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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2012-10-17 Daily Xml
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AGRICULTURE SECTOR

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:16): The Premier has repeatedly stated that a clean, green, competitive food edge is one of the government's priorities. This was again detailed in the Governor's opening speech for this parliament earlier this session. We have also heard this government say, following the cancellation of the Olympic Dam expansion, that agriculture will be our state's economic saviour.

If that is the case, the Weatherill government should take notice of a new report by the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) published last month that revealed that there is less investment in food production in Australia than anywhere else in the developed world. I would not have believed that if I had not read it and if it wasn't an OECD report, but that is what it said. It is shocking.

According to the report, the Australian agriculture industry receives 0.16 per cent of the Australian gross domestic product. That report shows that high income countries like Australia and the US have seen agriculture productivity growth drop in line with reduced spending in research and development. The report shows in contrast that middle income countries including China, Brazil and India have increased spending in research and development and the productivity has grown. We must realise that a cut in funding takes 10 years to take the full effect. Likewise, when you decide to crank it up, it takes 10 years to get it fully operational and benefits maximised.

In 1960-62 Australia was ranked eighth in the world for research and development funding and in 2007-09 we had dropped to 16th place, and South Australia is one of the poorest performing states in Australia. South Australia has a large role to play in our country's agricultural productivity. Primary industries contribute $6 billion yearly to the South Australian economy and, despite its being an alleged priority from the Weatherill government, all we are seeing is repeated cuts through research and development, jobs slashed, declining budgets, and regional offices downgraded and many closed.

Professor Kym Anderson, an economics professor from the University of Adelaide, was recently reported in InDaily on 2 October as saying that the global trend towards reduced funding for agriculture R&D is mirrored in South Australia and that the government's approach to SARDI is an example:

The Government's been fiddle-faddling with SARDI—it's basically trying to offload it onto the university. Maintenance costs of those facilities are very high which is why the Government wants to get rid of it, because they can't be bothered paying for it.

The risk is that other countries will continue to increase their research and development spending and increase their agricultural output, and we will continue to fall further and further behind. We will grow less, we will import more. It should be the other way around.

I was at Struan last week, sir, as were you, to see that beautiful research centre half empty. I go to the Nuriootpa research centre and I see phone numbers on a closed door. I go to Jamestown, a thriving hub of agricultural research, and there is nothing left. So, enough of this hypocrisy. We all agree with the Premier's statement that a clean, green, competitive food edge is one of the government's priorities. Well, it is time to do as you say; if we don't, we could face food shortages in the future.

The current world population is approximately seven billion and is growing at the rate of the city of Adelaide every five days. At the same time, arable land per capita is decreasing. It is important now, more than ever, to support our primary producers. Farmers in the United States, China and Japan all receive more than six times the farm spend in Australia, while Turkish farmers get more than 2 per cent of Turkey's GDP. The Treasurer said that we will be turning to agriculture in the wake of the Olympic Dam cancellation. It is time for the Weatherill government to put its money where its mouth is and give our primary producers the support they need to compete on the world stage.

We see the season right now at a crossroads. We have had a recent rain but not very much. A lot of the state—about a quarter of the state—is not going to get a viable crop this year because of the vagaries of the weather. Particularly anything north of, say, Jamestown is in serious condition. The Upper Eyre Peninsula and, certainly, the Riverland is in serious trouble. The economy depends on our farmers. All I can say is that the government—as you would have seen, sir, from the two select committees you have served on—has to turn this around before it is too late.

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