Tuesday, 10 September 2019

 Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Agriculture, Minister for Resources) (12:40): Last week was a massive week for agriculture in Melbourne as we welcomed Global Table to the showgrounds. There were food and agribusinesses from across the globe making trade links and discussing the biggest food challenges facing the world. We hosted over 2700 delegates from 25 countries, making it officially Australia’s biggest food and agribusiness conference. Key discussions at the four-day Global Table conference centred on reducing global food waste, kickstarting the Australian native food industry, adapting to the challenges of plastics through innovation, and disrupting climate change. I have already heard of international businesses making great connections out of Global Table, with businesses from Asia and beyond already signalling their intention to buy Victorian beef and some of our native Indigenous ingredients.

Making up 27 per cent of all Australian food and fibre exports, Victoria is the country’s largest exporter in the sector. The Labor government has set a target to grow the state’s $14.1 billion agricultural exports to $20 billion by 2030, and events like Global Table are helping us along this ambitious path. I saw Sallie Jones from Gippsland Jersey and Julie Kos from Breakwater’s Smoked Egg Company within hours of the conference opening, and they were so excited to report the many positive connections that they had already made for their businesses. Our inspiring keynote speakers at the event included former US Secretary of State John Kerry, chief agricultural officer at Mars Incorporated Dr Howard-Yana Shapiro and food technology entrepreneur Shama Sukul Lee, who led insightful discussions on the future of food for earth’s population and highlighted the roles we can all play in ensuring a sustainable future.

It was fantastic to see so many young people getting involved in the food and discussions on how we can make agriculture more sustainable, and Global Table featured lots of teenovators who shared their bright ideas with delegates. It seems to me that the future of food is in very safe hands. In its inaugural year, Global Table has been a huge success. I would like to thank my predecessor, Jaala Pulford, for her leadership in bringing Global Table to Victoria, and I am sure next year it is going to be bigger and better.