Barley Marketing Amendment Bill

	Extract from Hansard Legislative Council 9 November 2000

Ian Gilfillan Australian Democrats Member of the Legislative Council		Parliament Index 2000 Spring Sitting Index Browse by Subject Search all Democrats material About the SA Parliament Hansard on line

The Hon. IAN GILFILLAN: The Democrats support the bill. As a matter of principle I am a very enthusiastic supporter of the single desk marketing of primary product. It is naive to assume that we can expect to optimise the return to producers by having marketing entities compete amongst themselves for overseas markets. This can and quite often does play off local marketers one against the other. Previously when the bill was before us I pointed to the coal industry as being a classic case where the individual marketing of mining companies had meant that mines were being reduced virtually to non- viability through the shrewd bargaining and marketing strength of the Japanese coal buyers.

It is nice to see that surveys of producers indicate that 90 per cent of them are in favour of this measure. The South Australian Farmers Federation policy (quoting from the South Australian Farmers Federation web site) states:

In his October Chairman's newsletter Trevor Day, Chairman of ABB Grain, expressed support for the extension of the desk. Quoting from an Econtech report on the benefits of the single desk, he said:

The value of the single desk is clear: it is a vital and integral part of our export industry. Recently there was publicity about a 55 000 tonne shipment of barley to China. This was the most valuable shipment of barley ever handled by ABB Grain, representing a value of approximately $16 million.

It seems unfortunate that Victorian governments of both persuasions are reluctant to support a single desk. Evidence from Victorian producers whom I met at a forum in South Australia and also evidence gained as a result of second-hand information through SAFF indicates that the majority of the growers in Victoria do support a single desk. Therefore, it is unfair that the respective Liberal and Labor governments in Victoria have shown little enthusiasm to pick that up and support it.

Although we were pushing for an extended period with no time frame-as I still do-so that the single desk will be seen as an enduring form of marketing, part of the problem that we had earlier-and I sympathised with the Deputy Premier and the minister at the time-was that the only way the minister could get the Victorians on board, even for that short time, was through the sunset clause. It is clear that South Australia is handling the substantial majority of export grain, and I believe that it promises a more prosperous future for barley producers in this state to continue with it.

It is important to recognise that other growers do not see the single marketing authority as the optimum marketing entity. They believe in the more sophisticated niche and boutique markets where astute deals can be done with flexibility using a variety of marketing agents and entrepreneurs. I can see how that can have a short-term attraction, because some of the more competent and sophisticated growers linked with the marketers for that section of the market may be able to get a premium on the average price per tonne as a result of single desk broad volume marketing.

I urge those people-and I think it is sensible to ponder-to accept that those particularly lucrative small quantity markets could still be sought and achieved by a well-resourced and well-motivated single desk. I think that the single desk, whether it be for barley or wheat, must constantly be aware that it has to be state of the art in world marketing. It is no good just sitting back complacently and saying, `We have the volume. We have our situation secure in the sun. We are all right. We just have to keep the grain flowing through the ports and everyone will be happy.' They will not be happy.

Although I thoroughly support the intention of the bill, I hope a message gets through to the single desk that it is duty bound to seek out and implement the most sophisticated and efficient way of marketing the harvest, and that part of its responsibility is to cater for the niche markets that would be available from time to time and to let those benefits flow to the producers in South Australia. With those words, I confirm the Democrats support of the second reading.