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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-04-11 Daily Xml
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FOOD AND WINE INDUSTRY

The Hon. J.S. LEE (15:08): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question about job losses in the food and wine sector.

Leave granted.

The Hon. J.S. LEE: In recent times, South Australia's agriculture businesses have found it difficult to operate, given today's economic climate. In March 2013, South Australian family-owned potato business in Virginia Mondello Farms announced that it had gone into receivership, citing industry pressures such as rising costs and the high Australian dollar as major factors. A total of 140 jobs were lost as a result.

The Chief Executive of Potatoes South Australia, Robbie Davis, stated that more must be done to protect the industry from cheap imports. She also said:

...we'd like to see the agricultural sector given more respect and certainly given low prices on things like fuel, power and water.

Yesterday, one of Australia's winemakers, Accolade Wines, confirmed that there would be further cuts to the company's 1,700-strong workforce in what was described as a company restructure. Last year, 175 workers were made redundant at the company's bottling plant. My questions are:

1. With numerous agricultural companies in South Australia citing industry pressures and the escalating cost of doing business under the Labor government, what actions will the government undertake to protect South Australian agribusinesses from going into receivership?

2. Does the minister acknowledge that the government has been neglecting the important issues in the food and wine industry and therefore has not allocated sufficient resources to encourage growth and competitiveness of local businesses in the sector?

3. Can the minister outline what strategies the government will put in place to safeguard further job losses for South Australian families in the food and wine sector?

The PRESIDENT: The Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries will ignore the opinion part.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:11): I thank the honourable member for her most important questions. Indeed, the agribusiness sector and our primary industry sectors generally do face considerable challenges. We are in a very challenging economic climate internationally, and we face many challenges. They are sectors that are very important to the prosperity of this country and to this state, and it is an area of considerable concern and interest to us.

In 2012, an annual environmental scan was done, and that identified four areas of priority action to assist the industries. One was the attraction of new workers, the second was the adoption of high skill levels across the workforce, the third was a diffusion of new research findings, innovative practice and technology, and the fourth was retention of skills utilisation of existing workers. These areas of priority action obviously align very much with PIRSA's priorities and other key stakeholders.

PIRSA is working with relevant industry skills boards and a wide range of sector groups to progress action in each of these areas, and that includes linking with Agrifood Skills Australia and other state and federal government agencies and industry bodies to progress priority actions. You would have seen in the Stock Journal the new skills project that has just been rolled out to Eyre Peninsula, which is one such project.

In relation to the attraction of new workers, PIRSA continues to work with the Department for Education and Child Development and with tertiary and vocational education institutions to identify and promote career paths into agriculture and related fields. PIRSA is also working with state and federal migration agencies to support the recruitment of skills in areas where there are significant shortages within the Australian population.

The adoption of higher skills levels across the workforce is a priority focus activity. PIRSA works with a range of groups and associations, such as the Agriculture Excellence Alliance, Food SA and the Australian Meat Industry Council, to raise skill levels and to facilitate access. Skills for All is also an important program.

Retention and skills utilisation of existing workers is a vital component of workforce planning, such as in the agrifood and wine sectors, particularly in the current climate of workforce challenges. We are obviously working with industry to look at retention projects. Also the issue of attracting young people is a big issue for us. Obviously, we need to keep our young people in our regions and to increase their capabilities. That is why we are providing extra funding for training and development and opening up the market to providers through the Skills for All program. This increases competition whilst ensuring positive learning outcomes for participants.

Other important aspects are that South Australia obviously needs to ensure that it does not get caught up in the commodity trap and compete with low-cost emerging competitors. We need to continue to challenge ourselves to find new and higher value markets, and we all know that the demand for food will continue to grow and that South Australia will no doubt benefit from that. That is an area where we target a lot of attention and work with the agribusiness sector to look at opportunities for value-adding enterprises.

Continuing to improve productivity is another fundamental key. We cannot remain competitive if we do not remain productive. That is fundamental to profitability and sustainability. To this end, the SA government continues to support the feasibility of improving the relationship between the University of Adelaide and SARDI. That will help provide improved infrastructure and the people and the focus from this institution to become a world leader in research and development, which will benefit all farmers. That is a very important opportunity for us as well.

Another area that is important is that we need to ensure that our regulatory environment enables businesses to grow whilst ensuring that our natural resources, our water and land, are protected for future generations. We must also ensure that we continue to access our overseas markets by maintaining strong biosecurity protocols. We have certainly worked very hard at that end.

Two international delegations visited Adelaide just recently; one is still here. One was a group of about 20 buyers from Shanghai, and the other group that is here for a week, the Fujian delegation, has committed to purchase at least $1 million worth of our premium food and wine. They are here in Adelaide at the moment, visiting and looking at opportunities.

We have arranged an itinerary to enable these business interests to meet directly with our primary producers and our food processing business interests. As I said, that delegation alone has committed to purchasing a minimum of $1 million. You can see, Mr President, that the challenges are great for the sector at the moment. The climate is very challenging, and the Jay Weatherill government is working very hard to support our agribusiness sector wherever we can to remain prosperous and sustainable into the future.

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