Amanda Rishworth (Kingston, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Health) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I speak both to the amendments made to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Country of Origin) Bill 2016 and also to Labor's amendment talking about the importance of labelling of seafood. This issue around proper country-of-origin labelling has been an issue close to my heart for some time. Indeed, I was pleased to have moved a private member's motion in this place in October 2010, really putting a focus and highlight about how important country-of-origin labelling was to my electorate—not only the importance of having very clear labels about where food comes but also the importance of the misleading labels that were often attached to food.

There has been a lot of talk about how influential the committee process was in developing this policy. I am very pleased that, while I was not on that committee, I made my own submission on behalf of residents in my electorate to the Representatives' Standing Committee on Agriculture and Industry inquiry into the country-of-origin labelling system. I was very pleased to have been able to make that on behalf of my constituents. Indeed, I have written and spoken many times about it.

The reason this issue is so important to people in my electorate is: quite fundamentally, people want to know what they are eating. The want to know what they are eating and they want to know where that food was grown. It is a very, very simple proposition, and it is something that people have raised with me many, many times. When we saw labels such as 'Made from local and imported ingredients', people were very confused. People are confused about what that actually means. If you pick up some sort of tin of product and you read that, it is very hard to decipher what that means and where the local produce comes from.

After this was raised with me on numerous occasions—in fact, many, many times—we actually had a look into this. What we found is what has been highlighted and what this bill takes steps to address: if you transform a product here in Australia then you can say it is made in Australia. That means that product may well have been grown in a different country, but, because of the transformation that it goes through—as the previously speaker said it may be dehydrated and rehydrated back here in Australia; or, indeed, I had issues around a range of different processes that the food went through—it then allowed a 'Made in Australia' label to be put on. Now, if you think it is made in Australia, then you would assume—and it would be a simple assumption to make—that, indeed, that food was also grown in Australia as well. Many people, when they found this not to be the case, were very upset. It was regularly raised with me about this type of labelling.

Also, when I looked into the definition of 'Made in Australia', 'Manufactured in Australia', 'Made from local and imported ingredients', there was no consistent way to communicate what was actually grown in Australia for consumers to make informed decisions. Then there was the 'Australian owned' label as well. As it was being accompanied by the Australian flag on that label, it meant that the company only had to be Australian owned. In fact, none of the food had to be grown or manufactured in Australia.

The lack of consistency and the lack of definitions have been a problem for a significant amount of time. I think we are now taking steps in the right direction, both with this piece of legislation and with the new labelling process that will, over the next two years, phase in the percentage that is grown in Australia and that is made in Australia, so that people have very clear information but also a visual context in which to make that decision.

I am still disappointed that, where the product is not grown in Australia, where it was actually grown will not necessarily be identified on the product. I heard the previous speaker talk about how complicated it can get, and I recognise that it is not an easy thing to work through, especially when—with tinned food, for example—you may have ingredients coming from a variety of places. However, other countries have worked out how to identify the origin of products, or the majority of products used—obviously, not for every single product used in a tin of canned food, but for a significant proportion of them. I will keep advocating to make sure that as much information as possible about where the product comes from, where it was grown, where it was manufactured and how it came to be on the shelves in this country is provided to consumers. Ultimately, an informed consumer is the best consumer, and it does give consumers the confidence to make those informed decisions. It is something I know that CHOICE has campaigned for for a long time, and I have to say they have done a good job when it comes to food labelling by regularly bringing this issue into the public sphere.

As I mentioned, it is in the national interest that we get on top of this. That is why Labor will be supporting these changes to the Competition and Consumer Amendment (Country of Origin) Bill as it amends the Competition and Consumer Act, altering the country-of-origin labelling safe harbour provisions under the Australian Consumer Law.

Safe harbour provisions are designed to provide businesses with certainty about the types of claims they can make regarding country-of-origin labelling without breaching the Australian Consumer Law. I think some of the examples that have been brought to me by consumers have sailed pretty close to the wind when it comes to the Australian Consumer Law; however, these issues have not been taken up and have not been prosecuted. I hope that this legislation, through really tightening and amending these provisions, will make it much clearer about when claims can and cannot be made.

Changes to the country-of-origin labelling requirement for food sold in Australia were announced—as mentioned—in July 2015 and came into effect on July 2016, with that two-year transition period for industry. I know that people in my electorate and growers alike are looking forward to this transition period being over, so we can start seeing these labels everywhere on our shelves as we walk up and down the shopping centre aisles. I really think that consumers are a lot more aware about where their food is grown. There are issues around health—we saw that with the hepatitis scare that affected this country very recently. It was something that I think jolted us all into action, but people in my electorate were already talking about this issue. They were already raising it with me and were already concerned.

When it comes to the changes, this may be an example of the parliament catching up with the people of Australia. I think consumers are very conscious about their health and want to know where their food comes from but, equally, I think Australians want to support Australian farmers. They want to support locally grown products, and that can often be seen through the large numbers of people turning up at farmers markets. I know there are farmers markets in and around my electorate selling local produce, and people like to go there and support local farmers.

I will pick up the member for Grey on one issue: he said that people want the cheapest food possible, and sometimes that is not the food grown in Australia. I have to say that, if he goes down to some of the farmers markets in or near my electorate, you can get a bargain—it is a lot cheaper than perhaps going to your local supermarket or indeed buying a can of food. There is some really good, cheap, fresh produce available straight from the farm gate, and I would encourage people who have not been to the Willunga Farmers Market to get down there and enjoy that, as well as the Adelaide Farmers' Market or the Adelaide Central Market. We have some wonderful produce on offer.

It is an important issue that we need to get on top of. That is why I think that, once this two-year transition period is over, people will be cheering about the fact that they will now know the percentage of Australian produce within products. Labor has made an amendment to this that would see labelling go further when it comes to seafood, and I will continue to advocate for much clearer labelling of food, particularly identifying not only the percentage of Australian-made food or Australian produced and grown food but also where the majority of the food may have originated from. We need to continue to push that. This is a step in the right direction, but we need to do more.

Finally, I would say that this is an important amendment. It is something that my constituents have been pushing for for some time. It is something that, as I said, I have made representations on, whether it be private member's motions, submissions to the committee or speeches in this place, and I am very, very pleased to see some movement. I commend this amendment, as well as Labor's amendment, to the House, look forward to the new labelling regime coming in and still will this House to do better.

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