BOSTON, Mayor Kylie, Mayor, District Council of Grant; and Board Member, Limestone Coast Local Government Association EDMUNDS, Ms Charlotte, Executive Officer, Limestone Coast Local Government Association GOOSSENS, Mayor Liz, Vice President, Limestone Coast Local Government Association MARTIN, Mayor Lynette, President, Limestone Coast Local Government Association ROSS, Mr Patrick, Board Member, Limestone Coast Local Government Association Committee met at 11 : 00 ACTING CHAIR ( Mr Rick Wilson ): I declare open this public hearing of the Joint Standing Committee on Trade Investment Growth for its inquiry into creating sustainable economic growth in rural and regional Australia. Today, the committee is meeting in Mount Gambier, South Australia. I'd like to acknowledge the traditional custodians of the land on which we meet today, and I pay my respects to their ancestors and elders, past, present and emerging. I extend this respect to all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and their cultural and spiritual connections to Australia's land and waters. In accordance with the committee's resolution of 27 August 2025, this hearing will be audio broadcast on the parliament's website, and the proof and official transcripts of proceedings will be published on the inquiry website. I remind members of the media who may be listening or in here in person of the need to fairly and accurately report the proceedings of the committee. I apologise on behalf of the chair who had an unfortunate accident, which has resulted in a broken toe, and so is unable to attend. I would add that my electorate of O'Connor, in south-east Western Australia, is 1.1 million square kilometres and a very large regional and rural seat. Welcome to representatives from the Limestone Coast Local Government Association. Before giving evidence, do you have any comments to make on the capacity in which you appear? Mayor Martin : I would add that I am mayor of the City of Mount Gambier. Mayor Goossens : I am mayor of the Tatiara District Council. Mr Ross : I am mayor of the Naracoorte Lucindale Council. ACTING CHAIR: Although the committee does not require you to give evidence under oath, I should advise you that this hearing is a legal proceeding of the parliament and therefore has the same standing of proceedings of the respective houses. The giving of false or misleading evidence is a serious matter and may be regarded as a contempt of parliament. The evidence given today will be recorded by Hansard and attracts parliamentary privilege. I now invite witnesses to make a brief opening statement, and then we'll proceed to questions. Mayor Martin? Mayor Martin : I will do that opening statement as President of the Limestone Coast Local Government Association. Good morning and thank you for the opportunity to appear before you today on behalf of the Limestone Coast Local Government Association. The association represents six member councils—the City of Mount Gambier, the District Council of Grant, Kingston District Council, Naracoorte Lucindale Council, the District Council of Robe and Tatiara District Council—reflecting more than 140 years of regional cooperation in local government across the Limestone Coast. The traditional owners have already been acknowledged, and I pay my respects to them also. This inquiry goes to the heart of what regions like the Limestone Coast are trying to achieve. We are not seeking growth at any cost. We are seeking sustainable economic growth that builds on our strengths, creates value locally and positions our region strongly in domestic and international markets. The Limestone Coast is one of South Australia's most productive and diverse regional economies centred around agriculture, forestry and fishing. On just two per cent of the state's landmass, these sectors generate more than $3.3 billion in annual output and produce roughly one-third of South Australia's agricultural output. Importantly, the Limestone Coast does not just produce. It also value adds, contributing strongly to the state's processed food, wine, timber and fibre industries. That economic strength is deeply connected to place. Our region is home to internationally significant environmental and geological assets, including the UNESCO World Heritage listed Naracoorte Caves, volcanic landscapes, wetlands, coastal environments and highly valued groundwater systems. These assets underpin not only our way of life but also our visitor economy, our export reputation and our long-term prosperity. Tourism is an important part of this story. The Limestone Coast generates over $600 million in visitor expenditure each year, but the real opportunity lies in using tourism more deliberately, to support the value of our food, wine, seafood and other premium products. When visitors experience produce in the place it is grown, made or harvested, they build trust in its quality, provenance and authenticity. In that sense, agritourism is export aligned tourism. It diversifies income, strengthens resilience and creates a direct link between visitor experience and export reputation. This is why stronger domestic and international marketing of Australia's clean and green agriculture, food and drink sectors matters so much. In the Limestone Coast, that reputation is credible because it is grounded in place—in our landscapes, groundwater, environmental assets and the quality of what we produce. Better branding, labelling and market positioning can help regional producers, tourism operators and small businesses capture more value rather than remaining exposed to volatile commodity markets. Many small and medium primary production businesses in the Limestone Coast produce outstanding goods and experiences but do not always have the scale, reach or support needed to turn that quality into stronger returns. Better branding, labelling and certification can help close that gap by enabling producers, manufacturers, tourism operators and hospitality businesses to signal provenance, stand out in the market and build consumer confidence at home and overseas. At the same time, we need to be mindful of land uses that may conflict with that clean and green regional identity. In the Limestone Coast, reputation is not an abstract concept. It underpins agriculture, tourism, exports and investment attraction. If that reputation is diluted or associated with environmental risk, the consequences may be felt across multiple sectors of the regional economy. Future development decisions must therefore weigh immediate economic benefits against the long-term value of the reputation on which so much regional prosperity depends. Finally, recognising the role of local government in shaping and sustaining regional economies is paramount. Councils own and operate essential regional assets such as airports, saleyards, tourism information centres, jetties and first-mile road infrastructure. Increasingly, we are also playing a role in enabling housing development, supporting childcare provision and responding to climate change. We sit at the interface between industry and community. Stronger regions are key to smarter national growth, and local government must be recognised and resourced appropriately as part of the equation. ACTING CHAIR: Thank you very much. Is there anybody else who would like to add to that opening statement? Mr Ross : I'd just like to have a brief discussion on the livestock industry here in the Limestone Coast. If environmental stewardship is the cornerstone of our region's identity, it follows that those who nurture it are the heroes. The farmers, the fallers, the millers, the fishers and the viticulturalists, to name a few, are those who oversee that environment and have done so since the first man walked this landscape. The livestock industry has been the hallmark of the Limestone Coast region since first settlement and remains, to this day, the main driver of economic output. This morning, I drove from 20 kilometres north of Lucindale down through the very heart of the Limestone Coast to arrive in Mount Gambier. I didn't see one crop. All I saw were ewes lambing and cattle with their calves. It is an absolute driver of this economy. The Limestone Coast is blessed with very good soil, just the right climate and a groundwater asset which is sustainably managed. Given these parameters and the great desire to utilise the best genetics available, this region produces over 30 per cent of all beef and sheepmeat in South Australia. Further to that, we have the highest density of cattle anywhere in the nation here in the Limestone Coast, and we're second only in sheep density to Glenelg Hopkins, which is adjacent over the imaginary border. So it is an absolute driver. The industry here in South Australia in 2024-25 had a value of $2.7 billion, a production value of nearly $2 billion, a processing value of nearly $2 billion and exports of $1.6 billion. Interestingly enough, over the last four years, beef processing has increased from 45,000 tonnes to 106,000 tonnes. Sheepmeat processing has gone from 68,000 tonnes to 85,000 tonnes over the same period. The Naracoorte Lucindale livestock exchange, which is owned by the council, has a throughput of half a million sheep and lambs a year and 85,000 head of cattle. It is South Australia's premier livestock exchange and is adjacent to the Teys Cargill processing plant, here in the south-east, which has been owned by many different companies over the period. On a yearly basis, it puts through between 150,000 and 200,000 head of cattle. Just to my north, at Bordertown, we have JBS, a privately owned company that puts through between 1.5 million and two million sheep and lambs a year. This just demonstrates the importance of the livestock industry to this region. This is all done with rain and grass as nature has provided, but there are massive risks. The regulatory framework maintaining strong biosecurity structure is failing livestock. Let us consider the varroa mite. Bees are livestock. This year, the pollination for food crops in Australia will be short 300,000 beehives. Crop yields will fall, and the value of exports from here—that's across Australia—will decline. That is all around biosecurity, what's coming into our country. Furthermore, since the first incursion of varroa mite, we've had a second incursion of varroa mite. Only this morning, I heard that the control measures they're using to control varroa mite are now failing in the Riverland. So we have some very real issues around bees as livestock. There's poor control at our borders. So, for example, if FMD or lumpy skin were to enter Australia, the results would be dramatic to say the least. Here in the Limestone Coast, the threat to this food and fibre mainstay is at risk due to the regulatory framework. High water-using activities—for example, mining and unconventional gas extraction—may well put water at unreasonable risk of depletion or serious contamination. The Limestone Coast punches well above its weight, and it can do more when it comes to delivering prime red meat protein to the nation and the world at large. ACTING CHAIR: Anybody else? I'll just kick things off with a couple of questions just to get a bit of context around tourism and visitation. Charlotte, I assume you've put together the submission. The region currently attracts 1.463 million visitors, which is a very impressive number; 54 per cent stay overnight and 45 per cent come on day trips. It's a long way from Adelaide for a day trip, and it's a long way from Melbourne for a day trip. I would have thought that Mount Gambier, particularly, would have been an overnight stay or at least part of an extended trip. Is that a fair observation? These numbers don't seem to back that up. Ms Edmunds : The majority of our visitors come across the border from Victoria, so if they're in regional Western Victoria that would be a day trip—55 per cent come from across the border in Victoria. We have overnight visitors of 2.3 million, and they stay roughly 2.3 nights on average. But the daytrippers are coming from other regions in South Australia, across the border from Victoria. ACTING CHAIR: Most of us live in a pre-COVID, post-COVID world, where things changed dramatically. Domestic visitation obviously increased during COVID, when people couldn't go overseas. Has that been maintained, or are people going back overseas now? What's happening in this particular region? Ms Edmunds : Domestic visitation to the Limestone Coast is growing. It's been growing for about the last five years on a pretty steady trajectory. International visitation is less than four per cent. Pre COVID it was about seven, so that's probably our target market for growth, because we haven't quite reached those pre-COVID levels yet. While we love the domestic visitation, and that's a key income stream, the international market is really where I think we could harness some opportunities. ACTING CHAIR: I know we've got wine producers, dairy farmers and others appearing a bit later on, but is the main value-add to those types of businesses the cellar-door sale or the farm-shop sale, or is it building the brand's recognition so that, in Adelaide, Melbourne and Sydney, people are seeing their product on the shelf and buying it in those bigger population centres? Or is it just the cellar-door sales here in the region? Ms Edmunds : I know you're speaking to Wine later, so I won't go too much into that. The Coonawarra wine region obviously has that reputation, that brand and that name—the other wine regions in the Limestone Coast not so much. Other than the Coonawarra, I think there's a massive opportunity to leverage a brand and a name, but I don't think it's being done to the extent that it could be. ACTING CHAIR: Steve, do you have any questions? Mr GEORGANAS: Yes. Thank you for your wonderful contribution to our state through some great economic activities, with incredible figures that most South Australians wouldn't be aware of—about the amount of beef and lamb et cetera that are being exported from this part of the world. There's no doubt it's a big benefit to our state. I'm going to kick off with a couple of questions about workforce. Are there any issues with workforce in terms of shortages, not being able to get the right skills and filling positions? Can you give us a bit of a take on that. Where do you stand in that area? From travelling around the country and speaking to many people, we're hearing the regional areas are really struggling to get workforce. I wanted to see if it's the same down here in the south-east. Mayor Goossens : I'd be pleased to answer that. I am Mayor of the Tatiara District Council. Our main town is Bordertown. Certainly, housing is a huge issue to us. It probably has been for 15 years. Council have really tackled that head-on because we simply do not have any houses. It's a market failure. We've had to address it, simply because no private investors will come in to develop the land or to build houses. We have no accommodation and we virtually have no unemployment. JBS, who are one of our biggest employers, do get a lot of migrants and Pacific Islanders. I've lived there most of my life and would have known everybody that walks down the street, and now we're very much a multicultural community, and our community have embraced that because we simply have to have migrants come. I'm proud of the fact that we do that well. We have actually employed people within our council to handle that. But, certainly, housing is a big issue. We worked with the federal government under Building Better Regions. We did get funding from that to build accommodation for eight workers at the Bordertown Caravan Park, which our council took over because we just needed to try and address it, and that is at 98 per cent occupancy. So that is eight houses that would have been needed that are at least being coped with with workers accommodation. Really, I think we do struggle here, given that it is very hard for us to get any funding that does become available. A million dollars to help us with housing is a huge boost to us, yet we're up against the rest of Australia in trying and be competitive and trying to get any of that funding. As a council, we are doing the development of Ramsay Terrace, which is 55 blocks, which really isn't a lot to some of the big councils, but it will make a huge difference to us, and we're trying to get help for funding for the infrastructure of that. We're not going to build the houses; we're just trying to develop blocks. There's a big need. Our economy is thriving. As Patrick said, we've got the work and we are producing; we just need workers and accommodation. But we're in a competitive field, and it's very challenging for all of our councils to do that. Then, flowing on from that is water supply—we have major problems with the amount of water supply—and child care, which has certainly been a big challenge. We're lucky enough to have an $11.8 million child care that is going to be built in Bordertown. A combination of both state and federal money is going into that, which is huge, but it's probably only meeting the needs of now. We're very grateful—don't get me wrong—but we're probably going to outgrow that soon as well. That's still three years away, but, certainly, we welcome the opportunity for that to be built. That's going to help. Mr GEORGANAS: In terms of workforce shortages, what are the most significant areas? Which areas are struggling more than others? Is there any particular area that's really struggling to attract a workforce? Are there any particular skills or— Mayor Goossens : In our case it would be JBS, the food-processing company, and Blue Lake Milling, which is an oat-milling company. But I've seen over the last few years that farmers—rural people—have been getting bigger. The landowners are bigger, and they just need to get labour on the farm, and they're just not there. We just don't have them. For anybody that wants a job, there's certainly plenty of opportunity. And I know that what actually happens is that you're poaching from one trade to another. We had perhaps eight diesel mechanics. People can just name their price on what they want to be paid. We can't attract them, because we haven't actually got a house for them. Mr GEORGANAS: If there were better housing infrastructure et cetera, it would be easier? Mayor Goossens : We would certainly attract them. Mr GEORGANAS: And child care and all of those things? Mayor Goossens : Yes. It's just that spiral, and I'm sure all towns are the same. Mayor Martin : I'm mayor of the City of Mount Gambier. In Mount Gambier, it is our ability to attract and retain skilled and key workers, particularly in health and allied health. To service the hospital here, we do have a relatively large cohort of fly-in fly-out specialists. That has been a challenge for some years. Just talking to business owners across the board, everyone is saying that it's just difficult to get employees to work. We don't know where they've all disappeared to. It seems to have happened since COVID, but across the board generally there seem to be challenges in just getting anyone to work, be it in retail or wherever, but certainly in health. ACTING CHAIR: I know Mr Ross would like to jump in, but we are running a bit short on time. Senator Cox. Senator COX: Thank you for providing a submission to this inquiry. One of the things we're really keen to understand is from an agritourism point of view. I think it might have been Mr Ross that mentioned some of the challenges or barriers to ensuring that agritourism is able to be bolstered or supported, particularly in regional and rural areas. I'm keen to unpack that a little bit more. You also mentioned some of the opportunities that you've identified here in the Limestone Coast. Can you provide some suggestions around those? I've noted housing, child care and water supply, but are there any others that you can identify for us? Ms Edmunds : The opportunities for agritourism specifically? The LCLGA is currently the regional tourism organisation. We partnered with Regional Development Australia Limestone Coast to host an agritourism workshop a couple of weeks ago. That was held in the Coonawarra and was booked out. I think that shows the demand. We allowed for 30 places, and that was a booked-out session. It was a full-day workshop, and it was really inviting those businesses, particularly agribusinesses, that were interested in getting into agritourism. I think that's an indication of the interest. We know that there's demand. Tourism Australia will tell you that agritourism is one of the main drivers of tourism in Australia at the moment, and it's growing—for the Limestone Coast, in particular, because of the food that we produce here and specifically the diversity of what we produce here. I think that's what sets us apart to a lot of other regions in Australia—the fact that we have the seafood, the wine, the livestock and the grain. We have everything. I think that probably gives us plenty of opportunity. We also see agritourism as an opportunity to diversify our economy. We're so reliant on agriculture here, which is fantastic, but, in times of drought or downturns in commodities et cetera, agritourism really offers that opportunity for economic diversification that doesn't impact agriculture in a negative way, like some other industries would. They really go hand in hand. That's where the Limestone Coast Local Government Association sees a lot of opportunity. The fact that we had a booked-out workshop a couple of weeks ago shows that there's interest in the agricultural community. Senator COX: I'm keen to understand what that looks like. Is it marketing in a practical sense? Is it access to markets more broadly? Sorry, I don't want to lead you; I just want to try and ensure that we have some direction. Obviously, all tiers of government are acknowledging the work of local government. I heard that very loudly. Both state and federal government have a role in attracting private investment here into the Limestone Coast, which is obviously important as well. But, practically, is it around marketing products? Is it around access to markets? What is it that we could do as the federal government and more so from this committee's point of view to recommend that these are the practical things that could help you? Ms Edmunds : I think there's definitely a marketing and branding opportunity, particularly when you're linking that with international tourism. As I said before, international tourism is a key market of growth for us. If we were to brand our product to international markets, that could then link in with that tourism marketing. That would definitely be positive. Kylie, do you want to talk about the lobster seaside experience? Mayor Boston : I would like to add to my learned friend in Patrick Ross, because we haven't spoken dairy, and over 50 per cent of dairy is actually produced out of here. We've talked a lot that there is opportunity around that as well as part of the experience. The lobster experience is something that we've been looking at trying to explore out of Port MacDonnell, which is the biggest southern rock lobster capital of the Southern Hemisphere. A lot of the barriers are to the development of getting to the markets or getting the people here. We do have a regional airport, as we've alluded to, but there are issues around getting the flights at the right times and things like that and also keeping carriers or viable carriers flying in. We see that as an opportunity with this international tourism piece of having that and having those experiences there and are talking quite closely. There are three exporters there who are looking at it, but there are barriers around planning issues and things like that that are real barriers around some of the red tape of getting those private businesses over the mark to be able to make the next step and make that commitment. ACTING CHAIR: I'll come to Ms Briskey in a moment. For the benefit of the committee, has there been any interaction with Tourism Australia in terms of branding the Limestone Coast and promoting it to international markets? They go to international trade fairs all the time, and they're promoting all parts of Australia. Has there been any particular interaction with them? Ms Edmunds : We work quite closely with the South Australian Tourism Commission. They do the marketing from a statewide level, and they promote the Limestone Coast. We deal through them, and then I think they deal with Tourism Australia, so our main connection is with the South Australian Tourism Commission. Ms BRISKEY: Thank you very much for your contributions to the committee this morning. It's been really insightful. We've previously heard as a committee about the role of TradeStart, the adviser network. I understand they might have a presence here in Mount Gambier. I want to get your reflections on how this is working in terms of the support it provides for industry here and whether there have been any benefits that you've seen through that work. There haven't? Ms Edmunds : No. Ms BRISKEY: That is also helpful! That might then also trigger me, further to some of the comments you were making in response to Senator Cox's questions around opportunities but also the expansion of what the current barriers are to expanding in agritourism. We've touched on a couple of the infrastructure pieces. Is there anything further you'd like to add? Mr Ross : It's always regulation. People start out with the best intention about inviting people to come to their properties, and then the regulation is not consistent across the nation, which is really important to our all being on the same playing field. That would be a great start. I'm not sure, but I certainly know from where I come that as I move away from local government I actually quite like the idea of agritourism and taking people around our properties. I've done that with migrant people, and they are just amazed at the size and the scale and all of those things which we look at every day when we walk or drive around our landscape. It's incomprehensible to so many people. That's the thing that we need to bring to the wider population. I know from my travels in Africa and Asia that it's always about regulation. We need to make sure that that is reasonable and not overly onerous. It has to be safe. I get that. But it doesn't need to be too onerous. Ms BRISKEY: To clarify, are you talking about both federal and state regulation or one or the other? Mr Ross : One would assume it would be generally state regulation that would be the biggest issue within South Australia, but that's no reason that there shouldn't be consistency of regulation across the Commonwealth. I think that is important. Ms BRISKEY: Yes, I appreciate that. ACTING CHAIR: Thank you all very much. We're going to have to wrap this up. I just want to give you one last opportunity if there's any particular burning issue that you'd like to get on the record before we close this segment. Ms Edmunds : If I can just make one final point, I want to highlight the importance of collaboration. As you've heard, we have a really diverse economy here in terms of agriculture, but I think there is opportunity in working together. A few years ago, the federal government had a program that established clusters to work together, and branding was one of those opportunities. We had one on the Limestone Coast, but the program ceased, and there was no continuing funding, so it collapsed. It was deregistered in about 2024. But there could be learnings from that because to collaborate across commodities for that branding opportunity is really important. Mayor Goossens : Remember that it's very hard for regionals to bid against metro. Any funding or any help in any way in regional areas can go a long way. It's very hard for us to be competitive against metro or larger areas, so please don't forget that we use any help very wisely and it has a big impact on our regions. Mayor Boston : I will sum up with the importance of the collaboration piece. I think that's why, with industries across the whole Limestone Coast, we've been very good at all working together. We've had to to get things done. I think that's why these sorts of things could be very successful. We are very good at adding value and sharing those experiences. ACTING CHAIR: Thank you very much for your attendance here today. If you've been asked to provide any additional information, would you please forward it to the secretariat by Friday 10 July 2026. Please be aware that any questions on notice will be published on the committee's website. You will be sent a copy of the transcript of your evidence, and you will have the opportunity to request corrections to transcription errors. Thank you once again..