Bridget McKenzie (Victoria, National Party, Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Hanson. My department is undertaking to sift through and analyse the submissions that they got on Friday. They are working very, very hard to get this done because we want this code in place as soon as possible. We know that farmers across the country are right now looking to sign contracts for up to five years and locking in relationships with processors that could be better regulated through a mandatory code of conduct, so we want to get this done as soon as possible. We want to make sure that the conversations that we are having tomorrow with the department and representatives of the dairy industry from right across the country are confidential conversations so that they can be had in good faith. What results from those conversations will actually be put into a final draft of the code, which we will be taking to regulate as soon as possible and give our farmers a fair go. (Time expired)