Submission To The Inquiry Into Food Security In Australia

Dear Committee Secretary,

The purpose of this letter is to share research and analysis conducted by the Institute of Public Affairs (‘IPA’) into food security in Australia with the House Standing Committee on Agriculture (‘the Committee’).

Australia produces enough food to feed 75 million people – its population three times over. As the Committee has acknowledged, however, the agricultural sector is faced with significant supply-side challenges, including input costs and availabilities, and regulatory barriers to production.

Two of the most significant threats to food security in Australia are the growing burden of environmental red tape (or green tape) and the policy of net zero CO2-e emissions by 2050, both of which rest to a considerable extent on contested science around the effect of anthropogenic greenhouse gas emissions.

Strengthening food security necessitates abandoning the policy of net zero by 2050 and committing to an ambitious programme of red tape reduction.