Australia’s dairy farmer representative body says the Federal Budget provides only indirect support to the sector, ultimately falling short of the targeted assistance needed to stabilise the industry.
Australian Dairy Farmers President Ben Bennett said dairy farmers would welcome practical measures aimed at easing input cost pressures and improving national resilience, however the Budget failed to include any direct dairy support package, despite mounting challenges across many farming regions.
“Dairy farmers are battling prolonged drought and feed shortages, escalating energy, fertiliser and labour costs, water insecurity, increasing regulatory compliance costs, workforce shortages and more, yet we’ve seen little meaningful support in this Budget,” Mr Bennett said.
| Budget items that support Australian dairy | Critical dairy-enabling items missing from the Budget | Items ADF will continue to work with government on |
| Temporary fuel excise reductions and heavy vehicle road user charge relief | Direct drought and resilience measures for dairy farmers | Drought and water policy |
| Establishment of a Fuel and Fertiliser Security Facility | Dedicated dairy productivity and profitability initiatives | Regional workforce and migration pathways |
| Additional fertiliser security arrangements | Meaningful action on energy affordability for food manufacturing | Energy and input cost pressures |
| Agricultural export cost recovery relief | Targeted regional workforce solutions for dairy farming | Supply chain transparency and competition issues |
| Migration and skilled workforce reforms | Support measures responding to increasing dairy imports and EUFTA pressures | Food security policy |
| Increased ACCC enforcement capability and competition monitoring | Stronger initiatives encouraging Australians to buy locally produced dairy products | Fair trade and import monitoring |
“We welcome the constructive steps that may provide some assistance to dairy businesses but have not seen the widespread structural support we’d hoped for.”
ADF said stronger ACCC capability and competition enforcement was a positive step, particularly given growing concern about transparency, pricing behaviour and market concentration across the food supply chain.
“The supply chain that ultimately ends at retail is no longer delivering sustainable outcomes for dairy farmers,” Mr Bennett said.
“Farmers are facing increasing costs of production while the market continues to reward scale and buying power over long-term sustainability.
“Greater scrutiny, transparency and enforcement capability is needed to ensure competition laws are working as intended and that farmers are not carrying disproportionate risk within the supply chain.”
However, ADF criticised the lack of any meaningful support measures to offset the impacts of the Australia–European Union Free Trade Agreement (EUFTA), which the industry has consistently warned risks placing additional pressure on Australian dairy farmers without delivering commercially meaningful market access outcomes in return.
“Australian dairy farmers are being exposed to increased import competition and additional trade pressure without corresponding support for domestic production,” Mr Bennett said.
“The Budget contains no meaningful support to help Australian consumers identify and back local dairy products, no domestic dairy promotion package, and no response to the increasing competitive pressure flowing from trade outcomes such as EUFTA.”
“Australian farmers should not be expected to compete against heavily subsidised international production systems while receiving little strategic support at home.”
ADF said dairy farmers continue to support fair trade but warned that trade policy settings must not come at the expense of domestic food production capability.
“Australia cannot afford to hollow out domestic dairy production capacity and become increasingly reliant on imported product,” Mr Bennett said.
“Food security, regional jobs and sovereign manufacturing capability matter.”
ADF also expressed concern about the reduction in agricultural funding and capability through budget reductions to the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (DAFF), while expanding environmental and regulatory frameworks.
“Strong agricultural departments are critical not only for biosecurity and trade access, but also for ensuring practical agricultural knowledge informs broader economic, climate, water and industry policy”.
“Farmers support practical environmental outcomes, but policy settings must remain grounded in production realities and experience to protect Australia’s food security and regional economies. Without this, government risks making decisions that push farmers out,” Mr Bennett said.