PRIVATE MEMBERS' BUSINESS
Ms TEESDALE (Bass) (12:05): I move: That this House: (1) recognises that: (a) modern agricultural machinery is increasingly sophisticated and digitally enabled; (b) farmers can face significant costs when machinery breaks down during narrow planting and harvest windows; and (c) competitive repair markets can reduce downtime, lower costs and support independent repair businesses in regional communities; (2) welcomes the Government's decision to extend Australia's Right to Repair framework to agricultural machinery, and its work to improve the existing Motor Vehicle Service and Repair Information Sharing Scheme; (3) notes that: (a) extending Right to Repair to agriculture will give farmers greater choice over who repairs their machinery; (b) independent repairers will have better access to the information they need to compete; and (c) the Productivity Commission estimates that extending Right to Repair to agricultural machinery could increase annual gross domestic product by $97 million through increased grain output alone; and (4) supports reforms that give farmers more choice, strengthen regional small businesses and promote competition in repair markets.
For farmers across north-east Tasmania, a machinery breakdown is not simply an inconvenience. When a tractor stops during harvest, the work does not stop with it. Livestock will still need feeding, crops will still need bringing in and the weather does not wait for a mechanic.
For farming families, every hour lost often leads to more expense, more pressure and another worry at the end of a very long day. On Flinders Island, where specialist services can be even harder to access, those challenges are even greater. Our farmers work extraordinarily hard.
They invest heavily in their businesses, often across generations, and they deserve the freedom to maintain the equipment that their livelihoods depend upon. And that's why I welcome the Albanese Labor government's commitment to extending Australia's right-to-repair scheme into agricultural machinery. We've already seen that this can work.
Since 2022, Australia's motor vehicle repair scheme has required manufacturers to provide independent repairers with access to essential services and repair information. It's given motorists greater choice, supported independent workshops and helped strengthen competition. Now we need to extend those benefits to farmers.
Modern tractors, harvesters and other agricultural equipment are sophisticated machines, increasingly dependent on software, electronic diagnostics and manufacturer controlled information. A qualified local mechanic may have the experience and the tools to repair a tractor, but, without access to the manufacturer's diagnostic information, they can be prevented from completing that job.
That can leave a farmer waiting for an authorised technician, potentially travelling a considerable distance, while expensive machinery sits idle. Our proposed reforms would change that. Manufacturers would be required to share essential repair and diagnostic information with qualified repairers on fair commercial terms.
That includes independent mechanics and, potentially, qualified technicians employed directly by farming businesses. The proposals also consider access to electronic service records, clearer pricing, support for diagnostic tools and faster access to the information needed to complete the repairs. The protections would preserve appropriate safety and security safeguards.
But it's not about giving just anyone unrestricted access to this complex machinery; it's about ensuring that skilled, qualified people can actually do the work that they are trained to do. So, for farmers around Scottsdale and Lilydale and across our region, that could mean getting a tractor back into the paddock sooner, rather than losing precious days or weeks waiting for a repair.
It will also mean more work for our local mechanical businesses, supporting skilled jobs and apprenticeships in our regional communities. Across Bass, our farmers are the backbone of so many of our regional towns. They support our local businesses and volunteer and community organisations and help sustain the schools, sporting clubs and services that keep our communities connected.
Their contribution reaches well beyond the farm gate, and the strength of our region owes so much to their hard work, their resilience and their generosity. These are people who rise early, work through difficult seasons and take enormous pride in producing the food and the fibre that we rely on. They already contend with unpredictable weather, rising input costs and pressures beyond their control.
We should be, and we are, doing everything practical to remove unnecessary obstacles from their businesses, not leaving them with fewer choices about how to repair the equipment that they own. This reform is about fairness, competition and recognising the realities of farming in regional Australia. It's about backing the farmers of Bass and the skilled local businesses that continue to help keep them operating, and it's about giving those who work so hard to feed our country greater control over their own businesses and their own future.