Farmers say the federal budget will not stop food prices from rising further and have slammed its new biosecurity levy.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
or signup to continue reading
National Farmers' Federation president Fiona Simson described Tuesday's budget as a missed opportunity to help keep a lid on prices.
"The budget does nothing to get to the heart of rampant food price inflation," she said.
Farmers were hoping for money to fix roads, tax incentives and help with worker shortages, but Ms Simson said the budget falls short.
She also criticised a new biosecurity protection levy to be paid by importers and producers from July 2024 as "a tax whack for farmers" who already made a significant contribution.
Agriculture Minister Murray Watt said the levy was "modest" and the budget heralds a new era for agriculture that both protects and grows the industry.
"For the first time in our history, Australia will have sustainable biosecurity funding, something farmers have called for, for years," he told AAP.
"Biosecurity is a shared responsibility and so too is paying for it," Senator Watt said on Wednesday.
The government will provide an additional $1 billion over four years for biosecurity and then $267 million a year ongoing from 2027, to help stop exotic pests and diseases coming into the country.
While the taxpayer will fund most of the new measures, some of the money will come from the levy.
"Importers and producers will pay a modest fee through the Biosecurity Protection Levy, meaning they will contribute just 6 per cent of the cost of biosecurity operations," Senator Watt said.
The new levy is expected to raise around $47.5 million a year from domestic producers.
Budget papers provide a breakdown on what it will likely cost some producers, with a cattle producer expected to pay an extra 50 cents per head with a domestic apple producer likely to pay almost 20 cents per kilogram.
GrainGrowers chief executive Shona Gawel said there was not a lot to celebrate in the budget.
Australian growers deserved more investment in areas such as road funding, where the budget's allocation was a drop in the ocean.
The government confirmed $302m over five years to support a "climate-smart, sustainable agriculture sector" by helping farmers improve soil health and natural resources.
Farmers for Climate Action welcomed tax incentives for small and medium businesses to save on energy bills through electrifying assets and efficiency.
"Giving farmers real incentives to invest in batteries has the potential to help reduce peak demand on our electricity grid, which could reduce the need for transmission," the group's chief executive Fiona Davis said.
The Albanese government said the budget delivered $1.5b in new spending on agriculture.
The budget includes $5m over two years for an independent panel to consult on the phasing out of live sheep exports by sea.
A one-off injection of $127m will be paid to the department of agriculture, fisheries and forestry to address what Senator Watt described as "chronic mismanagement, underfunding and budgetary incompetence" by the former coalition government.
Additionally, $148.5m will be poured into improving the sustainability of the Murray-Darling Basin which will include a statutory review of the basin plan with priorities for water management for the next decade, as communities and the environment adapt to climate change.
But a coalition of some of Australia's peak conservation groups said it was not enough.
"This budget hasn't committed the additional funding required to return the system to health," said Conservation Council of South Australia's Craig Wilkins.
Australian Associated Press
