Michelle Landry (Capricornia, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

Agriculture is an industry that has driven Australia's economy to be one of the world's most envied. Since even before the First Fleet, farming has been part of how people manage to survive and thrive in this country. For our early settlers, agriculture in an exotic land posed a range of risks and difficulties. This so-called great southern land was hot and dry, and the earth was not covered with trees but was full of rocks. This was a land untouched by centuries of climate and cultivating that made the homeland of the British Isles not only productive but easy. Even the few experienced farmers from the first transportations were well out of their comfort zones when it came to growing food for a new colony. The old soils of this ancient land were and still are fragile to mechanical disturbance and, due to their age, struggle to hold anywhere near similar levels of moisture and nutrients compared with the young rich soils of the homeland. Fungal rust, hot weather, drought, onslaughts of destructive vermin, and theft by colonial and native alike made farming in these foundation years an incredibly fraught exercise.

Through sheer determination, colonial agriculture eventually took hold, leading to one of the great land grabs of modern history. The search for agricultural land and for the trade routes to develop markets and supply chains led to names like Mitchell, Leichhardt, Burke and Wills, and Stuart becoming household names, again, all because of agriculture. This driving force of agriculture continues to this day; and right at the heart of this drive, you will find women. From the earliest days of developing the livestock industries that would become such an enormous part of the Central Queensland economy, women have driven success. What was started by women like Elizabeth Macarthur and Eliza Forlong is today continued by modern women all over the country—women who continue to drive the industries they operate in; women like Josie Angus and Deb McLucas. Josie, with her husband, Blair, operates a vertically integrated beef operation in Central Queensland. The Anguses are passionate about providing the highest quality protein they can, and they provide it to customers around the world. Their branded beef products, Kimberley Red and Sondella, are synonymous with quality and typify the mouth-watering beef that secures Central Queensland's reputation as the beef capital of Australia.

An entirely different operation, Deb McLucas's Freckle Farm, is one of innovation and careful holistic management. Deb and her husband, Rob Bauman, have operated Freckle Farm since 2008 and have put an enormous effort into rehabilitating the land. Taking what was a depleted cane farm and developing a sustainable, productive grazing enterprise in the Pioneer Valley, Deb and Rob have developed a reputation for producing highly sought after free-range eggs, pork and beef, trading to local restaurants and markets. There's a passion for their product. Their industry and their constant search for new ways of producing and marketing are a credit to both Josie and Deb, cementing their place in the pantheon of influential women in agriculture.

Regardless of what the member for Page may say, Capricornia is home to the undisputed beef capital of Australia. Within this industry, I have acute knowledge of women not only advancing their own businesses but serving to advance their industries and the country. It probably doesn't serve the cliched image of a farmer to remind the House that thousands of women across the country are running multimillion dollar agriculture businesses; some grow beef, some grow sugar, and some consult as nutritionists or veterinarians. They all have skin in the game of life, and they all, each and every one of them, deserve to be considered in discussions around the sector that drives our economy and will continue to do so for thousands of years.

As women in this place, both the member for Indi and I are perhaps seen as oddities by some—and the same, I'm sure, is considered of women in other lines of male dominated work. In any business, industry or sector, just as in politics, it is vital to understand and represent all the views and experiences of those within that set of society. The argument as to whether quotas or goals are the be-all and end-all when it comes to how women in agriculture achieve a stronger voice within the industry is a matter of contention. One thing we can all agree on is the immense impact women have had on the sector and will continue to have, wherever the sun shines, the rain falls and people need to eat and clothe themselves.

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