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Victorian Greens party oppose farm protection laws making their support for Gippsland farmers insincere

Melina Bath criticises Greens MPs for their motion on supermarket price gouging, alleging insincere concern for Victorian farmers and blaming Labor for rising living costs exacerbated by the Greens' policies.

By news@gippsland - 28th February 2024 - Back to News

The Nationals MP, Melina Bath has lambasted upper house Greens MPs for their motion on supermarket price gouging, accusing them of falsely feigning concern for Victorian farmers. "Victorian farmers work long hours to bring food from paddock to plate - they are an essential industry," said Ms Bath.

Ms Bath says that the Greens consistently oppose policies benefiting farmers, such as tougher penalties for farm trespassing, recently rejected by them in parliament

Greens' anti-farmer stance

Ms Bath said, "The Greens have demonstrated time and again they are no friends of our primary producers - choosing to back extreme activists trespassing on livestock farms. It was only last sitting week that the Greens opposed legislation in state parliament to strengthen penalties for breaching biosecurity laws to better protect farmers, a policy of The Nationals."

"For the Greens to sympathise with the plight of farmers on this issue is disingenuous. Enabled by the Greens, the Allan Labor government has been the architect of the cost of living crunch in Victoria."

"Labor's agenda has put a huge strain on household budgets introducing 53 new or increased taxes in government, meanwhile ABS data shows there has been a rise of nine percent in food costs and 25 percent for electricity in the last year," she said.

Opposition to price fixing

Ms Bath said that while supermarket price gouging was a serious issue with potentially significant impacts on Australian farmers and consumers, the Greens motion to price fix groceries in two supermarket chains was not the answer.

"Price gouging was reported two years ago, yet only this month federal Labor called in the Australian Consumer and Competition Commission (ACCC) to investigate and establish whether supermarkets are unfairly selling products at inflated margins.

"The reality is federal Labor has been tardy, ignoring the increasing price disparity between the farmgate and the supermarket checkout. So many families are doing it tough, struggling to afford their grocery bill each week and Labor hand in hand with the Greens have continued to drive up the cost of food," Ms Bath concluded.

Pictures from Melina Bath MP Facebook page.

Source: http://gippsland.com/

Published by: news@gippsland.com