“The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission is speaking for the 80 per cent of us which are disillusioned with the industry,” Mr Bennett said.
“Bring it on … there’s no point having a dog if it doesn’t have any teeth.”
Milking 230 cows, down from 420 due to a “lack of confidence” in the industry, Mr Bennett said industry leadership was compromised due to processor funding.
“The ACCC and Mick Keogh have provided us with a breath of fresh air, a ray of light and an opportunity to have our case championed,” he said.
“Any dairy company which takes our product has every single right to maximise their profit, that’s their right and their duty, by law, to the shareholders.
“But we as dairy farmers have the weakest selling hand possible, we have to sell our product daily … our hand is very, very weak. The ACCC is the only one batting for us. We really shouldn’t be looking the gift horse in the mouth.”
Dingee dairy farmer Ben Govett was pleased the ACCC saw the voluntary code as “a bit of a joke”.
“I don’t see the point of a code that is voluntary, to which (processors) sign up, and which they have already broken … there needs to be a (mandatory) code of conduct put out.”
By: SIMONE SMITH
Source: The Weekly Times
Link: https://www.weeklytimesnow.com.au/agribusiness/dairy/mandatory-dairy-code-the-way-to-go-says-farmer/news-story/1b54af5e19a870b5e277af3bff4ff83c