Senator JOYCE—Mr Woods, you were formerly involved with the Gilgandra co-op—is that correct?

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Mr Woods—Yes.

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Senator JOYCE—Can you tell me about the position the Gilgandra co-op had on the single desk and the AWB?

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Mr Woods—We, the Gilgandra co-op, ran wheat pools. We sold our wheat to a large number of organisations in the domestic market and to AWB.

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Senator JOYCE—Do you believe, once AWB is removed as a countervailing force in the marketing of wheat, that GrainCorp, CBH in the west and ABB elsewhere will have a far better position in the market, in that they can receive, transport and export the wheat without having to deal with any other market forces?

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Mr Woods—That is asking for a personal opinion, which I cannot give.

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Senator JOYCE—Do you think that WEMA was given the appropriate amount of time to set up as an organisation?

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Mr Woods—Again, you are asking for a personal opinion; I cannot give that.

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Senator JOYCE—Can you tell me how long it took to set up the first single desk?

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Mr Woods—Sorry?

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Senator JOYCE—In setting up the legislation for the single desk—which we are currently getting rid of—how much money did it cost and how long did it take to actually put together?

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Mr Woods—The single desk?

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Senator JOYCE—Yes, the legislation on the corporatisation of—

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Mr Woods—That was 1989 and 1999, and I do not know how much it cost to set up.

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Senator JOYCE—In coming before us here today, do you have any positions as regards the appropriateness or otherwise of the single desk that you can deliver to us, or can’t you give that because it is a personal opinion?

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Mr Woods—You are asking for a personal opinion and I cannot give it. I am here as the Acting CEO of the Export Wheat Commission. We have to implement any policy, so I cannot give personal opinions or make comments on policy.

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Senator JOYCE—Let us try to find something that is not a personal opinion. Do you believe that there is the capacity for a better price to be attained by a multiplicity of sellers to a single desk buyer, such as Iraq or India, that would not be able to be attained by a single desk seller to Iraq or India?

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Mr Woods—That is hypothetical and I cannot answer it. It is personal.

0Senator Heffernan interjecting—

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Senator JOYCE—You can, after I have finished, Senator Heffernan. Do you have any views on what the Americans have said in regard to our single desk: whether they think it is a good outcome or a bad outcome for them?

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Mr Woods—That is a personal opinion. Again, I cannot answer it.

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Senator JOYCE—You have a lot of personal issues.

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Mr Woods —No, I have none.

Senator JOYCE—It has been said that the single desk is a form of collective bargaining by farmers. What is the ACCC’s view on collective bargaining by farmers?

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Mr Dimasi—There is a provision for collective bargaining by any number of bodies, and we certainly have considered the option of collective bargaining by various participants. But as to your comment about whether the single desk forms a collective bargaining arrangement, that is something we have not turned our minds to.

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Senator JOYCE—Does collective bargaining promote competitive outcomes?

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Mr Dimasi—It is possible that collective bargaining may not promote competitive outcomes, but there are circumstances where the public benefit may justify collective bargaining arrangements. So there are provisions to consider the benefits and detriments of those sorts of arrangements.

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Senator JOYCE—Does collective bargaining give farmers countervailing power when faced with monopoly or dominant buyers? Isn’t countervailing power important to promoting competitive outcomes when farmers have to deal with those dominant or vertically integrated companies?

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Mr Dimasi—Collective bargaining can in some circumstances provide countervailing power. It depends on the circumstances and it is something that would be considered if such a request came to us.

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Senator JOYCE—Currently we have a wheat export market that has a single wheat desk or collective bargaining arrangement between farmers and monopoly operators in transport, storage, handling and ports. Would you agree that each offers countervailing powers against the other and, as a result, the wheat export market is evenly balanced in a competitive sense?

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Mr Dimasi—We would have to consider the circumstances, and we have not done that. I do not think we could reach that sort of conclusion on the hop, so to speak. I understand your argument, but I do not know whether I would agree with it. I would have to look at the circumstances.

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Senator JOYCE—In your view, when a monopoly exists, does this generally bring diminished returns over time to the people who are trying to supply it?

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Mr Dimasi—In our view, generally monopolies do lead to suboptimal outcomes for society, and generally that is why there are provisions in some circumstances to deal with them.

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Senator JOYCE—What is stopping monopoly pricing at ports?

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Mr Dimasi—I do not know whether there is or is not monopoly pricing at ports. We have not examined it.

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Senator JOYCE—What powers do you have if monopolies exist at a regional level to break those up, and can you give any examples of where you have had the capacity to break them up in the past?

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Mr Dimasi—The Trade Practices Act is not generally geared towards breaking up monopolies. That generally tends to be a policy issue. Where people or firms with market power abuse that power, there are circumstances where provisions in the legislation can deal with particular behaviour. But other than through mergers and acquisitions, where section 50 comes into play, I do not think that there are provisions in the legislation to go and break up monopolies wherever they may exist.

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Senator JOYCE—I now want to go to another section of the Trade Practices Act, part IIIA. Do you agree that trying to get access to infrastructure is a slow and strongly resisted process?

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Mr Dimasi—Generally I would agree that under part IIIA, or indeed other provisions of access, all the players vigorously pursue their interests and take all the options available to them. Yes, gaining access can sometimes take a substantial amount of time.

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Senator JOYCE—It has been put to this inquiry that the form of competition will come from storage capacity and people withholding grain from sale as a mechanism of competition. Do you feel that that is an inferior form of competition to active participation at the receival level?

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Mr Dimasi—I am not sure that I quite understand the question. In