WA: ALP to develop regional strategy to help dairy farmers

AAP General News (Australia)
02-01-2001
WA: ALP to develop regional strategy to help dairy farmers

PERTH, Feb 1 AAP - The ALP will meet dairy farmers to develop a regional assistance
policy for easing problems caused by deregulation, Opposition leader Kim Beazley said
today.

Farmers in Western Australia, Queensland and New South Wales have been hardest hit
by the July 1 deregulation which was accompanied by a $1.7 billion national Dairy Structural
Adjustment Program to help them cope with the change.

However, an ABARE report released this week found the assistance program may not be
offering enough, and many regional communities were at risk because of deregulation.

Mr Beazley told journalists in Perth that the federal government should have put adequate
regional policies in place to help farmers deal with the change.

"What is an obligation then on government is to provide decent resources for restructuring
those who are associated with the industry," he said.

The Labor leader said he had no solution to the problem yet but would travel to northern
NSW to ask farmers how the current assistance package was failing them.

"I can't pretend that I have any of the answers to it, at this point," he said.

"I need to be in a position where I can consult with them and get a better idea of
how exactly the dairy changes have affected them."

AAP lk/sd/mjm/br

KEYWORD: DAIRY BEAZLEY

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