Canavan: agriculture needs community support, not just mining

The Northern Australia and Resources Minister gave a stirring speech at the National Press Club in Canberra yesterday at an event co-hosted with the National Rural Press Club, addressing the topic of mining’s longer ‘boom’.

Questions from assembled journalists largely tackled his views about mining’s future growth in the face of escalating community resistance like the proposed Adani coal mine to the north of the Galilee Basin in central Queensland.

A small band of protestors also assembled outside the venue to attack the minister’s mining views, in support of action on climate change and some also attempted to enter the venue to disrupt his talk, with one shouting “no public money for Adani” before being ushered out by security.

But that type of community uprising on a far greater scale than the one expressed in Canberra yesterday is surging from the farm sector in Queensland with a series of protests being held this week to vent anger at the potential ramifications of the Queensland State government’s proposed new land and tree clearing laws.

Senator Canavan touched on those laws and saying the need to maintain community support for agriculture and mining would help to deliver economic and social growth, in Northern Australia.

He said so much of northern Australia’s economic growth and success was tied to the resources sector.

“There is no inconsistency between the development of the resources sector and the development of Northern Australia,” he said.

“Right now, more than half of economic output in northern Australia is from mining and resources.

“I expect that percentage to fall over time because I hope that northern Australia becomes more diverse in its economic base.

“Although I'm sure that resources will maintain a very strong element of its development and growth.”

Senator Canavan said the Coalition had established a $75 million Cooperative Research Centre for growing agriculture in Northern Australia.

“They’ve already put forward their first round of projects last year in a small program and they're considering a second round today,” he said.

“I met with groups only a couple of months ago, the RDCs (Research and Development Corporations) that cover agriculture there’s a lot of excitement about industries growing in northern Australia and there’s a lot of good progress being made.

“One thing we've got to do in northern Australia, and similar to what I was mapping out in this agenda, is make sure we keep support for that across the Australian community, because you're not going to grow agriculture in regional Australia without developing land.

“And to develop land, you sometimes have to clear land and lazar level it and increase irrigation.

“And right now in Queensland, there's a Queensland government trying to pass probably the most draconian tree-clearing laws in this country that will strip property rights off farmers and without compensation and foreclose many of the agricultural opportunities we have in northern Australia; particularly in Cape York where there are many Indigenous Australians who want to just get ahead and they do want to grow their farming sector.”

Senator Canavan said the proposed laws were “something we have to respond to”.

“We also have to invest in water infrastructure - it’s a big part of the Northern Australia agenda,” he said.

“We’re close to and hopefully we’ll start construction of the Rookwood Weir on the second biggest water catchment in this country in the Fitzroy Basin, within the next few months.

“We finally have the support of the Queensland government which I welcome and the federal government’s now considering that business case and we’ll respond within weeks to them and I’m hoping for a positive outcome and then we can actually build a dam in this country.”

Senator Canavan said he was hopeful Northern Australia also had the opportunity to build reliable water supply through dams as was afforded to other regions like Canberra in the ACT due to supply from the Murray-Darling Basin.