Mrs STONE(12.36 p.m.) —I speak today in support of these important amendments contained in the Dairy Produce Levy (No. 1) Amendment Bill 1997. The dairy industry is one of Australia's key export industries. Most of the Victorian part of that export industry is in the electorate of Murray.

The bill before the House today does a number of things. It imposes a levy on milk producers to fund the contribution of the dairy industry to the Australian Animal Health Council. It also doubles the maximum research levy rate which may be prescribed.

The Australian Animal Health Council is Australia's peak animal health body. Its main function is to ensure that our animal health standards are world best.

As the previous speaker—the member for Lyne (Mr Vaile)—said, there is no room today in our highly competitive markets for food and fibre for any industry that is less than world best. All industry has to be competitive in terms of its costs. Those costs include the amount of dollars that have to be spent on animal medication, in making sure that animal health is always at a peak. Our reputation in Australia for the export of animals and dairy product is beyond reproach in terms of its safety for human consumption.

The Australian Animal Health Council is funded by Commonwealth, state, territory and industry contributions. Until now, the dairy industry has contributed to this organisation through the surplus moneys paid to the Dairy Research and Development Corporation—these were left over when the exotic animal diseases program ended—and also through grants from the Australian Dairy Corporation.

Other industries like beef, wool, sheep production and so on agreed last year to a package which introduced a similar system to the one that is now before the House. That package received bipartisan support in both chambers, and the support of the minor parties and independents in the Senate. These amendments have wholehearted support throughout Australia, given that they seek to give an industry more self-sufficiency and more dollars to make sure that we have disease free status for our dairy production.

The activities of the Australian Animal Health Council are crucial to Australia as we seek not only to reach world best—I suggest we are just about there at the moment with our dairy production—but to maintain that footing in our highly competitive markets. Therefore, the importance of world-best research and development in the areas of animal health cannot be underestimated.

The Australian Animal Health Council, when it was established in 1995, was in many respects ahead of its time. It recognised the significance of partnerships for growth between industry and government. It was a model advocated by the Nairn report for adoption in relation to plants. This council recognises that there are important animal health issues which cross industry boundaries. They must be responded to nationally in a coordinated manner. All of the Australian industry needs to be involved.

Our continued growth in export development across all of our agricultural industries is dependent on our being able to demonstrate the highest possible standards of animal health and quarantine services in Australia, particularly in relation to border checks and risk analysis assessment. Our budget, just announced last night, adds substantially to this country's ability to put in place world best quarantine services. More than $70 million are now going to be dedicated to ensuring—as we have ever more visitors to Australia—that we can stand up and do the best possible to stop diseased animals or plants from coming into this country.

We have the good news that the Olympic Games will be here shortly. Of course, that exposes us to many more pressures at the borders. We expect a great number of visitors. We will have to make sure that our quarantine services are up to speed and that the people coming to our Olympic Games are not hampered or held up at our airports but, at the same time, are exposed to the most rigorous testing of any product that they might bring in inadvertently—or perhaps deliberately—that could put our animal or plant industries at risk.

It was a very important initiative in our budget last night, and it shows that our government understands the significance of agribusiness in Australia. It not only gives lip-service to the importance of the agribusiness industries but it also puts the dollars there to make sure that we can sustain our world best practices. Where we are still a little short and need more research—perhaps in introducing more feedlot technology for some of our animals, for example, our poultry or our piggery industries; or introducing new forms of agriculture—we will take on board world best practice. We will test that world best practice in Australia and make sure that none of our changes in animal husbandry are ever compromised in terms of the disease factors that could be introduced with new systems.

The advantage of this amendment is that the levy allows the Australian Animal Health Council to plan, coordinate and have total industry involvement and cooperation across the nation. It is exactly what we need and it is what this bill promises to deliver.

I hardly need to say that the dairy industry is one of our most successful agribusiness stories in Australia, and the previous speaker acknowledged that. The dairy industry in Australia has a long history. It began as the milk cow of the early settlers; a few more cows were milked; the billy was taken around; and the milk was sold in an unpasteurised form. We used our dairy industry as a means of settling a lot of our returned servicemen after World War I and World War II. The industry has played a great role in our social engineering in Australia.

Today, the management of our dairy industry has nothing to do with social engineering. It is businesslike in every way and shape. In fact, in the electorate of Murray, it is world best in terms of its current technology. Its cost competitiveness has been recognised by joint ventures with Snow Brand, one of Japan's leading dairy manufacturers, which has come and joined forces with our Tatura Milk Products factory in Tatura. Together, they manufacture infant formula to the highest standards of hygiene. That infant formula is re-exported throughout South-East Asia.

Very recently, we had another greenfield development when Mitsubishi and Meiji joined Murray Goulburn at Cobram. In recognition of the long-term sustainability of our dairy industry, they entered into an agreement. They now manufacture infant formula in conjunction with one of our dairy icons, Murray Goulburn, and they, too, export that infant formula into South-East Asia.

Quite clearly, if there was ever a major disease threat in Australia, those exports would be compromised—infant formula or any form of food—as they are highly susceptible to consumer lack of confidence. In Australia, we are preparing our industry with this funding levy to ensure that we are always on the front foot when it comes to doing the research and development, to ensure that we have the best information, the best advice and the best management practices on our dairy farms.

The electorate of Murray is one of Australia's largest producers of dairy product, in our Goulburn, Loddon and Murray valleys and it is the home of Australia's dairy export industry. In particular, besides the infant formula that goes straight out into South-East Asia, we are also targeting the high value added ends of the markets in Japan, Korea, Hong Kong and Singapore. We are already experiencing some of the biggest market growth in Japan, where we are neck and neck with New Zealand in claiming about one-third of that export market for our dairy product. As well, within our own domestic market for dairy products, we have some of the highest dairy product consumption in the world, and so it is equally important to make sure that our domestic consumers are protected from any disease that could enter the food chain and jeopardise both the consumption of products and human health in Australia.

We have already, in the dairy industry, a number of support programs. They have, over the years, helped our industry to grow from its infancy and to establish a form of dairy production which does not depend on artificial feeding of animals all through winter. We still have range reared animals to a very large extent in Australia, and many would argue that this is the healthiest way to produce dairy product: beta carotene from the sun is still to be found in our dairy products. The previous government support programs have been always of enormous support to the Australian industry. Now, of course, that dairy industry has come of age. It does not need, and has not asked, in recent times, for handouts. The levy system, which involves our dairy producers contributing towards their R&D costs, is the sign of a mature industry with mature members who understand that the industry needs to stand on its own feet.

The industry does look to government to maintain a fair and equitable trading regime in our region and to make sure that our quarantine services are as good as they can possibly be. It looks to our government to insist that the tariff regimes that we face in other nations should be brought down, in line with WTO obligations and commitments. But, in this bill, we are certainly not asking for any form of subsidy, handout or support. As I say, this bill is evidence of a mature industry that can stand on its own two feet and that understands that it needs to make a contribution so that it can be in control of its future. The Australian Animal Health Council levy will ensure that we can be world's best, cost competitive, and that both Australia and overseas countries continue to benefit from some of the world's best and safest dairy product.

I am very pleased to be able to support this amendment bill today. I believe, as I said before, that it is a mark of a mature industry, an industry that understands what it has to do to stay world's best.

Mr Sawford —Thanks to the Labor Party!

Mrs STONE —I do not really think so. I commend the bill to the House.

Mr DEPUTY SPEAKER —I understand that the Minister for Primary Industries and Energy (Mr Anderson) is unable to be present but will be represented by the Minister for Veterans' Affairs (Mr Bruce Scott), whom I invite to come to the front bench.