grain council now worried

Article from ABC News website today (25/1/06):

Grains Council sees need for change
The nation's peak grain-grower organisation has called for changes to Australia's wheat export system.

The Grains Council says monopoly wheat exporter AWB has not acted with growers as a high priority.

The council's David Ginns says after hearing eight days of evidence at the Cole inquiry, the group's members felt let down by AWB.

"I think we've got to take out of the Cole inquiry process an understanding that we can't go back to the status quo as it was prior to the inquiry," Mr Ginns said.

He is worried that unless changes are made, Australia could risk losing markets or the entire wheat export single desk, which he says the council still strongly supports.

Only this week, the Federal Government said it was willing to poll growers to gauge their support on the future of the wheat export system, to help it decide whether to make changes.

Federal Agriculture Minister Peter McGauran said in a statement the Government would continue to work with the industry to establish what is best for industry and the national interest.

AWB was unable to comment on the claims this morning.

Exporters

Meanwhile, Australia's grain exporters have asked the Prime Minister to remove AWB's export monopoly powers.

Their plan would open up the wheat export trade to other major companies already operating in the domestic market, as well as international competition.

The exporters also want the Wheat Marketing Act changed to end AWB's veto on bulk export grain shipments.

The association's executive secretary, John Begg, says it is the only way to ensure competition, transparency and protect growers' interests.

"Growers would find when they went to the local silo there would be eight to 10 buyers lining up for them and that would include such companies as the CBH, it would include Graincorp, Elders, the ABB and the AWB and, of course, international companies," he said.

Reserving judgment

Prime Minister John Howard says he will wait to hear more evidence from the Cole Commission of Inquiry into the oil-for-food program before making judgement on the future of AWB's management.

In a statement to the Australian Stock Exchange, the board of the wheat exporter has said it will take all necessary action to protect AWB, its reputation and its business.

The board has not ruled out management changes.

Mr Howard says he is following the inquiry closely.

"Nothing that has been presented thus far is at variance with the version of events that's been presented by the Government and [Foreign Minister] Mr Downer's made that quite clear and he's absolutely right," Mr Howard said.

"But I'm not going to start making definitive judgments about people. That is a matter for Mr Cole - that's why we appointed him."

At the inquiry today, a senior AWB executive has admitted that the wheat exporter deceived the United Nations in contracts it sent for approval in 2002.

Under tough questioning, group general manager of trading, Peter Geary, acknowledged the deception, after yesterday telling the inquiry AWB did not have to declare the inflated price of wheat.

In other developments:
Commissioner Terence Cole has told a senior AWB executive that his evidence about an oil-for-food wheat contract does not stack up. (Full Story)