Tony Perrett, Minister for Primary Industries – Ongoing challenges and issues for rural and regional Queensland (1) (19 March)

0:00Thursday morning on Rural Queensland today, let's start the show with the Minister for Primary Industries. Tony Parrott joining us this morning, being a regular on this show for many, many years. Tony, good morning. I talked to you from Bunderburg this morning. Thanks so much for being with us. The reason that you're in Bunderburg. Yeah, good morning, Dobbo and good to be with you again. Yeah, I've spent the last three days just out on a road trip just visiting local governments visiting primary producers, just observing first-hand the impact of recent disaster events. So this follows on from what we've experienced at a state of late last year, particularly in the North West, where we've had a number of trips up there, 100,000, had a cattle that have been lost up there. And then of course, the wet weather has just rolled on across the state. Hasn't it worked? And many primary industries have been impacted. Yeah, I mean, you've been to Julia Creek. You've been to the North West part of Queensland, including Norman and Klankari Thursday,

1:02Ireland. You've been to the South Burnett. You've been to Chinchilla this week, Theodore Billowella, and you're in Bunderburg now. What's the general sentiment, you know, are people okay? I mean, there has been some devastation. It's probably not been undersold in the metropolitan areas, but the enormity of it, we haven't probably heard enough of. I know there's a cyclone in far North Queensland at the moment, but, you know, these poor people in regional Queensland are having to get on with their lives clean up, you know, get back on their feet. Yet the show goes on with the new cycle out of the metropolitan areas. Yeah, look, the impact has been significant. And of course, livestock producers, you know, I understand when you see livestock that are just, you know, dying, perishing before your eyes, it takes a significant toll on those producers. Remembering a lot of those areas were heavily impacted in 2019, and they've been impacted again in some of those areas. And, you know, through their best efforts, they just can't save those livestock.

2:06Yesterday, I was in Theodore Billowella cotton crops that were already starting to be picked, round, you know, cotton bales sitting in the field, the paddocks that were just, you know, a meter of water through them, crops that were just fully submerged, just, you know, they went from, you know, beautiful field of white, obviously, they were just being black. So, you know, the impact is significant, because they've born, you know, those producers have worn all the costs, which respect, you know, producing, they've got at the point where they've had a good crop and then just see it washed in the creeks in front of them, you know, it was devastating. So what, in that kind of area, we obviously people take insurance, you know, some do some don't. But the government are obviously watching this closely, because industry, you know, needs to get back on their feet. Now, I know that there was significant, you know, and federal funding came in, our boat came in. So, do the farmers like the people of Theodore, do they, are they eligible for that kind

3:06of funding as well? I know, like, Northwest West cattle gone, they were, those one off hits, is that going to be available for people like that in Theodore? Yeah, double look, we certainly at a state level, we support that assistance, and there's been many, many local governments across Queensland or like government areas that have been rolled into the existing approvals that are there, and particularly, you know, the banana, and glads and chisers, too, that we're, you know, that we've promoted to the federal government that need to be included. So the process is the Department of Prime Ministries respond very quickly where the ones that gather the information that, you know, hit the trigger points, and then we feed that through to the Queensland Reconstruction Authority, and they work directly with their federal counterparts, and then get that on the Prime Minister's desk for, for sign off. So, it's important that we do that quickly because, of course, you know, the impact is immediate, and, and, you know, go by these, these people, you know, in a lot of cases are struggling like you see it on their faces, you hear it in their voices, and the best thing that we can do is just respond, give them hope, and if you can give them hope, and they

4:09know that the, you know, the, particularly the Queensland government has their back, it makes a difference to the, you know, the challenges that they have ahead. It certainly does. You are watching, obviously, this cyclone, I mean, this category five that they're talking coming across the top, and, you know, that could end up in three states. Now, we know it's at the very top, and, but there is, you know, Lizard Island and a lot of places that have been evacuated, you know, it is cyclone season. This is what people seem a little shocked, but we're sure that we're sort of in this position now where we, we see this quite often happening, don't we? Yeah, look, look, we do, I mean, look at what these areas can, you know, can, a, a, a, resilience they can work through a lot of it, but, when they, you know, and, one, one area I've done, like last week, you know, one of the haigrows said to me, this was out in the west of, you know, my region, the Gibby region, said, I can handle a flood every 10 years, but, um, to get one every three or four years, it just washes everything down the creek, just destroys what, you know, they're, they're income and they're livelihood.

5:11Um, you know, it takes a toll and, uh, and, and it, and it does, although so it's something that, you know, it's certainly not under a say, it's, it's the matter from my perspective, and it's just important that I get out that I just meet with these people, just, you know, to hear it first hand and reassure them that they've got one, someone that actually understands that they're more importantly feeds that through to the, you know, to the, the federal government to make certain that we can assist where we're able to, I'm going to get to some other topics in a minute, but just on this, when we talk to people at the federal level, are they prepared to listen? And Tony, this has been my problem. The crisper fully government has done a wonderful job in government. And I understand that not everybody's happy with every decision, but all in all they're writing, you guys are writing a lot of wrongs, you're trying to fix a mess of a long period of time. And that's going to change takes a while, and we're starting to see green shoots. But when we go to the federal government at the moment, are they open to listening? Do they have an understanding because yep, we saw our bow come to, we saw our bow go to

6:14Klongkari, but he never went to Julia Creek, he stayed well away, and that was epicenter 101. And I just don't fully understand that they have a comprehension of the people like in Bunderburg, Chinchilla, you know, through there, what, what they've actually had to go through. Theodore's a prime example, as you were talking about. Do they actually just listen just, and it's only just to try and, you know, get you off there, back part in the pun, but more, are they genuinely concerned about the welfare of Queensland and regionally? Look, of course, you know, we do our best with the federal government, but there's no better example just getting out on the ground to be able to see it firsthand. Look, they've responded quickly, and we haven't, you know, really had too many issues to date, you know, with the cooperative efforts that's between the state and federal government with respect, you know, the disaster events across, you know, Queensland, but I just used the example in 2019, obviously, half a million had a lifestyle that perished up

7:14in that north west. The then Prime Minister Scott Moles and Fluyn, he could, you know, met with producers in the pub, just could see it firsthand, and effectively just told these people to go away and work out the assistance that was required to get these people, you know, back operational and I believe it's not just, you know, the primary producers are one part of it on the impact of them, but these rural and regional communities, most of the money exists because of the success of primary industry. So it flows through the, you know, the townships that support primary production, and I've seen that clearly, you know, even just this week, but, you know, in the last couple of months as I've traveled Queensland, and you can't underestimate, you know, the impact that it has broadly on those businesses that are essential for those primary producers to be able to operate. So, yeah, okay, I am sorry if you get it, I said it with, you know, in the Premier days, two days of Christopher Lee, he gets it, and he certainly makes his voice loud to the Prime Minister with respect these, and I know he's doing that again today, with respect to issues with regard peel and fertiliser.

8:18Yeah, well, can we just touch on that, can we just touch on that? And I know we've got, you know, a lot to get through this morning, but the fertiliser cost, and that's just ridiculous at the moment, and I don't know how I mean, there's us, some alternatives in like the Morton Co. fertiliser, and there's some other options there that are trying to come onto the market. But I do want to ask you about the fuel situation, and just the debacle that's been, I mean, I'm seeing, you know, at Morinbar, like $3.34 for diesel. I'm seeing costs that are unsustainable, and we all know, I mean, you're a primary producer. You know, the margins are tight. If you're a farming family, you know, selling wheat at $350 a ton, you know, and fuels three bucks a ton. You won't make a money. You're going backwards. Do you think there is an end inside it, but do the government need to give a subsidy to primary producers, bigger than what they're doing, not statewide? This is federally to try and give some compensation, because otherwise, people will not produce

9:19food, which obviously flows onto the metropolitan areas. This is the biggest issue, and we just can't have batteries. We just can't have batteries. Just, oh, let the sun shine. We need diesel, and we need to burn it. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Look, it's important in it. And it's essential to the, you know, the viability of agriculture, or primary industry, it's in the fisheries. It's across the board, where there's, you know, significant concern, and I know the Premier and the Treasurer have raised this directly with the Prime Minister, and I understand that there is a meeting today, where that will be the central focus of David Christopherly with the Prime Minister, is to make certain that the federal government actually takes the lead. You know, look, there's no doubt, you know, in my view, that there's, you know, a solvent risk that's associated with this, and, you know, we see hiccups like we've got now, you know, across the world, and then develop into your major depositions from, you know, to industry, and it goes from, you know, something that, you know, producers look at initially and think, oh, we've probably worked through this, and it won't last

10:20too long. These hiccups, you know, being major, major issues for industry, and that's why, you know, I, you can't underestimate the toll that's going to have just on the cost of living, on inflation, and all the things that flow from a double. So you look, you're dead right, something that I've been hearing this week, even, even just producers that have been affected by, you know, disaster events, you know, having to get back out in their paddocks and straighten things up and do what they need to do, just, you know, they're raising the cost of diesel as, you know, a concern in being able to, even afford to get back out in their paddocks to fix, you know, fix up, you know, when things dry out. So, no, it's, it's a point well made, Bill Owen, it's something that I hear clearly from industry. And I know that our premier will be putting that directly to the, you know, Prime Minister and the Federal Government again today about, you know, the issues that sit around our sovereign capacity to be able to look out to ourselves. Tony, I'm going to get you to take a break. We're going to come back. I want to talk to you about cattle ticks, the biggest issue pressing at the present

11:21moment. We're with the primary industry's Minister, Tony Perett this morning. It's the 19th of March on rural Queensland today.