Advocate for agrarians: The Weekly Times speaks with ACCC ag unit boss Mick Keogh

Perhaps no person within the consumer watchdog has championed farmers more so than deputy commissioner Mick Keogh.

Once upon a time dairy processors would handshake a milk price with farmers at the start of the season then, without warning or reason, simply slash the rate amid the production cycle.

And bill producers for the difference.

That “extraordinary” one-sided commercial arrangement was only corrected in 2020 through the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s Dairy Code of Conduct.

ACCC deputy commissioner Mick Keogh AO said bringing the new rules to one of the nation’s oldest trades was near the top of a considerable list of achievements compiled since taking over as head of the regulator’s agriculture unit in 2018.

Mr Keogh, who was reappointed last week for a further five years, also isolated the unit’s market studies as a key achievement.

ACCC deputy commissioner Mick Keogh. Picture: Adam Taylor

“They have been important in highlighting issues in those respective markets; and in dairy, water and horticulture. The result is a mandatory code and that is important in levelling up the balance in bargaining power and ensuring competition,” he said.

Such is the importance of the so-called Ag Unit to the industry that the National Farmers’ Federation placed its continued funding on a wish list prior to this year’s federal budget.

NFF vice president David Jochinke spoke glowingly of the advocacy role Mr Keogh has played in standing as a bulwark between Australian farmers and small businesses and larger players seeking to take advantage of them.

Stakeholders told The Weekly Times that Mr Keogh “gets farming”, but that is no surprise given he runs merino sheep and cattle across about 200 hectares in southern NSW and has an interest in a larger family sheep, cattle and prime lamb operation.

And, before his appointment to the ACCC, Mr Keogh had more than 30 years’ experience in

agricultural policy and research, including 15 years as executive director of the

Australian Farm Institute.

But it is the current day job of sending signals to build market confidence, shoring up consumer protection measures and balancing the imperatives of competition and fair trading with a mix of “pragmatism and experience” that occupies his time.

This year his focus will be on enforcement of legislative changes to unfair contract terms and unfair trade practices prohibition and heading the ACCC’s new job as water market conduct regulator for the Murray-Darling Basin.

“Over the hook” meat price transparency is an enduring issue for the ACCC. Picture: Zoe Phillips

As will the “timeless situation” of price transparency.

“Horticulture is one that we regularly, regularly get concerns expressed about in terms of pricing and market behaviour,” he said.

“Poultry meat producers are still very much concerned about the imbalance of bargaining power between them and the three major processors. We have, at different times, concerns from wine grape growers depending on where the market is.

“And in the grain sector there are ongoing concerns where the basis difference prices in Australia and globally are out of whack, if you like, and that is quite challenging for farmers because of factors such as timing, quality and transport costs impacting prices.”

He also said a lack of visibility of over-the-hook red meat prices were “a weakness that needs to be addressed”.

“It is not easy because livestock marketing generally falls under state jurisdictions and to get any sort of comprehensive progress around that would require the agreement of all the states which is a very difficult and challenging situation,” he said.

Historically, an abundance of statutory boards regulated prices to balance marketing power between farmers and processors. When they were dismantled from 1997 to about 2008 the ACCC stepped into that advocacy role.

ACCC deputy chair Mick Keogh said the rate of price transparency concerns raised by wine grape growers can depend on market cycles and “at the moment with China out and low demand for production that has brought issues in the sector to the fore”. Picture: Zoe Phillips

“Perishable products in particular leave the producer in quite a vulnerable situation in having to accept what the market offers at the time the product is available. That really does tip the balance in terms of bargaining in favour of the large retailers and processors,” he said.

He said while “there are measures that could address the imbalances” it is difficult to gain progress given the law changes and political will needed to do so.

To that end, he said it would be “easier” if price transparency could be taken dealt with on a national basis.

“The constitution gets in the road a bit in some respects, we can do it through the corporations law in some situations, where there is a more national opportunity to develop systems,” he said.

“I am sure Minister Watt will be getting advice and information about some of these things on a continual basis, and we certainly engage with the department and him on a regular basis.”

He said looming reviews of several Codes would also provide an opportunity to discuss pressing issues impacting the agriculture sector.

Mr Keogh was awarded the Order of Australia medal for his services to agriculture in 2015.