Strong Australian agribusinesses will help transform precision farming from a concept to a business reality, with all of the attendant benefits for reduced chemical, energy and water use and better soil management. But most importantly, as service industries they are labour-intensive, creating increased income and employment in rural areas. But I do believe that National Competition Policy should be carefully extended into these areas, in particular the principle of competitive neutrality. I am very strongly of the view that we in this country must do a great deal more to sustainably manage our land, water, vegetation, forest and fishery resources. At the same time I am deeply concerned at the manner in which we are tackling many of these problems.
Property rights are the bedrock on which market economies are built.
Trust is the lubricant that keeps the wheels of market economies running smoothly. While property rights are certainly not inalienable, alienation without compensation can destroy the very trust that lubricates the business transactions on which economic development depends. There are very complex issues in defining property rights to irrigation water or to rural land. Yet farmers have made past investment decisions on the basis of legitimate assumptions as to what those rights entailed. If it is necessary, for conservation purposes, to divert water to the wetland habitats of native birds, that is a decision governments are entitled to make.