Legislative Action

Agriculture is a vital contributor to the NSW economy with NSW being Australia’s most productive agricultural State.  Agriculture contributes $10.2 billion to the NSW economy and employees over 122,000 people. This represented 26% of the total value of Australian agricultural production.  As well, agriculture is the biggest land user in NSW with an estimated 63.6 million hectares or 79% of the land mass of NSW used for agricultural activity in 2003/04.

In 2005 the population of NSW was estimated to be 6.765 million people with 85% of the state’s population living near the coast.  75% of the state’s population lives in the highly urbanized coastal cities of Sydney, Wollongong and Newcastle.

For a vast majority of NSW residents their understanding of farm life grows smaller and smaller with each generation.  Increasingly they have little knowledge of the task of growing the food and fibre found on their daily dinner table.

That is why the lobbying efforts of the NSW Farmers' Association are so important. Our challenge, the challenge of agriculture, is maintaining state and national legislation that is favourable and economically sound for rural NSW.

In the Legislative Action Centre you will learn about the political process and be informed on the decisions made on your behalf by your elected representatives in Parliament.  Together, we can do more for agriculture and farming families than would be possible individually.

What you can do to influence Government
The NSW Farmers' Association fights hard to achieve positive legislative outcomes on behalf of our members.  In addition, the participation of farming families in the lobbying process is vitally important too.

Some of the actions you can take to participate in grassroots lobbying are:

• Supporting NSW Farmers' Association’s lobbying effort on key issues affecting agriculture and rural communities;
• Write a personal letter to your local MP on the issues;
• Visit your local MP to discuss a local issue;
• Circulate a petition on an issue for your local MP to present in Parliament; and
• Contact your local media to do a story on your issue

To assist you in grassroots lobbying you will find in the Legislative Action Centre factual information concerning Association policies and farming issues.  On the ‘Contact your MP’ page we provide you with suggestions on how to share your story through correspondence and how to make a visit to your local, state and federal officials, MPs and candidates. 

The Legislative Action Centre is designed to help you find the latest on legislation and government activities affecting farming families in NSW.  During Parliamentary sitting week’s we report through the Legislative Comment update on Bills, motions and questions raised in Parliament which affect agriculture and rural communities.