In a meeting I attended back in September 2018, Agriculture Minister David Littleproud made it clear that "the dairy industry needs to get its house in order and come to the government with a clear message" and that we needed "one direction, one voice - not 11 different views".
Coincidentally the Dairy Plan consultation started around the nation not long after and then a new committee was formed. But the 'Joint Transitional Team' it couldn't make a decision and now we have more committees to make the same decisions the last committee couldn't.
What an utter waste of our money.
If we could just put personalities and individual agendas in the trash and think of what is best for all dairy farmers, then we can progress forward with a true Dairy Plan.
Having not been a part of a management team involved in restructuring an entire dairy sector, I appreciate that there is likely a need to call in 'the professionals' like EY to help with setting up the organisational structure and to propose a new format, since that is what companies like that are for.
What I and many dairy farmers like me do not understand is why no one on the JTT or the ADPC is addressing the very clear and very vocal concerns of the majority of levy payers - those who do not and have not agreed with the proposed structure of 'NewCo B' as set out in January this year.
I have not heard a single dairy farmer support the structure mapped out by the JTT and yet consistently, the response from chairman John Brumby and others on these committees has been, "we will work out the details later". An article that ran a few weeks ago pointed out that there are no new dates for the delivery of anything, apart from consultation "over the coming weeks and months". Well, Mr Brumby, later is now and we are tired of promises that never come to fruition.
I'm not a big social media user, but I know that many farmers enjoy the connectivity of these platforms and appreciate the speed with which news can be spread throughout the dairy farming community. I am not surprised more and more farmers have felt it necessary to show frustration and suggest alternative models for the NewCo B.
Consistently those farmer-generated models suggest:
- A single 'one-stop-shop' for policy, advocacy, RD & E and marketing at national and regional levels.
- Representative boards democratically elected by levy-paying members.
- 80 per cent of all funding to be allocated to regional bodies and only 20pc being towards national programs.
This is not about them versus us - whether that be DA vs ADF, RDE vs Advocacy, farmers vs processors or Victoria vs the rest of Australia.
This is about the future of our industry and it is about time that our national leaders acted based on the feedback that farmers are giving to anyone who will listen.
I appreciate that Mr Littleproud does not want to get caught in the middle of the debate, but it is time the government intervened when the majority of farmers are not being heard.
We, the farmers, were concerned about the proposed structure back in January. We are no longer simply concerned; we are alarmed that the ADPC and its newly formed committee of committees continually avoid making a decision regarding the fundamentals of the new structure.
We need those in charge to stop hiding behind media statements that tell us nothing. To those in charge prove to us you can make a positive decision and take our industry to a better place.
We need transparency and we need action. We need the ADPC to publish a comprehensive timeline that will show us when key decisions will be made and to be open and honest about what changes based on farmer feedback the committees intend to incorporate into the new structure.
