NFF conference: Agriculture Minister Murray Watt hits back at farmers’ campaign

The Agriculture Minister has defended the federal government’s ag record in response to the National Farmers’ Federation’s scathing new campaign.

Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has fired back at a National Farmers’ Federation campaign against the Albanese government’s “anti-farming” policies.

In a speech to the NFF national conference in Canberra on Thursday, Mr Watt said he was “surprised” the peak farm lobby group had launched the salvo considering “how our government is delivering for the ag sector”.

“I think all of you know that my door is always open to listen, collaborate and for a little fella I think that I’ve got broad shoulders,” he said.

“So I was surprised to read … that the NFF is launching a campaign against the government arguing that, and I quote, ‘food and fibre production is not a central priority for the current Federal government’, that Labor is pursuing ‘a niche ideological agenda’ and that ‘Labor is wilfully ignorant of the plight of farmers’.

Mr Watt said he believed adding nearly $3 billion in new spending towards agricultural initiatives since Labor took office last May “felt like a central priority”, despite a “tight fiscal environment”.

“But I guess that’s just politics … and just like you have good and bad seasons, relationships between governments and political lobby groups will have their ups and downs,” he said.

Newly elected NFF president David Jochinke said farming was in “the fight of our lives” as he launched the ‘Keep Farmers Farming’ campaign on Thursday, during his at times fiery inaugural speech.

“We cannot stand by and watch a government slowly erode the basic foundations of our farm sector,” he said.

“If we do nothing, the next three to six months will see decisions made which will reduce our access to farmland, to water, to workers and to overseas markets.”

New National Farmers Federation president David Jochinke. Picture: Martin Ollman

He continued: “If that’s the path we continue down, we will be forced to make this government wear every misfortune it inflicts on Australia’s farmers like a crown of thorns. They will own every farm closure, every school struggling to stay open as families leave town, every extra dollar Australians are forced to hand over for their weekly shop.”

The campaign will zero in on agriculture-related policies including the proposed water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin and plans to ban the live sheep export trade, as well as push for a dedicated visa pathway for agricultural workers to address labour shortages on farms and along supply chains.

Mr Watt acknowledged that “we don’t agree” on the government’s Murray-Darling Basin plan to reclaim water from farmers and communities to increase environmental flows, nor its industrial relations reforms.

However, Mr Watt said the government had made “great strides” for agriculture in biosecurity funding and control, opening and reclaiming trade channels, increased TAFE training, migration and housing reviews, new drought measures, and sustainability and emissions reduction programs.

Nationals leader and opposition agriculture spokesman David Littleproud said the NFF was “desperately trying to save farming”.

“It has taken just 18 months for Agriculture Minister Murray Watt and the Prime Minister to lose the confidence of the agriculture sector,” Mr Littleproud said.

“Our farmers are under siege. NFF’s public campaign … is an embarrassment for Minister Watt and the Albanese Labor Government. Every single Australian is feeling the impact of the pain and hurt being put onto farmers, because the end result of Labor’s bad policies are families being forced to pay more for food at the checkout.”