Thanks very much, Robert. Thanks Phil and Gary. It’s great to be here and the fact that I’m here with the Premier and with so many of my federal and state parliamentary colleagues shows what an important day this is for Victoria, for dairying, for manufacturing and ultimately for consumers because they will get a better product as a result of what we are doing here today.
I guess I should first of all pay tribute to Murray Goulburn. This is our biggest dairy business; it’s by far our biggest diary exporter. 50 per cent of your product is exported and that’s dollars for Australia coming in from abroad, so well done. Well done to the 2,500 thousand farmers that are your owners, well done to the 2,000 staff who are responsible for your product and I suppose I should say well done to those busy, busy cows that produce 3.2 billion litres of milk every year to make these fine products!
It is an antidote to any pessimism that we might sometimes be tempted to feel about dairying, about manufacturing and about the ability of Australian companies to work together to give Australian consumers the best possible deal.
Coles cops a bit of flack because it’s our biggest retailer and Coles and Woolies between them have a very dominant position in Australian retailing, but it was a great credit to Coles that they were prepared to offer Murray Goulburn a ten year contract because that’s what Murray Goulburn needed to invest $160 million in this plant and in a comparable plant in Sydney to service that contract.
Corporate Australia comes in for a lot of criticism, but this is an example of two large businesses – Coles and Murray Goulburn – working to the benefit of the 2,500 farmers that are their owners and the millions and millions of Australians that are their consumers. So, this is our market capitalist system working as it should work for the benefit of everyone and we should celebrate that today.
This is your day, it’s not my day, it’s not Denis’ day. We are here to pay tribute to you. We are here to thank you for what you have done for us and for Victoria and for Australia and indeed for the wider world, but I probably should indicate that government at all levels is trying to work for your further benefit.
We are, as Denis and Phil and Gary pointed out, working as hard as we can to complement the free trade negotiations that have been concluded with Korea and with Japan, with a free trade agreement with China. We all know that the Kiwis have stolen a bit of a march on us over the last few years and we want our farmers and our businesses to be competing in China on a level playing field with those of New Zealand.
As Denis has pointed out, between the Commonwealth and the state, we are determined to ensure that the East West Link goes ahead so that produce can move around this great state and this great country much more effectively and efficiently than it currently does and get to port more efficiently and effectively than it currently does.
I am hoping – I don’t take anything for granted in this uncertain world in which we live – but I am hoping that next week you will finally be rid of the toxic tax – the carbon tax.
We have some crossbench senators who were elected on various platforms, but invariably, their platform included scrapping the carbon tax and I am confident that the new members of the Senate will act in accordance with their pre-election commitments and next week this carbon tax which adds $5,000 plus to the cost of the average dairy farm will be gone, for the good of dairying, for the good of manufacturing and ultimately for the good of Australian consumers.
So, thank you everyone. I really appreciate the opportunity to be here today and well done – well done. You should feel very proud of yourselves, everyone associated with this development.
[ends]