Beef Australia’s internationally renowned event delivers enormous benefits to Rockhampton and showcases our local beef producers on the global stage. That’s why I’m proud to have invested $15.65 million over the past four events.
It’s good to see Labor finally commit funding but it took an election to get the Agriculture Minister out of the city and into regional Australia. Rockhampton is the Beef Capital of the nation, yet the only reason she’s here is for a political announcement.
The Minister has been criticised by agriculture organisations stating she is neglecting regional communities. Independent Parliamentary Expenses Authority records show that in her first three months as minister, she spent just one night in Cairns, with the rest of her time in Tasmania, Brisbane, Melbourne, and Sydney. By the end of January 2025, she had only visited Victoria and Western Australia once and had yet to set foot in the Northern Territory.
Meanwhile, the cost of hosting events like Beef Australia is soaring, driven up by Labor’s policies that make it more expensive to do business. Food prices are up 12 per cent, electricity has skyrocketed by 32 per cent and inflation has been an average of 4.1 per cent. It’s no wonder event costs are rising when Labor keeps making life harder for regional Australia.
ENDS
