GRAIN groups have called for the role of Wheat Exports Australia to be expanded to include grain stocks reporting and promoting Australian wheat.
Representatives of the groups have told the Productivity Commission they wanted WEA to fill some of the gaps left by the dismantling of the single desk.
The commission is investigating the effectiveness of the wheat export marketing arrangements.
The Victorian Farmers Federation called for the WEA to stay indefinitely and for its role to be expanded to include stock reporting.
VFF grains group president Russell Amery told a Productivity Commission hearing growers wanted an independent umpire everyone in the industry could go to "without fear or favour and know that their concerns will be heard".
Mr Amery said the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission did not have the powers to act on unconscionable behaviour at up-country sites and the freight movement of grain to ports.
He said the WEA could move towards this role and expand its role to include stock reporting.
"It's a function that the Government believes ABARE could do," Mr Amery said.
"We believe WEA is probably in a better position with their monitoring of what's going out of the country on a day-to-day basis."
Mr Amery said ABARE's reports were about six weeks old.
He said it was simply too early to consider moving WEA out of the equation.
However, Pastoralist and Graziers Association of WA spokesman Sheldon Mumby told another hearing WEA was only a transitional measure during deregulation.
"As such, being as a transitional situation, we feel that there would need to be a sunsetting of the role of WEA," Mr Mumby said.
"We would hope that the sunset should occur at the time of the expiry of the current accreditations that are in place ... which would be 2012."
West Australian Grain Growers called for an expansion of the role of WEA.
WAGG spokesman Ray Marshall said the role of WEA could expand to include the "overseeing of all kinds of things, probably similar to the American wheat associates".
WA Farmers grains spokesman Derek Clauson agreed the WEA could have a role to play in protecting the reputation of Australian wheat.
He said the reputation of Australian wheat was critical to the continuing viability of the Australian grains industry.
"We see that the WEA has a potential role to play in the maintenance of the reputation of Australian wheat, ensuring that the quality today does not slip from the position that it enjoyed under the single desk," Mr Clauson said.
But WEA should not be similar to the US Wheat Associates, he said.
"We see no role for Wheat Exports Australia to play in terms of trying to emulate the position of the US wheat associates, which acts basically as a sales group, lobbying group," he said.
