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

I move:

That, in the opinion of the Senate, the following is a matter of urgency:

"That Australia's dairy farmers are facing ruin and the government must take action to ensure they are paid a fair farm gate price for their milk."

The dairy industry in Australia is on its knees. Less than half an hour ago there was a vote in this chamber to address the dairy industry. My notice of motion was to call on the federal government to provide immediate additional financial support to the dairy farmers who cannot feed their herds, implement all of the ACCC's recommendations and task the ACCC to investigate how it can regulate the price of milk per litre paid by processors to dairy farmers to ensure a viable dairy industry.

The support I got was from the Labor Party and the Greens. It was the Liberal Party, the Nationals, Senator Patrick, Senator Sterling and Senator Bernardi who voted against that motion. It needed one more vote. It was 30-all, so it was negatived. I call on Senators Patrick, Stirling and Bernardi to consider the fact that—all three of them are from South Australia—their dairy industry cannot supply the needs of their own state, so they have to import milk from Victoria. The same applies for their electricity. They can't even supply their state with electricity. They have to import it from another state. It's an absolute disgrace that they care not. They voted against this, which was for the dairy farmers of this nation.

It is a desperate situation, and I want to make sure people realise just how serious things have become. Farming in this country has become progressively more difficult with the extended drought, on top of rising water and electricity prices and general increases in expenses like fuel, farm supplies, machinery, maintenance, fodder and other farm running costs. Dairy farmers have even more hurdles to achieving viability: farmers also suffer from harsh contracts with milk processors and retailers that squeeze prices so low that it robs them of any profit. The processors and retailers are just being cold hearted and cruel, putting their profits way ahead of the needs of a traditional Australian industry and the lives and livelihoods of hardworking Australians.

As I have mentioned many times, we cannot allow our farmers to be crushed by the compounding weight of all these factors. We can't let them crumble to such desperate lows that they simply walk off the land or, worse still, suffer family breakdowns or resort to other drastic actions like suicide, which has occurred in an unacceptable number of cases. The fact that there has been little meaningful support from government only makes the battle even more hopeless and lonely for many struggling dairy farmers. This is why I am pushing so hard for the introduction of the long-awaited code of conduct for the dairy industry that will, among other things, set a base farmgate price per litre of milk so that dairy farmers can at least have some surety that they will earn enough money to cover their production costs and allow them to make a profit. We need them to stay profitable so they can keep producing milk and provide for their families—and preserve their chosen way of life, which has been that way for generations.

The code of conduct has been in the pipeline for at least five years. It was suggested in 2014 by the Australian Dairy Industry Council and Dairy Australia. Along with the fair farmgate price, the farmers want initiatives that help provide some balance in the industry between farmers, processors and retailers.

In September 2018, in response to my motion, the government assured us it was working towards introducing the code. In the motion, I asked them that measures be put in place to provide immediate additional financial support to dairy farmers who cannot feed their herds and also to regulate the price of milk per litre paid by processors to dairy farmers to ensure a viable dairy industry. In reply, the government said:

The government strongly supports Australia's dairy farmers and the dairy industry, and acknowledges that many are doing it tough at present.

It also said at the time:

The government will work to address the significant imbalance in bargaining power and marketing information for dairy farmers through the code and particularly through its dispute resolution mechanism and other means where suitable.

Well, that was 13 months ago. Since then, nothing has happened. We have a dairy farmer leaving the land every week. And what has the government's response been? Nothing. The government has been sitting on its hands while the farmers continue to struggle. Farmers continue to walk off the land, our farmers face ruin and our dairy industry is on the verge of becoming unviable. If we don't support farmers and their families, we will eventually become dependent on imported milk. That would leave us susceptible to unknown milk quality and unpredictable pricing, and put us at risk of losing this iconic farming sector that has been such an important part of our wonderful country.

From September 2018, let's fast forward to this week. The Minister for Agriculture, Bridget McKenzie, has been exposed for having done nothing on this matter. I asked the senator:

Why has the government waited until there has been a mass exodus of dairy farmers before realising a code of practice was required?

Minister McKenzie replied:

That's actually not true. Our government has been taking steps to stand by dairy farmers and the industry more broadly over many, many years. Getting this code in place is an important commitment we have made. There is no hold-up whatsoever, on our side, to get this in place to give the farmers the security they need.

Well, the stats show something different. The total number of dairy farms in Australia has dropped from 6,853 in 2010-11 to 5,699 as of 30 June 2018. I wonder how many more farmers were lost in the last 12 months. Milk production has also dropped. At its peak, in 2000, we produced 12 billion litres annually. But that fell to 9½ billion litres last year and dropped further to 8.7 billion litres this year. And then there's population. At the industry's height, there were 19 million people in this country. Now, there are 25 million people, yet we have dropped the production of milk.

I am also concerned that delays in the introduction of the code of conduct may come as a result of the conflict of interest from Minister McKenzie. Minister McKenzie's home state of Victoria is the only state in which the industry has consistently opposed the introduction of the code. Victoria has more dairy farms than all the other states combined. It is home to more than 64 per cent of the dairy cows in Australia. While the number of cows has dropped considerably in all other states since 2010, the number of cows in Victoria has stayed steady at over one million. Victoria is the only state in which farmers don't have contracts with processors, due to strong competition between processors. Victoria also exports considerable quantities of milk to other states. These factors all combine to raise concerns that the process for introducing the code is being compromised.

As we know, Senator McKenzie is up for re-election at the next federal election due in 2022. It is of great concern to me that dairy farmers, who are desperately waiting for some farmgate price support for their milk, might be waiting in vain for the code of conduct due to some political reason. I hope it's not true. But, with years of delay and government slackness in introducing this important document, I am now starting to wonder.

Labor is no help either, which is no real surprise. They have been using weasel words on this matter and have not made any positive contribution. As I said, if you're not part of the solution then you are part of the problem. But watching the vote in the chamber today gives me hope that Labor are starting to wake up. Last September, Queensland Labor senator Anthony Chisholm, who is also up for re-election, added his two cents worth in relation to my notice of motion. He said:

Whilst there are many points Labor could provide strong support for, sadly there are other points that have an eye more to an election, rather than to assisting farmers.

Well, I haven't given up my fight, Senator Chisholm. He further said:

Labor has been working closely with the dairy industry.

This is total BS from both the government, which has done nothing substantial in over a year, and from Labor. They're playing a political game at the expense of farmers' lives and livelihoods, just because it's One Nation.

If we don't do something, we're going to end up importing milk, and who wants to drink milk from China? Their own people don't even want to feed their babies their own baby milk formula. I want to say thank you very much to the Greens for their support. (Time expired)