‘My greatest call to arms’: Waleed Aly takes stand against milk crisis

WALEED Aly has issued what he calls his “greatest call to arms”, taking a stand on Australia’s growing milk crisis.

WALEED Aly has taken a stand against the local milk crisis and, in his “greatest call to arms”, urged Australian’s to “eat more cheese”.

In his “something we need to talk about” segment on Tuesday night’s The Project, Aly targeted both Murray Goulburn and Fonterra — Australia’s largest dairy producer and the world’s biggest dairy exporter — and their decision to slash the price they pay for farmers’ product.

It costs farmers $5.00 to produce a kilogram of milk solid, and until recently were paid $5.60 for the product. Three weeks ago, Murray Goulburn slashed their price to between $4.75 and $5.00. Fonterra followed, slashing their price to $5.00. As Aly explained to viewers, this means farmers will be paid $0.37 per litre of milk when it actually costs them $0.38 to produce it.

In the segment, written by producer Tom Whitty and Aly, the host smacked down the concept of retrospective pricing.

“What that means is that because our farmers have been paid $5.60 all financial year, Murray Goulburn and Fonterra are essentially claiming that the farmers were overpaid from July last year until the price cuts three weeks ago,” he said. “And now, the farmers suddenly owe Murray Goulburn and Fonterra massive debts. The average debt reportedly owed to Murray Goulburn by a dairy farmer is $120,000.”

Aly breaks down the figures.

Breaking the numbers down even further, Aly continued: “They’re spreading that cut over the entire financial year so doesn’t look like such an extreme cut. When we recognise that it means that for the next two months, farmers will be paid 14 cents for that litre of milk that cost them 38 cents to make. The more successful they are, the further in debt they’ll become.”

Aly attributed the main cause of the cuts to China not wanting as much milk as expected, which led to a mass amount of unwanted product and a drop in value of milk. In response to suggestions it was a problem that could have been predicted, Murray Goulburn said in a statement to The Project: “Naturally in the circumstances, the board has reflected on the process that led to this week’s announcement and their view is that there is nothing they could have done sooner or differently.”

In an interview for the segment, dairy farmer Wayne Johnson explained just how much of an impact these price cuts will have on their livelihoods.

“We’re cutting costs left, right and centre,” he said, “But the news really hit me when I finally caught up with Marian (his wife) and that evening, and she looked straight at me and said, if it wasn’t for me and the children, she’d probably kill herself.”

In his “greatest call to arms”, Aly urged viewers to “pay an extra few cents for Australian produced brand-named milk” and “eat more cheese”.

Aly also pointed out the lack of political input on the issue and a rejection of the farmer proposed “50 cent per litre levy” — which would cost Australian families less than a dollar a week.

In response to one report that suggested neither party wants to produce a milk tax in the middle of a campaign, Waleed concluded: “I don’t believe Australians, knowing everything I told you, would have the attitude that there’s no point buying the cow when you can get the milk for free.”