SMITH, DIANE AND BRYAN

Mr TRELOAR (Flinders) (15:23): Just to lighten the tone of the afternoon, I thought I would welcome today to the Speaker's gallery Bryan and Di Smith of Coorabie. Di, I welcome you to Parliament House to work in the office here today.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: Is that near Curramulka?

Mr TRELOAR: No, it's not near Curramulka; wrong peninsula. Coorabie is about 150 kilometres west of Ceduna. I welcome Di here today to work in the office. She normally works Thursdays and Fridays in the Ceduna office in the electorate of Flinders. Di and her husband Bryan farm at Coorabie, near Nundroo, on the Eyre Highway. As you head west from Ceduna, go through Penong, and continue west to Nundroo, the last paddock on the left-hand side, as you leave the cropping belt of South Australia, belongs to the Smiths.

The Hon. P.F. Conlon: How many wombats?

Mr TRELOAR: There are 50,000 acres, Patrick, so your guess is as good as mine as to the number of wombats.

The Hon. L.R. Breuer: About 10,000.

Mr TRELOAR: Many wombats. Bryan in fact has just come from the Hart Mid North field days, where he was invited to speak on his topic of the day—'Farming on the edge'. What makes the Smith family unique is that they very much are on the edge of the wheat belt. In a 300 millimetre rainfall and a high pH soil area, they grow wheat, barley and canola and keep sheep.

There are many challenges, obviously, to farming out there and Bryan went through a number of them in his presentation. I have seen the presentation and it consists of many excellent slides of their farming operation. It is highly mechanised; it is sophisticated. They use the latest technology, the latest machinery and the latest soil science to make their business profitable on the West Coast. The challenges include not just the distance and the logistics of operating 150 ks west of Ceduna but also the feral animals. One of the members has alluded to the number of wombats—

Mr van Holst Pellekaan: An overabundant native species.

Mr TRELOAR: An overabundant native species that they need to deal with. One of the really time-consuming and expensive tasks of farmers out west is dealing with the wombats. Of course, the environment and the landscape have changed somewhat since settlement and have actually encouraged the wombats to breed up and reach plague proportions in some regions. They go a long way towards destroying much of the countryside. It makes it a very difficult proposition and, in fact, some of the country has been destroyed completely. A big part of the paddock preparation for the year revolves around the ridding of wombats from the paddock that is proposed for wheat.

I spoke in here last week of the incursion of the camels into the agricultural areas. Of course, they are running wild in great numbers in the wilderness areas to the north of the dog fence. They put pressure on the dog fence. In fact, in some places they knock the dog fence down in their efforts to come inside, get a drink and have something to eat and, of course, this then lets in the dingoes and compounds the problem. The dingoes of course target the sheep that are run by the farmers.

But all is not lost! It is a wonderful place to live and the farmers on the Far West Coast are prepared to meet the challenge of their environment and their business structures. I think one of the real success stories of South Australian agriculture is that not just the Smiths but many families right across the agricultural zone in South Australia have managed to run profitable businesses in a really—and I am reluctant to use this word—marginal environment. It is a low rainfall area, but in fact their businesses are not marginal; they are strong businesses.

For 150 years, South Australia led the world in agricultural development technology. I think that is at risk now; our leadership is at risk. I do not think there has been appropriate government investment in the agricultural industry and I also think that our competitiveness is being undermined by a massive amount of regulation—red tape and what we are beginning to see more of and calling 'green tape'.

We compete in a global market; we must be competitive. Much of the rest of the world can also grow wheat, barley and canola and keep sheep. In a global marketplace, competitiveness is necessary and, as I said, the farmers do a very good job of it. Bryan Smith is also a member of the EPARF committee at the Minnipa Research Centre, and that also is an icon of dryland agricultural research in South Australia. Welcome to the Smiths, and congratulations on your efforts out west.

Honourable members: Hear, hear!