Federal Government Failing Mango Growers

Member for Lingiari and Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern Australia and Indigenous Affairs Warren Snowdon today condemned the Howard Government for failing to protect fruit and vegetable growers by not delivering on its promise of a code of conduct for the industry.

Before the last election, the Government promised it would introduce a mandatory code of conduct to protect the fruit and vegetable industry within 100 days.

After 706 days and no code of conduct, Mr Snowdon seconded a motion by Labor's Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Fisheries, Gavan O'Connor, calling on the Government to apologise to growers for failing to keep its promise.

But the Government used its numbers in the Parliament to prevent the motion being debated.

'Who's paying the ransom? Why won't the Minister protect the interests of fruit and vegetable growers?' Mr Snowdon asked.

The Government promised the code would 'give producers a fairer deal on their terms of trade and on resolving disputes with produce buyers, which are in many instances large supermarket chains'.

The code would improve transparency in the negotiation of contracts between growers and sellers and support dispute resolution through the Retail Grocery Industry Ombudsman.

'The code would be particularly welcomed by mango growers in the Territory,' Mr Snowdon said.

Like other fruit and vegetable producers, mango growers are very concerned about the imbalance of market power and lack of contractual certainty in the marketing of their products.

'Territory growers have been seriously misled by the Howard Government,' Mr Snowdon said.

'At the very least, the Government should give them an explanation and an apology'.

2006-09-06