21 March 2009
DAFF09/103T
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke
Address to Australian dairy industry function, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia
(E&OE)
Thank you very much and good evening.
The introduction said that I will be giving a brief speech. I’ll keep it a little bit brief, but there are a few things that I do want to talk about.
I had a conversation at a conference on world food security earlier this year with a minister for agriculture from another part of the world. He said to me, “Tony, even if we could afford to, and could give every school child a computer in our country, our education would still be way behind.” I asked why. And he said, “Because we can’t provide enough dairy products.”
And I think it’s important for us to recognise and acknowledge that the dairy industry isn’t simply a way of providing wonderful food, wonderful cuisine. It’s also a critically important human need. It’s something which provides great opportunity for the young.
When we talk about food security and in each of our countries wanting to build a better life for our citizens, then making sure there is a strong, reliable supply and a safe, high-quality supply of dairy products isn’t simply a good thing for trade. It’s a critically important thing for building successful lives for the citizens of each of our countries.
Our countries have enjoyed a strong friendship and forged a strong relationship for many years now. This is my first occasion to be here as the Minister for Agriculture in the Middle East. And to be here in Saudi Arabia, and to have the welcome which I’ve received, means a lot to me personally and I believe says a great deal about the strength of trust and friendship between Australia and Saudi Arabia.
The relationship is extraordinarily strong. Many of the children in my own electorate in Australia are beneficiaries of some of the funding that has gone to the Australian Islamic community from Saudi Arabia. We have 3,000 Australians working here. There are 4,500 Saudi Arabian students studying in Australia.
And around the world, as people have talked of different issues, including climate change and the global recession, the concept of global food security is something that people in our countries understand all too well. Dealing with the global food security challenge is one where dairy has a role to play.
Dealing with the global food security challenge, we often over-simplify it as though it were all about aid and nothing else. Aid is a critically important part of it. And there is also the added role in not simply making sure aid is about providing food, but making sure aid is about providing skills and improving the capacity of nations to farm more effectively to produce food, not just for the current season, but for the years to come.
The third and fourth responses to global food security, after we deal with aid and capacity building, are equally important. I know I’ve had the opportunity to speak to the Agriculture Minister today and to hear of much of the work on food security that’s been done in Saudi Arabia, particularly in areas of the world such as Africa. The Australian Government has allocated more than $100 million since the middle of last year to respond to global food security. A total of $30 million of that went to the World Food Program Emergency Appeal, $50 million to the World Bank’s Global Food Crisis Response Program and a great deal through an agency of ours called ACIAR. Their staff are helping to build the capacity of people to produce food.
But it’s the third and fourth issues which I’d like to focus my comments on today. The third issue in the global food security issue debate is to make sure that we find ways to improve productivity across the board. The fourth is to make sure that once we’ve found ways of producing more, it can then move between nations to where it’s needed most.
The productivity story in Australia for dairy is an exciting story. I have to say, it’s actually one of the best stories that Australian agriculture has to tell. Some people would look at the figures of the size of our herd since 1980 and say, since then, the total herd size in Australia has decreased by 180,000 cows. But it’s not a bad story, it’s a good one. Because at the same time that we’ve decreased by 180,000 cows, we’ve doubled our production.
The productivity story for Australia’s dairy is a very good story to tell – a significant improvement in average milking yields per cow, to the extent that new technologies improve farm management and allow the productivity of Australian dairy farms over the last twenty years to increase a further 24 per cent.
Having dealt with that improved productivity, we then need to do what we can as a nation to make sure that food can flow between nations to where it’s needed most. That’s all through creating more trade opportunities, reducing barriers to food markets and increasing incentives for production, especially in developing nations.
The Australian Government still looks to a successful conclusion to the Doha Round of multilateral trade negotiations. And we’re also very hopeful that discussions between Australia and the GCC nations can contribute further to this process by reaching our own free trade agreement. We’re very pleased that these negotiations have recently resumed and are making good progress.
But having dealt with those issues relating the global food crisis and global food security, there is one further issue which is of critical importance. It is part of the reason why the relationship in dairy between our countries is so strong already. And I believe it has such extraordinary untapped potential.
Australia can deliver on food safety. On food safety and food quality Australia has a reputation of delivering safe products. Food Standards Australia New Zealand promotes a safe food supply within Australia. And an agency within my Department known as AQIS, the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service, is the Government agency in Australia responsible for the inspection and certification of our dairy exports. Australian-registered establishments processing milk and milk products must have a documented food safety program, incorporating a hazard analysis and a critical control points plan. Domestic and export dairy systems also include industry and government measures to reduce fraud.
For regional perspectives, the Middle East then becomes Australia’s second largest export destination, accounting for twelve percent of our exports in dairy. When we consider that half of our dairy products produced in Australia are exported, you get to the point where for every fifteen litres of milk produced in Australia, one of those litres is destined for the Middle East. These exports include cheese, skim milk, whole milk powder, and an ongoing interest in the potential of fluid milk.
Saudi Arabia has been an important customer in Australia for the last twenty years. In fact, Saudi Arabia is Australia’s largest Middle East market and our seventh biggest single export market. In 2007-08 our dairy exports were about 34,000 tonnes of dairy products. We hope to bring it higher again.
Even when you consider those productivity figures I referred to, take this as part of the context: that has been achieved when Australia has gone through our longest and deepest drought. Our productivity story for dairy shows how resilient, safe and reliable our products are known to be.
When it comes to those who are looking to import from Australia, whether it be our live cattle and to import the genetics from our dairy cows, whether it be to import some of our finished product, or whether it be to import inputs that then are further used in your own production cycle.
What is possible within this room is extraordinary. And so I want you all to be in no doubt about the support of the Australian Government and the faith the Australian Government has in the on-going capacity of Australian dairy to be able to service your market here.
It is a market where we are dealing between friends, where we are dealing with a very high level of well-earned trust on each side of the table through all of these discussions. And it is with a product, in Australian dairy, where we can all be justly proud that we’re not simply providing something that people enjoy so much, but we’re providing a high quality path to improve the nutrition and the diets of our citizens.
It’s an absolute privilege to be here tonight to share that vision and that potential with each and every one of you.
ENDS