MURRAY Watt isn't going to pretend to be a farmer.
Nor does he have solutions to the agriculture labour shortage or input costs.
But he's bringing an apparently open honesty to his new portfolio as federal agriculture minister.
The Queensland senator of six years addressed Hort Connections 2022 in Brisbane on June 8, just seven days into the new job.
In possibly his largest crowd address as agriculture minister to date, Mr Watt said he knew many in the crowd would have questions, including some obvious ones.
"I figured given I'm the new minister a lot of you will be going, who's this bloke?" he said.
"What you'll be able to tell from that is that unlike many of you, I am not a farmer and I'm not going to pretend to be a farmer.
"I think Australians have had enough of politicians who like to dress up in costumes and pretend to be something that they're not.
"What you see is what you get."
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Mr Watt, who was chief of staff to former Queensland premier Anna Bligh, reiterated an approach given soon after the federal election, referring to having farming in his blood, with a father who grew up on a dairy farm and also cut sugarcane in the Mackay region, and a mother who has connections to pineapple production in the Maryborough area.
"I'd like to think that it gives me some insight to, if not directly, what farmers are going through and what rural communities are going through," he said.
Mr Watt said he liked to think of himself as someone who was as comfortable in the city as he was in the country.
"In me you've got someone who has some understanding of the farming sector, if not directly with hands-on experience but certainly a real empathy for the work you do and the importance of supporting it," he said.
Big issues on the agenda
WITH a captured horticulture audience, Mr Watt said three priority areas of concern were labour, biosecurity and input costs.
Labour was arguably the single biggest challenge facing horticulture in the country at the moment, Mr Watt said, and while his party won't be continuing with the agriculture visa, it did intend to expand the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility (PALM) scheme.
"We think that there is further opportunity there to make use of willing workers who have already been vetted as ready to come and work in Australia to fill some of the skills gaps we have in the hort industry and in ag and hort altogether," he said.
Labor intends to make the training of Australian workers in agriculture a priority as well.
"I am very open to discussion with the industry around what else we can do around skilled migration in particular to meet some of the challenges that we have," Mr Watt said.
"I'm not going to pretend that I have all the answers one week into the job but what I do want you to know is that we do recognise it's a challenge and that we are very keen to work with you in solving it."
Larger issues down the track
MR Watt said longer term he was keen to see how to take agriculture further up the value chain and how to rebuild the manufacturing sector.
Climate change and sustainability were also firmly on his radar.
"I am not someone who subscribes to the view that farmers are environmental vandals," Mr Watt said.
"You live on the frontline and you see every day the effect of changing weather patterns and I know that there are so many farmers who are eager to work with government around designing solutions about how we manage the impact of changes around climate change well for the sector, but also take advantage of the incredible opportunities in ag to make a buck out of making these adjustments to deal with climate change."
New way of working
MR Watt said he felt fortunate to come into the role at a time when agriculture was riding a relatively healthy wave in terms of productivity and profit.
But he said those good "headline results" masked some really serious challenges the industry was facing, including the back-and-forth nature of politics.
"I think we've all seen over recent years there has been so much conflict, there have been so many fights, and I think everyone's had a gutful, frankly," he said.
"I think people just want to work together a little bit more whether it be in ag or any other sectors, and that's certainly the approach that I'm going to be taking in working with your sector."
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