Agriculture
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7th September, 2013 Under a succession of city-based ministers, Labor displayed a callous disregard for regional Australia. Farm debt rose enormously and the number of farmers, fishermen and foresters declined dramatically. Labor lifted the threshold for FIRB assessment of farmland purchases to $240 million opening the floodgates for a fivefold increase in foreign land ownership and a tenfold increase of foreign ownership and agribusiness. Labor downgraded the Department of Agriculture, slashing $16 billion from its budget in their first year and sacking 312 staff. Labor massively increased customs and quarantine charges, but stripped back quarantine and custom checks and took a new soft approach to import risk assessment. Labor banned live cattle export to Indonesia on the basis of a TV program and placed crippling restrictions on exports of live animals to other countries — devastating Australia’s northern and western livestock industries. Labor stripped farmers of access to irrigation water and spent billions on water buy backs for environmental flows under its bungled Murray Darling Basin Plan. Labor’s carbon tax added to every farmer’s costs and made agricultural exports less competitive. Labor deregulated the wheat industry against the wishes of 80% of growers and terminated the exceptional circumstances drought assistance programs. Labor locked up forests resulting in the closure of dozens of timber mills, the loss of thousands of jobs and a surge in timber imports. Labor shut fishermen out of huge new marine parks, driving fishermen out of business. Australia become a net importer of seafood in 2009 and when Labor left office we were dependent on imports for 2% of the fish we eat. Labor cut funding for Research and Development including the CSIRO, leading to the closure of many research facilities. |
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12th February, 2013 Customs confirms there have een no Australian vessels patrolling for illegal fishing or whaling in the Southern Ocean for more than a year (Senate Estimates) |
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23rd August, 2012 Live exports quota of cattle to Indonesia falls to just 283,000 head (from a peak of 750,000 in 2009) following Australian Government's live export ban |
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23rd May, 2012 AFMA admits that 54 fishing licences have been surrendered as a result of increased levies, costing $350,000 in lost revenues. The cost of running the fisheries will not reduce (Senate Estimates) |
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24th February, 2012 Government breaks its commitment not to take more irrigation water from the Southern Murray Darling Basin irrigators this year, by announcing a new round of water buy backs (The Australian) |
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13th February, 2012 Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry spent $77,687 on consultants to determine how the Department should project itself and crease new identity branding |
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26th January, 2012 Gillard Government increases the threshhold for referring foreign land and business purchases to $244 million in the face of widespread calls for dramatic reductions (The Age) |
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5th January, 2012 Abattoirs likely to close for several weeks a year to make sure they do not exceed the 25,000 tonnes carbon tax trigger (Queensland Country Life) |
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16th December, 2011 Indonesia announces major cutbacks to imports of Australian live cattle and meat as part of its self sufficiency policy and following Australia's ban on exports of live cattle last June. Indonesia will take only 285,000 cattle, 500,000 less than the 2009 peak |
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29th November, 2011 Murray Darling Basin Authority releases amended Basin Water Plan proposing to divert 2750 gigalitres from agriculture to unnamed environmental projects. Farners claim 29,000 jobs will be lost and whole towns will close (The Australian 29-11-11) |
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7th November, 2011 Mitr Phol of Thailand buys Maryborough Sugar, lifting foreign ownership of Australia's sugar mills to 75% |
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27th October, 2011 Australia's 14 largest abbatoirs will require $60 million investment to meet carbon tax requirements, inevitably leading to lower cattle prices (Queensland Country Life) |
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30th September, 2011 Australia's biggest abbatoir at Dinmore will be slugged $3.3 million a year when the carbon tax is introduced. The cost will add more than $5 per head to its operating costs (The Australian) |
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12th August, 2011 Murray Darling water plan delayed for the fourth time this year |
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8th August, 2011 Australian Farm Institute forecasts that the carbon tax will cost Victorian dairy farmers 7.8% of their income. Dairy farmers will face increased costs between $5,000 to $7000 as the Australian dairy industry is the only one in the world to be covered by a carbon emissions tax Gillard Government does deal with Tasmania's Labor / Greens Government to lock up another 430,000ha of forests, paying $276 million in compensation for lost jobs and regional income losses (Hobart Mercury) |
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28th July, 2011 ABARE's report says 326 jobs have been lost since the Gillard Government's live cattle export ban to Indonesia and 274,000 cattle have been left stranded with 176,000 needing extra food and water. The survey said industry was planning to export 596,000 head to Indonesia in 2011 but 365,000 remain unsold. 660 farms planned to export with 300 intending to sell above 50% of their stock to Indonesia (The Australian) |
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6th July, 2011 Government reverses its decision to ban live animal exports to Indonesian abattoirs which meet OIE standards - one month after imposing the ban. Northern Australian Industry counts losses amounting to at least $200 million |
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7th June, 2011 Government changes its mind and bans live cattle exports to Indonesia including to abattoirs which meet OIE (World Animal Health Organisation) standards. Around 150,000 cattle left stranded in Indonesian feed lots and enroute. Thousands of Australian jobs including many Aboriginal jobs likely to be lost. Widespread claims that the move will set back animal welfare improvements in Indonesia |
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31st May, 2011 Government bans live cattle exports to Indonesia abattoirs which do not meet OIE standards following a 4 Corners program critical of animal welfare practices in abattoirs |
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10th May, 2011 BUDGET 2011-12 • A further $32.8 million to be cut from the Department’s Budget over the next four years • No compensation funding for those for those affected by marine park closures but a further $9.7 million provided for marine park planning • CSIRO Budget spending on agriculture cut by 8.3% • $10 million saved by reducing the target for the number of illegal foreign fishing boats apprehended in Australian northern waters |
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9th May, 2011 Government announces that NZ apples apples will be allowed into Australia under protocols which offer no requirements to prevent fire blight from being exported with the apples |
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22nd February, 2011 Asian honey bee national management group recommends abandoning the $5 million Asian bee eradication program. Federal funding cut backs for quarantine are blamed by former CSIRO top entomologist Max Whitten (Senate Estimates) |
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21st February, 2011 Quarantine paper work failure allows 20 tonnes of Malaysian prawns infected with white spot virus to to be distributed around Australia last September. 17 tonnes have never been recovered putting at risk the whole Australian marine environment (Senate Estimates) |
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29th December, 2010 Igrain survey says three quarters of farmers believe deregulation of wheat marketing has been a failure (Weekly Times) |
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24th December, 2010 Federal Government offers $750,000 compensation package to Tasmanian forest workers to leave the industry as part of a deal to close native forest harvesting |
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8th December, 2010 Government purchases of water in the past year in the Murray Darling Basin were $750 million above the funds earmarked for buybacks but funding for water saving projects was $300 million underspent (The Australian) |
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7th December, 2010 Murray Darling Basin Authority Chairman, Mike Taylor, resigns, citing fundamental differences in the legal advice on the capacity to deliver a Murray Darling Basin water plan that is fair to Basin communities and irrigators, not just the environment |
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10th November, 2010 Labor brings forward a further $250 million for water buy backs but defers $450 million for Murray Darling Basin water infrastructure investments (MYEFO). They are already $750 million ahead of budget for buy backs and Murray Darling Basin Plan to be deferred until 2012 |
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21st October, 2010 Australian Fish Management Authority confirms that Australia became a net importer of seafood in 2009. One third of Australia's fishing fleet has been lost (down to just 360 boats) as Government fees double and fisheries are closed (Senate Estimates) |
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19th September, 2010 Prime Minister Gillard replaces Agriculture Minister from Sydney with Senator Ludwig who lives in Brisbane |
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9th July, 2010 Farm debt in Queensland has increased by 27% in two years since Labor came to office to $15 billion. |
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24th June, 2010 Kevin Rudd deposed as Prime Minister and replaced by Ms Julia Gillard |
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19th May, 2010 Government backs down in face of Coalition Private Members Bill and announces there will now be an import risk assessment before beef is allowed into Australia from countries that have had BSE |
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13th May, 2010 Government admits its new super tax on resources will cover gas and phosphate mining putting up the price of Australian fertilizer. Incitec has announced suspension of its North Queensland phosphate exploration program. (Later the Government backs down and says the super tax will only apply to coal and iron ore) |
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11th May, 2010 BUDGET Regional Food Production Program cut by $5.5 million in 2010-11 Budget (agriculture — is not even mentioned in Treasurer’s Budget speech) |
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3rd April, 2010 Minister Tony Burke becomes a part time Agriculture Minister after being appointed to a new Population Ministry |
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1st April, 2010 The Prodcutivity Commission reports that Labor's Murray Darling water buy-backs will devestate regional communities |
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6th March, 2010 Only 137 visas have been issued under Labor's Seasonal Worker Pilot program despite claims that 2,500 would be granted to workers from Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Tonga and Vanuatu. Only 31 were present during the peak season |
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10th February, 2010 Government says beef will be allowed into Australia from BSE countries without any new import risk assessment and without trace back systems comparable to Australia's. |
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9th February, 2010 Stacked Federal Government Taskforce reports there is not sufficient available water in Northern Australia to permit food bowl development |
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14th January, 2010 More than 500 farmers have taken government exit grants to leave agriculture because of the drought |
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6th September, 2009 The Rudd Government admits to spending $4.9 million last year to employ 51 media advisers for the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry |
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31st August, 2009 ABARE estimated that a CPRS (even one which excludes agriculture) would cut incomes for beef producers by 13.6%, dairying 9.7%, sheep 11.4% and grain growers by 8.5% Dairy industry calculates a carbon tax of $26 tonne would add $7500 a year to the cost of an average dairy farm RIRDC says fertilizer and chemical costs would rise 3% and freight 2% |
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12th May, 2009 BUDGET Allocation for drought assistance reduced and to be terminated by 2011 $908 million slashed from the Government's agriculture budget, but $460 million is to be spent on a new program to help foreign farmers Land and Water Australia is abolished 312 jobs cut from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry 40% quarantine inspection co-contribution to be scrapped and quarantine inspection charges doubled. Some charges have increased by 1352% $35.8 million cut from Australian quarantine and bio security programs, leading to the loss of 125 jobs and reductions in import inspections |
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1st April, 2009 Hundreds of millions of dollars of grain is left stranded as export sales are lost because of a wind down of the rail system (made worse by Labor's decision to abolish the single desk for export wheat) |
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5th March, 2009 The Rudd Labor Government will allow banana imports from the Philippines, subject to conditions |
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27th January, 2009 Labor announces new taxes on alternative fuels, including phasing in by July 2015 a 25 cents per litre excise on ethanol, a 19.1 cents per litre excise on biodiesel and a 12.5 cents per litre excise on LPG. The new excises will devastate the local biofuel industry and increase the cost of fuel for motorists |
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18th December, 2008 Agriculture Minister Tony Burke, announced his support for importing the foot and mouth virus into Australia for experimental purposes |
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1st December, 2008 Rural confidence declines for the third consecutive quarter. Only 23% of farmers expect the economy to improve during the next year |
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23rd October, 2008 Farm debt climbs by $7.2 billion to $58 billion in the first year of the Rudd Labor Government |
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15th July, 2008 A means test attached to the Rudd Government's Farming Future Climate Change Adjustment program for farmers who need assistance in adapting to climate change eliminates most potential applicants |
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6th June, 2008 Labor terminates drought assistance for 14 areas in Queensland and New South Wales |
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30th May, 2008 The Rudd razor gang has stripped over $1 billion from the Agriculture Department in 2008/09 |
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13th May, 2008 BUDGET Labor abandons election promise to provide an extra $15 million for Rural Research and Development Corporations affected by drought Labor slashes CSIRO budget by $60 million and closes research sites in QLD, VIC and WA |
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18th February, 2008 Labor axes the $26.2 million AAA Advancing Agricultural Industries Program designed to support innovation and reform in agriculture Labor axes the $24 million FarmBis program which has provided skills training to farmers for a decade Labor axes $47.7 million provided for Apprenticeship Incentives for Agriculture and Horticulture |
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6th February, 2008 Funding for drought assistance, research and farmer re-establishment cut by $110 million |
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3rd December, 2007 Labor appoints Tony Burke from Sydney who represents less farmers, fishers and foresters than any other Member of Parliament, as new Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry |
