Deregulation of the Dairy industry looks like being rammed through under urgency, without allowing farmers the time to understand the full impact on their working lives and the chance to have their say, Alliance spokesperson for Agriculture, John Wright said today.

The special select committee set up to deliberate the deregulation must report back to parliament at the end of this week.'Why the haste?

The usual time for submission to be presented to a select committee is about two months, and in total the p rocess usually takes about six months.

'Now minister John Luxton wants to do with the dairy industry what Max Bradford did with electricity. And look at the mess the electricity industry is in as a result.

'The electricity industry reforms were rushed through in only 41 days. Now Mrs Shipley's government wants to rush through drastic changes to the dairy industry in only 48 days maximum.

'There has been a lack of consultation, and very little information available. Farmers are being asked to make major investment changes that could make or break their business.

But they're not being given the time to either have their say, or make their feelings known to Mr Luxton.

'It is plain crazy to be rushing ahead with the deregulation of our dairy industry, a few months out from an election,' said John Wright.

ENDS

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Gordon Campbell: On the Sony cyber attack

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