The Missing Word in Canberra: Food

I’ve just returned from two whirlwind trips to Canberra. The first brought together around fifty industry leaders with eight MPs, three public servants, and a media expert (it sounds like the setup to a bad joke). The second was a marathon of nine departmental meetings. Across both visits, one thing stood out: we ate together many times as our meetings were in the parliament cafes, we had dinner and breakfast with politicians and were at events which served food - yet in 12 hours of conversation, not once did anyone mention the most basic element of farming - food. 

That omission is staggering. Horticulture, at its core, is about feeding Australians and a good slice of the world. We provide safe, healthy produce that underpins our economy and our way of life. And yet in the corridors of power, food security is still not being discussed with the urgency it demands. 

Nationally, the conversation about farming remains stuck on weather, chemicals, compliance, and workforce. Important, yes - but they miss the essence of what growers do: produce food. On my second trip, departmental staff were frank about the challenge of delivering a national food security strategy. They know it will be hard, but they also know it is essential. We cannot afford to get this wrong. 

Workforce costs highlight the disconnect between perception and reality. Horticulture is often branded as low-skilled and low-paid, yet growers employing workers through labour hire under the PALM scheme are paying the equivalent of $50 an hour - around $80,000 a year. But here’s the catch: the money doesn’t reach workers. It disappears into compliance costs and red tape, while growers are still accused of underpaying. The system is broken, and it distorts the public debate. 

If we want a credible food security strategy, we need honesty. Without growers, there is no food. Without workable systems, there are no growers. Without growers, there are no jobs. 

It is time food production was recognised for what it is: the foundation of our security, our prosperity, and the one thing humans simply cannot live without. It shouldn’t take a crisis - or a strategy - to remind us that food must come first.