AGRICULTURE PORTFOLIO

18 October 2013

I am delighted Bill Shorten has provided me with the opportunity to continue in the Agriculture portfolio.

During my time as Minister I was fortunate to establish very good working relationships with the key stakeholders and enjoyed the work and challenges immensely.

I also gained an even greater appreciation of emerging global food security issues and the opportunity Australia has to meet growing global food demand, particularly in Asia.

This is a phenomenon I'm fond of describing as the "Dining Boom" but Australia will not be a key beneficiary in the absence of the right policy settings.

I look forward to working on these and other issues as part of Bill Shorten's team.