Hobart-centric government letting dairy farmers down

· Dairy crisis could take hundreds of millions of dollars out of the State’s economy

· The government is still missing in action

· Further evidence that the State Government is Hobart-centric and not representing rural and regional Tasmania

The Bartlett Labor Government’s Hobart-centric focus, and its lack of regional and rural representation in Cabinet, is badly letting Tasmanian dairy farmers down.

If this was a government in touch with the needs of rural and regional Tasmania – and whose MHAs for Braddon were more focussed on the needs of the community than their own futures – then there might have been a meaningful response to this crisis by now.

With just two Labor Ministers residing outside of Hobart, and none on the North West Coast, the government doesn’t seem to grasp the seriousness of the situation.

I’m advised the cost of reduced milk prices and production to the communities west of Wynyard alone could be about $100 million; and the blow to the State could be in the order of a quarter of a billion dollars.

This will have serious flow-on to the entire Tasmanian economy.

For weeks now the Opposition has been urging the government to take some positive and proactive steps to help secure the long-term future of our dairy farmers, who are in severe financial and emotional distress following massive cuts to milk prices, and an extremely wet winter.

We need a fighting fund to help dairy farmers campaign against the disgracefully low prices they are receiving for their milk, and the government needs to support it.

The campaign also needs to highlight the stark discrepancy between what dairy farmers receive for their milk compared to what consumers pay for it.

There should be the provision of low interest loans, or subsidies, to help farmers buy the grain or fodder they need to keep their stock in condition, and consideration of measures to assist with animal health, such as veterinary help.

And resources need to be made available for counselling and support.

We’ve said that the state’s drought taskforce should be reconfigured and deployed to deal with the dairy crisis as a matter of urgency.

And we’ve written to Kirin, the Japanese conglomerate that owns National Foods, to spell out the devastating impact these price cuts are having on our dairy farming community.

It’s time we saw some action from the government.
Jeremy Rockliff MP Deputy Leader of the State Opposition