Shane McCarthy, AgForce President – Challenges and Issues (27 April)

0:00Welcome back to rural Queensland today. President of Agforce is Shane McArthur. He joins me this morning, and he's got a lot going on at the present moment if you want to look at the outlook of just exactly how difficult things are will look no further than rural and regional Australia because our backs are against the wall in all different areas. Shane, good morning. Thank you for being with us. I appreciate your time. Good morning, Ben. Good morning, what's this? I'm going to start with buffle grasses and oxious weed, and I read your statement that you made last week around this. This movement from Canberra, this absolute stupidity that is wasting taxpayers money, wasting time, wasting brain power to try and have to defend something that has been the backbone of the ag sector in the beef industry in Queensland. Yet we've got these pollucas in Canberra who have no comprehension of it, and it looks like this challenge is going to be awfully difficult, led by Murray White and the environmental minister to join Ben.

1:07Yeah, like you say, absolutely ridiculous that we'd even think of putting on a national wigs of national significance listed. It's a bloody good feed source, and we're cuddling the street in especially Queensland, we're lies a lot on it. And to be able to get it there, we would suggest that not only is it a stupid idea, but the system itself is actually flawed. Because once they open the list up, anybody can put anything on, and then we only talk about the downside of that plant. It's actually ludicrous that bubble would even make it to that. You had meetings about this. Why are they continually putting it on? It's one thing to come up with this idea, but then if they go into the market and they go and talk to people and they see how important it is, does that not have any weight at all? Well, they keep trying to tell us that, oh, they don't have to worry about getting on a list and all these sorts of things, but the problem is getting it on a list.

2:15Then you can't get seed stock. Then you have to quarantine cattle or when you're moving cattle. There's a whole house, the problem is little alone. There's a tie in with the ETBC Act, of course, so that it just comes up with a whole heap of problems. Now, I have an old gentleman here, Gordon Ford. Now, he knows more about clearing and, or veg management and, and putting planting baffle than most people have forgotten. He, his family, I need it down in the central Queensland. He assures me that there is already a biological control for it out there. So, to say that they can't get rid of it is, I would say, yeah, it is not entirely true, but, yeah. That's the concerning part is if they come up with a biological control and it works it out tomorrow, that is an absolute ecological disaster and in the market.

3:20So, okay, you talk about that, you know, where do we stand? Like, where do we stand with that kind of stuff? Well, that's the concerning part is what's the, what's the ulterior motive in this? What is the ulterior motive in this? Yeah, you're right. They've got more money than, more money than most people. And, and what they're doing is quite dangerous. That ties in with locking in this act of our tree clearing as well and what you've got to deal with there because they all tie in together. How are we going with this?

4:27Look, I can say that the one thing that that the Queensland, especially A course is doing is giving the EPDC act. It's, it's justice and we are leaving no stone unturned in trying to, to try down the federal staff to tell us what, what the scheme is up, what, what we can and can't do and that's, that's a bit of the problem at the moment is no one seems to know what we can and can't do. And there's so many examples of, you know, that they're going to have actually perverse outcomes if they go down this path. So, are they talking to you around this? Is, is that a potential and, you know, and I'm like, I'm worried because they're actually listening to you, but is there a chance that this won't go through or you can actually have it changed because at this present moment, it doesn't bode well long term for the future of agriculture.

5:31Like, I know we're dealing with it, the moment people say, it's all right, but talk 20 years down the track we were at. Yeah, so we're out of the moment is Ben, I would, I say that, you know, the, the, the legislation has gone through and the second part of it is that is the standards and the bilateral. So, they, we've got basically the boundary fence that we can work within and now we're working on the rules inside that boundary fence of what we can and can and can't do. The, the state government has been being great. We've had meetings with ministers and the premier and we, we get all the help that we can from those guys and, you know, they're willing to back agriculture in this state, which is great. So, that goes on and we talk, we are talking constantly to DQ as well, the federal staff about, you know, what work, what doesn't work. You know, unfortunately a lot of these guys don't have on-ground practical experience.

6:32Yeah. And, you know, it's up the industry to not just convince them, but to educate them on what actually does work and what is just, you know, too far-fetched. And that's such a, that's such a, I don't know why industry has to update these guys. These guys are making decisions about the bush and we're having to educate these people about what actually is. Like, it doesn't make any sense at all. How are we managing the fuel crisis and your area crisis? I mean, you've been at the forefront of this. We have seen a drop over the last week. How it's come back 50 cents in two days is beyond me, but things are starting to sort of level out a bit. Are we seeing that translate from the city to the bush? Look, I would say it would start to hurt and hurts very shortly. My guys have made or are making those decisions now about whether they plant, how much they plant. Whether they can actually harvest, not to mention that the availability of, it's just not about the availability of fuel and fertilis.

7:37It's the price of it. I mean, they both have more than doubled in the last six to eight weeks. And we don't get any more for what we get at the farm gate. We work on a small margin as it is now. And, you know, we haven't got the ability to, to, to, to absorb those, those inputs. It's just, it is, it's hurting now, it's hurting the producers now, but down the track is when it's going to hurt those at the supermarket. Yeah, and it's, it's one of those things isn't it that if we don't nip it in the butt now, you know, and get it sorted and back on track, everybody's going to pay. There's a lot of challenges. Ag forces obviously a peak body and it's important. We just need more members, don't we? I can't implore people to become a member. I understand that some people get this heart and at different stages, but you guys are at the forefront of the fighting for obviously the renewables. We know the drama's there, making sure that everybody gets a fair, fair go.

8:41And these, uh, weeds of national significance, um, you know, noxious weeds. We're talking about, you know, trying to protect land clearing, also trying to talk to the government about fuel. They're all factors at the moment that you guys are at the, at the table having these meetings about. Yeah, certainly, Ben and I mean, I would love to have more, more members in A course and that's what we're aiming for all the time. The work we do behind the thing to make sure that stuff actually doesn't actually happen is, is immense and stuff that we actually get turned around. Um, but it's, it's, I would encourage everybody, um, if you're in the ag industry in any way, um, be a member of an advocacy group. I mean, it doesn't have to be a course. Obviously, I prefer to be able, but you know, winging on Facebook does not change politicians might. Um, it's, it's actually being a member and just because something, you know, some advocacy group upset me 20 years ago, doesn't mean that you can't be a member now.

9:48Um, it's, it's probably the most important time in agriculture. Now, is what, with what we've got coming out of some now and in the future, in the short term future, that we need all the help we can get. And look, I, with such these as EPBC, we stood up on members task force and the amount of information we get from those guys is just, uh, astounding. And then we've done the same with you and fertilizers. They're member driven task force. So members get to say, you get to talk to us about their problems. And these guys are, I mean, our innovators. Yeah. I mean, they're farm and so that they have to be. They come up with, they get, they come up with solutions as well. Yeah. It's such a great flag. Appreciate you coming on. You're an important part of this show. Show them a copy, president of our course, enjoy your Monday, mate. We really appreciate you giving us some time this morning on rural Queensland today. Thanks, mate. Anytime. Good on you. We're going to take a break. Come back.

10:49This is rural Queensland today. You're with Ben Dolvin across the Resonate Broadcast Network. Good morning.