Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the Senate take note of the document.

I want to take particular note of the work that is being done through the Australian Centre for International Agricultural Research, ACIAR, particularly work that is being done through the Grains Research and Development Corporation, GRDC, in supporting a germ plasm improvement project to enhance the productivity of oilseed brassica production.

I want to comment on the situation that the GRDC finds itself in now, where it does not have a board because the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has allowed the previous board to lapse and has not got around to signing off on the brief that appoints the new one. This is an organisation with an annual turnover of about $120 million. It collects levies from its constituent growers and also includes the incorporation of taxpayer funding in matching grants. For the minister to allow an organisation of this scale to effectively operate for five or six weeks without a board I think is quite outrageous. It follows a pattern of events we have seen recently, where on Monday we were asking questions of the minister about forestry in Tasmania and it was clear that he was not aware of the issue, which is a significant one and quite pertinent to current events in Tasmania. In relation to the briefing notes released under FOI, on a number of occasions the minister had not signed off by critical dates. I am concerned about this pattern of behaviour. I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted; debate adjourned.