Federal Agriculture Minister Barnaby Joyce’s announcement that an inquiry into the crisis was being escalated was welcome, albeit overdue. The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission will lead the investigation.

"We are going to make sure that we get to the bottom of how this situation happened and we won't let it happen again,” he said.

That must be music to the ears of the south-west’s embattled dairy farmers. But tragically the beefed up investigation comes too late for some who have walked off the land, exasperated with payments for their milk that are less than what it costs them to produce it.

Much of the investigation will focus on Murray Goulburn, Australia’s biggest dairy processor. About half the south-west’s farmers are suppliers. MGs decision to slash the price of milk to its farmers triggered the crisis. 

MG on Wednesday announced a $40 million after-tax profit, which was 61 per cent up on the previous financial year. For farmers, who had their payments cut, that announcement was like rubbing salt into a gaping wound.

Cooriemungle supplier Steven Spokes had not received a milk cheque for four months and had been forced to sell many of his herd. “I’m about at the end of my tether, I’ve had enough of this bull….,” he said.

It emerged in the financial reports that MG board directors collected a 38 per cent pay rise for the 2015-16 financial year. It was to be 53 per cent but the whole board waived its fees for the last two months of the financial year as it attempted to save face.

Again, too little too late.

The board and management should hang their heads in shame. Why not sacrifice a percentage of the profit in favour of a higher milk price? Warrnambool Cheese and Butter copped a loss to preserve its suppliers while Bega Cheese made a profit and maintained prices. While MG chief executive Gary Helou departed after earning $3.3 million in the financial year, the board needs a shake-up too. Supplier elections will be intriguing.

Irreparable damage has been done but what’s needed now is decisive action and fresh perspectives. The investigation might provide some answers but it won’t change the pain farmers are feeling. Only cold hard cash and a positive future will change that. And Murray Goulburn has the power to deliver it. But will it?