Peter McGauran (Gippsland, National Party, Deputy Leader of the House) Share this | Hansard source

Undoubtedly. But anybody looking at the election commitment, all statements leading up to that one ambiguous sentence in one press release and the several statements that immediately followed it which included the discussions and negotiations with the industry knew without a doubt that this was a mandatory code of conduct for the wholesale markets. The Independents are playing with one phrase in one press release to create political mischief. We made an election commitment and we have made several statements detailing the mandatory code of conduct for growers and wholesalers.

Why is the retail sector not included? This is something that the members have not thought through. It is because, again, they do not understand the mandatory code of conduct. The mandatory code of conduct is to provide transparent and clear terms of trade. When a grower sells to a retailer—especially to a supermarket they have a contract and they know what the terms of trade are. Somehow the member for Kennedy seems to think that the code of conduct will force a pricing return for growers. It will not. Supermarkets and processors provide clear price information, written quality specifications, written terms of trade and internal codes of conduct. That is consistent with what we are attempting to do with the mandatory code of conduct with the wholesale sector so the retailers—and I do not for a moment believe that they pay their growers enough—at least adhere to what we want to achieve in this code. The terms of trade, the terms of delivery and pricing are known up-front. You cannot pretend that the mandatory code of conduct is something that it is not. It is not a floor price; it will not guarantee a higher price. What it will guarantee is that your wholesaler has to act in your best interests in a defined role—agent or merchant—and provide all the terms of trade, terms of delivery and other information.

I believe that, if we impose this mandatory code of conduct totally unnecessarily on the supermarkets, retailers and food processors are going to pass the costs on. There will be a price to pay for them changing their contract systems, and they will definitely pass on to growers the added costs. That is not in the interests of growers. It is important to remember that all of these retailers are signatories to the voluntary code of conduct for the produce and grocery industry, and that voluntary code promotes good commercial relationships amongst trading parties.

My submission to the parliament is that there is a clear election commitment with regard to a mandatory code of conduct for growers and the wholesale sector. At the same time, it makes no sense to impose a mandatory code of conduct of this kind on the retail sector—or indeed on the supermarkets—because it would achieve nothing that is not already being achieved in the direct relationship between suppliers and retailers, and in all certainty would force up the cost to growers.

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