ADF President Chris Griffin has welcomed the release of the green paper on the National Food Plan but has said plenty more needs to be done to ensure dairy farmers get a fair deal on milk price from the major supermarkets.
Mr Griffin said, “ADF is calling on the Government to support the dairy industry’s recommendation for an enforceable and mandatory Code of Conduct for supermarkets that covers the entire value chain, from farmer to retailer.”
“ADF also calls for a Supermarket Ombudsman to be established to investigate complaints and strongly enforce the new code with appropriate financial penalties.”
There is also a need for amendments to the Competition and Consumer Act to balance the supermarkets enormous market power, ensure they act in good faith and allow for potential future impacts of their actions to be taken into account by regulators.
The green paper recognises the importance of an integrated and collaborative approach to achieving the Plan and ADF welcomes this goal.
“We are particularly pleased to see the Government take up the ADF’s recommendation to the Senate Inquiry into the impacts of supermarket price decisions on the dairy industry to convene a forum to examine options for better managing supplier/supermarket relationships,” said Mr Griffin.
“We have written to the Minister urging him to ensure there is strong farmer representation at the forum to allow dairy farmers to voice the impacts on them from the current supermarket pricing practices.”
“We have also asked that ADF, as the national voice of dairy farmers in Australia, attend the forum along with other commodity group representative groups.”
This is vitally important to allow for more frank and fruitful discussions as many suppliers that deal directly with the supermarkets feel they cannot speak out due to a fear of retribution.
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