00:00It's great to be here with you and my colleagues. This is a great day for New South Wales, an important day for primary producers in the state and an investment in agriculture. As the Minister said, we're investing $100 million in addition to the close to a billion dollars that we've already put into biosecurity measures in the state.
00:20This is absolutely crucial if you want to keep our agriculture sector healthy and protect it from a potentially ruinous disease coming across into our state.
00:32Now, if you look at the investment the government's put in over recent years, the $100 million that will be part of the budget in the next few weeks, we're putting close to a billion dollars, a billion dollars to protect a vital part of the New South Wales economy.
00:47This isn't charity. This is absolutely crucial in protecting the New South Wales economy. This is a $20 billion industry. It's absolutely huge. It employs thousands of people right across New South Wales.
01:00It's a leading export industry. We want to see it grow. We want to see it expand into new markets. But first things first, and that is protecting agriculture right here in New South Wales.
01:12So the money that we're investing will go to good use. We've got enormous faith in farmers, the agriculture sector in the state to invest this money alongside the New South Wales government to protect farms and to protect farmers in the state.
01:26It's money well spent. And the minister has been absolutely resolute, whether it was the varroa mite threat, whether it's been particular types of avian bird flu that's been a risk.
01:40Every step along the way, Minister Moriarty has stood up and demanded of her colleagues and the government that we invest in this crucial part of the New South Wales economy.
01:50My government, I think the rest of New South Wales has to wake up about a couple of things. Firstly, the huge opportunity associated with agriculture. It's an export-led industry. There are massive opportunities right around the world, particularly today, to see the best produce in the world available to new markets and new consumers in different parts of the world.
02:13And secondly, to protect what we've got here today. The second part of the announcement is $40 million for research and development.
02:22And this is money well spent as well, because as Tara was telling me when this submission came through the budget process, for every dollar that's invested into research in the agriculture sector, it generates $7 worth of economic activity.
02:35That's a fantastic return on a reasonably modest amount of investment in research for agriculture in the state.
02:43I think it's best summarised, if you like, in the young people that we met at Toko, behind 60 years, going strong, seeing young men and women joining this exciting industry, working together in a residential college and learning this amazing, amazing business.
03:03Many of them are from dairy farms, and they might be from urban communities, they might be from the suburbs, but they've always had a love of agriculture, maybe they've always had a dream of working in the agriculture sector, and this government-run, government-owned college is a fantastic asset for the state.
03:24So Tara's made a decision alongside her colleagues in the government to invest this money. We know that it's an investment in the future. The next generation of young farmers that are coming through the industry, we can't wait to see what they do in the years ahead.
03:38And to be frank with you, we're relying on them. This is a big part of the New South Wales economy. We want them to succeed.
