EastAUSmilk meet with Ministerial Officers in Canberra

Queensland dairy farmer and eastAUSmilk Board Chair Matt Trace, and Government Relations Manager Mike Smith, were in Canberra last week, discussing important issues with public servants and Ministerial Offices.  Amongst others, they met with Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, and advisors to the Assistant Minister for Competition Andrew Leigh and Treasurer Jim Chalmers.

Competition policy, and the proposed purchase by Coles of Saputo milk processing plants in Victoria and NSW, were discussed with everyone, and the need for an urgent review of the Dairy Industry Code was stressed. eastAUSmilk made it clear the industry needs more milk processor competition, not less. Other issues raised included industry sustainability opportunities and needs, structural reform of industry bodies, extending Queensland’s previous “fair go” marketing campaign, animal welfare, and foot and mouth disease.

The eastAUSmilk team were at pains to stress that while some dairy farmers can look forward, plan, and invest, many are still struggling under debt and stress arising from dollar-a-litre milk, drought, floods, and other pressures beyond their control. This impacts the capacity of the industry to withstand unreasonable or uncompetitive behaviour by processors or big retailers, such as milk prices not matching increases in farm input costs.

They also stressed competition laws are fundamentally flawed when no consideration is given by Australian Competition and Consumer Commission or Government to issues such as ongoing access to locally sourced fresh milk, regional community resilience, fairness between big business and small, and more.

More meetings will be held in the next week, to ensure politicians and public servants at every level understand current conditions in the industry, and the importance of these issues to dairy farmers.

ACCC expects to announce the results of their review of the proposed Coles/Saputo deal on 20 July. Their options include waving it through, rejecting it, or raising competition issues to be addressed. A further round of discussions is planned once that review is finished.

Mike Smith, Government Relations Manager eastAUSmilk