Mark Coulton (Parkes, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I would like to speak this morning about the contribution that the Australian government has made to agriculture in this budget. In the previous six budgets that I have witnessed in this place, agriculture has not played a major role. During the global financial crisis, the two industries that kept Australia out of a complete financial meltdown were agriculture and mining, both of which are very strong in the Parkes electorate.

In the budget, the government has committed $100 million over four years for competitive grants for applied research, with an emphasis on having results accessible to farmers. There will also be $20 million over four years for stronger biosecurity. We should never underestimate the importance of biosecurity. What gives us a competitive advantage in Australia is the fact that we are a long way from a lot of our markets, we are surrounded by water and, as a result, we do not have a lot of the nasty diseases that our competitors have. We need to make sure we keep that advantage.

In the Parkes electorate, there are some wonderful research facilities and I am sure that they will be pleased to know that there is money on the table for which they can compete. Sydney University has put a lot of money into upgrading the IA Watson Wheat Research Centre at Narrabri. They are doing a lot of breeding of wheat varieties that will improve the productivity and profitability of farmers in that area. Indeed, Sydney University through Livingstone farm—which unfortunately has been sold, much to my disappointment—were pioneers in zero till farming. This modern revolution has enabled farmers to survive through the driest seasons, to produce crops in seasons in which their fathers or grandfathers would not have. Also we have a magnificent research station at Condobolin and another one at Trangie, both underutilised at the moment, sitting there waiting for money to come through.

Organisations like the Conservation Agriculture and No-till Farming Association, CANFA, are doing work in understanding the soil science of moisture retention and in encouraging engineering in planting machinery so they can get those seeds established with the least disturbance to the soil. All those things are keeping Australia at the top of the world. The Australian farmers are the best in the world and the money given in the budget will help them stay that way.