Part 1: Chairman's ReviewBack to Contents | Next Section | Previous Section
I am pleased to be able to report on the continuing operations of the Dairy Adjustment Authority (the Authority). The work of the Authority over the past twelve months has been concentrated on completing the Supplementary Dairy Assistance program, which was announced by Minister Truss in May 2001. The Supplementary Dairy Assistance program targeted dairy producers who were most severely affected by price movements following deregulation, and those whose entitlement for Dairy Structural Adjustment Program payments was unintentionally limited by that Scheme’s eligibility criteria. There are two major components of the Supplementary Dairy Assistance Program:
The market milk payment rights comprised an additional payment to those farmers who were primarily reliant on market milk. By 30 June 2003, some 7,735 eligible dairy farmers had been granted payment rights to the value of $101.7 million. The discretionary payments took longer to complete than anticipated, because the Dairy Adjustment Authority had to:
The members of the Dairy Adjustment Authority Board then considered each case on its merit and exercised the discretion of the Authority when making the decisions. The cases were often complex, and in some instances, required considerable time to analyse the information received against legislative requisites. Discretionary payments to eligible dairy producers commenced in November 2001, and were almost complete by December 2002. At 30 June 2003, 641 eligible dairy producers had been granted discretionary payments rights to the value of more than $17.9 million. In November 2002, the Dairy Adjustment Authority completed a Review of the Adequacy of Collections of Dairy Adjustment Levy to fund the programs. The Dairy Adjustment Authority continues to resolve minor administrative matters in connection with some of the Dairy Structural Adjustment Program payment rights, whilst also dealing with remaining appeals to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The Dairy Adjustment Authority is now well into its winding up phase, with activity largely related to quarterly payments under the programs. This phasing-down of activities has resulted in further substantial decreases in the costs of operations. The Dairy Adjustment Authority will continue until the last of the Dairy Structural Adjustment Program and Supplementary Dairy Assistance payments are made in 2008. It should be noted that the Authority would not have made such significant progress and met Government timeframes through this challenging exercise without the dedication and hard work of its members, management and staff. In addition, I would like to express the appreciation of the Board and Management
Patrick Musgrave Back to top | Back to Contents | Next Section | Previous Section |
|
© Commonwealth of Australia 2003. This work is copyright. Apart from any use as permitted under the Copyright Act 1968, no part may be reproduced by any process without prior written permission from the Commonwealth available from the Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts. Requests and inquiries concerning reproduction and rights should be addressed to the Commonwealth Copyright Administration, Intellectual Property Branch, Department of Communications, Information Technology and the Arts, GPO Box 2154, Canberra ACT 2601 or by email. dcita.mail@dcita.gov.au ISBN 0-642-50275-7 ISSN 1446-0432 www.daa.gov.au/publications. For further information on the DairyAdjustment Authority, contact Daryl Gifford - General Manager Operations Ph 1800 503 603 |
