Merger of WA's grain organisations a step closer

6/9/02
The proposed merger of Co-operative Bulk Handling (CBH) and the Grain Pool of WA (GPWA) moved a step closer this week with State Government approval to introduce the relevant legislation into State Parliament.
The merger will integrate the main elements of the Western Australian grain industry supply chain to create value for the benefit of WA grain growers and customers.
Announcing details today, Agriculture Minister Kim Chance said the changes would make the expanded CBH-Grain Pool a more flexible body better able to operate in the rapidly changing grains industry environment.
The Grain Marketing Bill would establish a grain licensing authority, a statutory organisation that would be the regulator of the grains industry, and would have responsibility for assessing and issuing license applications. This would broadly parallel the functions of the Wheat Export Authority in the national wheat industry.
The new authority will have no marketing role.
Mr Chance said one of the mechanisms that the Grain Marketing Bill had adopted to meet NCP requirements was to separate the role of the regulator and the marketer of prescribed grains in WA.
"These bills are important in ensuring the industry keeps pace with the major rationalisation of the grains industry that is occurring both nationally and internationally," he said.
"Within the parameters of national competition policy, it is not the intention of the legislation to undermine the single desk. Rather, it provides an opportunity to allow WA grain to be traded in a competitive market in a way that allows the advantages that grain growers receive from the single desk - the price premium and certainty of payment - to be protected."
Grains covered by the Grain Marketing Bill are barley, lupins and canola.
Mr Chance said it was important that growers' interests and future needs were protected and was confident that the GLA would serve the interests of growers well.
The Minister said the Bulk Handling Amendment Bill was primarily designed to make changes to facilitate the merger of CBH and the Grain Pool, to modernise outdated provisions of the bulk Handling Act and to remove restrictions that were not NCP compliant.
In November 2001, CBH and the Grain Pool of WA announced to WA growers the intention to merge the two organisations. This proposal received 85.1 per cent support of voting members at CBH's annual general meeting in March 2002.
The merger will integrate the main elements of the WA Grain industry supply chain to create value for the benefit of WA grain growers and customers. It is designed to:

• deliver substantial economies through the elimination of duplicated services, cost savings from improved industry- wide operational efficiencies and value creation opportunities;

• enhance access to premium paying markets via a focus on grain quality and identity preservation;

• improve service delivery to growers and customers by providing a seamless operation from point of production to end-user customer; and

• provide a more efficient approach to storage construction and utilisation through combined research and development activities.