Grievance Debate

Frost Damage

Mr WHETSTONE (Chaffey) (15:11): Last week we saw severe frost right across South Australia. Temperatures were below minus 5, and it is the worst frost that South Australia has encountered since 1982. It was the lowest ever spring temperatures in South Australia. That widespread frost in the ag and horticulture sector right across the state has wreaked havoc in the Riverland, Mallee, Clare Valley, Barossa, Mid North, Eyre Peninsula and Yorke Peninsula. Every corner of the industry has been hit in some way, shape or form.

Some of the crops—grain crops, legumes, wine grapes, citrus, almonds and many other horticulture crops—have seen losses between 25 per cent and 100 per cent. If we look at what that equates to, it is going to be billions of dollars lost in the economy here in South Australia. Many horticulturalists will not harvest a grape, nut, citrus or peach product this season.

It is similar for some of the livestock farmers. Some farmers are now having to sell 50 per cent of their herds. Many farmers are unsure whether they will be able to feed them due to the short stock of hay. We are already facing feed shortages, and domestic feedstock is at a historic low for this time of the year. Farmers are reporting difficulty in buying due to cost and availability, which leaves very little feed for exporting.

The transport industry has also weighed in to say that they have projected losses, a drop in freight of up to 50 per cent, which makes their businesses unviable for the upcoming season. On the back of flooding, drought, China's trade tariffs, record high electricity prices, the cost of doing business and the lack of export initiatives, it is an unforgiving time for many of those primary producers and small businesses that are feeling the squeeze. We are not out of the woods. We are currently still experiencing very dry conditions right across the state, which could see that frost return.

I have asked the minister, and I have already briefed the Premier, to please step up and take some responsibility. There is a role for government to play in listening to the needs of the regions and in getting on the radio to say that we are still gathering information.

A lot of people have insurance for weather events. It is simply being out of touch to suggest that all primary producers have insurance on crop. There are some sectors that do because it is affordable, but most do not because it is out of their reach. The regions are in a desperate time. They are in need of a state government, a federal government, to do wide valuation, to come out and give support.

First and foremost, the concerns around a lot of primary producers is that on the back of a challenging series of years that we have had, the mental health of our primary producers is at a testing point. It is testing their ability to continue to go on financially stressed, to look at their crops withering. Many crops—whether they are cereal crops—are white; they will not mature, they will not fill out. Many vineyards right across the state are black. Sadly, the frost was of significant strength that we saw the first frost burn off the primary bud, whether that is on a grapevine or a tree. The second frost came along and burnt the secondary bud. That will mean, as you will probably know, that we will not see a crop off much of South Australia's primary production this year.

To our primary producers, our regional communities, I ask all of you to look after your neighbour. Look after your family and your grower friends. There is an opportunity to back our locals through these tough and trying times. In particular, my call is to every South Australian: whether you have a relative on a farm, whether you have family or friends out there as a primary producer, give them a call. Ask them if they are okay because with what I have seen in the Riverland, with what I have heard on the phone right across South Australia, things are in a perilously fragile state at the moment. The grain growers are doing it tough. They have already put their crops into the ground, inputs have been paid and yet will see very little return.

The horticulture sector and the wine sector are already on their knees. They are industries that are worth saving, they are industries in which the government do have a role to play, and I urge this state government to get on the phone, to speak to their federal colleagues and make sure that South Australia is still on the map for another season.