Grains ‘perfect match’
Wimmera development leaders have targeted Australia’s leading grains research organisation in a submission to a national investigation into the potential regional relocation of government bodies.
Wimmera Development Association, in responding to a Federal Government Senate Inquiry, has pinpointed the Grains Research Development Corporation as a perfect match for the region.
The association, in its submission to the inquiry, has detailed how the Wimmera-southern Mallee is perfectly placed as a major base for the corporation or ‘other elements of Commonwealth entities with agricultural policy or regulatory responsibilities’.
Association executive director Ralph Kenyon said the relationship between agricultural industry and research and development, including the GRDC, was already well advanced in the region.
“The region offers a range of supporting infrastructure, accommodation and social interaction that would make relocation not only viable, but also provide a much-needed boost to the local economic framework,” he said.
Grains Research Development Corporation is a statutory corporation under the Federal Government’s Department of Agriculture.
It is responsible for planning, investing in and overseeing research and development to help improve production, sustainability and profitability across the Australian grains industry.
Grower levies and government contributions fund the organisation, which primarily operates out of Canberra and has offices in Adelaide, Dubbo, Perth and Toowoomba.
Headquarters
Mr Kenyon said the Wimmera and southern Mallee more than qualified as somewhere for a major regional base and even the corporation’s headquarters.
“Why not? The Wimmera’s catch-cry of ‘everything you need’ is not just a catch-cry, it’s reality, and in this circumstance it’s even more than that,” he said.
“We would welcome the whole GRDC or even elements of it. Critically, it’s not just about something that is advantageous to our region – it also makes logical sense this type of organisation is based, literally, in the field.
“Of course the economic spin-offs would be quite significant for the region.”
The association’s submission outlines how ‘significant and growing investment in grains research’ is critical to economic industrial success in the region’.
“The region has attracted substantial international investment and national strategic focus through grains research,” Mr Kenyon said.
“This is evidenced by the establishment of the Australian Grains Genebank in Horsham, the construction of a high throughput phenomic glasshouse by Victorian Department of Environment and Primary Industries, a $14-million Bayer Cropsciences wheat-breeding station and the investment of $3-million in glasshouse upgrades by Nuseed.”
The submission includes economic impact scenarios that might occur with the relocation of the corporation to the Wimmera or southern Mallee.
The scenarios reveal the potential for about 175 new jobs and millions of dollars of investment into the regional economy.
Mr Kenyon said he expected the Senate Inquiry process, involving submissions from across Australia, to take a couple of months before findings went before Federal Parliament.
He said the inquiry had provided an ideal opportunity to put the concept forward.
“We wait with interest to see what the outcome will be,” he said.
The submission follows findings from the State Government’s Regional Partnerships program that identified a Networked Grains Centre of Excellence as a priority project for the region.