A FEW weeks ago, the WA Government learned a valuable lesson in trying to push through laws that affect food producers.
The Aboriginal Cultural Heritage Act was rushed through Parliament and came into effect on July 1, with very little consultation with those that it impacted the most.
The WA Government has since stated it will overturn the Act, hopefully ending the fiasco.
However, it illustrates what happens when you leave policy making to a bunch of citycentric bureaucrats with little understanding of what it is like to try to run businesses that provide food and fibre for the nation.
Agriculture in Australia is currently under siege from new legislation and regulations proposed by Labor State and Federal Governments indifferent or outright hostile to the interests and needs of this vital sector.
This is despite continuous price rises in food with inflation hurting everyday Australians.
We see it in recent federal changes to immigration schemes which pose to cripple industry’s access to Labor, in the march towards net zero with little regard to our primary producers, in the continued erosion of our R&D capacity and in a willingness to burden the sector with additional red tape.
In 2023 primary producers face a range of increased costs from decisions made by government departments within the state and in Canberra.
Industry is begging for a pause on rapid changes until affordable technology is available.
And I think they deserve to be heard. We can’t expect small-business packers to buy costly equipment to change their production methods overnight.
Especially when they know that new packaging will result in a huge increase in accelerated spoilage.
Office bureaucrats with “nice to have” ideas are creating massive food waste and sending producers to the financial brink.
The industry will thrive when they are part of the solution, not viewed by city academics and pen-pushers as the bulk of the problem.
Governments needs to show some respect for our food and fibre producers, and the communities they support.
Nicola Centofanti MLC, Shadow Minister for Primary Industries
