By LACHLAN MOORHEAD
BOTH state political parties have vowed support for Victoria’s agricultural industry in the outer south-east ahead of the November election.
During a visit to the City of Casey late last month, opposition treasury spokesman Tim Pallas said protecting farming land on the urban fringe was vital to the state’s economy.
“On the urban fringe we need to protect the proximity of our agricultural produce and activities to the urban environment,” he said.
“They need to be protected and the reason they do is the further we push them out the more our goods cost us, so putting in place adequate planning protections is critically important, making sure there is assistance for farmers in terms of access to the market, particularly access to Asian markets.”
Mr Pallas said there was a “burgeoning middle class” in Asia that highly regarded Australian produce.
“We need to identify how you can find those markets and utilize them, protecting our urban fringe agricultural producers,” he said.
“Making sure that they have adequate transport connections into their communities and their local market, together with access to international markets, is critical.”
Both parties appear likeminded on the importance of an agricultural push into Asia, with the government revealing a $35 million Food and Agriculture into Asia project in last month’s State Budget.
During his own visit to Beaconsfield last month, state Treasurer Michael O’Brien said the government’s agriculture project was pivotal in supporting emerging export opportunities and ensure the continuing viability of areas such as the Bunyip Food Belt.
“It’s about making sure that we can get access to new markets for our farmers, that’s what we’ve been partly doing through our super trade missions,” Mr O’Brien said.
“We’ve had a lot of senior level trade missions where premiers and other people have gone to China, India, South-East Asia, that’s where there’s booming markets for our Victorian produce, but also it’s supported in this budget by the $35 million Food and Agriculture into Asia package.
“It’s about making sure that we can really step businesses through the process of how to sell their produce there because, obviously, the bigger your market the greater the demand and the more profitable our businesses can be.”
