Calls to cut red tape attract hearty cheers from farmers

Red tape needs to be slashed urgently to safeguard Australia’s food supply, farmers warn. 

There were loud cheers at News Corp’s Bush Summit in Dubbo on Wednesday as industry leaders demanded that excess regulation be axed because it was holding back growth.

The message to governments comes after the conflict in the Middle East earlier this year put pressure on Australia’s supply of fuel and fertiliser.

Cattle Australia chair Garry Edwards said more regulations were being imposed on people in the bush who produce the nation’s food.

Mr Edwards said the Environmental Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act had created issues in the past 12 months and change was needed. “The government has a massive role to play, where they can, (to) positively put an intervention in place to actually reduce the complexity, reduce the bureaucracy around this stuff. Not reduce the compliance,” Mr Edwards said. 

Hancock Agriculture and S. Kidman & Co CEO Adam Giles said government needed to “get out of the way”, adding there had been more than 5000 new regulations put in place by the Albanese government since May 2022.

“Many of those affect regional Australia, particularly the agricultural sector,” Mr Giles said.

“There are 2.6 million people employed in Australia that are either government employees, or government funded, or government related. That is 20 per cent of Australia’s workforce.

“These are the people that are slowing us down, and they’re stopping us from being able to do business.”

NSW Farmers Association President Rebecca Reardon joined in raising concerns, saying red tape was holding them back from tackling the threat from parasites.

Ms Reardon said it took a time and was costly to get vet products approved. “We’ve got international companies who want to bring new products into our country to help us fight parasites, but it’s too expensive,” she said.