MORE than seven-months after first being unveiled, the Coalition’s proposed Agricultural Commissioner remains inactive.
Announced in the Agricultural Competitiveness White Paper released in July last year, the Commissioner is coupled with the government’s $11.4 million investment in an Agricultural Enforcement and Engagement Unit.
The regulatory watch-dog posts are designed to bolster the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission’s (ACCC) ability to tackle market power abuse in agricultural supply chains which impact grower returns.
Australian Farm Institute (AFI) executive director Mick Keogh has been widely tipped to be appointed the first ever national Agricultural Commissioner to sit within the ACCC but has repeatedly declined to comment publicly on the issue.
The Commissioner’s role is understood to be paying about $350,000 per year and likely to be based in Sydney; in a part-time post initially.
This week, a spokesperson for Federal Treasurer Scott Morrison indicated an appointment was drawing closer now that the States had given their all-clear for the Commissioner to proceed.
“The government is finalising the appointment having received agreement from the States and will be making an announcement in the near future,” the spokesperson said.
Mr Morrison took-over responsibility for competition policy - including oversight of the ACCC - from the previous Small Business Minister Bruce Billson, in government changes made after Tony Abbott was removed as Prime Minister, which has also delayed the process.
Today, Federal Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce said he still supported the Agricultural Commissioner being appointed - but the process had to be brought to a conclusion; given industry stakeholders were now becoming agitated by the delays.
“I know the name of the person and who it is,” Mr Joyce said.
Last December, ACCC Chair Rod Sims said the new Agricultural Unit would operate like a mystery shopper service in guarding against market power abuse in agricultural supply chains.
Despite the unfilled appointment, Mr Sims said the Enforcement Unit was already consulting industry on supply chain issues and that work would be enhanced when the new Commissioner was eventually named.
“The Unit’s giving thought to where they focus and whether we do any market analysis in particular sectors to shed a bit of light on issues but they’re not going to do anything until the Agricultural Commissioner comes along,” he said.
“When the Agricultural Commissioner walks through the door he or she will be confronted with a range of options as to how to move forward and will certainly be able to hit the ground running.
“You never know we may go to a sale yard incognito and just hang around to see what happens and previously we didn’t have the staff to do that.”
This week, Small Business Minister Kelly O’Dwyer announced Kate Carnell’s appointment as the inaugural Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman.
The appointment filled a Coalition election commitment to establish an independent Ombudsman to perform various roles; including advocate for small businesses and family enterprises.
Mr Joyce was also forced to defend the government over the delayed appointment of the new Agricultural Commissioner.
“We have landed so many things from that White Paper,” he said.
“Whether it’s the quarter of a billion dollars a year concessional loans and we’ve got over $400 million lent out in concessional loans.
“And with the good rains we’ve had in so many areas there are going to be people out there right now using the 2.71pc facility that we’ve made available so we can restock and replant.”
Mr Joyce said new agricultural counsellors had also been put in place in export markets to help “draw our product through”.
He said the White Paper had also delivered; 100 per cent tax write offs for water reticulation and fencing; and nearly 5700 people accessing Farm Household Allowance support.
The government’s also working towards concluding country of origin labelling agreements, he said.
“(The Agricultural White Paper) is one of the most substantive documents that’s ever been brought forward in an agricultural space and it works symbiotically with the best prices this nation has ever seen in the soft commodity markets,” he said.
