At a glance

Who we are

The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry is an Australian Government department of state. We operate under the Financial Management and Accountability Act 1997 and the Public Service Act 1999.

Our mission

We work to sustain the way of life and prosperity of all Australians.

We advise the government and our stakeholders how to improve the productivity, competitiveness and sustainability of our portfolio industries.

We help people and goods move in and out of Australia while managing the risks to the environment and animal, plant and human health.

Our vision

For the Australian people—safe and secure food choices

For our portfolio industries—globally competitive and sustainable industries

For our department—a smart place, with smart people

Our goals

Resources—ensuring the sustainable use of natural resources

Productivity—improving the competitiveness of portfolio industries

Markets—enabling trade in goods

Our people

We have 4515 full time equivalent staff, including policy officers, program administrators, scientists, economists, accountants, information and communication technology staff, meat inspectors, veterinary officers, quarantine inspectors and survey staff. Our staff work in places as varied as offices, airports, mail centres, shipping ports, laboratories and abattoirs. They are located in regional centres, rural communities and capital cities. We also have officers in the United States, Europe, the Middle East and Asia, to represent Australia's interests abroad.

Our culture

We, individually and as a department, promote and uphold the Australian Public Service Values and Code of Conduct. To achieve our goals, we aspire to be:

Leaders—we willingly tackle important issues

Creative—we are open to doing things differently to achieve success

Future thinkers—we anticipate and adapt to new situations

Compassionate—we are mindful of the impact we have on others

Responsive—we make things happen

Collaborative—we build on our partnerships to succeed.

Our minister and parliamentary secretary

Senator the Hon. Joe Ludwig, the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, is responsible for the portfolio. He is assisted by the Hon. Sid Sidebottom MP, Parliamentary Secretary for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry.

Our stakeholders

We work cooperatively with our stakeholders to build constructive relationships. Our stakeholders include:

• Australian, state and territory governments and agencies
• importers and exporters
• industry and other interest groups
• natural resource managers
• producers, processors and consumers of agricultural, fisheries, forestry and food products
• research and development organisations
• rural communities
• travellers.

Our finances

In 2011–12, we received a departmental appropriation of $327.5 million, collected $380 million in levies to fund research, development and marketing, collected cost recovery revenue of $336.8 million, and administered $883.3 million for the range of programs supporting our outcomes.