Dairy Industry Restructuring (New Sunset Provisions) Amendment Bill

Thank you for the call, Mr Chair; I did not want to let it go as easily as that.

I have a question for the Minister in the chair, the Minister of Agriculture. Will he wait until his review has come up with some recommendations in respect of the larger issue of Dairy Industry Restructuring Act milk, and will he delay the date on which this bill comes into force and receives the Royal assent, or will he just let this bill go through and then muddle around, as he has done on most issues, for a lot longer? The meat industry, for example, is desperately in need of some leadership, and that Minister has not committed to any dates at all.

As clause 2, the commencement clause, is so important, maybe the Minister can learn from the issues here and the questions in respect of when he should bring this bill into effect, when he should review it, and when he should change it. Parliament does not have a huge amount of time between now and the election, and he has to realise that if he does have a plan or an agenda—and he and his colleagues do not seem to have come up with any—then he has only a few months to implement it. After that it will be our agenda and our plan, and I look forward to that.

💬 Hon Dr Jonathan Coleman: Ha, ha!

Mr Coleman is living in hope.

I will not speak long on the Dairy Industry Restructuring (New Sunset Provisions) Amendment Bill, other than to ask the Minister whether he will, if this bill comes into force on the day it receives the Royal assent, turn round and release the review of the substantive Dairy Industry Restructuring Act issues. He is muddling around with his papers, just as he has with this bill. Maybe he can take a call and give us a time line for further change and reform of the Dairy Industry Restructuring Act regulations.

Clause 2 agreed to.

Clause 3 agreed to.

Clause 3A agreed to.

Clause 4 New sections 147 to 149 substituted