TREASURER Scott Morrison and Agriculture and Water Resources Minister Barnaby Joyce have fronted Canberra media tonight to reveal that a new mandatory code of conduct on sugar marketing will be tabled in federal parliament next week.
The code has been threatened by Mr Joyce and the federal government as a means of resolving the ongoing dispute between sugar marketing company Wilmar and sugar cane farmers in Queensland that has caused escalating frustrations.
Mr Morrison said the code would be regulation and not legislation allowing it to proceed next week.
Mr Joyce said he expected the Labor party would oppose the code which the government says will to apply to growers, millers and marketers in the sugar industry.
Mr Morrison said the code of conduct was light touch “but at the same time it gets the result”.
It code will ensure grower choice in marketing and that all parties have access to arbitration and mediation, a statement said.
Mr Morrison said the government anticipated the regulation would go for ascent next week and come into effect the day after.
“What that means, if there’s any breakdown, either today or in the future, then these provisions will kick in – it’s a safety net,” he said.
Mr Morrison said the code contained three components with the first one being that it provides for compulsory pre-contract arbitration, before any agreements between the growers and the millers.
He said there was also is a mandatory pre-contract arbitration provision between the marketers and the millers and the third component was ensuring growers had choice on what’s called their economic interest in their sugar cane, on who markets that.
“I would not call it an expansive code; I would call it a minimalist code,” he said.
“It’s not controlling prices it’s not re-regulating the industry or anything like that.
“As Barnaby said, it’s our view that these issues should be sorted out commercially but when they can’t be sorted out commercially we’re not going to allow it to turn to sea.
“There’s a mechanism to ensure things get sorted.
“It’s a compulsory arbitration process so in the event that the negotiations or an agreement breaks down then I have the power under the act through this regulation to appoint an independent arbitrator after consulting with the minister for agriculture, then the arbiter goes in and listens to the various positions of the parties and comes to a conclusion which is binding.”
Mr Morrison said there was currently a draft agreement between Wilmar and Queensland Sugar Limited – the two entities at the forefront of the marketing dispute.
He said the arbitration process can work both ways and was important from a foreign investment point of view for providing certainty, because the rules were known by all parties.
Mr Joyce said “I’m going to go way, way out on a limb here – the Labor party are going to oppose this”.
“It wouldn’t matter what we said, they will oppose this,” he said.
“What’s the Labor party’s contribution to agriculture?
“They don’t give a stuff about agriculture; let’s be honest.”
Mr Joyce said his message to Wilmar was that a “heap” of companies had all signed up to agreements with growers.
“We don’t want to be in your business – so please, for God’s sake sort your stuff out,” he said.
Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon said a Productivity Commission report on red tape in the farm sector had said the federal government’s “interference” in the sugar industry in Queensland would be “bad for growers, bad for millers and bad for the country”.
He said Mr Joyce had a “magical and mystical code of conduct which he says he has in his drawer but we are yet to see”.
“Barnaby Joyce is all hat and no cowboy - he can’t keep running around the country blaming other people and claiming credit for things he has no claim to whatsoever,” he said.
“Barnaby Joyce needs to get out of the way with respect to the Queensland sugar industry.
“Let the Queensland government guide the commercial players to a logical and successful conclusion.”
Asked if a federal code of conduct WAS to materialise, would Labor back it in, Mr Fitzgibbon said if it was Queensland LNP MP George Christensen’s code of conduct, “no”.
“If it’s a seriously considered code of conduct undertaken in consultation with the sector, possibly - it can do no harm - but I know there has been no consultation with the sector,” he said.
“If it’s a code of conduct that hasn’t been done in consultation then it’s a bad code of conduct.
“But in any case, a code of conduct produced today, but not yet in place, would take many months to put in place and will not resolve the sugar dispute in Queensland.
“There’s a time issue here - this dispute needs to be fixed today.
“We can’t wait for a magical code of conduct to come along in a few months or longer.”
Mr Christensen said the code was “a win for the little guy against a multinational behemoth”.
“Farmers were beholden to monopoly foreign miller Wilmar in Sarina, Proserpine, Burdekin, Ingham and elsewhere - that will be no more,” he said.
“This will provide the certainty the industry desperately needed and I would like to thank Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, Deputy Prime Minister Barnaby Joyce and Treasurer Scott Morrison for hearing the concerns of growers and responding accordingly.
“I would also like to thank Canegrowers Queensland and Burdekin District Cane Growers and each of their organisations' constituent members.
“This has been a long drawn-out battle and growers have suffered tremendous pressure as a result.
“I also pay tribute to the efforts of the state Shadow Minister for Agriculture, and Burdekin MP Dale Last as well as Whitsunday MP Jason Costigan for major input in this fight for the rights of our growers.
“This will provide great relief for many in the north, and it could not come at a better time considering the additional pressure we have been facing as a result of ongoing effects of a cyclone and continued flooding.”