Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I had a disturbing conversation this morning with a friend of mine who lives in a metropolitan capital. I was talking about the economics of regional, rural and remote Australia and how bullish the prospects are at the moment. He told me that was in direct contrast to what he had been led to believe about how the economy in rural Australia was travelling, so I thought I would take this opportunity to perhaps dispel the myth that somehow rural, regional and remote Australia is not travelling well, as it seems—from his assessment of the media—is the myth that is spreading.

You could pick almost any commodity group from the rural sector and find that there is a story of bullish prospects and strong prices. Beef is at an all-time high—we have never seen prices like these. Sheep meat is consistently strong. But it is not just in livestock. In my electorate I have a significant amount of horticultural effort, and we see this success right across, from almond and citrus orchards in the Riverland all the way down to crayfish in the south-east of South Australia. But it is not just farming. It is also the forestry sector, which, to put it bluntly, cannot cut enough timber at the moment. These prospects for jobs and economic activity are really welcome.

When I think about all of this in the context of what we do in this place, I think: I am not going to be someone who stands here and says that this economic achievement, this economic benefit, is all because of what we have done in Canberra. Far be it from me to say that. It is more or less down to the industry of the farmers, the foresters and the fishermen in electorates across the country, like mine. But, when I think about what we have done, you have to go a long way past the decisions we took, some time ago now, around the trilogy of free trade agreements. Indeed, December last year marked the first anniversary of the groundbreaking China-Australia Free Trade Agreement and the second year of the Korea-Australia Free Trade Agreement.

Farmers in my electorate are in pole position to take advantage of the growing middle class throughout Asia and its increasing demand for high-quality foods and services that a region like mine has to offer. These critical trade deals are the driving force behind Australia's forecast for agricultural production, which will, for the first time, surpass $60 billion in 2016-17. That is an all-time record. We have never been at that level. This is up 6.1 per cent on last year, and it is 16 per cent higher than the average of $52 billion over the previous five years. We are on a bullish push, and it is being driven from the bush.

I would draw the chamber's attention to specific examples, whether it is exports of hay and chaff to China up 37 per cent or an increase of almost $102 million for exported oranges, which is up 56 per cent. These are all fantastic achievements. But I can drill down even further into the detail. I can tell you that, for the very first time for my electorate, stone fruit was exported from Australia into China. So it is not only that we are establishing and have established free trade agreements with China and other nations like Korea and Japan, but we are also working on the non-tariff barriers.

It was the breaking down of those non-tariff barriers that meant stone fruit producers in my electorate could get their high-quality stone fruits into China for the first time. That is a game changer. It might not sound like much to others in this chamber, but it is most definitely a game changer. What we have done through that process is prove to the Chinese authorities that we can send fruit from the Riverland into China fruit fly free. That has been a significant barrier to trade for our citrus industry in particular, and it is the reason why we are looking at such great economic prospects in the region. Last Thursday, a small parcel of land, 226 acres, sold in my electorate. If you had bought it four months ago and you had paid $3,600 an acre, you would have paid all of it. I can tell you, it sold on Thursday for $5,100 an acre. That is driving real wealth and real growth.

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