Sydney, New South Wales, Australia
May 13, 2008
Tonight's Federal Budget addresses
major challenges Australian agriculture must overcome to provide
food for Australians and the world – a changing climate, chronic
skills shortages, inefficient transport and communications
networks, and water reform – according to the
National Farmers’ Federation
(NFF).
“This Budget combines essential spending on building capacity
across key areas that hamper economic growth – where Australia
desperately needs to be more astute and efficient – with savings
at the margins,” NFF President David Crombie said.
“It balances concerns that $31 billion in tax cuts may further
fuel inflation against spending cuts while, importantly, also
targeting investment to boost our climate change adaptation and
drought mitigation response, developing and building our trade
skills base, overhauling our rundown infrastructure and ensuring
water-use efficiency reform is holistic and practical.
Climate Change & Drought Preparedness
“The $130 million under ‘Australia’s Farming Future’ begins the
shift towards the NFF’s call to better prepare our agricultural
productive base for less water, increased climate variability
and the possibility of longer periods of drought. It’s about
long-term management, preparedness and planning.
“We have long advocated a ‘generational shift’ in dealing with
drought – especially in the face of climate change. While the
Government must continue to address the ‘here and now’ of
drought through Exceptional Circumstances as the first priority,
equally, we must cast an eye to the future.
“Australia needs to better prepare for droughts to reduce their
impact. That demands a new cooperative partnership between
government and farmers to invest and work together to better
drought-proof Australia and, ultimately, shift the policy focus
from ‘drought relief’ to ‘drought management and preparedness’.
“Even when the current drought breaks, which it will, others
will come. It is smarter to invest in more climate- and
drought-resistant practices today and, over time, reduce the
need for drought relief, while ensuring that Australian farmers
emerge the other side of the current drought able to meet
mounting domestic and international food security issues.
Education & Training
“We are concerned about the potential restrictiveness of the $11
billion ‘Education Investment Fund’ and its incapacity to
deliver flexible training for regional students. The NFF will
address this issue with the Government to ensure rural and
regional Australia gets a fair deal.
“However, we are relieved the Government has abandoned plans to
scrap the $47.7 million ‘Apprenticeship Incentives for
Agriculture and Horticulture’. The scheme puts farm apprentices
on more equal footing with other trades already receiving
benefits.
“The NFF has been at great pains, when lobbying the Government
to reconsider axing the initiative, to highlight that when
farmers emerge from drought they will need a higher skilled
workforce than ever before – in fact, almost 80,000 extra
highly-skilled employees will be needed – and, therefore, we
must be able to compete for the skills pool alongside other
trades without disadvantage.
“Further, the Government’s bid to curb inflationary pressures
through investment in capacity building requires skills-based
education to be a core feature, especially to regenerate the
farm sector, which underpins 12% of GDP. Therefore, rural and
regional Australia must not be short-changed under the
‘Education Investment Fund’.
“Meanwhile, it appears that some outcomes that were delivered by
the $24 million ‘FarmBis’ program can now be achieved under the
training component of the new ‘Australia’s Farming Future’
programme. While the details are unclear from tonight’s Budget
papers, we will assess the changes and their overall impact for
farmers.
Infrastructure
“Tonight’s announcement of the $20 billion ‘Building Australia
Fund’ is a positive move towards addressing critical transport
and communications infrastructure. Too often Australia’s farmers
face antiquated and grossly inefficient national and regional
infrastructure in these areas, undermining the farm sector’s
strong record of productivity growth (3.8% per years for the
past 20 years).
“Regarding transport, this must be more than just another big
spending announcement. With Australia’s freight task set to
double by 2020 – and triple along the eastern seaboard – it
underscores the need for Government and industry to work
in-tandem to strategically overhaul and integrate freight
infrastructure... across road, rail, air and sea systems.
“Inland transport systems and, specifically, the adoption and
creation of ‘freight hubs’, must be a priority, and our shipping
port capacity needs to be boosted to meet bourgeoning global
demand. We must break away from the current fragmented approach
where road and rail infrastructure decisions are made
independent of one another – all modes are vital and must be
viewed holistically.
Water
“The Government’s $13 billion ‘Water for the Future Plan’
essentially revamps the ‘National Plan for Water Security’ and
adds the Rudd Government’s urban water election commitments, The
Living Murray and the Australian Government Water Fund.
“The new Plan allocates $3.1 billion for the purchase of water –
importantly, from ‘willing sellers’ – and $5.8 billion for
sustainable rural water use and infrastructure. The NFF supports
the new Plan. However, we continue to engage with the Government
on its acceleration of water buy-back – already committing $400
million – while we are yet to see any detail about the on-farm
infrastructure modernisation and water-saving improvements that
will allow farmers, or groups of farmers, to improve
efficiencies and off-set the impact of water buy-back.
“A holistic approach, underpinned by a transparent water market,
is paramount if the Plan is to work and appropriately balance
environmental needs with practical food production.” |
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