Food Production

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI (Leader of the Opposition) (14:46): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking a question of the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development on the topic of food production.

Leave granted.

The Hon. N.J. CENTOFANTI: Over the past 18 months, we have seen policy decisions from both our state and federal Labor governments that have attacked our food producers here in South Australia. The federal government's industrial relations laws are a handbrake on all businesses, and agricultural businesses are by no means exempt, adding layers of complexity and creating disincentives to employ. The biosecurity levy is a tax on farmers and food producers.

The decision of the Minister for Primary Industries and the Minister for Environment and Water in this state to support mass buybacks of water out of the consumptive pool over water efficiency projects has prompted outrage and comments from South Australian food producers, such as Ben Haslett, who has said that removing that water removes the power to produce.

The lack of leadership by the minister on her government's own mandated sheep and goat eID rollout has left producers in the dark with regard to future investment and now we see the banning of live sheep exports, an industry worth $143 million a year to our nation, which will have flow-on effects to the sheep industry here in South Australia.

So my question to the Minister for Primary Industries is: will the minister pull her support for these policies and condemn the actions of the federal government which continues to attack food producers here in South Australia and, if not, why not?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for her question. Only two of the items that she mentioned refer to the state government and one of those is obviously a federal government initiative, being the water buybacks.

In terms of the water buybacks, as I have said in this place on previous occasions I believe, there is work being undertaken in terms of providing a business case to the federal government about how those can most effectively be structured so that they provide a good outcome not only for the environment but also for areas such as the Riverland and for primary production.

In terms of eID, the improvement in traceability is incredibly important for primary producers because of the increased threats of diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease and others, that are close to our shores, although fortunately not currently within Australia. It is so important. Indeed, if those sorts of diseases got in, they would potentially destroy many of our primary production activities. That is continuing to roll out. We are working closely with industry, and the dates that have been originally announced for the first stage of implementation on 1 January next year, and then the second stage on 1 January 2027, are still on course.