From the Chair

BY OWEN MENKENS, Chairman CANEGROWERS

The State election is over and at the time of writing the results are in and the Liberal National Party (LNP) has the majority, just.

The swing against the Labor Party is strongest in regional areas and it shows a stark reminder of the divide between Brisbane and the rest of Queensland.

Queensland now has a sugarcane farm owner and CANEGROWERS member as Premier, a significant outcome for our organisation.

We should not get too far ahead of ourselves though as the closeness of the race probably indicates that the LNP will be very cautious in their policy agenda. I look forward to working with David and his team in the future.

The reduction in the Greens vote in the inner city probably tells us another thing, that extreme environmental policies only work when things are going well. In other words, the cost-of-living pressures will always be first and foremost in a voter’s mind when they go to vote.

Something we will do to remember when creating policy to take to any government. This was topical at the National Farmers’ Federation (NFF) members council meetings in Canberra in October.

As an agricultural sector we need to concentrate on the back pocket of city voters if we are going to influence the agenda.

The NFF has a massive policy agenda dealing with many issues for agriculture in Australia. One of the biggest issues for our industry is the APVMA’s chemical review on the use of paraquat. From our industry perspective Sugar Research Australia (SRA) has received a good response from the survey on paraquat use and CANEGROWERS along with

SRA provided a submission to APVMA at the end of October. From a national perspective Graingrowers, Cotton Australia and the NFF will also be providing detailed scienced based submissions on why this chemical is important to industry. A team approach to this issue is generally the best way to achieve results from an advocacy perspective. The APVMA will not respond until early 2025.

The CANEGROWERS AGM will be held in Townsville at 4pm on Thursday 7 November at the Mercure Hotel in Townsville. I encourage all growers to see if they can find time to attend. Registration is available by calling 07 3864 6444 or email Jodie_Mittelheuser@canegrowers.com.au.

If you haven’t done so, I encourage all growers to visit the CANEGROWERS members portal as the documents for the AGM and other resources are available there for members. Contact info@canegrowers.com.au if you are having trouble logging in to the members portal.