Warmest welcome all to the beautiful Whitsundays for this year’s National Agriculture and Related Industries Day, and National Mining and Related Industries Day, following our wonderful get togethers for our National Days over the years.

Although I can’t be with you for welcome night, what a night it will be, and, aren’t we lucky to have Australia’s Dawn Fraser, one of our most respected and loved Olympians ever, to welcome you to Queensland and the Whitsundays!

And dear Dawn, thank you for reading out my speech too. We have booked the whole island to enjoy together. And goodness, a lot of time and effort has gone in to make our three days fantastic! Thank you, wonderful team and greatly appreciated continuing sponsors! 

Let’s start with an island rousing round of applause for our outstanding agriculture, mining, and all related industries and the truly fantastic Australians who work in them.

What a nation does reveals a great deal about its character. Australia has long had since our early, hardworking pioneers, strong primary industries. Agriculture and mining underpin our jobs, exports, and our renowned indeed envied, living standards.

A nation of miners and farmers is a nation of doers, of risk-takers and value-creators. A nation of opportunities, of people who are the very bedrock of modern economies, who put in the hard work that primary industries entail. Hard work that enables every single other industry to exist. Hard work that enables us hope for the future, a bright future. 

Our primary industries of agriculture and mining feed, clothe, and indeed help to build the world.

We should be incredibly proud of the substantial rise in living standards that our industries have enabled in Australia, and overseas.

Our national days, November 21 and 22, are an important time to celebrate our agriculture and mining industries, and all the related industries they support. 

Indeed “where would we be without mining and agriculture?”

Would we have amongst the highest living standards in the world? Would we have the highest wages in the world? Would we have the tax revenue to pay for our critical defence, healthcare, police, emergencies, infrastructure, and to look after our elderly? Would we even be a G20 nation, without our mining and agricultural industries? The answer is, no. 

Let’s raise a toast together to our essential primary industries, please stand with your glasses: “We have so much to thank our agriculture and mining industries for, and as members of these industries we have so much to be proud of.”

Now, in our partner’s tradition, let’s have the miners raise their glasses and repeat, “with agriculture” and those in agriculture, please raise your glasses and counter toast, “with mining”! Let’s hear this hundreds of times over the next few days together! 

But unfortunately, we face many, many challenges. We have seen across the world this year the examples of what happens when we forget the essential nature of mining and agriculture, and don’t speak up for these industries. 

In Sri Lanka, anti-agriculture policies have caused so much harm to the people there, with food production rapidly declining, farmers’ incomes collapsing, and food prices consequently increasing. And of course, effecting all related businesses too. When this happened before in Sri Lanka, the record of history showed there was starvation and riots, and then, rule by gun. Why haven’t we been able to learn from these government caused problems?

Let Sri Lanka’s problems be a reminder to us, that we must be more vigilant where our own governments policies are concerned, policies made in Canberra and other capital cities, well away from agricultural production. If we don’t constantly speak up and continue to do so, we’ll get the policies we deserve, but my goodness, don’t want. 

The Russian invasion of Ukraine has exacerbated a global energy squeeze – one which was not created by the war, but by self-destructive policies adopted across the industrialised world in recent years, now heightening the problem of not being or no longer being self-reliant in fuels and energy, or able to supply friendly countries.

I’ve been listening to USA television, pre the mid-terms, as the USA democrats say, the reasons for the fuel and electricity price rise “are complicated”. It’s not “complicated” it’s what happens when you stop production of fuel and turn your country away from being energy independent to being dependent on others.

Please note what the Ukrainians have again asked Australia for in recent days, with their Ambassador to Australia saying just last week that “It would be invaluable to Ukraine to again receive coal supply from Australia”.

And the head of Tata, one of India’s largest companies warning, if India can’t get coal from Australia, India will be forced to go to Russia. Is this really something we should want one of our important friendly allies to do? We should not be ignoring our allies’ needs. 

Unfortunately, governments across much of the Western world have not responded in appropriate ways by reducing tape and encouraging investment in our vital industries, but instead have continued to delay projects, or stop them, and hamper investment especially in the areas required for electricity generation, leading to electricity prices increasing, and increases in the cost of living. And this is something that affects us all, with the impact greatest on the less fortunate, the poorer people in our country. 

Just think, what will the situation look like in Europe as they enter winter, with poorer families forced to choose between ‘heating and eating’? What if our Australian coal and gas producers were able to step up and increase their supplies to our allies?

It is vital that our governments understand how essential our industries are, not only for Australia and Australians, but for many throughout the world not fortunate to have our natural resources.

We should all be immensely proud of our primary industries, and speak up for them, especially in government circles and media. May I ask each of you to devote at least 5 minutes a day speaking out, be that online, letters to editors and government members, talk back radio, talking with those in media and government, or otherwise. A joint effort across Australia is needeed.

Our country was built by mining and agriculture, by miners and farmers, you and me. Our industries are essential to our nation’s future, not only giving us fresh products and food self-sufficiency, and with the natural resources we have, enabling vital energy independence too, but underpinning the living standards of Australians. 

I warmly welcome you all to the 2022 National Agriculture and Mining and Related Industries Days, and I look forward to celebrating our essential nation-building industries with you. 

Thank you.