This is a question politicians need to start contemplating, before it’s too late, according to the Speak Up Campaign.
The group believes our choices are:
■Continue to have fresh, clean milk produced by Australian dairy farmers.
■Import our milk with limited knowledge of the conditions under which it has been produced.
Campaign chair Shelley Scoullar said the frustration at the lack of action from politicians to support the obvious choice was at boiling point.
‘‘Our dairy farmers are exiting their industry in droves, which continues to be highlighted on all forms of media. Yet we are not getting the positive responses from politicians that are needed,’’ Mrs Scoullar said.
‘‘Do they not understand the crisis, or are they burying their heads in the sand hoping it will go away? It is not going away; they need to do something, and quickly.’’
An ABC report this week spoke to a fifth generation dairy farmer who said he had never seen the industry under such pressure.
The report highlighted that in 1988 there were 22,000 dairy farmers in Australia and now there are fewer than 6000, and that Australia’s share of the global dairy market had dropped from 16 per cent in the 1990s to just six per cent last year.
‘‘When are we going to wake up?’’ Mrs Scoullar asked.
‘‘Are our leaders going to wait until there is no fresh Aussie milk in our supermarkets before realising something must be done?’’
She said in the NSW Murray region the first step must be to provide an emergency water allocation for all irrigation farmers.
‘‘I have seen the plight of our Speak Up deputy chair Lachlan Marshall, who is a dairy farmer near Blighty. On his family farm they have been forced to pay as much as $400,000 a month for water, so they can grow feed for the herd,’’ she said.
‘‘Obviously this is unsustainable, but it is also causing incredible stress that family members have to deal with.
‘‘They are far from being alone. But they are hanging in, unlike many others who have left the industry; some in tears, almost all of them in despair.
‘‘I just cannot fathom why governments will not show some compassion and do something to save this vital Australian industry.’’
Mrs Scoullar said she hoped something was done to help farmers get through the present crisis before it is too late.
‘‘I am sure, as a nation, we do not want the family farmer – especially those in dairying – on the threatened species list. But that is where we are heading,’’ Mrs Scoullar said.
‘‘I implore our leaders to give them the life-saving support which is so desperately needed.’’
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