Australian Dairy Farmers have called for an urgent response from the Federal Government to a Parliamentary report into the supermarket milk war, which has been backed up by our local MP.
The Senate Economics Reference committee’s report regarding the impact of supermarket milk pricing strategies on the dairy industry was released on November 3 last year.
Almost three months laterLyne MP Rob Oakeshott said dairy farmers on the Mid-North Coast are still waiting to hear from the government about what it will do to support their industry in the face of damaging marketing tactics by Coles and Woolworths.
“The report included a set of “additional comments’ from several senators raising concerns about the dangers posed to the dairy industry by the enormous market power of the two big players and continuing government inaction on this issue,” Mr Oakeshott said.
“Specific strategies to deal with these risks, including changes to legislation, have been recommended, yet we remain in a stalemate that can only do further harm to Mid-North Coast dairy farmers and the industry overall.”
Mr Oakeshott said the delay was causing further frustration for farmers, who are also still waiting for a response from government to the 2010 report, Milking it for all its worth – competition and pricing in the Australian dairy industry.
“That particular report was released in May of 2010, prompting a call from this latest inquiry for government to table a response to the previous report by May 2011, but we’re still waiting.
“After two inquiries, surely the government has the evidence it needs to make an informed, policy response, which would then allow the Parliament to take action on restoring fairness and transparency in the market,” Mr Oakeshott said.
