Jonathon Duniam (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Forestry and Fisheries) Share this | Hansard source

The government opposes this notice of motion in relation to the re-regulation of the industry because the industry does not support this. Government backed industry in 1999 when they sought deregulation and will continue to support Australian dairy farmers. The industry is doing it tough due to a combination currently impacted by the effects of drought and high-input costs for electricity. The government is implementing a mandatory code of conduct to increase fairness and transparency between dairy farmers and processes and to support the industry in addressing the ACCC dairy report recommendations. The code will help address the imbalance in bargaining power between farmers and processors. The code is being developed in consultation with the industry and will support farmers to address egregious contracting practices. An exposure draft of the code will be released in the coming months for industry feedback. It's expected that the code will be in place by mid-2020. The government is also providing $1.51 million to Dairy Australia and to Australian dairy farmers to improve farmers' business literacy for contract negotiations and to develop a standard form contract.