Statement attributable to Hancock Agriculture CEO, the Hon. Adam Giles in response to article: https://www.beefcentral.com/news/fuel-impacts-already-being-seen-in-beef-production-cutbacks-animal-welfare-concerns/:
“Unfortunately, like many agricultural operators Hancock Agriculture has been forced to re-evaluate a lot of our cropping, pasture and grass improvements, and cattle feeding plans and programs. This is due to a mix of the uncertainty in fuel, fertiliser and urea supply and also the cost if supply can be found as the exorbitant costs are more often proving uneconomical.
“Like many other farmers and related agricultural operators, we are having to make decisions to delay sowing down many crops for 12 months, until we hope, things improve. Make no mistake, this is going to affect our pasture development, so the flow-on effects are only just getting started.
“In summary, due to the current crisis, a crisis of Australia’s own making, we can’t guarantee diesel to run all our operations, and we also can’t guarantee the fertiliser supply to grow the grass and crops to feed the cattle and supply the market. A crisis that could be helped if the government dropped its excise tax on fuel. This needs to occur but won’t unless we stand up and fight for it.
“Many people ask why this is happening, or blame issues overseas, but my response is that as a resource rich nation we should be supplying our own fuel and fertiliser and ensuring we have the lowest energy costs in the developed world.
“Instead successive governments, be they Labor or the Coalition, have refused to stand up for all Australians and committed us to disastrous policies including signing up to international treaties such as the Paris Accord and implementing Net Zero policies, which even before this fuel crisis have done nothing but to give us the highest electricity prices in the developed world. Australia’s future has been outsourced offshore to our detriment as we are seeing today.
“The Paris Agreement and Net Zero have delivered us nothing but higher electricity prices, higher petrol and diesel prices and hence higher grocery prices and a lack of reliable supply. They have taken our agricultural land for toxic asbestos riddled, bird and bat maiming, bird and bat killing wind towers and toxic solar installations. For what? Farmers are suffering. We are all suffering.
There are those who suggest that we should look at other so-called ‘sustainable’ fertiliser options such as non-synthetics. Well, Sri Lanka went down this path a few years ago and their whole industry crashed, which then tanked their national economy. They reversed their decision.
“What we need to do is increase our coal and gas baseload power, balance this with rooftop solar and remove the legislative shackles that prohibit nuclear power generation. This, together with cutting the mountain of government tape, and reducing the government cost burdens, will allow us to reindustrialise our economy and get back to being the once great country we used to be. Most importantly grocery, electricity and petrol and diesel prices will come down dramatically. This takes pressure off families and businesses.
“Trillions upon trillions have been spent on the green fantasy, and despite this, the worldwide percentage of global energy consumption coming from fossil fuels remains scarcely changed since the 1970s. Global fossil fuel demand even reached record levels last year! It’s an indisputable fact that we need these resources to survive and prosper.
“Make no mistake, the situation in the Middle East is just this Government’s latest excuse. The real reason we’re facing a fuel, fertiliser and food cost crisis is because we have blindly subscribed to the green net zero fantasy, our refineries have closed, drilling for oil and gas has become too difficult. In short, we have put ideology ahead of reality.
“We used to be able to supply 90 percent of our own oil needs and have refineries, so we didn’t need to rely so heavily on overseas sources. Australia badly needs responsible policies to be able to return to that self sufficiency,
“This crisis is a homemade horror show, and every Australian – whether they drive an EV or not – is about to get a front-row seat.”
