Family-owned Maleny Dairies' milk has flown off the shelves in an outpouring of community support after the company accused the Queensland Government of hypocrisy for overlooking them in a tender decision.

Instead, the Queensland Government chose two multi-national dairy processors to supply fresh milk and dairy products to some of the state's major hospitals.

Key points: Community backlash against a tender decision boosts Maleny Dairies milk sales

Community backlash against a tender decision boosts Maleny Dairies milk sales The LNP has launched a petition asking for the tender to be reviewed by the Queensland Government

The LNP has launched a petition asking for the tender to be reviewed by the Queensland Government The state's Health Minister says the government's 'Buy Queensland' tender policy grants contracts to companies that support locals and Lactalis has more than 140 Queensland suppliers

"Our orders have increased more than the hospital order would have been [for this last week]," Maleny Dairies owner Ross Hopper said.

"And one of the straws that they [the State Government] were clutching at was saying that we were too small and couldn't handle their orders. Well, we've just proven that wrong, haven't we?

"We've won Queensland's best milk two years in row and we're current holders of Australia's people's choice awards for best milk and we'll know next month whether we're Australia's best milk again.

"It's not as if we're just making a heap of noise and have got nothing to provide."

LNP Member for Glasshouse Andrew Powell, Maleny Dairies owner Ross Hopper, and Qld Opposition Leader Deb Frecklington at a dairy farm in Maleny. ( ABC Sunshine Coast: Owen Jacques )

The LNP today launched an online petition asking the Queensland Government to reverse its "disgraceful decision" in awarding the bulk of the health service contract for the Metro North Hospital and Health Service to French-owned Lactalis, with a smaller proportion going to Chinese-owned Lion Dairy and Drinks.

"Maleny Dairies is proudly Queensland, but they've been utterly betrayed by Labor," Opposition leader Deb Frecklington said.

LNP Member for Glasshouse Andrew Powell said they needed 10,000 signatures on the petition by February 3 to get the issue before parliament.

"This is a Queensland company that has been taken for a ride by the government and they deserve some justice and some reasonable explanation as to why that has occurred," Mr Powell said.

"It's another opportunity for us to debate this with the government around their accountability and their use of Maleny Dairies as a showcase for their 'Buy Queensland' policy, only to turn around and knock them from the tender."

Maleny Dairies supported the government at marketing events to launch its 'Buy Queensland' procurement policy last year and has invested more than $9 million to upgrade its factory to improve efficiencies and be able to process more milk.

The robot at work in the cold room at Maleny Dairies. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

But Health Minister Steven Miles said it was not true that the health service had gone against its own policy, and defended the decision.

"Our priority is granting contracts to those companies who employ locals and the Pauls factory employs more people in the Brisbane region, where this contract is awarded, for Brisbane hospitals than any other dairy [processor] and it is supplied by more Queensland farms than any other," he said.

"The government supports local producers. Unfortunately, Maleny Dairies couldn't supply the volume needed for Metro North's dairy contract and, more importantly, couldn't supply all the products to meet the dietary requirements of sick Queenslanders in hospital.

"This contract will see Pauls buy milk from over 140 Queensland dairy farmers. Every single one of them family-owned and operated.

"These are family-owned dairies in Darling Downs, Lockyer Valley, Wide Bay, South Burnett, Central Queensland, and the Atherton Tableland."

Queensland Health Minister Steven Miles speaking during Question Time at Parliament House in Brisbane. ( AAP: Darren England )

The Minister defended the independence of the local health service to run the tender process.

"We've seen with the [Federal] sports grants that the LNP isn't particularly good at running through appropriate processes. But this is an appropriate process," Mr Miles said.

"They applied the local weighting under the policy, they considered how many local jobs would be supported by this contract, particularly in Brisbane. These were Brisbane hospitals and they've followed an appropriate process and in the process are supporting hundreds of dairy farmers as well as hundreds of workers."

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Maleny Dairies' Ross Hopper questioned the quality of that support and said his family business had grown to take on 11 local dairies, with another supplying milk when needed.

"If you look at 20 years ago there were 1,500 dairy farmers in Queensland and we had two major companies back then and they [Lactalis] were one of them and now there are fewer than 300, so you tell me how they're running the show," Mr Hopper said.

"We want to take on more farmers, we've got more farmers ringing us wanting to supply us and if that's any indication of how these other foreign-owned companies are looking after their farmers, why are they lining up to come across?"

Maleny Dairies processes milk from 11 farms, including the home farm owned by Ross Hopper's brother and his wife. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

Maleny Dairies has traditionally paid its suppliers more per litre for their milk, recently increasing prices to dairy farmers struggling with drought, without raising retail milk prices, which they plan to do in March.

"The sticking point is they didn't choose a local company," Mr Hopper said.

"What is the future if the government says 'buy local' and they can't even do that, well, what faith have we got in what they're saying what they're going to do?

"Our farmers are copping a good hiding and we've got to look after them."

On its website, Lactalis promotes Paul's history in Queensland: "We continue to invest and expand in Australia, setting the benchmark for the dairy industry locally and playing an ever-increasing role in the export of dairy products into Asia."

Maleny Dairies will soon find out if its gold top Farmer's Choice milk is judged the nation's best for the second year running in the Australian Grand Dairy Awards. ( ABC Rural: Jennifer Nichols )

When asked whether he was surprised at the backlash over the tender decision Minister Steven Miles responded:

"I'm always surprised at how easy it is for people to get misinformation, spread misinformation on social media, and that's certainly what has happened and what the LNP continues to do with this stunt today," he said.

"Opposition leader Deb Frecklington needs to answer to the dairy farmers in her own electorate, who she is today arguing should not benefit from this contract in favour of those in another electorate."

Andrew Powell said when hospital tenders were awarded to Lactalis when the LNP was in government, it was on a different playing field.

'We hadn't launched a 'Buy Queensland' policy and neither did we shop Maleny Dairies around under the policy launch of this 'Buy Queensland' policy," he said.

"These guys [Maleny Dairies] spent a week down at the Ekka as part of a government initiative around this 'Buy Queensland' policy. That's the difference here."

Mr Miles said Maleny Dairies would be seriously considered if it applied to supply to the next tender for the Sunshine Coast Hospital and Health Service.

"Of course, we will. Metro North is a Brisbane hospital milk contract and it was awarded to a Brisbane-based milk producer," he said.

"Obviously the case for Maleny Dairies is even stronger on the Sunshine Coast."