I participate in debate on the Agriculture Commissioner Bill 2024, which is important legislation that delivers on an election commitment made by the Minns Labor Government to establish an independent agriculture commissioner. The commissioner will be able to provide independent advice, conduct reviews and make recommendations to government on agriculture, agricultural productivity, land use and food security. I will concentrated my comments around land use and food security. Members might be thinking, "What is little old Leppington doing, talking about agriculture? Isn't that where the Government is putting all the houses? Isn't that where all the growth is going?" It must be remembered that, to put all those houses in, we have to get rid of what was there. For the most part, a lot of that land was previously agricultural land of market gardeners, tomato farmers, chicken farmers. Despite that, there is quite a swathe of my electorate that is still agricultural and will remain agricultural. How many members of this House look out the window of their electorate office and literally see agriculture across the road? I do—the member for Leppington.
Mr David Layzell: You are right. I have seen it. I can testify. That is true.
Mr NATHAN HAGARTY: The member for Upper Hunter has seen it. There are farms, and agriculture is taking place across the road from my office every day. So I feel that I am very qualified to speak on this bill. Throughout my electorate—in Austral, Kemps Creek, Rossmore and even in the suburb of Leppington—there is still plenty of agriculture taking place. One agricultural business in Leppington I talk about today is Leppington Speedy Seedlings and Supplies. I have had the pleasure of visiting the Vella family and speaking to them on a number of occasions. I have had a look around the property, which comprises six adjoining properties that are not far from my Leppington office. It is a family owned and operated seedling‑growing business that is probably the largest commercial nursery of its type in Australia.
The business supplies seedlings for a whole host of agricultural products along the eastern seaboard. Little old Leppington is contributing to agriculture across this State and along the eastern seaboard. The business employs 62 workers as well as supplying fruit and vegetables across the State. The site has a small laboratory, which I have had the pleasure of visiting. The third generation of the Vella family does the laboratory work. The family's grandfather used to grow tomatoes. One day in the early seventies on market day, he thought he would bring some seedlings with him along with his usual boxes of tomatoes.
The next time he went to the market he was asked, "Do you have any more of those seedlings? They went really well." Over the years the business effectively went from growing tomatoes to specialising in seedlings, and the business has grown immensely since then. Other family members now run the business. A grandchild of the original owner went to university and got a whole host of qualifications and degrees in genetics. They now do cutting-edge work in the laboratory. The business now works with international corporations and universities, and it undertakes very innovative research into gene splicing and trialling emerging disease‑resistant crops. They are even doing work on cannabis—legally, of course—and other crops.
The appointment of an Agriculture Commissioner will have an important impact on Leppington. The commissioner will have the remit to look into land use and food security. It is critically important to continue growing food in the Sydney Basin. We often talk about housing reforms and tackling the housing crisis in Sydney, and the Premier has said that we must build up and not out. What is often forgotten is that, by building up and not out, we can preserve significant sections of the Sydney Basin for agricultural use, which is important. Western Sydney airport is also important, which is next door to my electorate. There has been talk about developing an agriport around the airport with cutting-edge transport and logistics.
That could mean that when produce is picked up in Orange, it can leave the farm cleared for quarantine. Produce will arrive at the agriport in two or three hours and, when it does, a plane will arrive, the produce will move straight through the agriport, onto the plane and the next morning someone may be able to enjoy that produce from a food market in Tokyo or elsewhere in the world. It is very important to everyone in this State that we do this properly. I reiterate the point that we must look at land use and food security, especially in the Sydney Basin.
I referred to my friends at Leppington Speedy Seedlings because, despite its fantastic work, the business is under threat. As housing grows through the south-west corridor, a road is proposed to be built from Leppington station to the Northern Road. At present, the road corridor will go across the main dam at Leppington Speedy Seedlings. It is not like the business is a hamburger joint, a chemist or any other business that can pack up and set up shop down the road. The seedlings business and the knowledge that the team have developed is very specialised to the microclimate there, so packing up shop and moving elsewhere is not simple. They have become very good at working out the way the weather works, the soil, the water and the ingredients that need to be added to the mix. Moving a few kilometres in another direction may have a detrimental impact on the business. As we know, land is not particularly cheap in Sydney, so moving would come at a significant cost.
We must consider the importance of their work to the value chain of agriculture in this State. We are working with the council and I think we will come to a pretty good solution. I think we are going to realign the road so that they can keep their dam and continue producing seedlings in Leppington. But it does present a question. When the Agriculture Commissioner is appointed and in the job, I would like to sit down with them to chat about land use around the peri-urban fringe of Sydney and what we can do with some of the businesses there. Whether it is Leppington Speedy Seedlings; Ramin's Farm, which grows specialised crops of Asian vegetables that the South Asian community knows, such as bitter melon and other kinds of vegetables; or whether it is the Asian greens that are grown in market gardens by members of the Zhaoqing community in Rossmore, in Leppington we do some of the heavy lifting when it comes to agriculture.
Businesses in the area want certainty. Will all of that land be used for housing? Will it be used for logistics and industry to support the airport? It is only fair that those businesses get some certainty about land use, and the remit of the Agriculture Commissioner will cover that. I look forward to the appointment of the Agriculture Commissioner. I look forward to sitting down with them to have a chat about how Leppington has contributed to agriculture in this great State and how I would like to see it continue to do so for many years to come. I commend the bill to the House.
