![Premier Steven Miles, with Agriculture Minister Mark Furner at Beef 2024. Picture: Steph Allen Premier Steven Miles, with Agriculture Minister Mark Furner at Beef 2024. Picture: Steph Allen](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/217645017/30e22027-f1f4-4227-a6e1-3328d407447a.jpeg/r0_80_5280_4000_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
The state budget was handed down last week amid much fanfare and in the scheme of things agriculture only got a pittance compared to other portfolios.
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No surprise really, but what I found particularly galling was some of the comments from government ministers about what agriculture received.
This one attributed to Premier Steven Miles - "agriculture is one of Queensland's economic pillars, which is why we stand shoulder to shoulder with our producers" - just took the cake for being a load of codswallop.
Not the bit about agriculture being one of the state's economic pillars, but "standing shoulder to shoulder with our producers".
Really? I know Premier Miles wouldn't have written that comment, but someone in his office agreed to it and it's just so far from the truth. Apart from visiting Beef last month in Rockhampton, Premier Miles probably hasn't been within coo-ee of a producer's shoulder for months, possibly years, on farm so why say something as gratuitous as that?
In a joint media statement from Agriculture Minister Mark Furner, Premier Miles and Treasurer Cameron Dick, there's a list of "highlights" - their words, not mine - that includes $1.6 million to upgrade the wild dog barrier fence.
And while it's not considered a highlight, there's also an announcement of $7.3 million over five years to be spent on further promoting responsible dog ownership and implementing stronger laws in response to dog attacks.
Now, the differences in those amounts strike me as a bit of an anomaly where $7.3 million is being given out of the agriculture budget for an awareness campaign about dog ownership and a measly $1.6 million has been allocated to upgrade the wild dog barrier fence.
Queensland Treasury Corporation states the state's budgeted revenues for 2023-24 as $82.1 billion so presumably the revenue for 2024-25 is about the same, if not higher.
That's a serious amount of money and, according to the joint media statement, the Miles government is only investing $715 million into Queensland's vital agriculture, fisheries and forestry industries "to further protect and strengthen this critical economic sector of production and employment".
My maths is not great, but $715 million for agriculture is chump change and would be a joke if it wasn't so serious.
In this day and age, where food security is a growing issue, it's crucial that Australia has a flourishing and thriving farm sector and that farmers have the support of all tiers of government.
Last week's state budget indicated very little support for farmers who face many challenges, not the least of which are climate change, biosecurity issues and commodity prices that are completely out of their control.
So, I would like to challenge the Premier that if he was truly "standing to shoulder with producers" that he venture out of suburban Brisbane and his city office to actually spend some time with a producer whose property hasn't received good rain; that doesn't have a school, hospital or shops down the road; and who works bloody long hours, seven days a week, in all weather without any staff.
The treasurer could also tag along to give a hand so he too is better informed about what happens on the land and is considerably more generous to the farm sector when it comes time to handing out taxpayer's money and mining royalties.