Think before you hit farmers

TASMANIA’S economic engine room features a wide range of industries such as mining, tourism, aquaculture, forestry and metal processing including zinc, aluminium and ferro manganese but the enduring driver is farming – the jewel in Tasmania’s crown is our agricultural sector. 

We grow, we employ, we consume, we process, and we export. And we do it better than most.

Other industries will come and go, but farming will always be here while there are mouths to feed, people to clothe and medicines to prescribe across the state, nation and globe.

But it is getting harder and harder to farm with increasing impediments to productivity placed in our paths.

Some of these are increased costs, but unfortunately, many of these barriers are consequences of government decision making – intended or not.

Spare a thought for Tas mania’s fresh food producers who export to Victoria and beyond across Bass Strait.

It is a constant juggle for farming businesses at any normal time, but now there is the impact of the Spirit of Tasmania debacle combined with planned maintenance on the SeaRoad service in January – a peak time, probably the peak time.

The new Spirits should be in service right now, offering greater capacity and certainty for all Tasmanians, including those who drive economic activity by growing fresh produce that gives the state its reputation as the best producer of the best food. 

But they aren’t, and farmers bear the cost. 

We face compounding local government rate increases and the high percentage of overall contribution that farmers make to council budgets with little to show for it. 

In recent editions of the Tasmanian Country we have highlighted our concerns and issues.

Not only has then been an absence of rebuttal to date, but our office has been inundated by correspondence from the rural sector supporting the need for action on this. All Tasmanian industry, not just farming, is impacted by the cost of doing basic business across Bass Strait.

We are fortunate that independent Senator for Tasmania Tammy Tyrrell has taken up the cudgel for much-needed reform to the Tasmanian Freight Equalisation Scheme, which tries to keep our island on the same competitive footing as mainland Australia.

We look forward to the outcome. 

Energy costs will be front of mind with all irrigators as we are well into the irrigation season and pumps don’t run on fresh air. 

While all farmers would in principle welcome new power generation for Tasmania, farmers would be rightfully concerned about network charges reportedly rising even before Marinus is a reality. But things are also done very well. 

TasFarmers has been working extremely constructively with government departments such as State Roads and Biosecurity Tasmania. Before making decisions with major impact, these agencies have contacted us to be better informed. 

This has resulted in much better outcomes for farmers and develops stronger relationships with government and our members. These positive interactions have been made stronger through the good work of TasFarmers’ committee chairs. 

Their direct links to the farming community ensure members’ voices are heard and listened to.

All difficult issues can be resolved by doing better, especially with early engagement, no matter how hard that might be.

This applies to doing better in policy formation, doing better in timely consultation with our sector and doing better in considering unintended consequences before acting. 

Unintended consequences are not unforeseen, and all Tas Farmers asks is that before adding cost, before adding regulation and before adding compliance, those seeking to make changes ask themselves: what problem are we trying to solve, what are the impacts of these decisions, and who do we need to talk to? It isn’t hard to do better – it’s all we ask.