Agriculture Minister Murray Watt outlines plans for $81b sector and visits cotton farm, one week into the job

Australia’s new Agriculture Minister Murray Watt has shut down hopes Labor might change its mind on banning live sheep exports but has promised to work closely with industry to determine how it can transition out of the trade “in an orderly fashion”. In his first sit-down interview with a WA-based newspaper since being sworn in on June 1, Mr Watt reaffirmed his commitment to Labor’s most contentious agriculture policy, saying it was important the party “kept its election promises” and bolstered domestic processing. Mr Watt — a Queensland senator — also said visiting WA was a “high priority” for him and dispelled suggestions farmers would be collateral in Labor’s plan to slash emissions by 43 per cent by 2030. He said he did not subscribe to the view that farmers were “environmental vandals” or hostile towards action on climate change, instead saying there was a huge opportunity for farmers. The Queensland senator — who lives in Brisbane — was propelled into Cabinet as Minister for Agriculture, Forestry, Fisheries and Emergency Management on June 1. Mr Watt was a solicitor before entering the Queensland public service where he worked as chief of staff to Premier Anna Bligh from 2002 to 2007. In 2009, he was elected to the Queensland parliament representing the seat of Everton, before losing the seat in 2012. He entered Federal politics when he was elected to the Senate in 2016. Mr Watt said his first week as a minister had been “intense”, but he made a point of making his first meeting with external stakeholders to be with the National Farmers Federation. He also did his first farm visit as Agriculture Minister on Tuesday, visiting a cotton farm and cotton gin in Emerald, Queensland with NFF chief executive Tony Mahar and chair Fiona Simson. Connection to Agriculture Mr Watt revealed his father grew up on a dairy and beef farm near Mackay and also worked as a cane cutter, while his mother’s family were also dairy farmers on the Darling Downs. He said he still had extended family who were farming in Queensland, which had given him a unique insight into the importance of the agriculture industry. “I’m not a farmer myself and I am not going to pretend to be… but both sides of my family have a lot of farming history,” Mr Watt said. “I grew up with lots of stories about farming, the challenges, the highs and the lows. I have always spent a lot of time in regional Australia, particularly regional Queensland. “While I live in the city, I have always been absolutely comfortable in the country.” Mr Watt said he had developed strong relationships with the agriculture sector through his role as the shadow minister for northern Australia, particularly in the NT, but admitted he didn’t have strong connections to the agricultural sector in WA. “I am looking forward to building them,” he said. He heralded visiting WA a “high priority” during the coming months. Taking on the Agriculture Portfolio Mr Watt said he wasn’t expecting to be promoted to Cabinet, and was happy to “have any role” but was eager to have a portfolio with a connection to regional Australia. He served as shadow minister for Northern Australia, Disaster and Emergency Management and Queensland Resources in opposition, and participated in Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee inquiries in 2019 and 2020. “I am really excited to have this portfolio, it is a really important one for a country like Australia… it is the backbone of rural and regional Australia,” Mr Watt said. “I was really happy to be appointed to the role and excited for what lies ahead.” Live Export When asked why he and Labor wanted the live sheep trade banned, Mr Watt said the party recognised there had been improvements in animal welfare but “community sentiment across the nation does want to see this trade phased out”. Mr Watt used the line Labor has spruiked throughout its campaign – that the live sheep trade was an “industry in decline” - saying that was a reflection of the “buying habits of customers overseas”. “It is partly in response to global demand… but we want to put a focus on more food processing in Australia and that includes sheep processing,” he said. “We think there are some real opportunities to expand sheep processing and expand exports of chilled frozen meat, including sheep. We have opportunity to create more jobs.” Mr Watt pledged to consult farmers “closely” and “listen to them about how we can implement this policy in an orderly fashion”. “The Prime Minister has made clear this phase out won’t occur in this term,” he said. “I give people my commitment that I will be consulting and it will be a focus when I come to WA… and I am very happy to work collaboratively around the implementation.” Mr Watt said he had started discussions with the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment about how industry would be consulted and said he would have “more to say soon”. Mr Watt confirmed the primary focus of the ban would be on sea exports and he would “look at evidence” to determine whether it would include the air freight of sheep. Mr Watt shut down suggestions industry groups – including the Australian Livestock Exporters Council and The Livestock Collective – might be able to change his mind. “I think it is important as a new government we do honour our commitments… but I am absolutely open to discussion about how this occurs and when this occurs,” he said. Biosecurity Foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin and African swine fever are all banging on Australia’s door with outbreaks spreading across what was once a “disease-free buffer” in Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea. Mr Watt said there were “significant concerns surrounding biosecurity” which he was taking “very seriously”, having already had two briefings from the Department – including one from Australia’s chief vet Mark Shipp after his recent visit to Indonesia. “I’m very concerned about the risk to agriculture from both of those diseases, and there are a range of other risks – including khapra beetle,” Mr Watt said. “The fact I have been briefed twice gives you an indication of how serious I am taking it.” The Coalition pledged $61 million focused on northern biosecurity ahead of the election, while Federal Labor said it would provide a “long-term, sustainable” funding model – but did not provide a dollar figure. It did promise to double the number of Indigenous rangers and fund another 20 biosecurity detector dogs. Mr Watt said Labor acknowledged there was “more work to be done”. Drought Labor went to the Federal Election without a drought policy, but that is something Mr Watt said would be a priority to address while Australia was “not in a drought”. He said the Coalition’s $5 billion Future Drought Fund – which provides $100 million per year for preparedness – had failed to deliver real change to farmers. “We didn’t have a policy about drought and that is something I have raised with my department as something to talk more about,” he said. “In terms of principals, we want to be better prepared for future droughts than the previous government. The last big national drought was under way before they took serious action.” Labour Shortages Labor revealed in April it would scrap the Coalition’s Agriculture visa and roll out a Pacific Engagement Visa building on the existing Pacific Labour Scheme and Seasonal Worker Programs, , a move Mr Watt said was a “practical commitment” that had a “chance of working”. But he said Labor was not looking at expanding the scheme to include skilled labour – including tractor and header drivers – “at this stage”. “There was a lot of talk from the prior Government about what the Ag visa would do… but it didn’t deliver a single agricultural worker to Australia,” he said. “We just think having consulted with a range of people that the Pacific Islands, strengthening the Pacific labour scheme is a more practical way of dealing with the challenge. “There are more than 50,000 workers in the Pacific Islands that have been vetted to work in Australia and we should be making use of that labour supply.” Mr Watt said he was happy to consider suggestions of how the scheme could be improved but Labor wanted to put “strong emphasis on ensuring Australians work in the sector”. Labor did confirm it would honour the Ag Visa agreement with Vietnam – the only country to sign onto the scheme - which Mr Watt confirmed but said there no plan as to how that would work. “I have had some very preliminary conversations with colleagues about that,” he said. “We will be getting to that as soon as we can.” Short and Long-Term Priorities Mr Watt said he had four short-term priorities for agriculture — including delivering the election commitments Labor made for the sector, addressing the labour shortage, improving biosecurity, and the impact of energy prices on input costs. “Energy prices are really putting a squeeze on farmers, I have had some very preliminary discussions with ministerial colleagues about that – and that also affects agriculture as it does households and other businesses,” he said. Longer term, Mr Watt said his two main priorities were value-adding in the sector and addressing climate change – which he said was an “opportunity rather than a threat”. “We talked a lot in the election about wanting to make more things in Australia and that applies to agriculture,” he said. “Our farm sector has done a great job at extracting value for more food processing, but there is more we can do on that front. We want to grow and make the world’s best raw commodities and then turn them into the world’s best products as well. “That is good for exports and good for creating more jobs.” Climate Change Farmers “by and large” recognise the impacts of climate change, Mr Watt said when asked about concerns they would become a scapegoat for Labor’s plan to cut emissions 43 per cent by 2030. “I see this as an opportunity, rather than a threat for the agriculture sector,” Mr Watt said. “Most of the big industry bodies (in agriculture) are already on board for getting to net zero by 2050. “We need to make sure changes… end up being a positive for industry.” Mr Watt said most farmers took environmental sustainability very seriously and were already making changes to their farm practices, and said he didn’t subscribe to the view that farmers were “environmental vandals” or were hostile to action on climate change. “I don’t overall see it as something that is a threat to the industry,” he said. “It is important Government consults and adopts a collaborative approach to the implementation of these policies. We want to work really closely and in partnership with farmers.” Bipartisan Support Nationals leader David Littleproud raised eyebrows last month when he said he would be the first to pick up the phone and speak with the new Agriculture Minister to “offer insights”. But Mr Watt said he would “absolutely be happy to speak with David”, who he said he had a “good personal relationship with”, despite their political differences. “He offered to have a chat and pass on his views, and any advice and I certainly intend to take him up on that,” he said. “I will listen to anyone that has something interesting and useful to say, and that applies to political opponents as much as it does to industry groups who may not have traditionally been allies of the Labour Party.” Mr Watt pointed to Labor leader Anthony Albanese’s recent promise to change the way politics operated in Australia, to be “more inclusive” and to operate a “respectful parliament”. China Trade Heralding it important for issues with China to be “resolved as soon as they can be”, Mr Watt said the relationship was complicated but a focus for the Albanese Government. “We recognise the importance of China as a market for our agricultural product, despite the sanctions – it remains the largest destination for our agricultural products,” Mr Watt said. “Our position is … there have been some encouraging words from China of late but they have to be followed by action. For us to move forward, we have to see China take some real action to remove those sanctions.”