Wednesday, 10 September 2025

 Martha HAYLETT (Ripon) (10:36): Today I rise to talk about the parliamentary inquiry into securing Victoria’s food supply. This inquiry was conducted by the Legislative Assembly’s Environment and Planning Committee, with the final report handed down last November and the Victorian government response published on 31 July. I was a part of this inquiry alongside the hardworking members for Wendouree, Morwell, Bass, Monbulk, Croydon and Warrandyte. Together we travelled our great state, hearing from farmers, town planners, public servants and members of the public about this important topic.

Our terms of reference were to explore how best to secure the Victorian food supply in the context of urban sprawl and the impact of population growth on the farming industry and arable land. We heard of the challenges farmers are facing as our population rapidly grows and our greenfield developments encroach on arable land and of how the expansion of our cities and towns is undermining the viability of agriculture, with fragmented farmland and a food supply at risk. Some of our key findings include that Victoria’s population is projected to exceed 10 million people by 2051, increasing demand for fresh produce and placing pressure on farmland near cities. Peri-urban agriculture is critical to food supply but is increasingly threatened by development, land fragmentation and rising property prices. Farming communities face conflict due to proximity to residential developments, including complaints about noise, odours and farming practices, and food grown near cities is more vulnerable to disruption, making resilience a key concern.

Our final report made 33 key recommendations to ensure our state’s food supply is secured into the future through a whole-of-government whole-of-food-system response. Recommendations include to develop a statewide food system strategy to secure long term supply and resilience; strengthen planning controls to protect all farmland, including in Melbourne’s green wedges; introduce agricultural covenants to preserve farmland from inappropriate development; support peri-urban agriculture through targeted programs and infrastructure investment; promote regenerative and agroecological farming to enhance sustainability; foster diverse and decentralised supply chains to improve resilience; expand community food initiatives, including urban agriculture and local government food strategies; invest in farm technology and smart farms and grow the agricultural workforce; and address rate rises and improve access to farmland for new and small-scale farmers.

Two recommendations are particularly dear to my heart and relevant to the people of Ripon. They include recommendation 7:

That the Victorian Government amend the Victorian planning framework to require local government planning approval to build a small second dwelling on a residential property within the Farming Zone, Rural Activity Zone, Rural Conservation Zone, Green Wedge Zone and Green Wedge A Zone.

And recommendation 27:

That Agriculture Victoria work with the Victorian Farmers Federation, PrimeSafe and commercial abattoirs to negotiate small livestock producers’ ongoing access to kill facilities in the short‑to‑medium term.

…

The Victorian Government support small scale livestock producers to establish micro‑abattoirs (including mobile micro‑abattoirs) in communities which can demonstrate a need for this critical shared agricultural infrastructure.

I am regularly contacted by those within farming zones, rural activity zones or rural conservation zones in Ripon that desperately want to build a second dwelling on their properties for the purposes of tourism, accommodation or worker housing. This is particularly felt in the Pyrenees shire, where wineries want to boost their offering by building accommodation onsite but have not been able to do so due to zoning restrictions. It is also a really big issue for farmers across Ripon who want to build accommodation on their properties for shearers and farmhands, especially during harvest, but again are not able to by local government due to zoning restrictions.

Recommendation 27 was also particularly apt considering the decision by Hardwicks abattoir in Kyneton earlier this year to cease taking small meat processing orders. This decision sent shockwaves across Ripon and beyond for small-scale livestock farmers and butchers, who lost their access to service kill facilities. The report’s recommendations to enable the growth of mobile and microabattoirs on farms was welcomed by these groups, as well as by the Australian Food Sovereignty Alliance, who have been advocating for this outcome for many years. I was proud to see the Victorian government’s response fully support recommendation 27, but better yet, the Minister for Planning and Minister for Agriculture recently announced an amendment to the Victorian planning provisions to make it easier to establish microabattoirs where they are needed most. Under the amendment, microabattoirs will no longer require a permit, making it faster and easier for projects to get off the ground and operate if they meet regulatory requirements. This is a huge win and an example of how parliamentary inquiries and their final reports can make a real practical difference across our state.

I want to thank all of those involved in this inquiry and our incredible secretariat for delivering a great result. I want to thank also everyone who signed our petition about microabattoirs across the state.