17th Oct 2017, 6:41 PM – Senate Regulations and Determinations - Competition and Consumer (Industry Code — Sugar) Regulations 2017 - Disallowance

The majority voted against disallowing the Competition and Consumer (Industry Code—Sugar) Regulations 2017. Had this vote been successful, those Regulations would have stopped having effect in law, but since the vote failed they will continue as they are.

Senator David Leyonhjelm introduced this motion to disallow because he believes that the Regulations were introduced too hastily in response to demands from the One Nation Party and that there was insufficient consultation on them. Read his whole explanation for why he thinks they should be disallowed.

What do these Regulations do?

According to the Explanatory Statement:

The purpose of the Competition and Consumer (Industry Code—Sugar) Regulations 2017 (the Regulations) is to regulate the conduct of growers, mill owners and marketers (of grower economic interest sugar) in relation to contracts or agreements for the supply of cane or the on‑supply of sugar. This includes establishing a process for pre‑contractual arbitration where the parties fail to agree to terms of contracts or agreements.

In addition, the Regulations ensure that supply contracts between growers and mill owners have the effect of guaranteeing a grower’s choice of the marketing entity for the sale of sugar for which the grower bares the price exposure risk.