National Federation Party leader and member of the Special Parliamentary Committee on Sugar, Professor Biman Prasad, has assured cane growers that the government will deliver a final price above the guaranteed $85 per tonne for the 2025–26 season, dismissing Opposition claims that recent top-ups represent the season’s final cane price.
Prasad clarified the government’s $36.5 million support is a staged top-up to certified payments, not the final valuation. The package was split into three instalments: a $10.07-per-tonne top-up for the third payment, which was paid on April 20; a $6.77-per-tonne top-up slated for the fourth payment due in May; and a $5.16-per-tonne top-up earmarked for the final payment due in October. He said these amounts will be added to the payments once they are certified by the Sugar Industry Tribunal.
Highlighting the impact of the intervention, Prasad said the April 20 top-up prevented the third payment from collapsing to a token sum. “If Government had not topped up the third cane payment by $10.07… the third payment would have been only 84 cents per tonne,” he told growers, stressing that the announced figures are supplementary to, and separate from, tribunal-certified payments.
Prasad rejected assertions by some Opposition figures that the top-ups amount to the final guaranteed price, describing such accusations as misleading and politically motivated. He accused “unscrupulous politicians” of deliberately misleading growers and the nation and warned that attempts to use the issue to influence voters ahead of the general election would fail. He also pointed to previous seasons when growers were short-paid and said critics remained silent at the time.
The Special Parliamentary Committee on Sugar — which Prasad sits on — has been monitoring the certification process, which must be completed by the Sugar Industry Tribunal before the fourth and final payments are released and the top-ups applied. The Tribunal’s certification will determine the base rates that the government top-ups will augment.
Prasad framed the move as a continuation of government policy established over the past three years, saying the Coalition has consistently intervened to ensure growers receive final payments above the guaranteed floor of $85 per tonne. The staged nature of the top-ups, he said, is designed to shore up grower incomes throughout the payment cycle rather than presenting a single, final figure.
Growers will now be watching for the Tribunal’s certification in May for the fourth payment and the scheduled final payment in October, when the remaining top-up amounts will be applied. Prasad reiterated that the $36.5 million is meant to protect growers’ returns for the season and is not a replacement for the tribunal-determined payments.
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