AGFORCE Queensland policy manager Lauren Hewitt has been named the Queensland winner of this year’s Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation (RIRDC) Rural Women’s Awards.
She will now go on to compete in the national Rural Women’s Awards in Canberra in October. Premier Campbell Newman presented the award and congratulated Ms Hewitt on her achievement at Parliament House last Friday.
Mr Newman said agricultural leaders, like Ms Hewitt, were essential to catalyse change in the industry.
“While life on the land can be tough, there are also innovative Queenslanders out there – people doing great things for the industry and supporting our farmers,” he said.
Ms Hewitt said she would use the $10,000 bursary to share her research findings in leasehold land and alternative rental methods with other states and territories in the hope of improving on-farm profitability. Ms Hewitt said she was determined to see a more sustainable rental model – regarding the 67 per cent of state-owned land in Queensland – adopted by the government. She said the rental challenge was “one of the most important issues AgForce has ever faced”.
“Our decision to start work on this issue was in response to Labor government laws put in place in 2007,” she said.
“This scheme has seen leasehold rents increase year on year by 20pc, and under regulation, will continue to do so right through until 2017.
“Our farmers have to purchase those leases at market value, but then they have to pay pretty significant amounts of rent on top of that, and the government can change that amount on any given day.”
Ms Hewitt said figures showed that landholders were paying 15pc of their net income to rent alone.
She said AgForce had lobbied the government with extensive global research into how other jurisdictions have tackled the issue, successfully identifying rental methodologies – in some cases suggesting leases be converted to freehold land – to relieve the financial burden.
“As I understand, the Queensland government is only months or weeks away from announcing a solution,” she said.
“But we have put forward a very strong case and the government would be loathe to walk away from what we see as long-term solutions.”
Formidable finalists
THE 2014 RIRDC Rural Women's Award winner Lauren Hewitt faced three other phenomenal women, all with incredible passion for the industry.
- Runner-up Rhonda Sorensen, Malanda, is extensively involved in rural community groups, and is the principal researcher and managing director of SassyBio Pty Ltd.
- Mitchell's Judith Symonds is a fourth generation farmer and Landcare co-ordinator in the Maranoa region. Judith planned to use the bursary to run a pilot project exploring low-cost kangaroo exclusion fencing options to manage the population of the Eastern Grey Kangaroo in grazing areas.
- Produce farmer and Growcom director Lorelle McShane, Dalbeg, proposed to use the bursary to develop a 'women in horticulture' conference in north Queensland.
