April 24, 2017
A proposed “Fair Milk Price” logo scheme to help consumers identify milk for which dairy farmers have been paid a fair price has been rejected.
The Queensland Agriculture and Environment Committee (AEC) recommended Parliament not adopt the Fair Milk Price Logos Bill put forward by Member for Dalrymple Shane Knuth.
The committee said if the Bill was adopted, it would likely be subject to legal challenges, including a High Court challenge for breaching Section 92 of the Constitution which guarantees free trade between the States.
The AEC also found that because of the blending that occurs at major milk processors, it would be almost impossible for processors to separate out milk from particular regions, another requirement of the labelling scheme.
As a result, any logo scheme would have no effect on the majority of Queensland dairy farmers who supply the major processors.
Finally, the committee found the Bill would require the government to become reinvolved in the State’s dairy industry, which it left in 2000 when the industry was deregulated.
The committee said Queensland dairy farmers have consistently received the highest farm gate prices in Australia since 2000.
It found there was a significant power imbalance between dairy farmers and milk processors, and warned that some processor contracts with dairy farmers may be in breach of Australian consumer law.
The AEC found while it was unable to recommend Mr Knuth’s Bill be adopted, there was merit in providing marketing assistance to the industry.
Since 2000, the number of Queensland dairy farms has declined from 1500 to 430, and Queensland has gone from being a net exporter of milk to an importer, with around 25 per cent of its milk now sourced from interstate.
The AEC said given the dairy industry was a bigger employer than many other types of agricultural industries, and given dairy farms were generally the most productive use of the land they were sited on, it was in the State’s interest to see the industry continue.
It recommended the State Government assist the Queensland Dairyfarmers Organisation (QDO) to run a marketing scheme to help consumers make better-informed decisions about the milk they buy.
Member for Dalrymple Shane Knuth told the North Queensland Register that Queensland’s dairy industry was dying a slow and painful death, and said the committee’s recommendations were “absolutely flawed”.
“The committee has used a number of excuses to recommend not passing the Bill, including not having any faith in its own Queensland Dairy accounting scheme, funded by the Department of Agriculture,” Mr Knuth said.
Mr Knuth also rejected concerns the Bill could result in court intervention, if passed, because the labelling scheme was voluntary.
- External link: Fair Milk Price Logos – Agriculture and Environment Committee report (PDF)
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