{"id":246855,"date":"2019-10-28T12:45:54","date_gmt":"2019-10-28T02:45:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/?p=246855"},"modified":"2019-10-28T21:32:10","modified_gmt":"2019-10-28T11:32:10","slug":"last-chance-to-comment-on-dairy-code","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/southburnett.com.au\/news2\/2019\/10\/28\/last-chance-to-comment-on-dairy-code\/","title":{"rendered":"Last Chance To Comment On Dairy Code"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Federal Agriculture Minister Senator Bridget McKenzie<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

October 28, 2019<\/strong><\/p>\n

The dairy industry Mandatory Code of Conduct exposure draft was released on Monday in what is the third and final round of consultation with the dairy industry.<\/p>\n

Federal Agriculture Minister Bridget McKenzie said the code would come into effect in January 2020, months ahead of schedule.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis third and final consultation period will be open for four weeks allowing for all stakeholders from all dairy regions to have their say,\u201d Minister McKenzie said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are keen to make sure that all of industry has an opportunity to provide final comment on the draft mandatory code because dairy farming is quite a different enterprise in Western Australia compared with Victoria \u2013 and that goes for all the States.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m very happy that the Mandatory Code is progressing and will soon help to improve the contractual arrangements between dairy farmers and dairy processors.<\/p>\n

\u201cOf course we\u2019re not going to solve all the issues facing the dairy industry through the Code which is why we have a suite of other measures including grants to set up co-operatives and grants to help dairy farmers upgrade or invest in energy efficient equipment to reduce energy costs.<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cOur government also committed $560,000 to Australian Dairy Farmers to design, develop and market test new milk pricing and trading concepts. My department will seek initial feedback on these concepts while consulting on the code.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are delivering the mandatory code as soon as possible in order to provide clearer safeguards for how farmers are treated as members of the supply chain.<\/p>\n

\u201cI remind the dairy industry again that they are on notice to make sure that the contracts offered to farmers are appropriate and fair ahead of its formal introduction\u2014the community expects no less.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe mandatory code is an outcome of the April 2018 Australian Competition and Consumer Commission\u2019s report into the dairy sector. Stakeholder consultation is an essential component of the development of this mandatory code and vital to its success.\u201d<\/p>\n