- Labor commits $15 million towards Ag research centre in Launceston
- Labor will fix Tasmania's broken biosecurity system
A majority Labor Government will back Tasmanian farmers and grow our agriculture sector into the future.
Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Water Shane Broad said Labor had a proven track record of supporting the agriculture sector.
"Agriculture is one of Tasmania's largest employers and one of Tasmania's most important sources of export revenue," Dr Broad said.
"Labor has a proud record of backing our farmers, most recently through the development of the irrigation schemes and we have an ambitious plan to back our agriculture sector to keep growing into the future.
"This includes a $10 million commitment to build a world-class Centre of Excellence in Agriculture in North-West Tasmania.
"The centre will bring together a number of research and training facilities in one location, providing stronger training pathways for individuals and supporting innovation and excellence in agricultural businesses.
"It will also reduce costs for businesses wanting to develop new processes and products and provide new opportunities for industry-led collaborations with UTAS researchers.
"To complement and leverage the capability of the centre of excellence, in Launceston we will contribute $15 million towards a state-of-the-art agricultural research centre as part of the University's $300 million Northern Transformation Project."
Dr Broad said a majority Labor government would ensure the Spirit of Tasmania replacement program would be delivered.
"The replacement of the spirits is absolutely essential for our agriculture sector, and in particular for fresh vegetables, berry and cherry producers," Dr Broad said.
"These businesses depend on a reliable freight service to get their product to market quickly.
"Peter Gutwein and the Liberals shamefully tried to play politics with the vessel replacement program and Tasmania is now back where it was before the last election when the Liberals promised the new ships would be delivered by 2021.
"It was a Labor Government that invested in the first Spirit of Tasmania vessels and only a Labor Government can be trusted to deliver their replacements."
Labor's agriculture policy also has commitments to fix Tasmania's broken biosecurity system, continue to invest in irrigation schemes and help the agriculture sector through drought.
"The Liberals have let Tasmanians down badly on biosecurity and in recent years we've seen fruit fly outbreaks, blueberry rust outbreaks and the Government allowing potatoes to be imported using outdated risk assessments," Dr Broad said.
"Labor will fix this mess and address the huge risk it poses to Tasmania's economy, by employing an additional 25 permanent biosecurity staff.
"One of Labor's proudest achievements from its last term in office was establishing the irrigation schemes.
"Reliable access to water has helped businesses to drive large increases in agricultural productivity, expand into high-value crops such as wine and cherries and has resulted in significant land value increases.
"Labor will partner with the Federal Government to deliver the Tranche Three irrigation scheme projects. While work continues on the Gretna and Southern Midlands schemes, Labor will provide funding for the development of a business case for the South East Integration Scheme.
"Labor will invest $5 million in a Drought Relief and Resilience Taskforce to provide immediate support to drought-affected farmers and build resilience and preparedness for the future.
"We will back our livestock and meat industries by supporting a North West saleyard and a feasibility study for a co-located multi-species service kill abattoir.
"Labor has also allocated $2 million to support collaborative research projects, $3.4 million for fermentasmania's Fermentation Hub proposal and will increase funding to each of Tasmania's three NRMs by $100,000 per year to assist in the fight against weeds and other invasive species."
Shane Broad MP
Shadow Minister for Primary Industries, Fisheries and Water
