Farmer Power and Dairy Connect call for Royal Commission into the Australian dairy industry
Both the banking and aged care sectors have received a judicial grilling — now two leading farmer groups say a Royal Commission is needed for the dairy industry.
CONFLICTS of interest within Australia’s dairy sector need to be examined by a royal commission, two farmer lobby groups say.
Victoria-based Farmer Power and NSW-based Dairy Connect have joined forces in the royal commission call as an attempt to address systemic problems within the sector.
The two organisations claim primary producers continue to receive a raw deal from retailers and processors despite recent changes to the sector, including the mandatory code of conduct.
Dairy Connect chief executive Shaughn Morgan said in June that while the industry had been regularly inspected and analysed, there had never been a broad-ranging inquiry with powers appropriate to a critical analysis of the entire supply chain.
“There have been a number of stakeholder and parliamentary committees looking into the Australian dairy industry over many years with many of their reports now gathering dust on the shelves of parliamentary libraries and MPs’ offices,” Mr Morgan said.
“A royal commission would overcome the lack of will in all governments in implementing appropriate reform in an industry where market failure has been occurring since deregulation 20 years ago.
“Dairy Connect supports a Royal Commission where the terms of reference specifically look at ways to ensure the long-term sustainability of the Aussie dairy industry and keep future generations of dairy farmers on the land.”
A senate inquiry into the sector is underway with Farmer Power and United Dairyfarmers of Victoria representatives fronting an upper house panel via videolink last week.
Farmer Power chief executive Garry Kerr said the inquiry should examine whether levies paid by dairy farmers were necessary.
“Farmer Power believes that conflicts of interest, lack of accountability and lack of financial transparency are enough to call for a Royal Commission to ascertain the true impact on dairy farmers of self-serving relationships in the industry,” he said.
“Funding arrangements and conflicts of interest need to see the clear light of independent scrutiny with the capacity to spearhead greater industry reform.”
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