Labor will work with crossbenchers next week in the Senate to bring on debate of One Nation leader Pauline Hanson’s dairy industry laws.
The bill tasks the competition watchdog to assess a minimum farm gate milk price and to make recommendations on the best design options.
Labor agriculture spokesman Joel Fitzgibbon said the bill’s aims were largely consistent with the policy his party took to the election.
“For too long our dairy farmers have been caught in a cost-price squeeze and their plight has now been compounded by the shocking drought”, Mr Fitzgibbon said in a statement on Wednesday.
“The retail price of milk remains stubbornly low while farm input costs continue to grow. Tough talk by ministers about the big supermarket chains have proven weak, hollow and ineffective. If the government won’t move to help our farmers, Labor and the cross bench will.”
He said Nationals senators would be given the chance to support dairy farmers.
In April 2018, the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission recommended the government develop and introduce a mandatory code of conduct for the dairy industry.
The government has promised to fast-track the code to start in January, but there are concerns about it within the Nationals.
“It has been well over 12 months and National Party MPs and senators are still arguing about what the code of conduct should look like, but the fact is they have had enough time to get the job done,” Mr Fitzgibbon said.
“Our dairy farmers deserve better than this.”
Last week, senior Nationals MP David Gillespie withdrew his support for the code, saying it was “flawed”.