Dairy Food Safety Victoria's $7m funds in doubt amid merger plans
Dairy industry leaders have demanded $7m in farmer-paid levies remain exclusively for dairy regulation. Here’s why.
Millions in dairy farmer-derived cash needs to remain exclusively for future regulation of the industry, Dairy Farmers Victoria president Mark Billing says.
Last year, the state government indicated it would seek to consolidate Dairy Food Safety Victoria with PrimeSafe as well as the local government-devolved responsibilities over food regulation into one organisation.
State Agriculture Minister Ros Spence confirmed last month the new statutory authority — Safe Food Victoria — would begin operating midway through next year.
Mr Billing said approximately $7m in Dairy Food Safety Victoria’s coffers had been raised directly through farmer levies, not the taxpayer.
“It’s dairy money and should stay dairy money. There’s been a lack of clarity about the consolidation of funds into the one entity,” he said.
“We’re shifting from a direct to indirect model. Farmers paid directly to make Dairy Food Safety Victoria cost-neutral.
“Under these changes, it’s unclear if that $7m will be safeguarded for dairy regulation or if it will go into a general pool. Even if a portion goes into a general pool, that’s unfair to dairy farmers across the state who financially contributed to an organisation, that until now, exclusively regulated dairy.”
A state government spokeswoman said specific allocations for Safe Food Victoria were yet to be determined
“Dairy Food Safety Victoria’s financial reserves will be directly transferred to Safe Food Victoria upon commencement to support the ongoing regulation of the dairy sector,” the ministerial spokeswoman said.
“While specific allocations are yet to be determined, all funds transferred to Safe Food Victoria will be exclusively used for regulator operations.
“The proposed model for Safe Food Victoria reflects suggestions made by the dairy industry during consultation.”
Government representatives are set to meet with dairy industry later this month to discuss Safe Food Victoria.
Last month, Australian Dairy Farmers president Ben Bennett and United Dairyfarmers of Victoria president Bernie Free urged the Agriculture Minister to reverse the decision.
“The best way to describe these changes are a solution in search of a problem,” Mr Bennett said.
“My understanding is that (DFSV) has a bank balance into the millions of dollars and we’re concerned it will be consumed into the consolidated government coffers.”
