Ken O'Dowd (Flynn, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the dairy farmers of Central Queensland. I recently met with representatives of the Port Curtis Milk Suppliers Co-operative Association in the North Burnett region of Flynn. The Deputy Premier of Queensland, Mr Jeff Seeney, and I attended that meeting, where we were briefed on the extremely difficult situation that is facing their industry at the present time. Prices per litre of milk are declining for farmers in Flynn and right across Queensland—and probably the rest of Australia. This can be attributed to issues such as ever-increasing input costs, but predominantly the biggest threat is coming from the recent price wars between our major supermarkets, Woolworths and Coles.

This issue not only threatens the future of the dairy industry in Queensland but goes to the heart of issues of food security in our home state. Since 1999-2000 the number of dairy farmers in Port Curtis has declined by 64 per cent, and milk production has decreased by 59 per cent over that period from 70 million litres to 30 million litres. Port Curtis Milk Suppliers Co-op identifies the key causes of this reduction as follows: suppressed prices, environmental factors such as drought and floods, rising costs of production, a carbon tax on the input cost and supermarket price wars. Generic labelling of milk—$2 for two litres—is identified as being the single biggest problem for the industry.

Central Queensland dairy farmers are vital to the local economies of many towns in the regional areas of Flynn—Monto, Wondai, Biloela, et cetera. A dairy farm often supports several families. Farmers habitually purchase everything from tractors to feed for livestock from local suppliers and are therefore a vital part of any community. Once the farmer is out of the industry it is most unlikely that they can return to dairy production—they are lost forever. The Port Curtis dairy factory in Rockhampton relies totally on milk from around the region and it is also a big employer of people. Australia produces five billion litres surplus every year—five billion litres are exported. So the production is there. Queensland produces five per cent of Australian milk supplies. Queensland will need to increase its dairy production by 22 per cent by 2020 just on growth rates in Queensland. The dairy industry in Central Queensland is absolutely vital to our regional communities and the security of our food supply as we continue to grow. It is an absolute imperative that we have a dairy industry in Central Queensland. Therefore, I implore this government to appreciate the needs of such industries, and I also implore the people of Australia to genuinely support their local farmers.