Dairy Farmers And Government

This was the year governments in multiple jurisdictions confronted the power of the big supermarkets and have begun to make change focussed on supermarket relationships with their suppliers, and with consumers. The importance for dairy farmers is that better relations between supermarkets and processors will mean a fairer shake for farmers, so eastAUSmilk made substantive submissions to the various inquiries. In many cases, we had to say what processors dared not.

Now, we’re starting to see outcomes from those inquires, including a mandatory food and grocery code, containing strong provisions against supermarket bullying.

The Dairy Industry Code review has commenced, with Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry releasing a discussion paper and establishing working groups. eastAUSmilk is looking for many changes small and large, while Australian Dairy Products Federation are advocating to effectively eliminate the benefits of the code.

Instability in governments has seen delays in many processes and responses – leadership of Queensland’s Department of Primary Industries has changed several times, and there’s a new Minister post-Queensland election. There’s a new Minister in the Commonwealth as well, with Julie Collins replacing Murray Watt as Agriculture Minister, and Jenny McAllister taking responsibility for Emergency Management. eastAUSmilk has of course implemented a program of active involvement with the Ministers and their respective agencies.

We’ve been advocating to Commonwealth Ministers that they implement the recommendations of the November 2023 Food Security Report, which recommended a plan for stabilising and increasing Australia’s milk pool.

Weather disasters impacting members on the NSW South Coast has brought to light flaws in Australia’s national disaster assistance framework – multiple small events with a cumulative impact equal to or greater than a major disaster do not get equivalent or appropriate assistance, and we have begun to press the Commonwealth to modify disaster arrangements to reflect changes in the pattern of disasters.

With the assistance of Queensland Farmers Federation, eastAUSmilk was provided with a $450,000 Queensland government grant to facilitate technology uptake, and a further $50,000 grant is facilitating development of a dairy plan for Queensland. Funding for facilitating uptake of Farm Business Resilience Planning has been extended for a year, and we are seeking that it be made permanent.

eastAUSmilk has engaged with both the previous and current Queensland government to ensure their support for the Queensland dairy plan, as it has been developed.

Mike Smith, eastAUSmilk