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

Thank you very much, Senator Hanson. As you know, our government is absolutely committed to taking strong action to support our 5,200 Australian dairy farmers. On 28 October 2019, the mandatory dairy code of conduct exposure draft was released for its third round of consultations. Those consultations ended last Friday, on 22 November, and right now my department is considering those consultations and will be making appropriate adjustments to the exposure draft based on the feedback from our eight very, very distinct dairying regions around the country. As you know, Senator Hanson, your home state of Queensland has very unique challenges, as opposed to those dairy farmers in Western Australia or, indeed, to those dairy farmers suffering from excessively high water prices in my own home state of Victoria. Feedback has been sought from each and every one of those dairy industries. We also consulted with individual dairy farmers through online mechanisms, including a tele-town hall over the last two weeks. I've personally been speaking with dairy farmers from across the country to make sure that we get a mandatory code of conduct that actually delivers for our dairy farmers and ensures that the unconscionable conduct that dairy processors have been inflicting on our dairy farmers for way too long is regulated in a mandatory way. That is the promise that we took to the federal election, and it is what we are delivering on. Make no mistake: we will not be bringing in a mandatory code of conduct that the dairy industry in Australia does not support.