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Dairy Industry (Drinking Milk) Bill 2013
Introduced into the House of
Representatives on 11 February 2013
By:
Mr Katter MP
1.1
This bill seeks
to:
- establish a
register of dairy representative bodies from particular regions and states and a
national dairy representative body;
- require Fair
Work Australia to determine a modern award for dairy farmers, with the
objective of providing a fair minimum return for dairy farmers on their labour
and investment in producing milk, with terms including a minimum price for milk
(or a mechanism for calculating this);
- modify the Fair
Work Act 2009 to enable an agreement between dairy farmers and a processor
to be effected as an enterprise agreement; and
- infer that a
valid collective bargaining notice has been provided for the purposes of the Competition
and Consumer Act 2010 when the dairy representative for a region, or
collection of regions, is in negotiations with processors on the sale of drinking
milk.
Compatibility with human
rights
1.2
The statement of
compatibility accompanying the bill reproduces the template provided by the
Attorney-General's Department without making specific reference to the bill or
to specific rights that
might be affected by the bill.
The statement concludes by stating that the bill is compatible with human
rights.
Right
to freedom of association
1.3
In providing for
the registration of dairy representative bodies, chosen by dairy farmers, Part
2 of the bill may be said to promote the right to freedom of association.
Article 22 of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights provides
that everyone has the right to freedom of association with others, which
protects the right of all persons to form and join an association.
Right
to just and favourable conditions of work/Right to an adequate standard of
living
1.4
By ensuring that
farmers receive a minimum price for their milk, the bill might be viewed as
promoting the right under article 7 of the International Covenant on Economic,
Social and Cultural Rights (ICESCR) of a person to ‘the enjoyment of just and
favourable conditions of work, which ensure, in particular:
(a)
Remuneration which provides all workers, as a minimum, with:
(ii)
A decent living for themselves and their families ...
The bill might also be viewed as
contributing to the realisation of the right to an adequate standard of living
guaranteed by article 11 of the ICESCR.
1.5
The
committee considers that this bill does not appear to give rise to human rights
concerns.
1.6
The
committee intends to write to Mr Katter, noting that the statement of
compatibility fails to identify specific rights which may be promoted or
limited by the bill and that it is a requirement of the Human Rights
(Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011 that substantive statements of
compatibility be supplied even in cases where the effect of the proposed
legislation is to promote rather than limit the enjoyment of a relevant right.
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