Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, December 2021
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Introduction
On 17 October 2019, the Senate referred an inquiry to the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee into the Performance of Australia's dairy industry and the profitability of Australian dairy farmers since deregulation in 2000, with particular reference to:
- the ability of Dairy Australia to act independently and support the best interests of both farmers and processors;
- the accuracy of statistical data collected by Dairy Australia and the Australian Bureau of Statistics;
- the funding of Dairy Australia and the extent of its consultation and engagement on the expenditure of levies revenue;
- the merits of tasking the ACCC to investigate how it can regulate the price of milk per litre paid by processors to dairy farmers to ensure a viable dairy industry;
- alternative approaches to supporting a viable dairy sector;
- the introduction of a mandatory industry code of practice; and
- any related matters.
On 18 March 2021, the Committee released its report. The Australian Government thanks the Committee for the time and effort put into the inquiry into the dairy industry and all those dairy forum and representative organisations who contributed to the inquiry. The government has considered the report and provides its response to the Committee’s 14 recommendations.
The government notes the positive contributions to this inquiry by Senator Susan McDonald and Senator Gerard Rennick, and thanks Coalition Senators for their additional input. The government has considered the amended recommendations in developing its response to this committee, recognising that many of these amended recommendations align strongly with submissions provided by peak bodies within the industry.