Dairy Industry

The majority voted against a motion introduced by One Nation Senator Brian Burston (NSW), which means it failed.

Motion text

That the Senate:

(a) notes that:

(i) Coles is still advertising $1 per litre milk, and Woolworths $1 per litre milk is shown as temporarily unavailable,

(ii) both Coles and Woolworths have exerted downward prices on dairy farmers for many years which has damaged the financial resilience of Australian dairy farmers,

(iii) many dairy farms are family operations which involve long work hours,

(iv) as dairy farmers are obligated to lock in forward milk sale prices, these forward prices are effectively capped by the pressure exerted by Coles and Woolworths,

(v) these forward prices could not contemplate the drastic increase in the cost of hay, wheat and other feed products for the dairy cattle, and

(vi) what Australia grows, grows Australia; and

(b) calls on Coles and Woolworths to:

(i) increase the price of milk to their customers by 20 cents per litre for the full period of the impacts of drought on feed prices, and

(ii) pass the full price increase onto dairy farmers.