Last week, the federal government announced the second budget for 2022 with a promise to make life "easier for Australians".
Investments in biosecurity and disaster management and funding to support better nutrition in aged care are sensitive to key policy positions in Australian Dairy Farmers' (ADF) Federal Election Policy Statement.
However, there are limited solutions for skyrocketing costs of farm inputs and low farm productivity. Food and energy should have been included in cost-of-living relief because it applies to all people, not just a select few.
Delivering on a pre-election commitment to restore trust and transparency in the management of the Murray Darling Basin, $51.9 million will be spent updating the science to account for the impacts of climate change. However, the budget allocates an undisclosed sum of money to meet environmental water targets. This coupled with $4.6 billion in cuts to water infrastructure projects committed to under the previous Government is a concern as it also affects our drought preparedness.
Funding to boost jobs, regional communities, aged nutrition
We are pleased to see initiatives in the budget addressing the workforce shortage and further support to grow jobs and liveability in regional areas.
The government will provide $5 million over three years to the Maggie Beer Foundation to support providing better food for residential aged care and home care recipients. ADF has argued for mandatory nutritional standards in aged care to which the government has agreed.
People living in rural and regional Australia should benefit from an investment of $143.3 million in primary health care services, training, workforce incentives and trials for innovative models of care.
Reducing the rural-urban health divide has been a long-standing policy objective for ADF.
Despite solid investments to improve biosecurity and digital infrastructure, the agriculture portfolio will receive over $137 million in savings cuts over the next four years.
- Rick Gladigau
As any dairy farmer knows, a reliable workforce is essential for a long-term, stable dairy industry. Announcements that support building a bigger, better trained and more productive workforce include:
- $42.2 million for the Department of Home Affairs to increase visa processing capacity and raise awareness of opportunities for high skilled migrants in Australia's permanent Migration Program.
- $8.9 million to establish a Productivity, Education and Training Fund to support employer and union representatives to improve safety, fairness and productivity in workplaces.
- $4 million for the Australian Bureau of Statistics to increase the frequency and detail of data measuring the barriers and incentives to participating in the labour market.
READ MORE: ADF backing farm activities
ADF welcomes $921.7 million in funding to strengthen Australia's Vocational Education and Training system and address skills shortages. This includes providing 480,000 fee-free Technical and Further Education (TAFE) and vocational education places in industries and regions with skills shortages. We want to see agriculture included in this initiative.
Support for trade, economics, dairy symposium
Over $12 million will be spent over three years sponsoring regional trade events, including Beef Australia 2024, Casino Beef Week, the second Dairy Symposium, LambEx, Hort Connections 2023 and 2024, and other horticulture conferences and agritech industry events. This delivers on an election commitment. ADF should play a lead role in the design of the Dairy Symposium.
Four million dollars has been allocated to the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade to support Australia's trade diversification. This may change dairy's export profile given 48 per cent of exports go to China.
A stronger, more resilient economy requires investment in the capabilities of our people and the capacity of priority industries. This includes the dairy industry. The pressures on farmers are being felt by everyday Australians who are witnessing supply and price shocks on supermarket shelves.
Despite solid investments to improve biosecurity and digital infrastructure, the agriculture portfolio will receive over $137 million in savings cuts over four years from 2022-23. For this reason, we believe the government can do better by agriculture, in particular, the dairy industry, and not leave dairy farmers wanting.
Article supplied by Australian Dairy Farmers
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