Tony Pasin (Barker, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

If we move to re-regulate this industry, the industry will become less competitive and not more. It will be less competitive internationally, not more. Member for Kennedy, the future, just like we've seen with livestock, is in export and being internationally competitive. The future is not in creating some sort of protected market, as we saw with wool in the 1970s, 1980s and 1990s and which ultimately led to ruin.

We need to support our dairy farmers, who, as I've said, because of drought and because of historically high input prices, are experiencing particularly difficult times. But to give them false hope and to say to them that the future here lies in a fixed price is, quite frankly, a catastrophic misrepresentation of the situation. The future here lies with being more competitive, not less. And don't take my word for it; take the industry's word for it. The industry has said: 'We don't want re-regulation. We want to continue on the path we're on.'

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