An attempt by Western Australia's Co-operative Bulk Handling to secure wheat export rights has met with opposition from WA Nationals, as parliament votes today to transfer veto rights from embattled exporter AWB.
An attempt by Western Australia's Co-operative Bulk Handling to secure wheat export rights has met with opposition from WA Nationals, as parliament votes today to transfer veto rights from embattled exporter AWB.
Ten days after the damning findings of the Cole report on AWB's Iraq kickbacks, the government is pushing through a bill that will hand AWB's prized power of veto over export applications to Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran for the next six months.
The amendment to the Wheat Marketing Act will be passed today - the last sitting for the year - to allow Mr McGauran to control the veto while the current harvest is sold.
The move is aimed at ending an impasse with Western Australian growers who are refusing to deal with the exporter because of the poor prices on offer and the huge liabilities the company faces over the $290 million in illicit payments it funnelled to Baghdad.
WAFarmers Grains Section President Robert Doney welcomed the move to consult with growers on the future of the Single Desk, but urged the Minister to act quickly to clarify the 2006-07 harvest marketing arrangements for WA.
Industry speculation suggests Mr McGauran is likely to use his control of the veto to approve an application by WA grain handler CBH to ship two million tonnes of wheat at prices superior to those being offered by AWB.
However Nationals WA leader Brendon Grylls and the party's Agricultural Region MLC Murray Criddle have spoken out against such a move, and will travel to Canberra to urge the Government to block the bid.
"We'll be asking Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran to use his new power of veto against CBH which is trying to cherry pick just under half the total four to five million tonnes of wheat that will be produced in WA this year," Mr Grylls said.
"We plan to tell the Minister that Western Australia's 6500 growers want certainty so they can deliver to the national pool.
"The CBH bid is clearly delaying this certainty and WA growers are now warehousing wheat until they are certain the integrity of the national pool is not compromised," he said.
But the Pastoralists and Graziers' Association of WA saw it differently, saying in an announcement that the CBH offer was the best short tem chance wheat growers had of avoiding AWB's liabilities and poor performance.
"The Howard Government's decision to transfer the wheat export veto to the National Party as the main sponsor and protector of AWB is curious to say the least," said PGA Western Graingrowers chairman Leon Bradley.
"By withholding their wheat, WA growers have indicated their lack of trust in the disgraced AWB."
AWB, which has held the export monopoly for more than 60 years, has warned grower returns could be slashed if farmers were allowed to sell through another company.
The Howard government will spend the next three months consulting the industry about permanent changes to the monopoly, but is unlikely to opt for full deregulation amid strong opposition from The Nationals.
Mr Grylls said the Nationals WA had told Deputy Prime Minister Mark Vaile and Mr McGauran that deregulation of the market was opposed by most of the State's 6500 growers.
"The single desk system underpins the WA wheatbelt and provides price and market certainty and The Nationals WA want to play a key role in representing our growers as we rebuild a grain marketing system," he said.
