Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2026-2027

Ms COLLINS (Franklin—Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) (13:29): I do want to thank the member for Forrest for going so speedily there through his questions. I also want to thank the members for Paterson, Braddon, Blair, Bullwinkel, Gippsland, O'Connor, Nicholls and New England, who all made contributions today. I'll do my best to answer some of these questions very quickly.

Certainly, our agricultural trade, in terms of the trade questions, is the most diversified it has ever been, and we have been working really hard to restore international relationships. We've now had, between July 2022 and March 2026, over 272 market access achievements, and that's new markets open, markets sustained and markets improved, all restoring access where market was lost.

So that is incredibly substantial. I do also need to put on the record, in relation to some of the assertions in some of the questions, that our government is investing over $440 million for the nationally cost shared pest and disease response programs and that there has been no cut in this budget to the pests and disease programs. I do need to be very clear about that.

Of course, that comes on top of the fact that our government has invested over $2 billion into biosecurity since we've come to office. Part of the investments that we have made in terms of pests and diseases, to answer the member for New England, is shared with the states and territories. We're investing $592 million in the imported red fire ant issue and the incursion there.

So we are working with the states and territories on those. There were also a range of questions about what we are doing to improve productivity for farmers. Obviously the biggest item in the budget is around the security of fuel and fertiliser, which is top of mind for our farmers.

As many people have mentioned, the ABARES data that came out yesterday did say that seasonal conditions would impact farmers' productivity and on-farm productivity, particularly in relation to the seasonal conditions but also, of course, through fuel and fertiliser and the impact of the war in the Middle East here in Australia but also globally. That significant investment was welcomed by the National Farmers' Federation and, indeed, by everybody across the sector.

We have been working incredibly closely with the industry. I am having weekly meetings with over 60 representatives of the sector and the industry on how we work with them in relation to fuel and fertiliser. We did get some congratulations from those on the other side in relation to fuel and diesel, and there were some questions around fertiliser.

Since the beginning of the war, we have processed through biosecurity in Australia a million tonnes of urea. That has come through our biosecurity system. So the fact that we have underwritten six cargoes of over 290,000 tonnes is not the end of the amount of urea that has been coming into Australia.

Since the beginning of the war—since February—over a million tonnes of urea has gone through our biosecurity system. We are working incredibly closely with the fertiliser sector and with industry to source the urea that Australian farmers need and provide as much certainty as we can in what are clearly very uncertain times. I do want to state that we also, of course, have available at all times assistance to our farmers who are doing it tough.

We have put an additional $1 billion into the Regional Investment Corporation from 1 July. We have the new drought hardship loan as well for those that may encounter some of the difficulties, and some farmers around Australia have already applied for that loan. So I do want to put on the record that we do understand some farmers are doing it tough, which is why we're doing that investment in the Regional Investment Corporation, which is why we have that very significant investment of over $14 billion in terms of fuel and fertiliser security and the ongoing capability of security going forward here in our country.

I have addressed some of the issues that people have raised around pests, diseases and trade. I think I've covered off on most of the questions that I was asked, but I also do want to put on the record that there has been a bit of a scare campaign being run around what is happening with the significant changes we are making in the budget in terms of taxes. I want to quote the NFF's media release: Family farms are generational businesses built over decades and often represent a family's life savings and retirement plan.

We are pleased the Government has listened. Again I put on the record that we have been working closely with the National Farmers' Federation in relation to the changes. We have also been working with them very closely in terms of the budget and in terms of the current situation in relation to the Middle East.

We continue to do that. Even last Friday, we had the NFF go on air and say that the figures that I have used in the parliament, that around nine out of 10 agriculture, fisheries and forestry businesses would be exempt from the capital gains changes under the existing small business provisions—and I say that we continue to work with them. Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Sitting suspended from 13:34 to 15:58