Fiona Phillips (Gilmore, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. I refer the Prime Minister to his election promise that the government would develop a real time dairy payment system to help our farmers get paid faster for their produce. Why has the Prime Minister broken his election promise and left dairy farmers behind?

David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the honourable member for her question. The dairy industry is going through a transition, and we have lived up to a number of the suite of measures that we have put in place, firstly, around the dairy code of conduct. The first initial prices were displayed by processors on 1 June, and we will continue to work with the ACCC around refining that. That was one of the key planks of our election promises, along with a market platform and a number of other measures that we've asked the Australian Dairy Federation to support. We are working with them around expediting those because when I became agriculture minister again there was a number of measures that we needed to ensure complemented the dairy code of conduct. We have said that we want to work with all parts of the dairy industry as well as the processing sector and supermarkets. We have done that in a constructive way and we'll continue to do that.

I know those opposite wanted to have another ACCC inquiry into dairy. They don't need to because it only cost the Australian taxpayer $2 million. But it seems they now want to take the advice on the dairy industry from Pauline Hanson and One Nation. They want a reregulated industry. That is frightening. That would be a reckless act that would destroy agriculture, not just the dairy industry. Those great reformers—Paul Keating and co—will be sitting in their chairs today watching question time— (Time expired)