Senator JOYCE—Mr Chaseling, no doubt you would have heard one of the previous witnesses, Mr Clarke, and what I thought was quite a startling revelation that he is aware that there have been discussions about the corporatisation of CBH and, more than that, that CBH has had discussions about how to avoid a monopoly type vertical integration in the market by a structural break-up of the company if it is corporatised. What are your views on that? Do you think that is absolutely essential if you are to survive in the market because if that did not happen then a corporatised CBH would have to look after their shareholders, which would mean, precisely, putting you out of business?

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Mr Chaseling—The CBH corporatisation concept and proposal is a matter of public record. I think it has gone to the vote. There have been some changes at the director level in CBH over that issue. I cannot quote the exact number but I believe something in the order of 60 per cent of CBH cooperative members voted for it the last time it went to the vote. I think that is the number; I am sure it is available somewhere. There has been a bit of a backlash against that at the grower level. If there is one product and service that is suited to cooperative principles it is probably storage and handling. Be that as it may, it appears to us that CBH are making real efforts to separate out the commercial operations in terms of their trading and marketing area to the point where they are trying to separate them physically into another building and run their storage and handling as an open access system. That seems to be the direction in which they are heading. If they were corporatised then I think their attitude may change. But that is speculation.

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Senator JOYCE—Why would the growers want separation of storage and handling and marketing? I know that is an obvious question, but I just want to get it on the record.

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Mr Chaseling—Obviously they are best suited to answer that. But I think the reason is that ultimately growers want an efficient place at which to deliver their grain and at the point of delivery they want as much competition as they can get so they can get transparency about the market.

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Senator JOYCE—Transparency.

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Mr Chaseling—That is what they want. So what they are probably saying to CBH is, ‘We want you to stay a storage and handling company.’ Whether or not that makes sense from a global domination perspective in terms of growing a business, what they are actually interested in is an efficient storage and handling network that they can deliver their grain to. That seems to be their motivation. Whether it becomes the world dominant grain trading company is not of interest to most growers in Western Australia. I think they just want an efficient storage and handling network.

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Senator JOYCE—If it is a vertically integrated corporate monopoly, one thing it is not going to be is transparent.

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Mr Chaseling—Do you mean a vertically integrated grain trading monopoly?

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Senator JOYCE—A grain trading corporate monopoly.

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Mr Chaseling—Yes, I think some of the information might fall between the cracks.

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Senator JOYCE—You are aware that the legislation completely lacks a section dealing with access to ports. You have quite rightly said we have also had the proposition put to us that if people want access upcountry they will just build their own receival mechanism and then the world will work. You have cast doubts on that—

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CHAIR—Senator Joyce, we really are running short of time, so I would ask you to make this your last question and wind it up.

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Senator JOYCE—In a vertically integrated corporate monopoly, do you have the capacity to build receival mechanisms upcountry and have any hope of their surviving?

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Mr Chaseling—I think there are very real structural barriers to the provision of true competition in the Australian grain market as a result of the fact that our storage and handling infrastructure has been built up around the fundamental principle of a single desk selling system. If we are going to change the single desk selling system then we need to make sure we make appropriate adjustments in the way the handling infrastructure is managed. I think that is the view.

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CHAIR—Senator Joyce, I have to bring us back on time. If you have any questions, you might want to put them on notice.

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Senator JOYCE—I have a question on notice. How long do you think it would take to get the Trade Practices Act amendment passed jointly with this bill?

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CHAIR—Mr Chaseling, you can take that question on notice. Thank you very much for appearing before the committee today.