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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
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AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:28): I would like to start with a quote from my maiden speech in this house, given on 8 August 1990:

My 20 year involvement with the Agricultural Bureau of South Australia has been of great value to me. I pay the highest tribute to the bureau, which has been Australia's most successful farmer education body. I also pay tribute to all those in the bureau and the Department of Agriculture whose input is appreciated by all in rural industry. I also offer my continued support to the United Farmers and Stockowners and offer my ear to South Terrace at any time.

There have been a lot of changes to farmer representation since I gave that speech almost 24 years ago. The Agricultural Bureau movement is still strong and I was honoured to be presented with my 50-year service badge last year. But I was absolutely disgusted that the Labor government withdrew the meagre funding to the Advisory Board of Agriculture, especially as the bureau celebrates 125 years this year—a fantastic record. I am very pleased that a Marshall Liberal government will reinstate $100,000 per year to the ABA. I wish it well in the future, and my membership will be ongoing.

During my early days here I enjoyed great cooperation with the UF&S, which later became the South Australian Farmers Federation (SAFF). Mr Dean Bolto would regularly come into this place and discuss with me and other MPs—and some of them were members of SAFF—all issues and pending legislation, generally having good liaison.

Along came the issue of deregulation: abolition of the single desk and, in relation to the South Australian parliament, deregulation of the Barley Bill. What happened is quite regrettable and no-one won out of it. Yes, the final result may have been inevitable, but the way it was done caused maximum damage to farmer representation here in South Australia. More work should have been done on giving the farmers a direct say—take them with you on a big change like this.

I will not repeat what I have said before in this place, but we saw SAFF, which was a great organisation, very sadly disintegrate. Ten years ago it was functioning extremely well, fulfilling its role and the farmers were generally happy, and most were members. After the abolition of the single desk they resigned in droves and that was the end of SAFF.

We must move on and that is why, in one of my last speeches to this house, I want to finish on a positive note. We now have a new body with a totally new structure: Primary Producers South Australia, under former premier Rob Kerin, overseeing six commodity groups. One of those is Grain Producers SA, which represents grain growers. They now have one delegate who sits on the PPSA board, and it is off to a good start.

The problem is that we have several other groups—two national bodies seeking farmer involvement and membership—and many farmers are confused. We want one body, not a fragmented approach. Also, the subsequent sale of AusBulk to ABB Grain, then to Viterra and then again to Glencore has now put our almost monopoly business into the hands of a large multinational with control of our ports, which is a concern.

To make farmers even more edgy is the big issue of today: whether Australia's largest grain authority, Grain Corp, should be sold to a huge multinational, US grain giant Archer Daniels Midland. This is a real headache for the federal government and also for the farmers. Today or tomorrow we will see the tabling of the report of the Select Committee on Sustainable Farming Practices, and I commend it to you. Some of the evidence shows quite clearly that farmers want to have closer liaison with law makers, their MPs. Check the evidence of Brendan Smart on page 19, because he says it well.

We really do need to have an effective, all-encompassing agri-political farm body, and I believe that it has to be PPSA and its affiliated groups. In retirement, I will be doing all I can to help get farmers back into the fold, especially the younger ones who seem to not be out there getting involved, including my own son. They seem to be doing their own thing. Older, long-time farmer activists like me need to encourage them, and we need to move on or move over to give them a go.

At this time, the harvest is proceeding very well here in South Australia. We are faring better than most other states, particularly Queensland and northern New South Wales, which have had bad droughts. We have suffered storms, with wind damage, especially with our barley and our beans. We have no canola. It would be nice if we had some GM canola. To the Chairman of PPSA, Rob Kerin, and also the Grain Producers South Australia Chairman, Garry Hansen, and CEO, Darren Arney, my very best wishes. If ever we need to get it right, it is now.

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