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

I wish to speak on two critical issues: the drought and an issue engulfing the Central Queensland ethanol production industry. Firstly, this morning the Prime Minister announced a $320 million drought relief package. This vital package will help people who are suffering from a crippling natural weather disaster. I commend the Prime Minister and the Minister for Agriculture for overseeing this package.

Part of the package relates to the important area of mental health and recognises that this drought is having a significant impact on the mental health and wellbeing of farmers, farm families and communities. The Australian government is providing $10.7 million to support social services in this area. Depression is rife on the land, but many blokes do not admit they are depressed. I encourage farmers who are under enormous pressure to make use of this latest government help. You are not a wuss if you get help for depression. It could save your life and help your family.

The second major issue I wish to bring to the attention of the House is the production of bioethanol in my electorate of Capricornia. In the sugar town of Sarina there is great fear that jobs are under threat because the local ethanol plant could be forced to close its doors prematurely. Recently the Bureau of Resources and Energy Economics suggested Australian bioethanol producers should no longer receive an excise rebate. This would save over $100 million. BREE claims the rebate to date has produced little economic, environmental or consumer benefits. It suggests we should simply import cheap foreign ethanol.

Scrapping this rebate would be a huge blow to the Australian ethanol industry. When the ethanol scheme was first implemented there was no intention of reviewing it until 2021, because it would take that long for the industry to be fully established. Australia has three key ethanol producers. The only plant in Central Queensland is Wilmar Sugar's Sarina distillery. Last week I travelled to Sarina to learn more about the plant and the impact that scrapping this rebate would have on the local economy. I spoke to management, sugarcane farmers and the fantastic staff who run the plant. Here they use a by-product from sugar cane to produce world-class ethanol. Any unwanted by-product in the ethanol process is used to make liquid fertiliser that local canegrowers use as an economic source of crop food. These two industries are symbiotic; they rely on each other to exist.

While many believe Australian ethanol is simply used in fuel, 50 per cent of the ethanol produced in Sarina is used in industrial, household and medical products. Vanilla essence, Colgate mouthwash, sunscreen, oral products for babies, Vodka Cruisers, insect spray, detergents and various hair products all contain Sarina ethanol. Sarina ethanol is used in medications and even cancer treatments. Sarina ethanol is also used to provide a cleaner and greener fuel blend for vehicles. This innovative local industry cannot be allowed to go to the wall at the behest of economic bureaucrats.

The Sarina distillery creates 65 local full-time jobs. Its associated liquid fertiliser plant supplies 20 mum-and-dad fertiliser contractors, who in turn employ 80 other local people. Together the two plants provide Sarina with an economic boost of $10.5 billion annually in wages alone. If there is no ethanol plant, there is no fertiliser by-product to distribute to the canegrowers. Cane farmers say the loss of this nutritious crop food would increase their production costs. Meanwhile, Wilmar indicates that distillery jobs would go because its $23 million ethanol processing procedure would no longer have a use.

The Sarina distillery requires continued government policy stability to allow the ethanol industry to continue to develop. We must fight the axe-wielding bureaucrats to keep the excise rebate in place as it was intended until 2021. Previously, in Queensland and New South Wales, mandates were set in place to ensure a percentage of ethanol was blended with fossils fuels to promote a cleaner source of fuel to drive our cars. I am told by industry that these mandates were never rigorously enforced. If the mandate is enforced, the company believes it can become a viable, self-sufficient industry because it will have a guaranteed market. We must also consider support for a national 10 per cent ethanol mandate, where future vehicle fuels would need to contain a 10 per cent ethanol component. Such a mandate would create demand for Australian ethanol, allowing the industry to stand on its own two feet.