It’s always an honour to speak at the Bush Summit. And it’s a particular pleasure to come to Griffith for the first time as Prime Minister.
This summit is a valuable initiative in the life of the nation and I thank Ben English and The Daily Telegraph for it.
Anything that brings us closer together as a nation is a good thing.
Our common ground will always be the most fertile place to plant our hopes and enhance our future.
I see a better future for all Australians.
And key to that is making sure that we tackle the challenges that just keep on coming, because if we don’t shape the future, the future will shape us.
As I crisscrossed our continent during the election campaign, I was reminded just how vast our country is.
Look at a basic map of Australia and you might just see the capitals marked out – little dots spread out like stars around the fringes of the continent.
It can be easy at first glance to get lost in their glare, but you’d be missing what lies between them: the great, glowing constellations of communities that sustain us as a nation.
Not least here in the Riverina – one of the great food bowls of Australia.
We sometimes talk about “the bush” as if it were homogenous, but that’s a mistake.
Each community has its own character, its own set of challenges.
Farming is both a way of life – and what makes our way of life possible. We should never take it for granted, or downplay the challenges our primary producers face.
There are great successes and times of glorious boom, but a life on the land is not for the fainthearted. Not for nothing did Midnight Oil sing about farmers hanging on by their fingertips.
But the communities that make up the bush aren’t just about farming.
I have had the pleasure of spending time with Australians who raise crops out of the earth, or extract the minerals from it.
Those who raise herds and live by the cycles of other species.
Those who drive the harvesters or painstakingly pick fruit with their hands.
But also those who teach, who treat the sick, or run a business.
The tradies and the artisans, the artists and the posties.
Those who’ve been here for generations, or who’ve moved from the city in search of a better life under a bigger sky.
And those who’ve come from other countries in search of a better life, and enriched their new homes here in the process.
All of you work in so many ways to make your community just that: a community. And these communities do so much to hold Australia together.
But there are major challenges, ranging from biosecurity and climate change, to water and infrastructure. Some have been decades in the making, some are looming suddenly.
I want to talk to you about the solutions to those challenges – but also about the opportunities those challenges contain.
Biosecurity
Just how much we depend on the strength and security of our bio-borders should never be underestimated. That we have the best in the world is something we can be proud of. But nothing is infallible.
As COVID-19 so powerfully emphasised, when the threat of disease arises, we have to move quickly.
As an island nation, we are blessed with a big natural advantage. But as we’ve seen, it is an advantage easily squandered.
Right now, we are focused on the threats of foot-and-mouth and lumpy skin disease.
Last week I visited Raglan Station near Rockhampton and heard directly from cattle farmer Ryan Olive and AgForce Queensland’s Will Wilson about the biosecurity challenges we face.
A foot and mouth outbreak could cost the Australian economy $80 billion.
It’s a devastating number calculated not just in dollars, but in mental health and in the very viability of communities.
The best way to stop FMD reaching Australia is to stop its spread through Indonesia.
That’s why Agriculture Minister Murray Watt’s first overseas visit as Minister was to Indonesia.
He is leading important work with our friend, neighbour and trading partner on fighting diseases together.
As part of that fight, Australia has provided expert veterinary assistance to Indonesia along with over 430,000 vaccines for lumpy skin, to be followed soon by 1 million vaccines for FMD, and additional biosecurity funding.
We’ve dialled up protection measures at our borders. More biosecurity officers, detector dogs, sanitisation mats at airports and biosecurity response zones.
We’re screening all mail from Indonesia and China, and risk-profiling all passengers from Indonesia.
This is the strongest biosecurity response in our nation’s history, supported by improvements to our readiness in the event of an outbreak here.
That includes a new Exotic Animal Diseases Preparedness Taskforce to ensure that Australia is better prepared in the event of an outbreak.
It’s not the only biosecurity challenge we face. Australian honey producers are grappling with the arrival of varroa mite.
In consultation with the industry, we have in place an $18 million compensation package for registered beekeepers.
We are always best placed when we plan rather than just react, and at our strongest when we work together.
That’s why we’re working closely with industry, the states and territories, on our response to these critical biosecurity issues.
Climate change
When it comes to climate change, the message I delivered at the 2019 Bush Summit still stands: anyone looking for a true understanding of climate change should look for it here.
Farmers see its effects every day. There is no ideological opt-out clause – you live with it.
You recognise what is happening and are getting on with the job of dealing with it – because this is your home, this is your workplace and your livelihood.
One of the things we’re seeing is the change in agricultural practices as our understanding of our unique environment grows.
And a key part of that understanding comes from a relationship with the land, sometimes built over multiple generations.
It is a relationship found on the knowledge that the old practice of environmental exploitation is the deadest of dead ends, and that the greatest reward lies in a sense of stewardship of the land.
In this there are echoes of the stewardship by First Nations people across this continent, and the knowledge they built over millennia.
As you grapple with climate change, and the intensifying cycles of flood, fire and drought, you deserve nothing less than a Government that has your back.
In that spirit, I announce today that the Government will deliver $75 million post-disaster resilience to areas across New South Wales devastated by the February-March floods.
Delivered via the Emergency Response Fund, which sat idle under the previous government, this money will go towards:
- A flood impacts and risk management measures report;
- A levee assessment and improvement program;
- Valley level flood risk management assessments;
- Flood warning infrastructure and systems and associated community awareness;
- Flood mitigation infrastructure and voluntary house raising.
It will cover all 62 LGAs affected by the February-March floods.
Biodiversity
As we move toward net zero, we are creating a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity – not just to protect Australia’s natural environment but to kickstart a nationwide restoration.
We will introduce legislation to underpin a market for biodiversity. This will operate in a similar way to our current carbon crediting legislation.
The markets for biodiversity and carbon credits will operate in parallel, both regulated by the Clean Energy Regulator.
As companies look to invest in carbon offsetting projects like tree planting, we need to make sure there is a path for farmers and the environment to benefit.
We need to protect waterways, provide habitat for native species, reduce erosion, protect topsoil, improve drought resilience and create shelter for livestock.
Placing a market value on biodiversity helps us achieve that.
Farmers could receive biodiversity certificates for planting mixed native species and managing their existing, remnant vegetation.
This is a chance to support farmers using their knowledge and expertise in a way that benefits us all. A chance to shape a better future.
Water
I’ve spent time in flood-ravaged communities this year and I will never forget what I saw, or the stories I heard. Homes gone, livelihoods destroyed.
And yet, perversely, as we talk about all that water, the last drought is still so fresh and raw in many people’s memories.
As the world’s driest inhabited continent, we have a precarious relationship with water. We often have either too little, or far too much.
Managing water well is crucial for Australia’s future, and there are big challenges ahead.
The Murray Darling is Australia’s biggest and most important river system. Its future is critical for the livelihoods and welfare of millions of Australians.
Secure water supplies help regions like the Riverina feed and clothe us – and many people around the world. We must get this right.
Through the National Water Grid Fund, my Government is investing in nationally significant water infrastructure that addresses water security and quality issues.
Just up the road from here, the Commonwealth has committed $4.5 million to the West Wyalong Water Reliability project.
As well improving water flow and pressure in West Wyalong, it will support the expansion of agribusiness and mining in the Griffith area, and open up opportunities for new investment across the region.
The government is broadening the investment framework for the National Water Grid Fund to support projects that secure essential town water supplies in regional and remote communities.
This commitment will provide greater investment in water security across the country, in partnership with states and territories, so that all communities can access safe and secure water.
Communication
Like all the work that Labor has put into – and will continue putting into – improving road and rail, improving communications will also chip away at the tyranny of distance.
The Government has already delivered $480 million in funding to upgrade NBN Co’s fixed-wireless network.
The Government has also committed to expand full-fibre access to a further 1.5 million homes and businesses.
This is about productivity. And it’s about ensuring that all Australians – no matter where you live – have access to world-class digital infrastructure.
It will make it easier for a whole range of businesses to be able to leave the congestion and expense of big cities and set up in regional towns.
And one of the pay-offs is that as regional economies diversify, they will no longer be hostage to the whims of the market or the fate of a commodity.
Economic diversity means strength and resilience.
The Government has also committed to expand on farm connectivity, to support the productivity and safety of our farmers, by enabling expansion of wireless connectivity from the homestead to the field.
This will enable more farmers to fully utilise sensor and connected-machinery technology to improve efficiency.
Just as with rail and bitumen, improved digital infrastructure strengthens the nation in so many ways.
In remote areas, it can be a lifeline. And perhaps most important of all, it makes possible the great hum of conversation across Australia, binding us closer together.
There’s nothing quite like sharing our stories to stop us becoming strangers to each other.
Conclusion
No one needs a fairweather friend. You need a government that stands with you in good times and in bad.
A government that knows true solutions are not imposed. Instead, they are found in dialogue, consultation and collaboration – with communities and the local councils that serve them.
Throughout my time in public life, a lot of my energy was devoted to regional and rural Australia – not least as Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Development. I am proud of what I was able to do in with roads, rail and aviation.
What excites me now is the prospect of doing so much more.
I haven’t taken on any extra portfolios this time – being Prime Minister should cover it.
But even in my new role I will be guided by the same energies that have always guided to me – looking at the evidence and listening to expertise, and working through partnerships built on transparency, fairness, honesty and respect.
That collaboration is critical to the commitment I made on the evening of 21 May.
To represent the interests of all Australians, no matter where they live.