AUSTRALIAN agriculture's continued access to global markets will rely on the sector's sustainability credentials and anyone pretending otherwise is "completely out of touch with international trade", the Agriculture Minister has declared.
The comments follow fears raised by the Nationals, claiming the federal government will use the upcoming free trade deal with the European Union as "political cover" to impose harsh land clearing laws on farmers.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt is currently in Berlin to address a sustainability conference and continue negotiating the EU FTA.
"Something that I was conscious of coming over here, but is really hitting me in the face now, is how important it is for Australia to be able to demonstrate good, sustainable agricultural practices," Senator Watt said.
"There's no doubt that for us to be able to maintain and grow new markets for our product overseas is incredibly reliant on us demonstrating the best possible sustainability practices.
"For anyone who pretends that that's not required, they're just completely out of touch with international trade."
By 2025, the European Union will require all companies to ensure the products they're importing - including beef - are not the result of deforestation. Nationals leader David Littleproud is concerned the Labor government will use international trade access as an excuse to impose draconian land clearing laws on farmers.
Senator Watt said large international markets, such as the EU, wanted to see countries and sectors doing more than just reducing emissions, preferring a holistic approach to sustainability.
"What people are looking for is a really clear and genuine commitment to increasing the sustainability of our production," he said.
"Some countries in Europe have sector-based [emissions] targets but many of them don't. What most of them are doing though, is really stressing the importance of more sustainable production."
Senator Watt said the record of the previous government over the past 10 years "did a lot of harm to our reputation internationally", but Australian agriculture already had a "good story to tell" about its production systems.
"Our producers in Australia are far more sustainable than a lot of people realise," he said.
Land clearing has been catapulted to the top of the ag sector's agenda in 2023, with the upcoming overhaul of national environmental laws, reports of illegal land clearing within the Northern Territory cotton industry and speculation the EU deforestation regulations will be part of an upcoming trade deal.
The industry is divided about the upcoming debate surrounding the issue, with some optimistic it will be a path to reforming complicated and overlapping legislation, and others wary of populist swings driving the conversation.
Jamieson Murphy
Newcastle Herald news director and business reporter. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
Newcastle Herald news director and business reporter. Interested in any and all yarns. Whisper g'day mate to me at jamieson.murphy@austcommunitymedia.com.au
