Senator Barnaby Joyce, Shadow Minister for Regional Development, and Ted O’Brien, LNP Candidate for Fairfax visited the Sunshine Coast today (Friday 15th Match 2013) and believe that there is a real future for agriculture on the Sunshine Coast.
Mr O’Brien and Senator Joyce visited regional food producers based on the Sunshine Coast and according to Mr O’Brien, agriculture and food production is as important to the Sunshine Coast region as it was to Australia.
Yandina’s iconic Spirit House was host to Senator Joyce and Mr O’Brien over lunch where they met representatives from the Real Food Festival, the Ginger Factory, Gourmet Gardens, Freestyle Escape, Tropico and Sunfresh Marketing Coop.
Later that afternoon Senator Joyce and Mr O’Brien visited the Epicurean Products factory hearing about their products, use of local quality ingredients, their confidence in the Sunshine Coast as a region and sampling their products.
While visiting the region, Senator Joyce also took aim at the proposed media reforms announced this week by the Communications Minister Stephen Conroy. Senator Joyce warned of their potential impact upon regional media outlets including the loss of jobs and less locally produced content.