Sugar industry welcomes Feeding Australia strategy
Feeding Australia Plan
Sugar manufacturers have welcomed a plan to secure our food and bioenergy future with the Feeding Australia strategy announced by the Federal Agriculture Minister, Julie Collins, with Australian Sugar Milling Council CEO Ash Salardini saying the Australian sugar industry can be central to Australia’s role in a global food and bioenergy future.
‘In a world that is being increasingly defined by geopolitical tensions, securing our food and energy future is not a ‘nice to have’, it is one of the defining challenges facing Australia,’’ Mr Salardini said.
“Sugar is central to domestic and global food systems and a fundamental feedstock for bioenergy, and as such, we are putting our hands up to be front and centre of this new strategy.
“Sugar is part of any robust food system, and we will be a primary feedstock for any biofuels and bioenergy domestic production capability. Outside traditional uses, sugar will be central to creating electricity, biomethane, sustainable aviation fuel, biodiesel, and in the creation of alternative proteins and nutraceuticals.”
The ASMC has long been calling for a National Bioenergy Feedstock Strategy and looks forward to participating in the Feeding Australia project.
“This is exactly what the doctor ordered - a strategy that looks to optimise both food and fuel security in Australia,’’ Mr Salardini said.
In response to the announcement, Leader of The Nationals David Littleproud said Labor cannot be trusted on its hollow promise to deliver a food security plan, after treating the sector with contempt, with new taxes, soaring energy prices, and a crippling Industrial Relations and workforce agenda.
Mr Littleproud said Labor had ignored calls from industries across the supply chain for almost three years for a security and resilience plan, to get food from paddock to plate.
“Australian farmers have struggled through Labor’s cost-of-living crisis,” Mr Littleproud said.
“The cost of food production has skyrocketed, with gas up by 34.2 per cent and electricity up 32.3 per cent, leading to food price increases of 13 per cent.
“The solution to short-term energy price pressures is increasing the supply of gas. Australia needs to drill its way out of this cost-of-living crisis.”
Mr Littleproud said it has taken Labor until the dying days of its government to promise a National Food Council and a National Food Plan.
“These were key recommendations in the Agriculture Standing Committee’s ‘Feeding the Nation and beyond’ report from November, 2023 – almost 18 months ago. The industry-led Food Alliance has also called on Labor for this action since 2022.”
Mr Littleproud added while the Coalition supported an end-to-end supply chain food security plan, Labor’s announcement was piecemeal and neglected key factors that impacted food production and the supply chain, which was driving up the cost of food.
“Labor has created issues all along the supply chain. Farmers cannot get the workers they need, while Labor’s cuts to regional Australia have also driven up the cost of food.
“In just three years, Labor has shut down the live sheep trade, scrapped the Agriculture Visa, announced new taxes on farmers and their superannuation, cut roads funding, messed with the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility worker scheme and implemented crippling IR reforms. Labor’s promise today is desperate and cannot be taken seriously because they have turned their back on regional Australia and the agriculture sector.”
He said The Nationals, as part of a future Coalition Government, would fix 10 bad Labor policies:
- Create a mix of energy, rather than Labor’s all-renewables approach, which is destroying agricultural land and driving up the cost of food.
- Reverse Labor’s cuts to regional infrastructure.
- Stop Labor’s truckie tax and vehicle efficiency standard.
- Bring back the Agriculture Visa and fix Labor’s PALM scheme mess.
- Stop Labor’s changes to the Murray-Darling Basin.
- Introduce an import container levy so our own farmers don’t pay for the biosecurity risk created by international competitors.
- Scrap harmful emissions profiles.
- Stop Labor’s proposed taxes on superannuation, which will impact family farms.
- Ensure the 88-day backpacker work visa remains in place for the agriculture sector.
- Reinstate the live-sheep-export trade.
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