Bob Katter (Kennedy, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry. The minister would be aware that 300 million megalitres of Australia’s water is in Northern Australia and only 80 million megalitres is in the south. In light of the depressing reality that the north uses only one per cent of this water and provides less than five per cent of agricultural production, could the minister discuss with local councils a small developmental loan fund, secured and guaranteed by Queensland government land resumed for irrigation purposes? Finally, is the minister aware that just two million of the six million hectares of black soil destroyed by the prickly acacia weed will, with sugar and some grain, increase Australia’s beef production and, with a green car, provide Australia’s oil requirements indefinitely?

Mr Tony Burke (Watson, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for the question. The issues that he raises are particularly important issues at a time when the nation is experiencing such drought, and they were among the issues that came up at the 2020 Summit. At the 2020 Summit significant discussion took place about the fact that we do have so much more water in the north of the nation and we are experiencing such severe drought in the south of the nation. Of course, it is not simply a case of shifting the agriculture and transplanting it from one part of the country to the other, for the obvious reason that in the north of the country overwhelmingly the rain that does fall falls in particular months of the year and you then have knock-on impacts in terms of what can be grown there with soils as well as one of the critical problems being the increased proliferation of pests and diseases in the north of the country.

There has been success with respect to agriculture for some time, with mangoes being grown in the north of the country outside of the sugar regions themselves. More recently, there have been expansions of industries such as the peanut industry across Northern Australia. So it is an issue not simply in Queensland but across the whole of Northern Australia. I have been talking at length and am still working through some proposals with the member for Brand, who has policy carriage in this area in his role as Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development and Northern Australia.

Some of these opportunities may also be advanced in having plant varieties that are resistant to pests and diseases through the development of some GMOs, genetically modified organisms. There may be some further opportunities in the north of Australia coming out of that. With respect to the proliferation of weeds, I am pleased the honourable member refers to the fact that you can actually get around the food versus fuel argument through biofuel options which do provide very real outcomes at the same time in terms of beef production. These are issues that the government is still working through. The honourable member is aware, with respect to biofuels, of some of the work I have reported to the House previously, which is being jointly done by the Minister for Resources and Energy and me.