John Forrest (Mallee, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I want to join the other members of the House Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry who have spoken to this important report, Skills: rural Australia’s need. I would like to go right back to its origins. Back in late 2004 there was enormous uncertainty coming out of Victoria with the actions of the University of Melbourne in announcing it was closing seven rural campuses that were predominantly responsible for the delivery of agricultural education. There was quite a furore about that. There has been some resolution: they are still operating, they are not closed, and they have changed their spots. I sought the support of the chair and members of this committee to have an inquiry, and the terms of reference reflect my concerns. There was also an expansion for us to have a look at the whole role of extension services occurring in agriculture. It is good after that long period of collecting evidence to stand here now and deliver a report which has some very strong recommendations included in it.

If you look at the terms of reference you will see that the first one was for the committee to inquire and report on:

1. The availability and adequacy of education and research services in the agriculture sector, including access to vocational training and pathways from vocational education and training to tertiary education and work.

I have been enthusiastically following that theme in my work on the committee because I think it is important given that a lot of the evidence submitted to us was as much about image as anything. There is an image that agriculture is not a positive area in which to exercise some training and seek a career path. That is not true. The member for Corio has highlighted the fact that there are incredibly exciting things happening in agriculture today. There is the use of the technology of geospatial satellites, there is the need to be familiar with soil structures and there are water issues. I know that farmers today in the part of the world that I represent grow wheat on four inches of rain. Historically they had up to 11 inches, yet they can still produce reasonable returns from a reduced rainfall. But this all takes a massive input. My concerns are that we need to continue to find ways to invest, as the member for Corio has said, to ensure that we have a profitable agricultural sector in the future.

There were 29 recommendations that we laboured over and asked the government to respond to. Time does not permit me to speak to all of the recommendations, but all of them are incredibly important. The first one I will make reference to is recommendation 3, which relates to what I have said about trying to do something about this negative image. That recommendation says:

The committee recommends that the Australian Government, in conjunction with State and Territory Governments and industry, develop a national strategy for promoting agriculture and forestry in both primary and secondary schools.

I think the key is to start in primary school so that youngsters have the opportunity to be exposed to some of the exciting things that are in fact happening in agriculture. I commend that recommendation to the government.

The second recommendation which excites me, and which I am pleased that we have been able to strongly recommend, is for a complete reinvigoration of the agricultural college network right across Australia. Previously I had thought that the particular problem on this issue was only Victorian based, but we discovered from evidence that there is exactly the same situation in all of the states—although we discovered some very exciting models in the way agricultural education is being pursued in Western Australia. Deputy Speaker Haase ought to take note of this. He is probably aware that there are great opportunities for networking between the education sector, industry—

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