Luke Simpkins (Cowan, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

While I was only given the option to speak on this motion on food labelling a couple of hours ago, I do welcome the opportunity because, whether it is in the supermarkets in my electorate of Cowan or in shops across the whole country, members would be aware that people picking up products from the shelves now tend to read the labels. It is something that people are doing more and more. The question, though—and it has been properly brought out as well—is: how accurate is that information?

One of the first things I always look for is where a product was made but, as we have heard, the accuracy of that information is questionable; the information given on production locations is unreliable. Wherever Australians are shopping—whether in IGA supermarkets, or at Coles, Woolworths or Action—people want certainty. More and more people are taking that sense of personal responsibility for their diets to heart. That is not meant to be a pun, but we must think about what we are putting into our bodies and what effect it has on us. It is true to say that we do not ultimately control our physical health by just what we eat. We must make efforts on the streets or in the gyms. The idea of everything in moderation and more exercise is always a good thing. Nevertheless, the idea of personal responsibility is being more and more embraced by people looking at the labels of products on the supermarket shelves.

The IGAs are importers of food, and in my area I see food, such as prawns, that has come from the Bay of Bengal or China and such places. There are stories about the somewhat questionable way in which that food might have been grown. So we look to food labelling for assurance that it is good and safe. It is the expectation of the majority of people in this country that what you see on the label is actually accurate. If the figures look okay, and if the label mentions Australia, there is a great sense of confidence. Unfortunately, though, such confidence has to be questioned. That is why I am very happy to see that the independent review will report just a couple of months down the track. Following its presentation to government, that report will be made available, in February 2011, to the Council of Australian Governments. We certainly look forward to seeing some good recommendations out of that independent review.

It is a complicated business. There is no doubt about it. I have read some of the submissions so far. There have been around 6,000 submissions, as I understand it. When you look at some of the very practical suggestions that have been made or even questions raised by various organisations you realise that this is a complicated business. It would be nice to have full disclosure and full information on nutritional value, country of origin, method of growing and everything else like that, but we cannot have a book attached to the food either. I think when you get down to it a lot of the submissions are going to come from people who really know what they are talking about and who are going to be able to provide practical solutions. You need to have a label on food that people understand is standardised so that everybody knows that we are all singing off the same sheet of music and people can pick a product off the shelf and look at it and know exactly what they are getting.

Of course, that is always complicated. There are variances between the processing and manufacturing in different places and there is the need for continual testing. It is an expensive process and a complicated one. But that is why we have these independent reviews. They give people with real knowledge and experience in these matters the opportunity to really make a difference. The reality is—and there is no doubt about this—that what the Australian people want is confidence. They want the labelling of food to be standardised. They do not want states to get in the way either. When people pick up a bottle of Vegemite—not that I would ever pick up a bottle of Vegemite—or any other sort of food, whether they are in New South Wales, Western Australia, Victoria or South Australia, they want to be able to see that there is a standard and that they can have confidence in what they are reading and looking at. This is important to the Australian people.

We do not want the states getting in the way, as I said before. So when this report is tabled we obviously will expect the government and the Council of Australian Governments—all the state and territory governments—to come to the party and make sure that we get something in place which is going to have a real benefit for people. As I said, whether it is in the IGAs in Cowan or in the Woolworths of Sydney or Melbourne, the system should be standardised so that people know exactly what they are getting. It is going to be difficult, of course. There is no doubt about that. But that is what is expected. Food labelling is what provides people with information. It provides them with information at the moment when they make a choice: ‘Do I want to go for something that is made in Indonesia or do I want to go for something that is made in Australia, and was it actually made in Australia?’ These things are important. This is what people look for.

The reality is that this should never be looked upon as some sort of opportunity to reduce free trade and to reimpose trade restrictions, because that is not the way the world has gone with the global economy and the many free trade agreements and bilateral agreements that we are entering into. This needs to be kept open. Food labelling should not get in the way of that. But, in any case, there is still a necessity to protect consumers. Australians want to know that what they are eating is safe and they want to know what they are actually eating. Clearly I am no expert on these matters, but we look to the independent review to provide the mechanism for this issue to be moved forward so we can get that standardisation. I certainly welcome that and look forward to that being produced.

What is also required is enforcement. Ultimately you can have every rule and law that there is to control everything but until there is someone there on the ground who is actually going to enforce them and stop people from doing the wrong thing it is pointless having them. So as part of this independent review it would be good to see consideration of whether the ACCC has enough powers to act and look after this issue or whether we need another organisation to look at this and be the watchdog out there on the ground, whether it is on the borders or generally testing across this country, to make sure that the laws are maintained, upheld and enforced. I look forward to the final submission from the independent review. I look forward to hearing what the government has to say about it and how each of the governments across the country react. There must be standardisation. The people of Australia expect it. People want confidence when they are buying and eating their food.

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