Why it’s time to cry over spilt milk

SOUTH GIPPSLAND SENTINEL-TIMES COMMENT

BINDING agreements for the ownership and supply of most of Australia’s exported natural gas, for a relative pittance, were signed with state-owned Chinese companies as far back as 2002.

It’s not a surprise. It’s a disgrace.

It’s a tragic indication of the calibre of people we have running governments in this country, Local, State and Federal.

And it’s not going to be fixed anytime soon. Now they’re talking about rolling back the restrictions on coal seam gas fracking so that more gas can be produced, to “solve” the problem, when we’re already the biggest exporter of LNG in the world.

We say ‘tragic’ because there’s no doubt that old, frail and sick people will die in their homes this winter because of the massive hikes in gas and energy prices when the community has been crying out for bi-partisan agreement on energy policy for years.

It’s a failure for which all sides of government are responsible.

But it’s not an isolated issue, sadly.

Last week we were told that the COVID-19 pandemic is causing a severe shortage of another critical product used to perform routine but potentially life-saving patient scans and procedures at hospital – dye.

Hospitals in the US report being low on “contrast material”, a fluid that is injected into patients intravenously to make CT scans and MRIs readable; likely to be a problem here as well. It also allows doctors to identify clots in the heart and brain.

The shortage stems from COVID-19 factory shutdowns in Shanghai, where most of the supply of the ingredient is made.

We’ve had other examples too, like the shortage of the diesel additive, AdBlue, mostly imported from China and Russia, which threatened to shut down the entire transport sector in Australia.

And there are many other supply chain issues which are impacting all aspects of our life and work in Australia.

Now, we can’t produce everything here, but we certainly have to take a more strategic approach to the things we want to produce and dairy products must certainly be one of the ones that’s protected and supported by government legislation.

We’ve seen the sort of angst that a shortage of baby formula in the US has caused in recent months.

But the future of Australia’s dairy industry is by no means assured.

We’ve heard during the week that Queensland’s dairy sector is on the verge of collapsing as hard-pressed operators exit the industry in the face of rising costs and slow-to-respond increases in income.

So, it’s pleasing that during the past week, milk companies have announced opening prices above $8 per kg MS. But, together with government, they have to do more to secure this vital industry.

And government could start by legislating a fair price for fresh milk on the supermarket shelves and making it law that the difference between the $1.30 per litre the supermarkets are prepared to accept, and the real price is passed on directly to the farmers.

For goodness sake, Coca-Cola costs $2.84 per litre!!