Expanding business relationships with Southeast Asia presents huge opportunities for Australian agriculture, a parliamentary inquiry has found
The federal parliament’s agriculture committee has made 13 recommendations around the role of Australian agriculture in Southeast Asian markets.
The committee was tasked with answering how the federal government could support agriculture to leverage opportunities, build and strengthen partnerships and support food security in Southeast Asia.
Its recommendations fell broadly under three themes: opportunities and challenges, building relationships and enhancing food security.
A federal government report – the Moore report – was released in 2023 and this inquiry has supported its recommendations while taking the research further.
“The Moore report emphasised the significance of Australia’s relationship with Southeast Asia at an economic level, but urged us to look beyond trade to a broader and more closely integrated relationship with the region,” federal member for Paterson and committee chairwoman Meryl Swanson says.
“Australia has an important role to play in the food security of Southeast Asia through food exports and by building agriculture and food production capability in the region.
“Australian technology and production systems also have much to offer the region.
“Long-term investment in regional relationships will be vital to progressing both trade and regional collaboration.”
A specific opportunity which Swanson highlighted during a speech to parliament was around the Indonesian government’s commitment to provide free school lunches and milk to its students.
Australia’s agricultural industries are well placed to contribute to this program, she says, if government and industry can engage successfully with Indonesian counterparts.
One of the inquiry’s recommendations is that the federal government provides its agencies with resources needed to maintain Australia’s agriculture trade to the region, revise trade agreements and address non-tariff barriers.
It also recommended a long-term government commitment to the Southeast Asia Business Exchange program with a particular emphasis on agriculture.
The reinstatement and resourcing of agri-business and trade programs including the Agri-Business Expansion Initiative was another recommendation, as was increasing resources available for regional biosecurity collaboration.
Extending the Pacific Australia Labour Mobility scheme into Southeast Asia was supported.