Derryn Hinch (Victoria, Derryn Hinch's Justice Party) Share this | Hansard source

I and on behalf of Senator Rice, move:

That the Senate—

(a) notes that:

  (i) the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) published its final report on the dairy inquiry on 30 April 2018, following an 18-month public inquiry, and

  (ii) the ACCC made a number of recommendations with the goal of addressing a large imbalance in bargaining power between farmers and processors, one of which was recommendation 8: a mandatory code of conduct within the act should be established for the dairy industry;

(b) acknowledges that:

  (i) the industry has taken the initiative to self-regulate by implementing a voluntary code of conduct,

  (ii) while this is a positive step, the ACCC sees the need for a mandatory code, as opposed to a voluntary code, for the following reasons:

(A) it is difficult to monitor compliance with a voluntary code,

(B) there are no consequences for breaching a voluntary code,

(C) not all processors in the industry are signatories to the voluntary code, and

(D) strengthening the voluntary code may result in non-signatories being less likely to sign up, and

  (iii) under a mandatory code, by comparison, the ACCC would have the power to take enforcement action for non-compliance against parties that are subject to the code – remedies would include injunctions, damages, non­-punitive orders and other compensatory orders; and

(c) calls on the Federal Government to prioritise the implementation of a mandatory code of conduct for the dairy industry, in line with the ACCC's recommendations.

I seek leave to make a short statement.