ABC: Audit finds Van Dairy Group farms failed to meet operating effluent requirements.
Australia’s largest dairy farming business is facing fresh questions over its farm standards, after it was issued with environment protection notices and had an operating licence suspended because of overflowing effluent systems.
Officers from the Tasmanian Dairy Industry Authority (TDIA) visited all Van Dairy Group farms between February 22 and 26 this year to assess whether the Farm Dairy Effluent Management Code of Practice was being complied with.
In a report sent to Van Dairy’s Chinese owner, Xianfeng Lu, TDIA manager Carolyn Harris said of the 23 farms audited 83 per cent failed to meet the requirements of the code.
Forty-three per cent of the farms that failed the audit had issues that were regarded as “critical” (requiring immediate action) or “major” (likely that the failure, if left unchecked over winter, would negatively impact the environment).
“The current operations manager at Van Dairy Group Pty Ltd does not have appropriate skills and knowledge in dairy farming to assist farm managers, and there appears to be no effective oversight of farm operations to ensure systems are maintained and equipment is provided and/or repaired as necessary.”
VAN DAIRY website.
TDIA website.
Media release – Dr Darren Briggs, Tasmanian Greens candidate for Braddon, 10 April 2021
Van Milk Animal Welfare and Effluent Scandal Damaging North West Dairy Brand
The dairy industry has a long, proud history on the north-west coast of Tasmania. Many dairy farms are family businesses who’ve worked hard to produce quality milk with high animal welfare and environmental standards.
The scandalous situation at Van Milk, formerly VDL, is damaging the entire dairy sector in the north west.
This is on the Liberal Government’s collective failure to monitor, regulate or sanction a company which has shown flagrant disregard for animal welfare and environmental standards.
As a former dairy veterinarian, I know how seriously Tasmanian dairy farmers take their business and how proud they are of their quality and standards.
They have been badly let down by the Liberal Government. Where have Biosecurity Tasmania and the Environment Protection Authority been for the past few years, when it became increasingly clear there were serious problems at Van Milk?
We know Van Milk donated $25 000 to the Liberals in 2018. How much have they donated since? Are the Liberals afraid to hold one of their donors to account?
Is this why the company’s practices are making national headlines for all the wrong reasons?
It is very difficult to understand how the situation has been allowed to get as bad as it is, and allowed to damage the reputation of the dairy brand in the North West.
Whistle blowers have been sounding the alarm for years, while the Greens have been raising these issues in State and Federal Parliament. Ignorance is no excuse for the Tasmanian Liberal Government.
Biosecurity Tasmania’s animal welfare inspectorate and the Environment Protection Authority need to fulfil their statutory responsibilities, and bring Van Milk in to line, and in line with community expectations on animal welfare and effluent management.
Immediate action is required to prevent further breaches of animal welfare and environmental standards, and brand damage to Tasmania’s dairy industry caused by the government’s failure to deal with Van Milk.
