October 25, 2023
Outgoing president of the National Farmers Federation Fiona Simson has criticised rural leaders who “curry favour in the bush” by driving a wedge between city and country Australians.
During a speech at the National Press Club on Tuesday, Ms Simson talked about the importance of bridging the city / country divide.
She said that “usually through sheer ignorance” ideas that were bad for food and fibre production could gain traction in the community.
“The dumb luck of these bad ideas is made all the more easy in an environment where the average voter knows increasingly little about us as farmers and the work that we do,” she said.
“Connecting city and country is one of things that I’ve dedicated much of my time to over my advocacy career; trying to bridge that gap between farmers and consumers, to improve the shared understanding of the challenges and opportunities we face, and to foster a more collaborative and proactive approach to policymaking.
“It’s so easy to curry favour in some parts of the bush by further wedging the city-country divide. By talking about ‘us’ and ‘them’. The ‘latte sippers’ and how they ‘don’t care’ or ‘don’t understand’.
“That sort of talk isn’t leadership. And it also ignores the fact you can get a bloody good latte in Werris Creek or Gunnedah these days!
“The ‘us and them’ rhetoric pushes us as farmers further from the people we ultimately serve, the people who eat our food and use our fibre.
“It plays on and deepens the damaging misconception some farmers hold that what they do isn’t valued by the broader community, and we know that has real repercussions.
“So, I hope that I’ve been one of a growing number of rural leaders who have relegated that sort of rhetoric to the past.”
She also addressed the issues of sustainability and climate change.
“Climate change has long been a vexed and divisive political issue in our sector, with farmers in various camps frustrated that their deeply held views didn’t represent a consensus among the farming population,” Ms Simson said.
“What we’ve seen in recent years is a series of acknowledgments.
“Firstly, a widespread acknowledgment that the climate is changing – with many farmers believing they’re witnessing these effects firsthand.
“Second, an acceptance that the world is changing, and that regardless of what we might think or want, our governments, customers and financial institutions globally are moving towards climate action with real consequences for our sector.
“And lastly, a recognition that we need to keep ahead of this change. I’m proud to say that we’re doing that, having set ambitious sectoral targets for our own emissions reduction, backed economy-wide action, and backed that in a practical sense by providing the lion’s share of offsets and abatement under Federal Government programs to date.”
However, Ms Simson also hit out at some Federal Government policies.
“History will not judge this government kindly if it continues to prosecute an agenda focussed more on satisfying factions than facts on issues like live sheep exports – a disaster for animal welfare, our ties in the Middle East and farmers across Australia,” Ms Simson said.
“Or water buybacks – tearing up some of the critical socio-economic community protections in the Basin Plan agreed on by scientists and communities so many years ago.”
She criticised “a local outbreak of harmful agricultural policies” which was “part of a broader epidemic that is raging worldwide”.
“Whether its restrictions on fertiliser use in the Netherlands, Sweden or Canada; methane taxes in New Zealand; anti-science scare campaigns against modern farming practices; or the 32 countries which have imposed export restrictions on food products or inputs since the outbreak of the war in Ukraine… the result of these policies is the same,” she said.
“They will all contribute to pushing food and fibre production lower, and the cost for consumers higher – at a time when we’ve never needed to grow more.”
