Patrick J. Byrne

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AGRICULTURE: Dairy farmers fight for survival

Rural AffairsJune 5, 2004

As dairy farmers are being warned to expect further falls in the farm gate prices for their milk next season, desperate farmers are taking to the streets and highways. Recently, 200 younger farmers blocked part of highways with 120 vehicles near Colac in Victoria. In Gippsland 150 farmers and 90 vehicles blocked the highway. In Shepparton 200 farmers and 80 vehicles protested. In Queensland they clashed with police outside a Wooloworths supermarket in Brisbane. Other protests are planned for Swan Hill (Vic), Taree (NSW) and Mount Gambier (SA). Farmers have also taken to protesting outside the offices of members of…

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Ethanol for strategic energy self-reliance

National AffairsMay 22, 2004

The price of oil has hit US$40 a barrel. It may be a temporary spike, due to the current crisis in Iraq. However, intelligence analysts have been warning that more than 30 years after the oil price hikes of the 1970s that sent the world economy into a spin, Arab states control two-thirds of the worlds proven reserves of oil, and the West is increasingly dependent on Arab oil. Some leading Arab oil states are unstable and facing terrorist threats. Should Saudi Arabia fall to Arab extremists and its oil supplies be curbed or a terrorist nuclear device be exploded…

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AGRICULTURE: Sugar package, Clayton’s package

Rural AffairsMay 22, 2004

Prime Minister John Howard has handed out a $444 million package to the sugar industry, focused on one year’s relief and aimed at tiding the government over the Federal election. While the media focused on the PM’s package, Queensland Premier, Peter Beattie, was quietly pushing further deregulation of the sugar industry through State Parliament. On the one hand, the Federal package vindicates the year of protests organised by the Sugar Industry Reform Committee, which was told repeatedly by politicians, and even some industry leaders, that “there is no more money for the sugar industry,” “there is no point beating that…

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NATIONAL AFFAIRS: Will new NCP inquiry be a whitewash?

National AffairsMay 8, 2004

When the Prime Minister recently consulted with cane farmers in north Queensland, leading Burdekin farmer Max Menzel was shown on national television telling Mr Howard that National Competition Policy was “killing our rural industries.” Since then, Queensland Premier Peter Beattie has backed a resolution in the new state parliament strongly critical of National Competition Policy (NCP) and calling on the Federal government to undertake a major review of the 10-year-old policy. His action begs the questions: will the Queensland Government heed the call of the Sugar Industry Reform Committee to place a moratorium on deregulation of the sugar industry until…

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