Gavin plans to walk the talk in new role

For nearly a decade there’s been little time for hands-on farming for politician and father of three, Gavin Pearce, but there’s been no shortage of contact with the local farming community.

Tasmania’s new Primary Industries and Water Minister and Veterans’ Affairs Minister leased out his properties at Lapoinya, west of Wynyard, years ago to allow time for the demands of federal politics.

Between commuting to Canberra and family life with partner Megan McGinty and three children, he’s had to be content watching others run their dairy herds on his land, although he said he still loves the rural lifestyle, getting on the digger every now and then, riding a motorbike through the bush or going shooting.

“I really miss the animals but I love living in a regional farming community where you are treated with respect because you’ve earned it. It’s been bloody good to me.”

Mr Pearce described the reaction to receiving the agriculture portfolio as "overwhelmingly positive”.

His very first day on the job saw the mop top potato virus emerge and he hit the ground running, talking to producers, briefing the cross-bench and talking to the media.

“That industry means everything to me, I want to make sure Tasmanian producers get all the help they need and that this state remains the potato capital of the country,” he said.

He said he feels for the farmers who are fighting ever-rising input costs, from pest management chemicals to fertiliser to diesel to labour compliance, plus red tape that never seems to go down despite historic promises.

“These are often mum and dad businesses and let’s face it, Simplot’s low price offer to potato growers has gone down like a screen door on a submarine and potato growers are really copping it from all directions at the moment.”

Mr Pearce said that people from all facets of agriculture and horticulture had been in touch, grateful that someone who is a farmer and has been a passionate advocate for the agriculture sector on the committee for agriculture and water resources at federal level, was in the role.

Even as a 15-year-old he had red soil in his veins, and left school to start an ag apprenticeship and become a dairy share farmer at Calder, joining a business that was at one stage the second largest provider of milk to Cadbury.

However he always wanted to join the Army and when commodity prices dropped he followed a long family tradition going back to the Boer War of serving his country, signing up initially for three years and staying for 20, working mainly in signals intelligence.

“Considering my farming background and Army experience the Premier couldn’t have picked two better positions for me,” he admitted.

“I aim to be the voice of reason to the government of what the industry is thinking and how it’s reacting to government policies - I think there’s been a very frustrating disconnect in what farmers want and what the government thinks they want.”

“I stood up for the farmers when Albanese introduced the biosecurity levy on imported goods - to the government it was all about numbers on a page but I could see the issues that the agriculture sector had with that.

“Having said that, education is a two-way street, you can’t just tell industry what they want to hear - I’d rather be upfront and say outright if something is never going to happen.”

Among the issues he said he won’t compromise on is providence in the meat industry.

“When someone, anywhere in the world, picks up Australian meat they will know where it’s come from and that it meets a high standard, the best they can get.

“Once farmers get their heads around the NLIS technology it will put us well above places like the US that have no traceability -  I’m pleased to see that Tasmanian farmers are actually at the forefront of takeup of this initiative.

Standing in his kitchen in a John Deere cap, making a coffee, Mr Pearce admitted there was a time when he really didn’t care about the political side of things.

The 57-year-old was recalling a time when he was running a farm, an abattoir, a concrete business and a heavy vehicle fleet, his firstborn son was only seven years old and his first wife, Amanda, was dying of cancer in her early 30s.

He said it was the Sisters Creek community, which had known his family since they first started farming in the area in the 1950s, that gave him the support he needed.

“At the time I went back to ag contracting to pay off the farm and I helped run the Yolla Co-Op,” he said.

Mr Pearce was vice-chair of the Yolla Co-Op for 10 years and was instrumental in taking the farmer-owned business to the next level.

It was during a Yolla Co-Op meeting in 2019 that fellow Liberal Party member Aric Abetz encouraged him to stand for Braddon against Labor incumbent Justine Keay. 

“This was during the pandemic and it was a way to put my experience and operational skills to good use - anything to do with a crisis - that’s what I did best and I won the seat,” he said.

“I went on to help put $1.4 billion back into the electorate, the most Braddon had ever seen or will probably see again.

“This was when the UTAS Cradle Coast campus was built, the Veteran’s Hub went into Burnie and $9 million was dropped on King Island communications initiatives and a comms tower went into Tullah.

“It’s this work that put me in good stead to hold the seat at the subsequent election.”

Mr Pearce was re-elected in 2022, achieving the largest coalition swing nationwide (over 6 per cent) despite the overall loss of the Liberals to Labor.

In June last year Mr Pearce announced he would not re-contest the seat of Braddon, citing the toll of politics on family life, personal health, and the sustainability of his high-touch, constituency-focused approach.

“And then I saw my good friend Jeremy Rockliff get white-anted, with the opposition playing the man and not the ball, and he asked me if I would help out and I was happy to jump into the trenches,” he said.

“I was as frustrated as any Tasmanian with what was happening and I figured I could lend some horsepower on the practical side of things.”

Imposing, persuasive, gregarious and a straight shooter - there’s no doubt Mr Pearce will make his presence felt in parliament.

Expect him to be pushing for money for ports, particularly what he calls the “ two jewels in our crown” - Devonport and Burnie ports - and King Island’s port and shipping services which his Uncle Ian once dominated.

And expect him to be a conduit for farmers who, whether in agreement or not, will be hard to ignore.