Australia: Push to speed potato moves

Abolishing WA’s outdated Potato Marketing Corporation could be fast-tracked if the move is supported by the majority of the industry, Premier Colin Barnett told State Parliament yesterday. Mr Barnett, who announced in April that the PMC would be scrapped after the 2017 State election, said the Government was open to bringing forward the timetable for the shift towards deregulation. But Mr Barnett said compensation remained an issue and he was “not at all” convinced growers should be paid out for leaving the industry, beyond taking into account licence fees paid to the Government. More