It’s time for voters to call on their state MPs to take decisive action on giving dairy consumers clearer and simpler choice on which milk they put they should put in their shopping trolley to support Queensland farmers.
Last Wednesday I again represented QDO in presenting our case to the Queensland Parliamentary Agriculture and Environment Committee, this time speaking in favour of the proposed ‘fair milk price logo’. The committee also heard from the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), the Department of Agriculture and Fisheries (DAF) and local government.
The bill is based on a voluntary system and designed to give milk consumers reliable information to help their milk purchasing decisions. The fair milk price logo can go on bottles as long as the requirements that the milk has been sourced in Queensland at a recognised sustainable price have been satisfied.
Some processors have indicated they would not participate as they cannot identify milk from outside Queensland in their system. There have however been some recent notable examples of brands playing off the back of Queensland produced milk.
It was disappointing to see a processors such as Parmalat make a submission opposing the Bill. Its submission describes the Fair Milk Price Logo Bill as “quasi re regulation” and infers that Queensland dairy farmers have shown “no interest in being nationally or internationally competitive”. The submission also questions the future for dairy farming in Queensland by drawing comparisons to its viability as growing bananas in Victoria. I urge all Queensland dairy farmers to read the submissions to the committee to see the regard some processors have for them and our state’s industry.
Most presenters at the committee gave either cautious or enthusiastic support for the bill. In fact, representatives from the ACCC said while they had not studied the bill they understood it was about giving better consumer information on how the product was sourced, a concept in principle they supported. Put simply, this bill empowers consumers to support local fresh Queensland milk. It gives consumers a clear choice of supporting a local and successful dairy industry that employs and supports Queenslanders.
