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

Rockhampton, Australia's real beef capital, forms an important part of our nation's beef and cattle industry economy. Indeed, this title is recognised by the fact that every three years our city hosts Beef Australia, the nation's premier cattle industry expo, showcasing the Australian industry to the world. I am therefore pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister has announced that Rockhampton will host a high-level industry round table next month to identify funding priorities for the coalition government's $100 million Northern Australia Beef Roads Fund. The meeting will be held in Rockhampton on 2 October. The Deputy Prime Minister says the round table will give industry representatives the chance to shape investment priorities for roads which are vital to northern cattle supply chains.

As a nation we farm about 31 million head of cattle. When it comes to beef production, we punch above our weight. According to data from Meat and Livestock Australia, Australia is one of the world's most efficient producers of cattle. In terms of consumer expenditure and export value, the off-farm value of our beef and cattle industry is worth $12.75 billion. MLA tells us that Australia has four per cent of the world cattle inventory, behind massively-populated countries such as India, Brazil and China. We are the third-largest beef exporter in the world.

In the future we hope that the position of our beef sector on the world stage will strengthen further, with recent free trade deals and a long-awaited FTA with China—currently being stalled by the Labor Party. But our coalition government is committed to building better infrastructure and driving down operating costs for Northern Australia cattle operations.

Our government has committed $100 million through the Northern Australia Beef Roads Fund to improve roads which are critical to transporting cattle. I am pleased that the Deputy Prime Minister will bring the first of the three round tables to be held in Northern Australia to Rockhampton, where industry representatives can have their say about where available funding can be best spent. The sheer distances and logistics in transporting cattle contributes significantly to the cost of production, with land transport costs comprising up to 35 per cent of the market price of livestock.

The Deputy Prime Minister says that this program aims to reduce the cost of transporting cattle in the north, which involves some of the longest land transport distances of any Australian commodity. A more efficient beef sector means making us more competitive on the world stage. This road improvement program also brings with it the possibility of creating more jobs. A further two beef road round tables will be held in Western Australian and in the Northern Territory.