{"id":40314,"date":"2013-07-31T18:07:29","date_gmt":"2013-07-31T08:07:29","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=40314"},"modified":"2020-09-14T11:00:21","modified_gmt":"2020-09-14T01:00:21","slug":"truss-urges-block-to-graincorp-sale","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/31\/truss-urges-block-to-graincorp-sale\/","title":{"rendered":"Truss Urges Block To GrainCorp Sale"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Federal Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

July 31, 2013<\/strong><\/p>\n

Nationals leader and Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss said today the Federal Government must reject the proposed buyout of GrainCorp by US conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).<\/p>\n

\u201cNewly anointed Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon\u2019s blas\u00e9 dismissal of farmers\u2019 concerns about the proposed buy-out of Australia\u2019s largest listed agribusiness illustrates how out-of-touch Labor is with the food security needs and opportunities for our country,\u201d Mr Truss said.<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Fitzgibbon told the Australian Grains Industry Conference yesterday: \u2018I am a believer in competition, in the market, and that we should embrace foreign investment. That might give you some hint of my initial views on this issue.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cMr Fitzgibbon\u2019s clumsy entry into the GrainCorp takeover, a vital national issue, is astonishing. It confirms that no one in Labor, including the Agriculture Minister, appreciates the critical value of Australia\u2019s farmland and agribusinesses for the future of our nation.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe need to grow our food-producing sectors to feed mounting global demand. Losing GrainCorp to foreign interests would see Australia relinquish control over our east coast grain storage and export facilities and, with them, control over our grain producing future.<\/p>\n

\u201cLabor seems content to sit and watch the dominoes tumble, as one-by-one our best placed and most successful agribusinesses fall into foreign hands. Our grains industry alone is worth $9 billion a year and accounts for almost 20 million hectares of Australian farmland.<\/p>\n

\u201cAt this rate, control over those assets, along with the profits they produce, will go offshore and Australia will have little left to call our own.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe opportunities of the Asian economic and population boom are very real, but unless we harness and safeguard our valuable agricultural assets, all the decisions about Australia\u2019s farming future will be made in boardrooms in other parts of the world.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralia\u2019s national interests rest with Ministers in training wheels. For the first time since the election of the first Rudd government, Australia has an Agriculture Minister who does not live in a capital city.<\/p>\n

\u201cFarmers had hoped Mr Fitzgibbon might have some understanding of agriculture, but his comments on the ADM takeover show how out-of-touch he is with farmers and their concerns.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe future of the Australian grain industry in the eastern states rests in the unsure hands of Minister\u2019s who\u2019ve been in their portfolios for a month.<\/p>\n

\u201cNow it falls to another ministerial newbie, Treasurer Chris Bowen, to block the takeover deal. But if Treasurer Bowen thinks the sale of GrainCorp is in the national interest, then he must come clean with the public and tells us why.<\/p>\n

\u201cGrainCorp operates seven of the nine bulk export terminals along the eastern seaboard at Mackay, Gladstone, Fisherman Islands (Brisbane), Carrington (Newcastle), Port Kembla, Geelong and Portland, and handles around 80 per cent of Queensland, NSW and Victorian grain exports.<\/p>\n

\u201cIts storage and logistics assets include more than 280 storage sites, with capacity for 21 million tonnes, along with 19 grain trains. It also has three container loading facilities at Fisherman Islands, Sunshine (Melbourne) and Geelong. These facilities can handle up to 400,000 tonnes of export product.<\/p>\n

\u201cMeanwhile, SA grain export facilities are already owned by Canada\u2019s Viterra, the Port of Melbourne facility is 50 per cent owned by Japan\u2019s Sumitomo and Australia\u2019s Emerald Group, and the second small Brisbane Port facility by Singapore\u2019s Wilmar.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf GrainCorp is allowed to be swallowed up by ADM, all bulk grain exporting capacity in SA, NSW, Queensland, and all but half of just one port in Victoria, would be in foreign hands. Australians will not outright own a single eastern seaboard grain handling facility.<\/p>\n

\u201cAustralian farmers will be servants to foreign masters. The infrastructure serving Australia\u2019s iconic and growing eastern grains industry will be controlled lock, stock and barrel by foreign companies. And the profits will be shared by foreign shareholders.<\/p>\n

\u201cIn this emerging era of food scarcity, how is that in Australia\u2019s national interests?\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Nationals leader and Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss said today the Federal Government must reject the proposed buyout of GrainCorp by US conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":20,"featured_media":4724,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[3,36],"tags":[1134],"yoast_head":"\nTruss Urges Block To GrainCorp Sale - southburnett.com.au<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/31\/truss-urges-block-to-graincorp-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Truss Urges Block To GrainCorp Sale - southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Nationals leader and Member for Wide Bay Warren Truss said today the Federal Government must reject the proposed buyout of GrainCorp by US conglomerate Archer Daniels Midland (ADM).\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/31\/truss-urges-block-to-graincorp-sale\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"southburnett.com.au\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2013-07-31T08:07:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2020-09-14T01:00:21+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/wp-content\/uploads\/2012\/06\/warrentruss2.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"300\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"220\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Anne Miller\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/31\/truss-urges-block-to-graincorp-sale\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2013\/07\/31\/truss-urges-block-to-graincorp-sale\/\",\"name\":\"Truss Urges Block To GrainCorp Sale - 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