Queensland
used to have a tourism slogan, beautiful one day, perfect the next. As a
state, it stands out for physical attributes but it also holds the same
unique reputation for its politics, which continue to plague the
Coalition.
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, a former Queensland senator, recognised this character on Friday.
“It is decentralised, you have a strong regional effect on your politics, you have a bible belt and other states don’t – these things exist,” he told the ABC in Queensland.
“There is a type of culture of north Queensland which is completely different to southern Queensland and you don’t get the two confused or they will both dislike you.
“People are very proud of the regional aspects of western districts. It’s part of their cultural tapestry and they own it. People in Brisbane are still not far disconnected from regional areas. They’ve gone to school with them, there is more interconnectivity. Queensland is a small paddock.
“There is a subtext beyond papers and radio and that is people
talking to each other. That is very strong and you’ve got to get into
that space and be talking to them as well to try and get your message
through.
“They don’t expect to win every fight but they expect you to get a blood nose trying.”
In other words, if there are six degrees of separation across the world, there are three degrees of separation in Queensland. In the crazy brave new world, political grass fires become infernos if you turn your back.
The stoush over sugar selling agreements has been smouldering away for three years. Now it is coming to a head and, in the process, allowing space for One Nation to build support.
Less than a week after the federal government was forced to back down over land acquisitions for the Shoalwater Bay military training area, the Liberal National party MP George Christensen is urging federal government action over a dispute between the foreign-owned Wilmar International Ltd sugar mills and their growers in Queensland.
Christensen has called for a sugar industry code of conduct with penalties for noncompliance – in his wily way getting ahead of potential political action that might resolve the dispute. He told Guardian Australia: “We need [the code] to be mandatory and with penalties.”
Christensen had warned on Friday that if the dispute was not solved by the federal government, “I might not as well bother running at the next election under the LNP banner”. Within hours, he ruled out leaving the National party.
Joyce, as agriculture minister, has already threatened a code of conduct that would effectively introduce more regulation into the previously deregulated sugar industry by forcing sugar companies to deal fairly with growers.
The issue concerns marketing agreements that could mean growers lose the power of choice over who sells their sugar. Wilmar – which operates monopoly sugar mills in some cane-growing districts – and the not-for-profit industry pool Queensland Sugar Ltd have failed to come to agreement over supply.
As a result growers cannot sign up to milling and sales contracts unless they hand over all control to Wilmar, something that many are not prepared to do because it offers a lower price than QSL – a difference that growers say was around $100 a tonne last year.
The dispute has developed in spite of 2015 state legislation introduced by the Queensland LNP from opposition and passed with the support of independents to ensure growers were allowed freedom of marketing (the Labor government had opposed the bill).
The lack of resolution leaves about 1,500 growers in the cane districts of Herbert, Burdekin, Plane Creek and Proserpine unable to forward sell their sugar and opens the possibility that their crops will not be harvested.
One Nation is using the issue to build support in Queensland ahead of the looming state election. Already Pauline Hanson has claimed she would fly to Singapore, where Wilmar is based, to lobby the company. To what effect, is unclear.
The action drew out Joyce, alive to the threat in LNP seats at a state and federal level. Joyce threatened to take action over the major industry players to force a resolution.
Joyce said he was infuriated when the company representatives left his meeting and “went and protested loudly to other of my colleagues to try to white ant my position”.
“If the thing is not resolved; if I have to continually have briefs come across my desk about this: I will move,” he told the ABC a week ago.
“And when I do, you won’t get into my office. You won’t get in my door to complain about what I’m doing.
“Because I’m basically sick of having the discussions and trying to get people to move. And they’re not moving. So I’ll just move it myself.”
Around the same time, the chairman and chief executive of Wilmar Internation, Kuok Khoon Hong, wrote to Queensland MP and deputy LNP leader Deb Frecklington, saying he was “discouraged by the unfair” reception his company has received in Australia after investing billions in sugar mills.
The issue of foreign ownership is also at play, with the Singapore-owned Wilmar reportedly receiving emails about the “slanty-eyed” owners.
A code would determine the split of sugar between growers and millers, link the price paid for cane and the selling price of sugar, allow for choice between marketing services and contain non-discriminatory provisions and dispute resolution mechanisms.
Aaron Linton is a grower in Christensen’s seat who is preparing for a June harvest. He says local growers have no choice but to use Wilmar because sugar needs to be milled within 24 hours of being cut and Wilmar own the only mills in the area. Once his sugar is milled, he usually sells through QSL.
“I normally sell though QSL, which is a not-for-profit company, and normally one third of the price is taken by the miller and two thirds of the price goes to the grower,” he said. “Wilmar now want a share of our two thirds.
“If it’s not resolved, there is a high chance that people will go to the wall unless they take the offer, so we are running out of time. People are starting to get really concerned and quite frustrated. People are getting anxious.”
Fellow grower Brian Stevens says he has no problem with foreign ownership, it is the mill’s behaviour that is making growers so angry they will fight it to the end.
“We are determined to see it through it through to the end,” he said. “That would be an agreement that gives growers freedom of marketing.
“I don’t know how long [Wilmar] think they can thumb their nose at government but they certainly seem happy to do it in the short term. I guess they think holding out as long as they can will force growers to accept their contracts.”
But Stevens said that could backfire because growers and millers needed each other to survive.
“One can’t operate without the other. At this stage one side is trying to suck the life out of the other. But it will just make growers more angry and determined and frustrated.”
Wilmar was contacted for comment.
The deputy prime minister, Barnaby Joyce, a former Queensland senator, recognised this character on Friday.
“It is decentralised, you have a strong regional effect on your politics, you have a bible belt and other states don’t – these things exist,” he told the ABC in Queensland.
“There is a type of culture of north Queensland which is completely different to southern Queensland and you don’t get the two confused or they will both dislike you.
“People are very proud of the regional aspects of western districts. It’s part of their cultural tapestry and they own it. People in Brisbane are still not far disconnected from regional areas. They’ve gone to school with them, there is more interconnectivity. Queensland is a small paddock.
“They don’t expect to win every fight but they expect you to get a blood nose trying.”
In other words, if there are six degrees of separation across the world, there are three degrees of separation in Queensland. In the crazy brave new world, political grass fires become infernos if you turn your back.
The stoush over sugar selling agreements has been smouldering away for three years. Now it is coming to a head and, in the process, allowing space for One Nation to build support.
Less than a week after the federal government was forced to back down over land acquisitions for the Shoalwater Bay military training area, the Liberal National party MP George Christensen is urging federal government action over a dispute between the foreign-owned Wilmar International Ltd sugar mills and their growers in Queensland.
Christensen has called for a sugar industry code of conduct with penalties for noncompliance – in his wily way getting ahead of potential political action that might resolve the dispute. He told Guardian Australia: “We need [the code] to be mandatory and with penalties.”
Christensen had warned on Friday that if the dispute was not solved by the federal government, “I might not as well bother running at the next election under the LNP banner”. Within hours, he ruled out leaving the National party.
Joyce, as agriculture minister, has already threatened a code of conduct that would effectively introduce more regulation into the previously deregulated sugar industry by forcing sugar companies to deal fairly with growers.
The issue concerns marketing agreements that could mean growers lose the power of choice over who sells their sugar. Wilmar – which operates monopoly sugar mills in some cane-growing districts – and the not-for-profit industry pool Queensland Sugar Ltd have failed to come to agreement over supply.
As a result growers cannot sign up to milling and sales contracts unless they hand over all control to Wilmar, something that many are not prepared to do because it offers a lower price than QSL – a difference that growers say was around $100 a tonne last year.
The dispute has developed in spite of 2015 state legislation introduced by the Queensland LNP from opposition and passed with the support of independents to ensure growers were allowed freedom of marketing (the Labor government had opposed the bill).
The lack of resolution leaves about 1,500 growers in the cane districts of Herbert, Burdekin, Plane Creek and Proserpine unable to forward sell their sugar and opens the possibility that their crops will not be harvested.
One Nation is using the issue to build support in Queensland ahead of the looming state election. Already Pauline Hanson has claimed she would fly to Singapore, where Wilmar is based, to lobby the company. To what effect, is unclear.
The action drew out Joyce, alive to the threat in LNP seats at a state and federal level. Joyce threatened to take action over the major industry players to force a resolution.
Joyce said he was infuriated when the company representatives left his meeting and “went and protested loudly to other of my colleagues to try to white ant my position”.
“If the thing is not resolved; if I have to continually have briefs come across my desk about this: I will move,” he told the ABC a week ago.
“And when I do, you won’t get into my office. You won’t get in my door to complain about what I’m doing.
“Because I’m basically sick of having the discussions and trying to get people to move. And they’re not moving. So I’ll just move it myself.”
Around the same time, the chairman and chief executive of Wilmar Internation, Kuok Khoon Hong, wrote to Queensland MP and deputy LNP leader Deb Frecklington, saying he was “discouraged by the unfair” reception his company has received in Australia after investing billions in sugar mills.
The issue of foreign ownership is also at play, with the Singapore-owned Wilmar reportedly receiving emails about the “slanty-eyed” owners.
A code would determine the split of sugar between growers and millers, link the price paid for cane and the selling price of sugar, allow for choice between marketing services and contain non-discriminatory provisions and dispute resolution mechanisms.
Aaron Linton is a grower in Christensen’s seat who is preparing for a June harvest. He says local growers have no choice but to use Wilmar because sugar needs to be milled within 24 hours of being cut and Wilmar own the only mills in the area. Once his sugar is milled, he usually sells through QSL.
“I normally sell though QSL, which is a not-for-profit company, and normally one third of the price is taken by the miller and two thirds of the price goes to the grower,” he said. “Wilmar now want a share of our two thirds.
“If it’s not resolved, there is a high chance that people will go to the wall unless they take the offer, so we are running out of time. People are starting to get really concerned and quite frustrated. People are getting anxious.”
Fellow grower Brian Stevens says he has no problem with foreign ownership, it is the mill’s behaviour that is making growers so angry they will fight it to the end.
“We are determined to see it through it through to the end,” he said. “That would be an agreement that gives growers freedom of marketing.
“I don’t know how long [Wilmar] think they can thumb their nose at government but they certainly seem happy to do it in the short term. I guess they think holding out as long as they can will force growers to accept their contracts.”
But Stevens said that could backfire because growers and millers needed each other to survive.
“One can’t operate without the other. At this stage one side is trying to suck the life out of the other. But it will just make growers more angry and determined and frustrated.”
Wilmar was contacted for comment.
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