Budget delivers mixed result for ag
The Federal Budget delivered a mixed result for rural Australia with agriculture industry representative organisations both praising and criticising commitments.
Leaders at Graingrowers, a national farmer collective, welcomed a steadfast commitment to maintaining fuel tax credits and extra attention to childcare, but were disappointed the government missed a range of valuable investment opportunities for grain growers.
Graingrowers chief executive Shona Gawel said additional funding for childcare was a welcome step forward.
“This funding addresses a range of issues affecting growers concerning childcare access,” she said.
“While it might not appear to be an obvious issue for the grains industry, preparation is well underway for a rural and regional childcare roundtable to work through the issues and consider the next steps.”
Farmers for Climate Action leaders welcomed the announcement of a $310 million small business energy incentive, to enable farm businesses to claim tax incentives for investments in on-farm batteries and electrification.
Farmers for Climate Action chief executive Fiona Davis said farmers had called for incentives for farm batteries, which were required to make batteries viable.
“Giving farmers real incentives to invest in batteries has the potential to help reduce peak demand on our electricity grid, which could reduce the need for transmission,” she said.
“Batteries currently come with 10-year payoff periods and five-year warranties, and until this is fixed, farmers are unlikely to invest in them.”
Dr Davis said a $38.3 million pledge for the Australian Bureau of Agricultural and Resource Economics to improve data collection and low-emission technology on agriculture, and $40.7 million for five years for farm extension officers was money re-purposed from existing funds.
“Farmers for Climate Action had called for more investment in extension officers and so welcomes this news, and calls for further investment in more extension officers,” she said.
Biosecurity protection
Dr Davis said the budget provided some helpful initiatives, but greater investment in helping farmers tackle climate change was needed.
Ms Gawel said as grain production was a powerhouse commodity, Australian growers deserved more investment in areas including biosecurity, infrastructure investment and taxation.
She said the decision to impose a biosecurity protection levy on producers was disappointing, because farmers were not risk creators and could now be facing undue costs.
“The Agriculture Minister, Murray Watt, only recently endorsed an independent report by the Invasive Species Council that suggested the people who create the biosecurity risks need to pay their fair share,” she said.
“The imposition of what the government believes is a ‘modest levy’ is neither fair or well directed and we would respectfully ask the government to reconsider such a short-sighted decision.”
Ms Gawel said road funding was another disappointment and while some funding had been allocated, it was a drop in the ocean compared to what was needed.
“While we understand the financial constraints facing the government, decimated rural roads are driving up inflation and putting regional drivers at risk,” she said.
“With climate change increasing, we need urgent investment to ensure the resilience of road networks.
“Rural roads must not be left behind in Australia’s $120 billion infrastructure investment pipeline.”
Ms Gawel said the decision to reduce the instant asset write-off to $20,000 – capped at $10 million turnover – was a ‘glasshalf-empty’ approach.
“In the feedback we’ve received from growers, they have been looking to the government to provide a solid incentive to invest in the machinery required to gain efficiencies and improve productivity,” she said.
“Given the persistent delays and global shortages in accessing machinery, an extension would have enabled farmers to receive the current machinery and assets on order.” “Rural roads must not be left behind in Australia’s $120 billion infrastructure investment pipeline”