Pauline Hanson (Queensland, Pauline Hanson's One Nation Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator McKenzie as the Minister for Agriculture. Minister, the Howard government deregulated the dairy industry in the late 1990s. Since then, we have seen Queensland alone go from 1,500 dairy farmers down to approximately 385 and milk production drop from 12 million litres to nine million litres per year, yet at the same time the population has grown from 19 million to 25 million. Deregulation has destroyed a fair farmgate price for milk, with many farms getting less for their milk than the cost of production, and farms are now in the hands of foreign ownership exporting milk to their country. Minister, what does the government have planned to ensure the viability of Australian dairy farms so that they receive a fair price for their milk, allowing them to continue in the industry?