Regional manufacturers, farmers and growers across the Nicholls electorate have raised rising energy costs and constrained network capacity as the biggest barrier to investment, expansion and jobs.
Federal Member for Nicholls Sam Birrell MP hosted Senator the Hon Matt Canavan, Leader of the Nationals and Shadow Minister for Trade, Investment and Tourism, on a two-day visit to Kilmore, Echuca, Shepparton, Nathalia, Katunga and Tatura, meeting local businesses and residents to discuss the pressures facing the region.
Senator Canavan saw first-hand the strength of the region’s agriculture and manufacturing sectors—and the energy constraints holding them back. High costs, unreliable supply and limited network capacity are preventing businesses from expanding production and creating jobs.
“Australia must lift productivity. Regional businesses should not be held back by energy constraints that are relatively inexpensive to fix,” Senator Canavan said.
The visit began in Kilmore, where Mr Birrell and Senator Canavan met Mitchell Shire Council to discuss the infrastructure investment needed to keep pace with the town’s rapid population growth, including the case for funding the John Street link road.
“Kilmore is already under strain from population growth and the link road is an important first step in addressing traffic gridlock, but full bypass of Kilmore is also a priority project with the population forecast to grow year -on-year at 6 per cent.,” Mr Birrell said.
In Echuca, Senator Canavan met with Kagome Australia, the nation’s largest tomato processor where high energy costs, the loss of irrigation water, competition from imported tomato products and rising regulatory costs are limiting the business’s capacity to invest and expand.
“Regional food manufacturers like Kagome process what our farmers grow and keep the jobs and the value here in the region,” Mr Birrell said.
“When energy costs make that harder, it is not just one business that feels it. It is every grower who supplies them and every family whose job depends on that plant staying competitive.”
Senator Canavan said the pressures facing Kagome reflected a broader failure of energy policy.
“You cannot have a serious food manufacturing industry in this country without affordable and reliable energy,” Senator Canavan said.
At J. Furphy and Sons in Shepparton, a fifth-generation family manufacturing business established in 1864, Mr Birrell and Senator Canavan toured the company’s galvanizing and steel fabrication operations and discussed the cost, workforce and policy pressures facing regional manufacturers.
Senator Canavan said family businesses like Furphy were the backbone of regional economies.
“A business that has operated in one town for five generations is exactly the kind of enterprise governments should be backing, not burdening with higher energy and compliance costs,” Senator Canavan said.
The visit also included stops at Rex James Stockfeed and Ryan Meat Company in Nathalia, where energy constraints and network upgrade costs were again raised as barriers to expansion.
“Energy reliability and cost are central to whether operations like this can keep expanding and keep employing people in Nicholls,” Mr Birrell said.
Senator Canavan said growers in the region were being held back by policy, not ambition, a message that was also reinforced at a business round table in Shepparton.
“Growers in this region are willing to invest in the infrastructure of the future, but they need energy policy that supports them rather than holds them back,” Senator Canavan said.
The visit concluded with Pollies in the Pub, an informal community forum at the Tatura Middle Hotel giving Nicholls residents the chance to raise issues and ask questions directly of their federal representatives.