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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-03-19 Daily Xml
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RURAL FINANCIAL COUNSELLING SERVICE

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS (15:16): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries a question about rural businesses.

Leave granted.

The Hon. G.A. KANDELAARS: Media reports tend to suggest that rural businesses are beset with troubles and difficulties and are alone in a sea of trouble, with few resources to assist them to manage change and adjustment. Can the minister advise the chamber of the work done by the Rural Financial Counselling Service and its associated business, the Rural Business Support Service Incorporated, to help rural businesses and farmers gain skills?

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) (15:17): It is clear that, while agriculture is a mainstay of the South Australian economy, it like any other industry which exports products faces challenges arising in part from the high Australian dollar and also structural changes in some sectors. Traditionally, rural businesses and farming have begun as family businesses and many have provided both a home for a family and an income for members of the family. To succeed in the competitive and increasingly complex world of agriculture, farmers need the right skills.

I am very pleased to be able to inform the chamber that PIRSA, through Rural Business Support Service (RBSS), has tested the market to understand the critical skill needs of the farm sector to manage an increasingly complex and risky environment, not least as the impacts of climate change come to bear. Through a series of workshops with farmers and rural bank leaders conducted in the last quarter of 2012, RBSS has explored the best way to ensure that business and risk management training is made available to this important sector of the South Australian economy. RBSS is the entity established by the board of the Rural Financial Counselling Service SA to expand its scope and provide a footing for sustainable funding into the future.

The Rural Financial Counselling Service was established on 1 September 2006 under a funding agreement between the state and commonwealth. It aims to help primary producers, fishermen and farm-dependent small rural businesses identify ways to become self-reliant and better equipped to manage change and adjustment. Members of the chamber may be aware of its sterling work during the recent severe drought. As part of the national drought reform work undertaken by the Standing Council on Primary Industries (SCoPI), the focus has shifted from providing an ambulance at the bottom of the cliff for farms in trouble to prevention and to helping ensure that the farm sector is better prepared for droughts and other periods of hardship.

The new package proposed by SCoPI to approve and implement from July 2014 include a national farm household support payment available without the need for a drought declaration and aligned with the mainstream social security allowances. Farmers generally cannot access mainstream social security due to their assets, and the scheme is being developed to determine how this will work, encouraging maximum use of the farm management deposit schemes and taxation measures that allow farmers to manage their financial risks, a national approach to farm business training to be delivered in flexible and timely formats aligned to the vocational education and training system, a coordinated and collaborative approach to the provision of social support services, and emphasis on ensuring the farm business has access to science and technology to inform decision-making.

Recognising the pressure that can arise during severe drought, SCoPI also asked officials to develop proposals for further consideration for in-drought support, including businesses, community and/or economic development support. South Australia is playing a key role in the work to deliver a national approach to farming businesses. They found four capabilities that should be the foundation—involving business planning, financial management, workforce and adapting to change. Financial management initiatives, it found, should be included in budgeting, reporting, annual planning, resource management, etc. These skills, combined with workforce management, were found to help create more resilient farmers and communities and to help generate a positive professional and strategic approach to farming, and these would complement the areas addressed by the RBSS rural solution of farm governance communication, being drought ready and succession.

The Australian government has recognised the importance of skill development, and the skills in the workplace component of Skills for All means that we are well placed to deliver training to the farm sector. My agency, PIRSA, is working with DFEEST to shape the approach, together with AgriFood Skills Australia, and the national body are given the task by SCoPI of developing the skill set to be focused on the state upskilling programs, and I look forward to the further development of the agreed skills program and to watching the partnership between the primary industries and further education portfolios working together with the RBSS and other providers in building the business skills of the farm sector.

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