NSW Election 2019: Niall Blair held talks with Coles, Aldi to urge them to stop selling milk at $1 per litre
Supermarket giants Coles and Aldi risk reputation-ruin if they continue to spruik $1 milk; a Labor candidate who pinned her campaign on opposing overdevelopment oversaw the approval of more than 2100 apartments in one year as Penrith mayor; They Said It; and, leaders ready for last clash. State political wrap.
NSW State Election 2019
Don't miss out on the headlines from NSW State Election 2019. Followed categories will be added to My News.
Supermarket giants Coles and Aldi have been warned their reputations could be forever tarnished if they continue to spruik $1 milk.
NSW Nationals Deputy Leader Niall Blair issued the rebuke as he said shoppers could walk away and the industry collapse if farmers are not paid fairly.
Last month Woolworths scrapped the dirt-cheap milk, increasing the price of a litre to $1.10, with the extra cash flowing straight to farmers’ hip pockets.
But so far the other supermarkets have refused to follow suit and Mr Blair, who has held high-level talks with both Coles and Aldi, said he had enough of waiting around for them to do the right thing.
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On Wednesday he sent a letter to Coles and Aldi directors and top 20 shareholders urging the shops to stop selling milk for just $1 per litre.
Mr Blair wrote that while the issues facing the dairy industry are complex, pricing is a major contributor.
“My discussions … have led me to the belief that the contraction of the dairy industry in NSW can be substantially attributed to the ongoing sale of milk for $1 per litre at retail outlets,” he wrote.
And he warned Coles and Aldi their reputation with shoppers will be trashed if they stand by as the industry fails.
Mr Blair is also forging ahead with a new campaign urging people to buy milk from NSW farms and to ensure they are not ripping off farmers by only paying $1 for milk.
“We have got to remind them that this is a product essential for human health,” Mr Blair said.
“The thing that really upsets me is that we’ve got people willing to advocate and find out where their coffee is from and check that it’s responsibly farmed — it’s time for everyone to do the same thing for our dairy farmers, that starts with consumers demanding that dairy farmers … get the correct amount of money for their product.”
ELECTION PODCAST: DALEY ENDORSES WAGGING KIDS
An education campaign will be controlled by the state’s first Fresh Milk and Diary Advocate, who will lead a Dairy Business Advisory Unit in the Department of Primary Industries
“The simple truth is it costs farmers money to produce milk, it costs processors money to process milk and it costs retailers money to stock milk, yet we’re not paying enough to cover any of these costs and dairy farms across the state are collapsing as a result,” he said.
South Coast dairy farmer Rob Miller threw his support behind the campaign.
“We’re in drought, things have really got tough again for us, the extra 10c Woolies is paying is making a difference.” he said.
“I’m fortunate I’m supplying Woolworths, but for my neighbours who supply Coles — they’re suffering.”
ANTI-OVERDEVELOPMENT LABOR CANDIDATE OVERSAW UNITS BOOM
By Anna Caldwell and Rose Brennan
A Labor candidate who has pinned her campaign on opposing overdevelopment oversaw the approval of an extraordinary 2191 apartments in her single year as Penrith mayor — 30 per cent of all units approved in the area since 2004.
Karen McKeown is fighting to claim the marginal seat of Penrith from the government, urging voters to “stop the Liberals’ rampant overdevelopment agenda to reduce pressure on local communities”.
However, in just 12 months as mayor, Ms McKeown, who joined the council in 2004 and was mayor from 2015-2016, was in charge of a council that approved thousands of apartments in the area.
The 2191 apartments signed off on her watch represent 30 per cent of the 7226 apartments approved between 2004 and 2019.
This figure does not include villas and townhouses, which would blow out the number of developments she signed off on even more.
Penrith is currently held by Sports Minster Stuart Ayres on a margin of just 6.2 per cent.
Both sides of politics have identified overdevelopment as a key issue that resonates with voters.
But Labor has been somewhat restrained in campaigning on the topic since leader Michael Daley was exposed for approving a string of questionable developments during his time as the mayor of Randwick.
And NSW Liberals Deputy Leader Dominic Perrottet labelled Ms McKeown “concrete Karen the queen of overdevelopment”.
“Her rank hypocrisy after she was developer in chief approving thousands of apartments as mayor is breathtaking, “ Mr Perrottet said.
But on Wednesday Ms McKeown deflected questions when asked about her track record of approving vast numbers of apartments while mayor. Instead she tried to put the spotlight on Mr Ayres.
“The architect of the Liberals’ stadium splurge, Minister Stuart Ayres has overseen a planning system that has forced massive population and housing growth on Western Sydney, while leafy north shore suburbs in the Premier’s backyard like Mosman, Hunters Hill and Willoughby are let off the hook,” she said.
Development application documents from Penrith City Council reveal that while Ms McKeown was mayor, major developments given the go-ahead included a block of 115 apartments in Kingswood, 286 apartments on Lord Sheffield Circuit in Penrith and four lots of 11-storey buildings with more than 100 apartments on Aviators Way in Penrith.
Ms McKeown was on the election hustings in Penrith on Wednesday.
Her letterbox election materials have listed overdevelopment as a top agenda item. She has also spruiked the message on social media with posts including: “For too long, Stuart Ayres and the Liberals have let overdevelopment run rife in Penrith!”
GREEN CANDIDATE LINKED TO LIBERAL FRACAS
By Edward Boyd
A Sydney Greens candidate who apologised for saying a coward punch was a “brave punch” has been linked to a violent protest where Christine Forster’s jacket was ripped.
An image of Tom Raue, the Greens candidate for Summer Hill, was broadcast by Channel 7 on November 14, 2017, which claimed police were seeking to interview him and three others after the protest.
At the time Ms Forster — the sister of former PM Tony Abbott — said she was pushed and shoved by protesters while trying to enter a Liberal Party fundraising event at Eveleigh.
“It was extraordinary; it was a riot with people screaming in our faces, trying to spit at us, trying to punch us,” she said.
Mr Raue was not charged by police and there is no suggestion of any wrongdoing.
“Any suggestion that I endorsed or was involved in aggressive activity are false, misleading and defamatory,” Mr Raue said. “I was … nowhere near Ms Forster.”
FEARS LUXURY TAX COULD HIT
By Rose Brennan
A plan by Labor to increase stamp duty on “luxury” vehicles costing more than $100,000 has been seized upon by Premier Gladys Berejiklian, who warned it could hurt truckies and farmers.
While touring the seat of Lismore on Wednesday, Ms Berejiklian said it would damage regional workers who relied upon vehicles that surpassed the threshold.
“To have the smoke and mirrors to class a prime mover as a luxury — how can you call a truck a luxury?” local dealership owner Steve Robinson said.
Nationals candidate Austin Evans said the new tax would not just hurt high-flyers driving expensive s cars.
“These are the trucks and vehicles that move us around and this is just another slog to the hip pocket of country towns and regions like Lismore,” he said.
But Labor leader Michael Daley hit back stating: “It’s not a new impost. If you’re paying it now you’ll pay a little bit more. If you’re not paying it now, you won’t pay it.”
Mr Daley said when the issue of the tax hike affecting LandCruisers used on farms was raised with him, he checked and found most of the models would not be hit.
LEADERS READY FOR LAST CLASH
Gladys Berejiklian and Michael Daley will be grilled by voters at a people’s forum hosted by The Daily Telegraph and Sky News less than three days before their political fate is decided at the election.
The duo will go head-to-head at Western Sydney University on Wednesday in front of 100 undecided voters in a live broadcast on TV and online.
“The Daily Telegraph’s political team consistently sets the agenda in NSW politics,” Telegraph editor Ben English said.
“We are proud to deliver the People’s Forum for our audiences to hear the final pitches … ahead of Saturday’s vote.”