Securing the future of Australian agriculture
A re-elected Coalition Government will build on its $1.7 billion investment in agriculture since 2021 to create new jobs and prosperity in our regions and help the industry achieve its goal of reaching $100 billion farm gate output by 2030.
Today the Coalition Government released its Plan for Agriculture and Fisheries.
Only the Coalition has a policy for agriculture and a policy that cares for Australia’s regional and rural communities. Labor has no interests in the regions, our farmers and small businesses, and the thousands of Australians they employ. They don’t even have an agriculture policy.
The Coalition will continue to build on stronger trade and creating new markets, while building on its record investment to protect against pests and disease. It will help make our farmers more productive, and we will look after supply chains so they can secure inputs and get their produce to markets here and overseas. The Coalition will continue to reward them for looking after their natural asset, while supporting innovation to build their prosperity.
Our farm, fishery and forestry sectors have gone from strength to strength with a record gross value of $86.8 billion forecast for 2021-22.
A re-elected Coalition Government will:
- invest $127.4 million to cut down paperwork for exports.
- deliver the $11.7 million to give exporters a single online source of information.
- deliver the $7.7 million “Tell Us Once” trade system – a digital model for doing trade.
- implement a Domestic Standard for Organics to develop the industry and help exports, in consultation with the industry.
The Coalition will also continue to protect Australia’s clean and green reputation by keeping our nation free of the world’s most damaging pests, weeds, and disease.
A re-elected Colation Government will:
- invest $61.6 million in our northern biosecurity frontline – focusing on lumpy skin disease – with more detector dogs and Indigenous biosecurity liaison officers.
- deliver an extra $10 million for surveillance and control of the Japanese encephalitis virus, taking our total investment to $69 million.
- invest $8.2 million to establish a genebank for livestock.
- help build producers on-farm biosecurity and traceability capability – through a $20 million program.
Our farmers are the stewards of over 50 per cent of Australia’s land, so we will continue to support our families on the land as they care for Australia’s soils, water, and biodiversity.
A re-elected Coalition Government will:
- invest $27.3 million to reward biodiversity stewardship through a fully automated trade between farmers and buyers, backed in new laws and based on the world’s first scientific measure of its value. The Government will also help farmers participate in the market – based on advice from natural resource management organisations.
- Continue to support farmers to be financially rewarded through carbon markets, with over $2.2 billion in carbon farming projects through the emissions reduction fund, and additional investments making it easier for farmers to participate such as development of smart app to streamline registration and reporting, and provision of third party advice from NRM groups to farmers looking to participate in carbon and biodiversity markets.
- improve the tax treatment of farmers’ income from carbon and biodiversity markets, which will reduce the tax farmers pay by $100 million over four years.
- maintain the National Landcare Program
- deliver $94.5 million of new programs from the $5 billion Future Drought Fund.
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- $40 million for new ways of making farms more resilient to drought.
- $14.3 million to help farmers take up new practices.
- $10 million to assist commercialise new ideas and practices.
- $1.6 million for scholarships with Nuffield Australia.
- $21.6 million to scale up 35 regions to become more resilient.
- $7 million to give farmers a single source of truth on climate.
Farmers rely on a sovereign manufacturing capability and secure supply chains to protect them from global disruptions and further secure Australia’s reputation as a dependable market.
A re-elected Coalition Government will:
- deliver the $2.5 billion Modern Manufacturing Strategy, which prioritises the food and beverages sectors.
- invest $2 billion to make our regions more prosperous through our Regional Accelerator Program, including $500 million for local manufacturing, $200 million to improve supply chains and $100 million for Export Market Development grants.
- guarantee no adverse changes to fuel tax credit arrangements.
- commit to no new taxes on Australian workers, small businesses, and electricity.
- consult on a mandatory repair information sharing scheme for farm machinery, which could mean a local independent repair shop can resolve any issues rather than the item needing to go back to the manufacturer.
Regional and rural communities as well as our farmers benefit from upgrades in infrastructure for transport, digital connectivity, and water security.
A re-elected Coalition Government will:
- invest $7.4 billion to build and expand dams.
- enhance freight supply chains to better connect agricultural regions to ports, airports, and other transport hubs through:
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- an extra $880 million on Roads of Strategic Importance.
- an additional $678 million to seal another 1,000 kilometres of road and further upgrades along the Outback Way, taking total investment to $1 billion.
- $385.4 million through the Northern Australia Roads Program extension for upgrades to major freight corridors across our north.
- $150 million for the Inland Rail Interface Improvement project.
- $400 million to seal more than 450 kilometres of Queensland roads and contribute to upgrading heavy vehicle corridors critical to the transport of cattle and beef.
- review Australia’s road and rail supply chain resilience.
- deliver $1.3 billion to improve regional telecommunications, including greater mobile coverage and targeted solutions to mobile congestion.
- Invest an additional $20 million to extend the Recreational Fishing and Camping Facilities Program.
The Liberal and Nationals government will improve collaboration and commercialisation to give our best and brightest farmers the new tools and technology to make the industry more productive and sustainable.
A re-elected Coalition Government will:
- implement the Digital Foundations for Agriculture Strategy, through $30 million to establish a new National Centre for Digital Agriculture and put digital officers in the eight regional Innovation Hubs.
- invest $23.4 million to extend the patent box regime to agriculture, which will reduce tax on profits from locally developed patents on agricultural chemicals, veterinary medicines, and plant varieties.
Securing the future of agriculture and our regions means securing the future of our farmers. They need secure labour source, a safe workplace, a place to take advantage of the latest industry skills, and pathways to ownership for up-and-coming farmers.
A re-elected Coalition Government will:
- expand the Australian Agriculture Visa Program with other countries, building on the first bilateral agreement with Vietnam, while we continue to support our Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme
- bring young Australians back to farming by piloting an 18-month, $75 million Future Farmer Guarantee Scheme to support farmers into first time ownership.
- invest $15.4 million to extend the Agricultural Shows Development Grants Program.
- Continue to support local shows with a $2.8 million third round of the Supporting Agricultural Shows and Field Days.
- invest $12 million to ensure large agricultural events like Beef 2024, Casino Beef Week, LambEx, Hort Connections can continue and we can showcase Australian AgriTech.
- invest $10 million to build on the National Farm Safety Education Fund, which will keep our farmers, fishers and foresters safe.
If you want our regions to grow, there is only one side of politics that supports them – a Coalition Government.
