'm please to announce that the successful Food Processing in Regional Australia Program will be extended for a further three years with $9 million funding.

In addition, $10 million will be committed to the Expanding Australian Food and Beverage Exports program, to increase food sales to target markets, increase the number of food business participating in each market, and promote Brand Australia.

Strong economic management has contributed greatly to Australia's current prosperity. And while target of policies and programs of the kind I've outlined today are vital, so is the Government's broader economic agenda. Governments have a crucial job in creating an environment that both encourages and rewards success.

Improving transport infrastructure is also essential to primary industries. There's little point in being the world's most efficient producers if you can't get your product to market swiftly and efficiently. Our $22 billion investment in land transport through AusLink Two reflects the importance of a whole of supply chain approach to agricultural industries.

Never overlook the importance of workplace and labour reform. In this strong economy, our primary industries are competing for both skilled and unskilled labour. Building our rural workforce skills is crucial to maintaining international competitiveness.

There is a great future for the family farm as the cornerstone of Australian agriculture: innovative, skilled, cutting edge farms. I'm fervently optimistic about the future of agriculture in Australia, because our farmers and our industries have proved themselves over the years, time and time again, especially through the 15 years of dry and drought.

There will, of course, always be climatic and economic uncertainties. Many farmers are bruised and battered, financially and psychologically, by the drought, by the declining terms of trade, by farm debt.

One of the most reassuring experiences I have, like many of you, when I spend time in rural towns across the country, is the optimism of the next generation of farmers. A generation of articulate, informed and enthusiastic young farmers who believe with conviction that farming has a future, a productive and profitable future. It's a confidence the Liberal and National Parties share, and a vision we embrace.

Thank you.

BEV JORDAN: The Minister's happy to take questions. I'd like to ask you to just follow our normal process and identify yourself and your organisation before you ask your question. Who's first up? Allan Dick.

QUESTION: Allan Dick from the [indistinct]. $50 million dollars for that Environmental Stewardship Program is handy but it could be a lot more many times that amount that we need over the longer term. What's your thinking on that?

PETER MCGAURAN: Yeah fair point, Allan. It's such a revolutionary notion or concept for governments that it was a great debate within our ranks. The idea that the Commonwealth would directly enact a contract with a landowner for up to 15 years, to buy an environmental service. And therefore we want to make sure we get it right. So it's $50 million for the first four years.

The NFF and others who bid for a great deal more, upwards of $150 million, have welcomed the $50 million amount because we've got to get it right and there's a great many complexities associated with this. We're doing it gradually. If we do it as we fully expect to, then we'll win the support of government across departments, agencies and ministries and the wider community.

I really think that this is the best way to go, because otherwise it's going to be seen as a taxpayer subsidy to farmers. It could be seen as a handout. Whereas if we make sure that each of the contracts achieves it's specific purpose in a measurable and transparent way, then future governments will add to it.

If it's the success we know it will be, all governments will want to increase it's investment in it, because with farmers and landowners responsible for 60 per cent of Australia's land, you've got to bring them with you.

QUESTION: …Peter, you mentioned about the $10 billion to look at the water issues, especially in the Murray Darling area. We also have a lot of other problems in our industry, on areas not within the Murray Darling system. The drought is Australia-wide.

And I think the big challenge is - I've just been to America and there's some great opportunities for us. It seems to be developing world food shortage, and I think it's important we can drought proof our agricultural areas right across Australia, because I think there's some great challenges there and some great opportunities for us.

PETER MCGAURAN: Agreed and it's for that reason we also have the National Water Initiative that has set the pace. It was introduced three years ago, there's $3 billion attached to that, and there's been a large number of community and industry water saving projects.

In regard to the $10 billion national plan for water security, it's for all irrigation systems. But because 85 per cent of the irrigation occurs within the Basin, you'd expect it to receive funding approximating that percentage.

But within my own electorate of Gippsland, for instance, there's the Macalister irrigation district of 700 dairy farmers. We've already, through the National Water Initiative, invested $20 million in total channel control systems. And they are preparing plans to tap into now the National Plan for Water Security. That approximate 15 per cent, which translates to several hundred millions of dollars, would go to areas outside the Basin.

Of course farmers will play their part. They will be matching most of the grant schemes available, certainly on farms. So I think it's a very exciting time ahead of us because we're all on the same page. We know what has to be done; it's to conserve water for the benefit of producers and the environment.

QUESTION: A suggestion from - it's all a bit of a mouthful - National Agricultural Commodities Marketing Association. Just in relation to GM crops, we're going through the state moratorium reviews. The review period is finished and the reports are being written at the moment. But over the last, particularly over the last 12 months we've had excellent reports come out of various government agencies in relation to GM crops, whether it be trade related, logistics.

So we've got that on the table, we've got the Office of the Gene Technology Regulator in Canberra through the Department of Health. And yet we're still getting bound up in emotive comment coming out in relation to GM. We've got excellent science backing the technology up.

I'd just like to hear, you know, from the Federal Government's perspective currently, you know, what, how you're seeing this unfold and where you'd like to see it taken.

PETER MCGAURAN: I understand, and at times share your frustration at some of the knee jerk or ideological responses of people, without looking at the science and assessing objectively the range of material and information made available on the issues.

However, I am very pleased with the progress to date. I think we're, overall, within industry and in the wider community, we're discussing the possibility of GM commercial crops far more supportively today than any time previously.

The Commonwealth Government is strongly supportive of the introduction of GM commercial crops. Once the Office of Gene Technology Regulator has cited them safe for human health and the environment, the Prime Minister himself has said that whilst the Government doesn't support one production system over another, whether it's organic or conventional or GM, we believe the choice should be with farmers.

Now I understand there's the separation issues and that would have to of course be taken into account in regulations, and you might have to have some buffer zone in regard to different crop systems or in localities. But we know, of course, that the separation is achievable, at a cost, post farm.

These are issues that do need to be very sensibly and carefully worked out, but only from the premise that GM crops do have commercial and environmental benefits for producers and the community. We have been urging the states for a long time now, and finally with some optimism, to lift the moratoria.

If one of the two major states, Victoria or New South Wales, was not to continue the moratorium after April next year, I think other states would follow suit. Not Tasmania or Western Australia; they're implacably opposed to the introduction of GM crops.

In Tasmania there's more reason behind their arguments than there is in Western Australia, if you approach the debate from that point of view. And the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association certainly do not accept the transience of the Tasmanian Government, nor do PGA and WAFF in Western Australia. I think it highly likely that one of the states will lift - one or two of the major states - will lift their moratoriums.

QUESTION: Graham Jennings, Westpac. Minister, just to address your comments on the labour market situation, there was press on the weekend which you might have seen around the mining industry. And it was saying that, you know, something upwards of 400,000 more jobs would be created in the mining industry in the little while.

So I'm just interested in your comments in the way of the situation, in particular the sorts of things we should be thinking about.

PETER MCGAURAN: In looking forward, the Prime Minister, on behalf of the Liberal and National Parties, has spoken about our goal of full employment of three per cent, or close to it. I thought it unwise for some farm leaders or sectors to respond saying that that would harm agriculture. I'm sure that the comments naturally would have been taken out of context and were misrepresentative of the overall position, which is quite complex and difficult, but the reporting was selective I'm sure.

You can't deny Australia a goal of full employment. Sure, the ramifications for agriculture are serious and there's a need to fully address it. And in many parts of Australia, particularly in the horticultural areas, there is full employment. If you go to many parts of the Basin, for instance, or Queensland, there is a - the unemployment rate is two and a half or three per cent and they struggle to get workers.

Now I'll think you agree for the backpacker extension to the holiday working visa has been a stunning success. I don't get nearly so many complaints about harvest labour that I used to before that scheme came in. But there is a chronic shortage of semi-skilled and skilled people for many farm businesses and many farms - and many sit at town businesses everywhere I go. And the closer you are to a mine, the more keenly the shortage is felt.

We've invested heavily in apprenticeships in country areas, as you know. We've constantly got the issue under review. We don't think the importation of South Pacific labour or a guest worker scheme is in Australia's interest because we don't have full employment. And I know - and this has been expressed to me very directly and candidly by a great many horticulturalists in Swan Hill or Mildura - Australians don't want to do the work that is required out in the orchards.

So as far as they're concerned, they have no choice but to bring in willing and keen labour from Indonesia, the Philippines, China. But at this time, at this time of Australia's development, we don't believe that that is socially acceptable when we do have people still looking for work. The trick is, of course, is to get them to those areas.

In regard to skilled employment, of course, section 457 visa still exists. Agriculture is a heavy user of it and is substantially reliant upon it. We don't have an easy answer. The more I talk to a number of businesses, meat processing plants, some of the food processing and manufacturers in regional areas, you've got to sell it as a way of life. You can't compete on salaries.

I've been to areas, sat down with the Chambers of Commerce or with the farm representatives, and even if you gave a tax break, it's still not going to be anything like the mine's offer. And there's questions of whether or not the taxpayer should assume that responsibility. But you'd have to give tax breaks of $20,000, $30,000 or $40,000 to get within range of what a semi-skilled person can earn at a mine.

So they're trying to do - but working in a mine's hard work. You're separated from your family; it's not necessarily a long term commitment. If you're young and single, then it's got more attraction than if you're a family.

So a number of these towns and businesses are looking to put together a package for the families and sell the quality of life, of living in a country town with a secure job, with reasonable work hours and an acceptable remuneration. Not an easy one, and of course we're open to any suggestions and ideas, except for guest worker scheme.

QUESTION: First of all Minister, I think I'd like to remind you of the fact that the industry as a whole has certainly been very appreciative of the support from the Federal Government in relation to drought for six or seven years in some parts of state. I don't think there's any doubt, without that support there would have been some pretty serious consequences out there, so I think that's fantastic. I'd just like to acknowledge that.

Secondly the quarantine, the inquiry you're having into quarantine, you understand our position on that and very much appreciate the fact that we're going to have a look at it. I think it's so vital to agriculture that we make sure that our quarantine is right. Equine influenza has been a scare, and a scare I think probably at the appropriate time, now a great opportunity to move forward with that inquiry. So I think that's great.

Within the drought and within, talking about quarantine import issues, we've also got other industries within agriculture which are really struggling. The pork industry's a great example. Some of the things that we've heard coming out of the pork industry in the last month or so have been quite alarming, and you're very well aware yourself [indistinct] to discuss these very issues.

So while agriculture, generally speaking, a lot of sectors are doing alright, there are individual sectors that are really in strife. I just wondered what your views on that are and where we should be going with those?

PETER MCGAURAN: Initially, I should recognise the role of the New South Wales Farmers Association at arguing the case for the need of an overall review into Australia's quarantine and biosecurity system. They've worked constructively with us over several weeks, even months, to make a case for a review and what benefits and reforms would flow from it.

And I notice that wherever I go, other farm organisations, they defer to New South Wales Farmers Association on all issues quarantine. In other words, if the New South Wales Farmers Association is happy on a government position or response, they believe they'll invariably, will be also.

You're right Jock, I hope for a moment I didn't convey an impression that all is well in the rose garden of agriculture. We know that not to be the case, and there are some industries that are particularly hard hit and are facing ruin.

The permanent trees croppers, or I should say orchardists, of the Murray Darling Basin, for instance. They are in a parlour state with water allocations in, say, the river land cut to 16 per cent. A great many of the farmers unable to buy in added water will see large sections, if not the whole part, of their orchard bulldozed.

And at the same time, the pork industry, as Enzo Allara can testify, is going through an unprecedented period of hardship with a double whammy of high grain prices with exploding imports.

Our response, Jock, has to be on a sector by sector basis. So we've given a $20,000 irrigators grant. We are looking at a number of schemes they've brought forward, centred on low interest loans - without success I hasten to add and unlikely to be successful in that regard. And nobody's come up with a low interest loan scheme that doesn't have distorting effects or whose, or which benefit is uncertain in any event.

In regard to the pork industry, as most of you would know, a rare Productivity Commission inquiry has been instigated with a view to considering safeguards, whether a quote or a tariff, upon its report. Enzo Allara assures me that the productivity commission is taking to its task with a refreshing seriousness and full consultation.

We would expect the productivity commission to report to us in, at least on an interim basis, in early to mid December. I noticed a press report the other day where the United Kingdom Dairy - United Kingdom pork producers also have been decimated, as have the Canadians been. So there is a worldwide event under way as it affects pork producers. Mind you, the Australian context and situation will be very different to any other, but they're definitely under the hammer.

So when an industry has its back to the wall, like the citrus or stone fruit industries in the Basin, or the pork industry, we have to look at them separately and to the greatest extent assist them as sympathetically as possible.

QUESTION: Thanks Minister. Mick, Australian Farm Institute. I was interested in your comments on greenhouse emissions trading. It leads to a broader question, and that is the situation not that far down the track, where there'll be a group of countries, particularly Australia and New Zealand, with a price on carbon. And therefore a flow-on impact in terms of agricultural input costs. But still competing global markets with a lot of countries, South Americans, Russians, etcetera, who probably won't, for quite a considerable time, have a price on carbon.

So in terms of imports and competitiveness in export markets, there will be that degree of loss of competitiveness across the sector. And I'm just interested in your thoughts about whether there are mechanisms, either through at a consumer level or others, that might be available to start to look at how that sort of issue is dealt with further down the track.

PETER MCGAURAN: Mick, that's why I stressed earlier that agriculture has to have a seat at the table to consider all of these issues. I won't, this time at least, look so far ahead. We're assembling the consultations and putting together the cross-agency structures so that the carbon trading scheme can begin its initial considerations before much longer.

So Mick, very good point you raise and we'll be drawing on your knowledge and experience on matters like that and with - and from so many others at the same time.

And if you think that was completely avoiding the question, Mick, you'd be justified. It's just that…

[laughter]

…I tried to do it as politely as I could.

[laughter]

Hey, do you want to answer your own question?

[laughter]

No, stand up, come on. Mick, stand up. Mick stand up and tell me what the options could be.

QUESTION: Well I think there's probably a couple of options. But they're essentially going to involve the introduction of issues such as environment into WTO considerations. We are going to face the situation where, whilst in Australia we've said it's the European's conspiracy to introduce green issues into [indistinct] considerations, I suspect we're going to have to have a re-look at it and start to introduce those elements.

So you may end up with an import tax on, heaven forbid, products from non carbon costed countries, for example. It's quite challenging, the changes ahead, and how we deal with those sort of things.

PETER MCGAURAN: Thank you.

BEV JORDAN: Right, anyone brave enough to follow Mick? If not…

PETER MCGAURAN: Thank you.

BEV JORDAN: …I'll say thank you Minister, and call on Stuart Hutton to propose the vote of thanks.

STUART HUTTON: Thanks Bev. Firstly, thank you Minister for launching the coalition's agricultural policy at Farm Writers this morning. I think it's a great feather in our cap. And thank you all for attending at very, very short notice, but thank you.

It's refreshing to hear, amidst this election campaign where we in the city get bombarded with all the urban and day to day issues, some issues on agriculture that all of us in this room are more interested in. So it's refreshing that you're able to come here and talk about things that we understand and know about but most of the people outside this room in the city don't know about or don't want to know about.

Particularly your initiatives in national resource management, water plan, emissions trading, drought and drought management, quarantine and the quarantine inquiries, trade matters, and food processing initiatives.

It's also pleasing to hear your acknowledgment of the commercial resilience of the farm sector during what's been a very extensive drought. Those of us involved in business note that the productivity of the farm sector has suffered during the drought, but not as much as you'd expect and certainly not to the proportion to the lack of rain and lack of irrigation water that's prevailed. The farmers have continued to perform in very difficult times.

Lastly, we'd like to wish you well in the polls on the 21st, on the 24th, both yourself personally and your coalition colleagues. Would you please join me in thanking the Minister.

[applause]

BEV JORDAN: And I'll just do the last round of usual housekeeping. Our next events: Friday next week 23 November, rather than our usual date, David Kirk from Fairfax Media.