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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-05-02 Daily Xml
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PARLIAMENTARY COMMITTEES (FUNCTIONS OF ENVIRONMENT, RESOURCES AND DEVELOPMENT COMMITTEE) AMENDMENT BILL

Introduction and First Reading

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) (15:25): Obtained leave and introduced a bill for an act to amend the Parliamentary Committees Act 1991. Read a first time.

Second Reading

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) (15:26): I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The House of Assembly appointed the Parliamentary Select Committee on the Grain Handling Industry on 9 March 2011 in response to widespread grain grower dissatisfaction with the management of the 2010-11 harvest by the state's main grain storage and handling service provider. The work of the select committee highlighted the importance of primary production in South Australia. Issues raised in evidence received by the select committee were generic to all forms of primary production, not just the grain industry.

The report of the select committee, which was tabled in parliament on 19 September 2012, included a recommendation that parliament appoint a standing committee on primary industries to provide a forum to monitor and to keep the parliament informed on developments and issues impacting primary industries in South Australia.

Parliament has existing standing committees such as the Environment, Public Works Committee, Environment, Resources and Development (ERD) Committee and the Natural Resources Committee and the ability to establish select committees (such as the sustainable farming practices committee) on matters of particular interest to the parliament which together provide mechanisms to examine important topics.

The government's premium food and wine from our clean environment strategic priority has elevated both the profile and the community's expectations of the state's primary industries, and there is merit in specifically empowering the ERD Committee to deal with matters relating to primary production.

While the functions of the ERD Committee are broad enough in scope to embrace primary production, giving the ERD Committee the statutory imprimatur to inquire into, consider and report on any matter concerned with primary production will better recognise that the primary production sector is a significant contributor to the state's economic wellbeing, and that it is a cornerstone of rural and regional communities across South Australia.

According to Primary Industries and Regions South Australia's 2011-12 Scorecard, the state's agriculture sector has a farm-gate value of $5 billion. This includes the production of commodities for food, wine, fibre and other agriculture-based products; and South Australia's food and wine industry generates $16 billion in revenue annually and accounts for around half of SA's total merchandise exports.

Premium food and wine from our clean environment seeks to position South Australia to capitalise on the opportunity provided by increasing global demand and the increasing consumer desire for premium products that are clean, safe and produced in a sustainable and ethical manner.

The concept statement for premium food and wine from our clean environment acknowledges that international competitiveness of our food and wine products are affected by the value of the Australian dollar and competition from low labour cost countries, and that South Australia has a challenge to grow the recognition of our premium food and wine, including the high standards of our producers and the regions in which it is produced.

The ERD Committee is well placed to provide the government, industry and the community with informed and objective advice on how to respond to these challenges and opportunities. I commend the bill to members.

Debate adjourned on motion of Hon. S.G. Wade.

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