A presentation given by federal Treasury secretary John Fraser at the VFF Grain Conference on Monday highlighted the problems we are facing as a nation, and the challenges for rural and regional Australia.
Mr Fraser identified that population growth focused on Sydney and Melbourne was pushing the limits of sustainability for these two cities. To address this, obtaining a larger share of the growth in the regional centres was necessary.
Mr Fraser wholeheartedly endorsed the major sentiment of grain growers of a need for investment in infrastructure.
The problem he identified, though, was how can we pay for it when we have embedded programs consuming significant proportions of the tax take that the community is unwilling to give up?
The recent harvest highlighted the problem. A rail system in Australia that has to shut down once it gets moderately hot during harvest is a failing system. The road network is a falling apart – it was joked that a truck left a paddock in a roadworthy condition, but by the time it got to the silos had been shaken into un-roadworthiness.
Farmers are constantly investing to improve efficiency and productivity just to keep competitive in world markets. However, the road and rail networks are arguably failing the fit for purpose test and are hindering the competiveness of farmers.
It’s time the government’s commitment to the industries that keep rural communities thriving matched that of farmers.
On the same day Mr Fraser was addressing the Grains Conference, the Department of Infrastructure and Regional Development told the Senate Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport that Victoria would receive $2.045 billion (7.7 per cent) of the federal government’s $26.5 billion infrastructure budget from 2016-20.
For perspective, the government has earmarked nearly $8 billion for NSW, which is more than 30 per cent of the national total, while Queensland will get a 29 per cent share and Western Australia will get 12.2 per cent. When Victoria produces 27 per cent of Australia’s food and fibre exports – and is home to a quarter of the country’s population – how can this short changing of Victorians be justified?
And if investment in regional Victorian infrastructure is falling behind, how do we get a larger share of the population growth outside of Melbourne?
Ross Johns, VFF Grains president