NGIV ANNUAL HORTICULTURE SHOWCASE

NGIV Annual Horticulture Showcase: Members of parliament discover the size, scale and scope of our industry

By Craig Taberner

NGIV’s Third Annual Horticulture Showcase, held on Tuesday 30th August through to Thursday 1st September, in Queen’s Hall, Parliament House was an historic week for our industry.

Continuing on from our 2018 and 2019 events, and following a hiatus during 2020 and 2021 with the onset of Covid, this year we took our program to the next level positioning ourselves in front of representatives and decision makers for the entire sitting week, with no less than 60 Members of Parliament engaging.

NGIV’s team began the week by creating an indoor garden in just a matter of hours within Queen’s Hall, featuring display boards, interactive material for educational purposes, information describing our supply chain and our importance to the health of Victoria’s economy, environment and community. This was in preparation for the Showcase’s opening at 9.00am on Tuesday.

Throughout the week, NGIV advocated for every Member of Parliament to further discover the size, scale and scope of Victoria’s $2.5 billion horticulture industry and the essential role it plays in growing healthier environments, communities and economies for all Victorians.

A Strong Advocacy Schedule

Hopefully you had time to view, follow and share our story on social media but if not, below is a summary of the 2022 NGIV Annual Horticulture Showcase.

We established various themes for the week, with each aligning to our policy priorities and linking in with our diverse and broad remit for the horticulture sector. We had industry experts, advocates and members on hand to answer questions as they arose.

We encouraged support and investment for our Policy Priorities, which are summarised below:

1. Ensure Victoria maintains its position as Australia’s horticultural leader Undertake a feasibility study to create a Horticulture Centre of Excellence to facilitate education and training, partnerships and collaboration, research and development and a permanent home for Victoria’s greenlife market.

2. Increase awareness and commit to improving Victoria’s green infrastructure Foster a greater sense of awareness, appreciation and commitment to deliver improvements to our state’s natural and engineered ecological systems. Develop and deliver a state marketing campaign to promote the benefits of a greener Victoria.

3. Grow the industry’s workforce capacity Help develop a larger, more skilled workforce to fill the diverse and rewarding careers on offer and address the negative perceptions around horticulture

4. Support Victorian horticultural educators Invest in relevant technologies, infrastructure and teaching staff within our education and training facilities

5. Strengthen Victoria’s horticultural industry resilience Global climate is changing, and will continue to change, in ways that will adversely impact the resilience of Victoria’s horticultural industry. To combat this, we recommend government establishes a fund to support horticultural businesses to adapt to the challenges of a warming climate.

6. Assist in the development of our domestic and international export opportunities Conduct further exploration and investment into unique interstate and international export opportunities through an export strategy addressing barriers to international market access, product development and intellectual property. We had a great mix of directors, partners, members and specialist representatives from the industry available to explain why Victorian horticulture is important for a healthy community, the economy and the environment.

An Impressive List of Visitors

As Victoria’s leading horticultural industry peak body representing all businesses from small nursery operations to large multinationals and directly employing over 24,000 Victorians, we reminded MPs that we are proud of the role we play in fostering excellence for our members in the marketplace and matters of advocacy.

Not only did we spend valuable time with the Minister for Agriculture but, given the breadth of horticulture and moreover our supply chain and its influence on other portfolios that relate directly to our policy priorities, we were fortunate to engage with many representatives from the Andrews Labor Government, the Liberal-National Opposition and crossbenchers as well as key advisors, heading into the 26th November election.

Curation of a Beautiful Display Garden –the centrepiece to Queen’s Hall

NGIV welcomed significant interest in Victorian horticulture during the Showcase, with several stakeholders commenting that it was the best display ever seen in Queen’s Hall.

Visitors celebrated the diversity and quality of our industry. The colours and textures of foliage and flowers came together to complement the rich colours and flower motif of the room. We celebrated the season through a combination of ornamental

u and edible plants and a mix of indigenous, native and exotic plants of different statures and purposes - revegetation, agriculture, indoors, gardens and even turf. It was a purely plant-driven design symbolic of the many homes, businesses, industries and public parks that horticulture is part of in Victoria.

The indoor plant giveaways were a major hit, attracting significant interest and, upon release of a few early on the Tuesday, it didn’t take long before word got around. By lunchtime on Wednesday, the indoor plants had all been claimed.

The edibles and coloured varieties on display in the centrepiece were also not going back to their nurseries. Thanks to the generosity of our growers, come late Thursday afternoon they too were released to the many suddenly avid gardeners within the corridors of Parliament House!

A big thank you to Jac Semmler who curated the display and the many growers who supported the activation including Warners, Biemond, Humphris, Speciality Trees, Oasis, Ecodynamics, Merrywood, Mansfield’s and Lilydale Turf.

The Formal Presentations

The formal presentations on Wednesday were outstanding and well-received by the audience. The Hon Gayle Tierney MLC, Minister for Agriculture, Skills and Training, and Higher Education officially opened the Showcase and praised our great industry, followed by corresponding remarks from the Leader of the Nationals, the Hon Peter Walsh MP, who encouraged government investment and support for NGIV’s policy priorities and that of the Victorian horticulture sector in general.

Industry leader Michael Warner implored the government to back Victorian horticulture today, to create a legacy for the future. He made some inspiring comments stemming from his grandfather, which are still relevant today.

Below are comments from some of the speeches:

» Minister Tierney noted the depth and diversity of our industry, which was on show in Queen’s Hall and supported by her tour of Garden City Plastics only two weeks earlier. She saw great opportunity for industry as outlined in the “realisation of growth opportunities report”.

» Shadow Agriculture Minister Walsh recommended that MPs take the time to read our industry report and policies and invest in the sector. He reflected on his experience at Trade

Day and that ringing the bell at opening was like ringing the bell at the New York stock exchange.

Horticulture Showcase Closes for another year – what a week it was!

On reflection, NGIV was ecstatic at how the week transpired. Many Members of Parliament reacquainted themselves with our industry, while others connected for the first time. These relationships form the building blocks for the future and recognise the ongoing advocacy work that NGIV has been doing over the past five years. The engagement during the week provided valuable time to continue the conversation about Victorian horticulture and our policy priorities.

We ‘greened’ Victoria’s Parliament House to highlight the important role that horticulture plays in ensuring Victoria remains both liveable and resilient.

We encouraged every Member of Parliament to discover the size, scale and scope of Victoria’s $2.5 billion horticulture industry and the essential role it plays in growing healthier environments, communities and economies for Victorians.

NGIV president Simon Gomme praised those who assisted during the Showcase, giving time out of their busy week to help set up Queen’s Hall and engage with MPs.

’I want to personally congratulate the team for the spectacular event that took place in Parliament over the last week. It has been an overwhelming success which is very hard to put a value on. I have no doubt that we will see the benefits of this activation for a long time to come,’ he said

Craig Taberner, NGIV’s CEO, also reflected on the week in Parliament: ‘What a week it was at Parliament House! Our presence for several days in Queen’s Hall, together with the outstanding level of engagement with MPs we achieved, was quite a coup. This places our industry at the forefront of decision makers minds as we head into the 26th November election and beyond’.

The Next Steps in Advocacy

NGIV will continue its ongoing advocacy endeavours but recognises it has a big job ahead to follow up on the opportunities that have arisen from our Third Annual Horticulture Showcase, as we pursue our key policy priorities for the benefit of NGIV members and the broader horticulture sector.

Advocacy remains one of our most important but challenging tasks; we’ve certainly taken some major steps forward over the past five years however, we still need your support.

We encourage members to engage with their local Members of Parliament, invite them to visit your local business, provide them with a copy of our policy booklet and industry report and please keep our office informed of any engagement you undertake.

While the week was a celebration of horticulture and the people that contribute to this vibrant industry, NGIV is confident that with further support and investment from our Parliamentary leaders we can make an even greater positive contribution to Victorians.

More information

NGIV’s policy priorities booklet and the industry report Realisation of Growth Opportunities Within the Nursery and Garden Industry are available in hard or soft copy. Please contact the NGIV office on t: 9576 0599 to obtain a copy.