Last week AUSVEG had its first meeting with newly appointed Minister for Agriculture, Bridget McKenzie.

In a productive meeting, Ms McKenzie, her office and AUSVEG Chairman Bill Bulmer, CEO James Whiteside and AUSVEG National Public Affairs Manager Tyson Cattle spoke about a range of issues related to horticulture which industry are keen to address.

AUSVEG and Minister McKenzie see eye-to-eye on areas such as biosecurity, labour and workforce issues and market access and are both keen on working together to improve

It was great to hear from the Minister that she saw horticulture as an industry which had plenty of growth potential, particularly as agriculture works towards being a $100b industry by 2030.

AUSVEG also discussed its Federal Election priorities – SPROUT: Growing a better future (which can be viewed here) as well as sharing the latest edition of the Vegetables Australia magazine.

It was also great to have Minister McKenzie accept AUSVEG’s invitation to Hort Connections. The Minister will attend the Women in Horticulture event as well as the Hort Connections Gala Dinner and Awards Night.

It was a great first step and AUSVEG looks forward to working with the Minister in the future to deliver good outcomes for the Australian vegetable and potato industry.