Labor asked the Prime Minister to do something for our dairy farmers in the Parliament today but he again ignored their plight.

“I asked him a simple question during House of Representatives Question Time today,” said Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Resources, Joel Fitzgibbon. “I asked, ‘Will the Prime Minister consider implementing a minimum farm gate milk price to help our desperately struggling dairy farmers?’

“The Prime Minister flicked the question to the Agriculture Minister, David Littleproud, who in turn described the proposal as a ‘cruel hoax’.”

Minister Littleproud then claimed the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission rejected a minimum price for our dairy farmers in its most recent report on the dairy sector. That is untrue.

“Minister Littleproud knows that there is a structural problem in the domestic dairy market but refuses to act. Labor took to the last election a policy to have the benefits of a minimum farm gate price tested and assessed by the ACCC.

“Caught in a cost-price squeeze compounded by drought, and bushfires, too many dairy farmers are on their knees,” Mr Fitzgibbon said. “Judging by today’s response from Minister Littleproud, the Nationals have abandoned our farmers.”