AGRICULTURAL groups have come out swinging in a ferocious public campaign aimed at blocking “political intervention” on changes to agricultural levies.
A disallowance motion by Liberal Democrat Senator David Leyonhjelm that aims to reverse increases to the onion, mango and mushroom levies has angered key industry players, including the National Farmers Federation.
The Across Agriculture Group (AAG), which is convened periodically to lobby collectively on issues affecting grower levies, says the new Senator’s disallowance motion could potentially destroy Australia’s agricultural levy system.
The AAG was recently convened by the Australian Lot Feeders Association’s Dougal Gordon and involves 17 other groups including Grain Producers Australia and pork, dairy, rice, cotton and mushroom peak bodies.
They’ve defended the Australian agricultural levy system as being world-leading and accused Senator Leyonhjelm of being driven by an ideological opposition to levies.
At a public protest to be held in Tasmania on Thursday, industry groups will demand the ALP, Greens and Palmer United Party support agriculture by publicly stating they’ll vote against the disallowance motion in the federal Senate on August 26.
In addition, the NFF wrote to all federal Labor MPs and Senators last week – including opposition leader Bill Shorten, who it’s believed has now taken an active interest in managing the issue – backing the AAG’s position.
The letter said it was important the overall levy system wasn’t put at risk due to “a knee-jerk reaction in response to a very small number of individuals”.
“Within this context, I call on you to reject the disallowance motion in front of the Senate regarding the mushroom, mango and onion levies,” NFF acting CEO Tony Mahar wrote.
“There is a high level of farmer support for the RDC model and the need to ensure any political moves do not undermine the significant investment made by farmers and governments on much needed agricultural RD&E.
“The current levy system and government partnership approach prevents free riders, provides scale and allows funds to be directed at outcomes that not only benefit producers and the supply chain but also the entire Australian community.”
NFF President Brent Finlay said he’d spoken to Senator Leyonhjelm recently on the issue, while member groups had also lobbied other MPs and Senators warning them about the disallowance motion’s pitfalls.
Mr Finlay said the levies were important for agricultural RD&E and marketing but the co-contribution from federal government also supported public good benefits, like food safety, animal welfare and biosecurity.
“I know not all producers and farmers want to pay levies and we welcome the scrutiny of levies, we should always look at how we can spend money better,” he said.
“But given there’s a strong government co-contribution, this money also underpins a lot of public good through agriculture so we will fight to keep these levies.
“To bring the whole levy system under intense scrutiny because of one market segment I think that’s potentially very dangerous.
“If you throw one set of levies out you potentially open the whole thing up.”
A statement from the AAG said the agriculture industry as a whole was “deeply concerned” about the disallowance motion’s potential ramifications and “dangerous precedent” it would set for Australian agriculture more broadly.
“This sentiment has been echoed by Labor’s Shadow Agriculture Minister Joel Fitzgibbon who has warned a disallowance of the measures would “threaten the viability of the levy system” and would “set a very bad precedent”,” the statement said.
“The Coalition is also opposed to any changes to the system.
“The proposals to increase each of these levies were instituted by growers who recognised the need to invest in their industries for the benefit of all levy payers.
“Although Senator Leyonhjelm is philosophically opposed to levies, we hope he can respect that democratic process that has been followed and the wide reaching ramifications a disallowance of the regulations will have on all of Australian agriculture.”
The Australian onion, mango and mushroom industries are leading the Tasmanian protest and have warned the disallowance motion means “the majority of growers may be defeated at the whim of a minority”.
They have welcomed The Greens publicly stated support for the levies system, along with Mr Fitzgibbon, but expressed disappointment in Tasmanian PUP Senator Jacqui Lambie’s position against doubling the mushroom levy.
Given that onions are the second biggest vegetable crop in Tasmania, Onions Australia Levy Champion Brian Bonde said he was “baffled” that Senator Lambie may vote for Senator Leyonhjelm’s disallowance motion.
“The levy changes have been requested by growers, to invest for the benefit of all levy payers and have been approved by a majority of growers in these three industries, having followed rigorous and transparent government consultation guidelines,” he said.
“The current levy arrangements have been in place in each of these industries since growers first voted in favour of their adoption but are no longer sufficient to meet the R&D and marketing needs of these industries today.”
Groups contributing to the Across Agriculture Group fighting against Senator David Leyonhjelm’s disallowance motion on the mushroom, onion and mango levy include:
Australian Lot Feeders Association
Wool Producers
National Farmers Federation
Australian Pork Limited
Australian Dairy Farmers Limited
Australian Forest Products Association
Sheepmeat Council Australia
Australian Mushroom Growers Association
Cotton Australia
Rice Growers Association
Grain Producers Australia
Australian Honey Bee Industry Council
Australian Chicken Meat Federation
Australian Fodder Industry Association
Lucerne Australia
National Aquaculture Council
Dairy Connect
Wine Grape Growers Australia
Colin Bettles
National political writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media.
National political writer for Fairfax Agricultural Media.
