7 May 2009
DAFF09/112T

Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry - Tony Burke
Interview with Trevor Leutton, ‘Big Breakfast’, 4BU 1332 AM, Bundaberg

E&OE

SUBJECTS: Bundaberg visit; horticulture industry; reactions to Rudd Government; impact of global recession on agricultural industries

TREVOR LEUTTON: Visiting Bundaberg today – and first visit – is the Federal Agricultural Minister, Tony Burke. Hi Tony. How are you?

TONY BURKE: G’day Trevor. Nice to be here.

TREVOR LEUTTON: Nice to have you in town. What’s your thoughts so far? I know you only arrived last night so you haven’t seen that much as yet.

TONY BURKE: I’m straight down from Beef Week. So I caught up with [Member for Hinkler] Paul Neville last night and he was giving me a bit of a run-down of the area. And then during the course of today, it’s one of those good opportunities where you take the politics out of it and you say, “Let’s just spend the day making sure that I’ve got a better understanding of agriculture in the area than I start with.”

So we’ll be spending the day catching up with some of the people in the fishing industry first, and then working our way through a few different farm visits, and also through to the sugar mill.

TREVOR LEUTTON: What sort of concerns can you see coming out of this area?

TONY BURKE: There’s always concerns in terms of markets – whether it’s access to markets overseas, or whether it’s the value chain, to make sure that people are getting a fair price at the farm gate. And you can’t talk to anyone in horticulture without those issues coming up. So that will all be part of it.

I took a view when I started in this job – because I don’t come from an agricultural background – that if I was going to do the job properly, it wasn’t enough to get advice from the peak lobby groups. They’re important. And it wasn’t enough to get advice from my own department. I had to spend as much time as possible on the land of people who worked the land, and get it straight from them.

So in terms of predicting what the issues are, I’ve no doubt there will be surprises. There will be things I know this afternoon that I don’t know during this interview. And that’s the reason for it. That’s the reason for spending as much time on the road as I do.

TREVOR LEUTTON: How have you found the reaction to the Rudd Government while you’ve been the minister?

TONY BURKE: I think people have very much liked the style of government that we’ve had. The Community Cabinets, the concept of not spending all our days in Canberra, and the way we’ve tried to do business, has meant that I always have people come up to me and say, “Don’t vote for you. Never have, never will. But I like the way you’re doing your job.”

And I think there’s always people who are never going to vote for you. That’s life, that’s democracy. But when someone comes up with that sort of basis and still says, “But I reckon the way you’re operating’s not a bad way to operate for the country,” that’s pretty good feedback to get.

TREVOR LEUTTON: Alright. Now what about the economic problems that are right around the world of course at the moment? How’s that affecting the agricultural industry?

TONY BURKE: It’s a really interesting question. Because with the global recession, I think everybody acknowledges that the forces coming down on the Australian economy are hitting the whole world, and hitting most of the world harder than they’re hitting us so far. We’ve been reasonably well-positioned.

But what happens in tough times is, if people can put off a purchase, they tend to. And that contributes to the slowdown. You can put off a purchase of a whole lot of electrical appliances. You can put off a whole lot of things. You can’t put off the next meal. And for agriculture, that’s why it’s been one of the sections that’s continued to grow.

And a big part of that’s actually been Queensland. Queensland and Western Australia in particular, and parts of northern New South Wales. Parts of the country where there’s still bits of water about – albeit too much water in a lot of parts of Queensland – have created a situation where agriculture’s been one of the few good news stories, economically. And that doesn’t mean there’s not hardship out there, because of course there is. But it’s one of the few good news stories that you’ve had in the Australian economy over recent months.

TREVOR LEUTTON: What about unemployment issues with agriculture? Is that being affected right around the country?

TONY BURKE: And this is where 12 months ago, particularly with horticulture, if I went anywhere, the first issue that people would raise with me was labour shortage. They’d say, “We can’t get people to work for us as pickers any more. Because we just can’t compete with the wages that the mines are offering.”

One of the things that’s happening with the slowdown in purchases, particularly from places like China, is that some people who were being offered extraordinary salaries in the mines are now coming back to the towns. And as people come back, they’re starting to become available for work in horticulture again.

So it’s not the reason you want to solve a labour shortage, obviously. But in terms of the day-to-day running of business, some of the hardship people were facing just watching their fruit rotting on the tree or on the ground, we’ve started to get past some of that now. So as with everything where there’s downsides, you can find the silver lining. And a good deal of those silver linings have landed in agriculture.

TREVOR LEUTTON: Now I know Paul is on the ball about what’s going on locally. Is he giving you any particular actions or things that you may expect to receive today?

TONY BURKE: Look he’s quite excited about me seeing this Austchilli farm. He gave me the percentage last night. It was something in the order of more that [90] per cent of the chillies that you’ll buy anywhere in Australia come from here. It’s an extraordinary figure. So I’m really quite excited about seeing that. And it’s not a section of industry that I’ve had much to do with. I’ve spent a lot of time with the sugar industry. But every mill runs slightly differently. And so I’m looking forward to that.

But essentially today is very much about having a local conversation. Some people said to me when I first got the job, “You’ll be on a very steep learning curve.” My attitude is that if I ever think I’m off that learning curve, then I should be gone, and gone very suddenly. Because every part of the nation is fundamentally different. Every season is different to the season before it. Every property is different to the neighbouring property.

And I’ve got a view that if I’m going to do the job properly, then I’m coming out and spending every day I have, particularly when I’m out on the land, spending days making sure I know more at the end of the day than I knew at the start.

TREVOR LEUTTON: Alright Tony. Nice to have met up with you this morning. And good luck with your tour around the countryside today. And of course let’s hope we see you back in Bundy [Bundaberg] in the near future.

TONY BURKE: Looking forward to that Trevor.

TREVOR LEUTTON: Tony Burke, the Federal Agricultural Minister.

ENDS