Environment and Food Production Areas

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS (15:12): I congratulate the Attorney-General on delivering those historic reforms. I seek leave to make a brief explanation before addressing a question without notice to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development on the topic of wheat production.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.A. SIMMS: Last month, I asked the minister whether she could outline the impact losing 1 per cent of the state's prime food production area would have on gross state product. In her response she stated that, and I quote from the Hansard:

…in terms of the impact, until we know which landowners will take up the opportunity to have their land changed in use and sold, we can't guess at what the impacts in terms of value will be.

Independent analysis released yesterday by Grain Producers SA shows that the areas proposed by the government produce nearly 23,000 metric tonnes of grain annually, enough to bake over 57 million loaves of bread. The report claims that this equates to $8 million in annual production value. The report further states that the government's proposed changes to the environment and food production areas will affect areas that are 33 per cent more productive than the state average. My questions to the Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, therefore, are:

1. Is the minister adequately protecting food production areas in her capacity as Minister for Primary Industries?

2. Does the minister believe that the state should be reducing its annual yield of wheat in high-yield areas while we are in the middle of a drought?

The Hon. C.M. SCRIVEN (Minister for Primary Industries and Regional Development, Minister for Forest Industries) (15:14): I thank the honourable member for his question. As I mentioned in my previous answer several weeks ago, the proposed changes to the environmental and food production areas represent less than 1 per cent of the agricultural land within the Greater Adelaide area.

The housing crisis is well documented and, I would hope, well understood by those of us here in this chamber. We are seeing fewer people able to purchase their own homes. We are seeing a rental crisis. The Malinauskas Labor government has taken a wide variety of actions to assist with this, but one of the most important is to provide additional supply. That is something that needs, obviously, things such as changes to planning regulations or laws, it can require code amendments and it requires infrastructure.

The Malinauskas Labor government is keen to ensure that there is a choice of housing styles. In the city, certain types of housing will be different, perhaps, to those who have young families and want space and a yard for their kids to play. This is something that is incredibly important to many South Australians. It is also, of course, very important to maintain our food supplies and food security—after all, we export many tonnes of grain around the world, and we often talk in a very positive way about how we are feeding the state, feeding the nation and feeding the world.

There are difficult decisions to be made to find the right balance between providing housing—which is so important to the people of South Australia—and maintaining our agricultural industries. This government will continue to try to find that balance.