Members, Travel Allowances

The Hon. S.C. MULLIGHAN (Lee) (14:36): My question is to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development. Did the minister travel to the United States on 8 July 2018 on ministerial business and did his department meet the costs, including his hotel room, $1,600 on limousine hire and the purchase of Apple AirPods?

The Hon. T.J. WHETSTONE (Chaffey—Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development) (14:36): I thank the member for his question. Yes, I did travel to the US in July 2018. It was a very, very important trip, with the government's agenda to look at the opportunities to adopt agtech. It was vitally important to go over there just to understand what the world is doing, particularly in horticulture with agtech, and what I saw at the UC Davis university with vintech.

What we saw over there were some of the world's leading scientists and researchers and some of the technology they are undertaking within that sector. Pleasing to see was that a lot of that adoption and a lot of the leadership in UC Davis was Australian. What we saw over there was that the leading researchers, being Australians, had given them the opportunity not only to look at the ability of the universities to have that bequeathed money, to be able to put into research, but it gave me the ability to come back and, as a government minister, look at the adoption of agtech, particularly in the wine industry.

Also while we were over there, we called in to the Texas university to look at the agtech sector within the red meat industry. That was a very, very important sector to South Australia. We know that it is about a $4½ billion industry. Sadly, we have seen reduced numbers in recent years through the drought. The continuation of South Australia looking at how we could grow our herd and flock numbers is critically important for the sustainability of one of our key industries within the primary sector.

Also while I was there, I managed to call in to a business by the name of Ceres. That was even more eye-opening. It gave me the understanding that agtech mapping and data collection, through that model, was more important to the ag sector than ever. The other thing that really buoyed me, I guess, was that they were Australians undertaking this research. I think that was a real eye-opener. What we now see is that Ceres, after that visit, have set up an office here in South Australia in the Riverland. They were undertaking that imagery, that data collection, and it is now proving one of the vital tools in progressing the future of data collection for horticulture and viticulture.

What I would say is that that trip was extremely beneficial, not only to me but to the government's agtech agenda. While I was away, it gave me a much clearer understanding of how important the future of agriculture is with the adoption of ag tech.

In regard to being over in the US and also claiming through my department, upon the issue that has been raised with the country MPs' travel allowance, as I said, I have directed my office to undertake that full audit. I did find administrative errors and I have corrected them. I have offered to repay all incorrect claims to the parliament. They have since issued me with an invoice and I have paid that. So again, I have taken full responsibility. I have apologised to the parliament, I have apologised to the constituents of Chaffey and I have apologised to the people of South Australia. Again, all of that information is now publicly available. It has been released to the parliament, released to the public.