Industry is supported

I WRITE in response to Jerry Micola’s letter (CP, 10/12) regarding the dairy industry.

It is an undisputed fact Victorian dairy farmers voted for industry deregulation – all 90 per cent of them. This is was extremely significant because Victoria dominated the dairy industry, accounting for two-thirds of all national production.

As a result of that vote the industry’s peak policy body, the Australian Dairy Industry Council, approached the Federal Government with a plan for an orderly, national approach to the deregulation of the drinking milk sector. This was Australia’s first ever democratic deregulation and at the time the Australian Government put in place a multi-billion compensation package.

Following that the states repealed legislation governing sourcing and pricing of drinking milk, and the state milk authorities, which administered these controls.

Was dairy deregulation a good thing? They say hindsight is a marvellous thing.

But make no mistake about it, the Australian Government absolutely supports ensuring our dairy farmers are paid a fair farm gate price for their milk.

That is why the Australian dairy industry mandatory code of conduct will come into effect in January 2020, months ahead of schedule. The aim of the mandatory code is to improve the contractual arrangements between dairy farmers and dairy processors. The dairy code is not a silver bullet for all industry issues but it is part of a suite of initiatives designed to ensure our dairy industry remains strong and resilient into the future.

Finally, Mr Micola given there is not one single dairy farm in my electorate it could have been very easy for me not to become involved with this issue but that’s not in my DNA.

At least I am trying to do what I can to help find a situation which is more than I can say for the self-proclaimed kingmaker, Bob Katter, whose electorate covers the Tablelands, and all those dairy farms you speak of.

Warren Entsch, Leichhardt MP