Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Hanson, that's actually not true. Our government has been taking steps to stand by our dairy farmers and the industry more broadly over many, many years. It was the competition review that we did under Professor Harper that went to exactly the heart of this point: to actually make sure they've got market power. Getting the code in place is an important commitment we made and we're going through getting that done. There is no hold-up whatsoever on our side to get this in place and give farmers the security they need.

We also need to recognise that getting their electricity prices down is important. The Labor Party, when they were bringing in their carbon tax, forgot to model the impact on our dairy farmers. It was going to cost 15 grand per annum to keep a perishable product cold and make sure it was transported and able to be sold. We are taking action on energy prices. We're trying to assist farmers. We have a specific package for our dairy farmers around energy costs. We'll implement the code as soon as possible. (Time expired)