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Legislative Council - Fifty-Second Parliament, Second Session (52-2)
2013-04-09 Daily Xml
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DAIRY INDUSTRY

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE (15:08): I seek leave to make a brief explanation before asking the minister for primary industries a question about South Australia's dairy industry.

Leave granted.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: I also declare, as I always do for the public record, that my family and I are dairy farmers. Recently, in an unprecedented move by dairy farmers across South Australia, there was a March for Milk rally at Murray Bridge and, after that, a very long panel session and conference on the current state of the dairy industry.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Were you there?

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: Indeed I was, minister.

The Hon. I.K. Hunter: Were you on the panel?

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: No, I was doing some other things.

The PRESIDENT: Minister, stop interjecting.

The Hon. R.L. BROKENSHIRE: It is evident that South Australia has an opportunity to either grow a vibrant dairy industry and economic opportunity for the state or, indeed, see the further demise of a large section of the dairy industry in South Australia. I ask the following three questions:

1. Can the minister report to the house on the government's progress with the development of a new dairy plan, given that the last one expired in 2010?

2. Can the minister advise the house whether the government is looking to assist the industry in its time of need so that we can see growth in the industry and not the demise of many dairy farmers?

3. Given that there was a standing ovation and total support for a national summit to address short, mid and long-term strategic problems and opportunities for the dairy industry, would the minister commit to herself and/or members of her agency attending that national summit?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for the Status of Women, Minister for State/Local Government Relations) (15:10): I thank the honourable member for his most important question and, indeed, I am acutely conscious that this is an extremely difficult time for the dairy industry for a wide range of reasons. Certainly a poor season has contributed to the stress caused by the high Australian dollar, and poor milk prices and high feed costs have significantly disadvantaged South Australian dairy farmers.

I have met with David Basham and Ken Lyons from the SA Dairyfarmers Association and I have spoken with them at about their issues and concerns and had lengthy discussions on how they see the way forward. I was very pleased to hear the positive strategies they are contemplating, such as collective bargaining with processing companies and supermarkets that are being pursued to help dairy farmers better capitalise on their investment and expertise—whether through developing new premium products or things like improved branding.

The SA dairy industry obviously has historically been a very strong and important contributor to jobs through the supply chain and I certainly look forward to working with the industry where I can to support their long-term viability. I recognise that a number of the issues they are faced with are federal issues, but I have committed to working with the SA Dairyfarmers Association to assist where we can on a number of matters which include things like farmers having access to financial advice and counselling advice where needed. I have also written to the banks and encouraged them to support dairy farmers through the current cash-flow issues in line with a request from the industry, and I am certainly looking at what can be done with the land title divestment issues as well which were raised with me.

The issue at the moment is one of credit which dairy farmers are finding very difficult to access, so I have written to banks to discuss that particular issue. I have also offered to work with the SA Dairyfarmers Association to assist in developing a strategic plan for the industry, a dairy plan for South Australia, to help improve our market share and to develop new value-added milk products and that is a big issue for us. Unfortunately, at this point in time, a lot of our processing is done interstate, which is really incredibly disappointing. We are basically taking a raw product and sending it off interstate and we are not value-adding to the capacity that we could. So we need to look at opportunities to do that and also to add new products—production activities here in South Australia that can value-add dairy products as well.

In terms of the national summit, we certainly give strong support to that going ahead and I would be very pleased if I am able to attend that and to have senior officers attending.

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