WHILE the backpacker tax was front and centre in the early days of the election campaign, the Horticulture Code of Conduct barely raised a mention.
That hasn't stopped horticulture supply chain groups exchanging words over details within the independent review of the eight-year-old code, released in February this year.
The review made 13 recommendations in remaking the code.
Fruit and vegetable wholesalers representative group Fresh Markets Australia (FMA) called on politicians not to be "drawn into an election stunt" by rural lobby groups that it claimed were using the horticulture industry as a bargaining chip.
FMA executive director Andrew Young said although the FMA broadly supported 11 of the 13 recommendations, significant work needed to be done to ensure the resulting legislation was effective, workable and fair.
“A period of caretaker government during the commotion of an election campaign is not the time to consider the recommendations of the Independent Review,” Mr Young said.
“It is worth remembering that the current unworkable Code was introduced on the fly during the 2004 election in a desperate bid to shore up the rural vote. This has already been recognised by the Government."
The time for arguing about the benefits of the real time price reporting is finished – now is the time to deliver the benefits it will bring to Australia’s fruit and vegetable growers.
- Brett Guthrey, NSW Farmers
One of the ongoing sticking points is the idea of real-time pricing, where growers would be able to track the price of their produce as it sells on the market floor.
During the election campaign, a group of fruit and vegetable grower bodies called on politicians on all sides to support real-time horticulture price reporting.
The group, made up of Growcom, NSW Farmers, vegetablesWA and the Victorian Farmers Federation, also recommended a feasibility study be undertaken into the establishment of a horticulture price reporting system.
The call for real-time pricing was also supported in a joint statement during the campaign by Ausveg, the Tasmanian Farmers and Graziers Association, NT Farmers, Ausveg SA and Ausveg Vic.
But FMA referred to the idea of real-time price reporting as a "thought bubble" that was an "impractical and expensive proposal deceitfully being presented as one of the Independent Review Panel’s recommendations to the Government".
FMA said the concept was very clearly not one of the 13 recommendations made by the Panel.
“To state publicly that the Independent Review Panel has recommended to the Government that the Horticulture Code of Conduct be amended to include mandatory real-time pricing at Central Markets would be outright dishonesty,” Mr Young said.
“There are already price reporting services operating in Central Markets and it is very unfortunate that it appears these rural lobby groups are again ignoring the opportunity to achieve workable cost effective outcomes as a prerequisite of this latest review of the Code.
“Such comments undermine the co-operative and productive working relationships that exist between growers and wholesalers.”
Speaking on behalf of the growers group, NSW Farmers’ horticulture chair, Brett Guthrey said the independent review of the Horticulture Code clearly articulated the importance of real-time price reporting to horticultural markets stating that "the need is great" and "the potential benefit… is large".
To state publicly that the Independent Review Panel has recommended to the Government that the Horticulture Code of Conduct be amended to include mandatory real-time pricing at Central Markets would be outright dishonesty.
- Andrew Young, Fresh Markets Australia
“The reviewers also found that while some commercial price reporting exists, steps towards
improving the timeliness and integrity of this reporting remain necessary," Mr Guthrey said.
“All the necessary information to bring real time reporting to life is already available and new
technology enables this information to be delivered cheaply.
“The time for arguing about the benefits of the real time price reporting is finished – now is
the time to deliver the benefits it will bring to Australia’s fruit and vegetable growers."
FMA's Andrew Young said Assistant Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources Senator Ann Ruston assured stakeholders, including growers and wholesalers, that the Department of Agriculture would prepare a discussion paper on the review recommendations before the government issued its formal response.
Both FMA, Growcom and Ausveg were major sponsors of the recent National Horticulture Convention on the Gold Coast where there was no formal discussion or debate about the code as part of the convention's program.
Australian Competition and Consumer Commission small business and product safety division executive general manager Noel Ridgway delivered the opening address at the event, but said he was unable to discuss the Horticulture Code of Conduct due to it becoming an election issue and the fact the government was in caretaker mode.
Summary of recommendations from the Independent Review of the Horticulture Code of Conduct
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to remove the distinction between an agent and a merchant. a.That all transactions meet specific transparency requirements to be included in a revised Horticulture Code (explored further at Appendix A).
- That a standard form horticulture produce agreement (HPA) be annexed to the Horticulture Code, to be used as the minimum basis for trade in horticulture produce between growers and traders.
- That an obligation on all parties to act in good faith be included in the Horticulture Code.
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to allow a method or formula for determining prices paid to a grower, including pooling and price averaging where: a. parties have prior knowledge and agree to the method or formula in the HPAl b. if pooled, the pooled produce is of the same quality.
- That the government explore the inclusion of deeming provisions in the Horticulture Code to ensure that where a pre-existing contract is not in place, and where a HPA is provided by a trader or sought by a grower, that the intent of the parties to enter into a HPA is deemed to have occurred. Such provisions should ensure that parties have time to arrange their affairs and that no party can use such provisions to enforce unfair contract terms.
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to require that where a HPA does not include specific quality specifications, FreshSpecs specifications be used as the default.
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to remove the current exemption for contracts entered into prior to 15 December 2006.
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to regulate transactions between growers and retailers where the retailer is not a signatory to the Competition and Consumer (Industry Codes—Food and Grocery) Regulation 2015 (Food and Grocery Code).
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to abolish the existing dispute resolution process and that it be replaced with an improved system which recognises the need for independent, fast, accessible, expert on site conciliation.
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to provide that horticulture produce assessors be registered with the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) or the Australian Small Business and Family Enterprise Ombudsman, be appropriately qualified, trained, accredited (as determined by the ACCC or the Ombudsman) and capable of acting as non-determinative conciliators between the parties and recording the outcome of any resolution between the parties.
- That the Horticulture Code be amended to provide for civil penalties and infringement notices for breaches of the code.
- That the Horticulture Code require that traders generate and keep relevant information on transactions in order to allow the ACCC to use its powers under section 51ADD of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010 (its random audit powers) to assess a trader's compliance with the code.
- That as part of its role in enforcing the Horticulture Code, the ACCC should engage with growers’ and traders’ industry bodies in the development and distribution of any educational information relating to amendments to the code. Such information should be:a. in plain English (and other languages as appropriate); b. released in industry newsletters; c. released via an agreed timetable.
Ashley Walmsley
Ashley Walmsley is the editor of ACM's only national, fresh produce magazine, Good Fruit & Vegetables, while also covering horticulture stories for the agricultural papers and websites. He also writes the weekly, The Ringer, column in the Qld Country Life.
Ashley Walmsley is the editor of ACM's only national, fresh produce magazine, Good Fruit & Vegetables, while also covering horticulture stories for the agricultural papers and websites. He also writes the weekly, The Ringer, column in the Qld Country Life.
