Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027
Mr BIRRELL (Nicholls) (12:56): This budget and its approach to agriculture reflects a general lack of interest in agriculture from Labor. That's not to take away from some of the members who are interested in it and who do understand it, but, from the top, I've noticed since I've come to this place there's a general lack of interest in agriculture. Farmers continue to face rising input costs, labour shortages, biosecurity threats, market uncertainty, natural disasters and increasing regulatory burdens.
In that environment, the budget should have delivered measures that improve productivity, competitiveness and profitability. I do want to start by acknowledging the government's efforts on fuel security. This is a key concern of the agricultural industry, and the government has made significant efforts to go around the world looking for fuel and making sure it gets to Australia so we've got the diesel we need.
What about a long-term strategy—what if what's happening in the Strait of Hormuz were to happen closer to home? Have we got a long-term strategy on using our natural resources to create our own fuel security instead of just flying to Asian refineries and saying: 'Hey, we've got some gas, can you please give us some fuel? We've run out.' The other issue is in relation to fertiliser.
I haven't seen a targeted effort in fertiliser in the same way that there's been on fuel. There is some relief coming in fertiliser in relation to the Perdaman facility in north-west Australia. That was initiated by the previous coalition government using the NAIF, despite the fact that some members opposite might like to take credit for it.
It will come online, but, at the moment, we have got some serious concerns about fertiliser availability for the coming cropping season. Forecasts are increasingly pointing to the return of El Nino conditions, bringing a heightened risk of drier weather and other agricultural regions. Having lived my whole life in regional communities, I've been through drought.
It is awful. It is horrible for the farmers; it is horrible for the community. Given the fact that I'm from the Murray-Darling Basin, we have another thing called a man made drought, where the government takes away the irrigation water that's used to grow the crops.
We had that foisted upon us, not by seasonal conditions necessarily but by the fact that the amount of consumptive water there was to use previously for crowing our crops has been taken away by the government. That is incredibly frustrating. Given the fact that drought has such a powerful fact on regional communities, I want to ask the question of why the government has made the decision to cut funding from the Future Drought Fund, one of the key drought preparedness and resilience programs, brought in in 2019.
There's been some drought decision-making in South Australian programs, some mixed farming strategies for drier times, some water-smart dams in WA and simplifying agtech and using that innovation to work through drought issues. All of that was funded by the Future Drought Fund. And this government has decided that it's a really good idea, given the threats that farmers and farming communities face from drought, to cut all that funding in the budget.
It's incredibly short sighted, and I will ask the minister some questions about that. In relation to taxes, family farming businesses rely on long-term investment decisions when they're succession planning and when they're making their arrangements. Often they've got a high level of assets but a low level of income.
The government's tax changes have generated concern across the agricultural sector, because many farming businesses operate through trust structures. They're also concerned about the capital gains tax implications. What they've told me is that they don't need a government which is spending too much to treat them like a cash register.
That's what they're doing with their higher taxes. There have been some comments from the VFF and NSW Famers that show significant concern about the changes to the tax arrangements. I have three questions for the minister.
Minister, can you point to a single new budget measure that will directly improve the profitability of Australian farmers, or was agriculture once again overlooked in Labor's budget? Secondly, Minister, with the growing concerns about the return of El Nino conditions and worsening seasonal outlooks, why did your government cut funding from the Future Drought Fund instead of strengthening support for drought preparedness and resilience?
Thirdly, Minister, your government continues to talk about a national food security strategy, but where in this budget is the funding to actually deliver, implement and strengthen Australia's food security?