Angus Taylor (Hume, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Industry, Innovation and Science. I remind the minister of the digital transformation work in regional and rural Australia being driven by the National Farmers' Federation. Will the minister outline some of the ways digital innovation will help rural and regional communities to meet the increasing demand for Australian produce in overseas markets?

Christopher Pyne (Sturt, Liberal Party, Leader of the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Hume for his question. I can confirm that the National Farmers' Federation are very optimistic about the opportunities in rural and regional Australia from digital transformation. I met with them yesterday, and they will be having their own announcements to make over the coming week or two about the role that the NFF intends to play in the digital transformation that is going on in rural and regional Australia. They have already done a great deal. Even in the member for Hume's own electorate, there are great examples of businesses that are using technologies to change the way that they improve productivity and profits. Delta Automated Weather Network, DAWN—which is in the member's electorate and I am sure he is familiar with it—has a network of weather stations and soil moisture probes that offers unparalleled technology that provides accurate and local weather data in real time to support farm management decisions. More than 95,000 pieces of data are captured and interpreted everyday. It is a great example of how businesses can use technology to improve their productivity and increase their profits to create jobs, new markets and growth in the economy.

Early next year the new nbn satellite broadband services will come on-stream, servicing rural and remote Australia—which I know the Minister for Major Projects is very much looking forward. That will mean that every farmer across Australia has access to fast broadband. One of the other aspects of our rural and regional industries is our reputation for clean and green food products that we sell overseas. Through digital technologies, we are making it easier than ever to increase the traceability of food right through all of our supply chains, which only improves our attractiveness as a market for exports of food products overseas.

Through all these measures, rural and regional Australia will be great partners with the government in the national innovation in science agenda that will be released next week. It will drive jobs and it will growth right across the economy and also in rural Australia. The National Farmers' Federation believes that they can grow this part of the economy to a $100 billion sector by 2030. So lots of other businesses will be beneficiaries. MANDRA's iHerd, in the member for Flynn's electorate, is a mobile record-keeping business that allows producers immediate access to data on stock numbers, sales information and animal health treatments. This is being used by some 40,000 primary producers in 120 countries. Started in the member for Flynn's electorate, it is just another great example of innovative businesses in rural and regional Australia that will be getting on board with the government's national innovation and science agenda next week. I would urge the Labor Party and the Greens to seriously consider their support for this agenda, because it is about jobs and it is about growth.