THE plight of the Queensland dairy industry has been in the spotlight with One Nation leader Pauline Hanson and the state's advocacy body stepping up calls for urgent action.
A floor price has been proposed by the Queensland Dairyfarmers' Organisation, which said the RRP should be increased to $1.50 per litre.
"This would allow margins of around 35 cents to the retailer, 40 cents to processor and would give farmers 75 cents at the farm gate," a spokesperson said.
"This should give most Queensland dairy farmers a sustainable and fair farm gate price which covers the costs of production... a reasonable cost of living and a modest profit."
Mr Buchholz had earlier raised concerns about the possibility of a national floor price, saying it would not benefit Scenic Rim farmers.
"The National Farmer's Federation, the Queensland Dairy Organisation and the South Australians all know full well that a national floor price...would leave Victorian farmers rubbing their hands together with glee and Queensland farmers out in the cold," he said.
"Local dairy farmers tell me that the average cost of production in Queensland before the drought was 55 cents a litre and now it's in most cases in excess of 60 cents. In Victoria it is 40 cents. (A floor price) will separate the national industry into the highly profitable and those just scraping by."
He said processors needed to back an increase to the retail cost of milk and pass the profits to local farmers.
"(They) are the ones that deal with both retailers and farmers. They are the ones with the power to ensure farmers are paid more for their product," he said.
Former Labor leader Bill Shorten backed a milk floor price at the last election.
The QDO spokesperson said the organisation was open to investigating every viable avenue to restore the industry.
"If there is a possibility that regulation or a milk levy in supermarkets is viable, practical and most importantly will work, then we will support it," the spokesperson said.
"While we would like to do this the nice way by having sensible and rational negotiations with all parties, if we need to, we'll do it the hard way and use whatever means necessary to get it done."
Last Thursday, Ms Hanson won support for an investigation into the performance of Australia's dairy industry since de-regulation in 2000.
It would include a look into the merits of tasking the ACCC to investigate how it could regulate the price of milk to ensure a viable dairy industry.
The findings are expected to be reported in March 2020.
It came after Ms Hanson put an ultimatum to the federal government that One Nation would stop voting in support of non-critical government business until action was taken to support the industry.
Wright MP Scott Buchholz did not respond to questions about whether he supported Ms Hanson's actions - including an urgency motion put to parliament on Tuesday and voted down by the Liberal Party.
Ms Hanson said annual milk production in Australia was 12 billion litres in 2000, but had fallen to 8.8 billion.
She pushed for the introduction of a dairy industry code of conduct by the end of the year at the latest, six months before the government's proposed date of June 2020.
Mr Buchholz spoke in support of a code earlier this year, saying it would help to address the current power imbalance between dairy farmers and processors.
Ms Hanson also called for re-regulation of the industry, which would mean legislative control over what processors pay for milk.
