Jason Falinski (Mackellar, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question to the minister is: what is the status of the government's reforms to country-of-origin labelling? I ask this question because we know a number of things about the importance of country-of-origin labelling. The first is: you cannot have a market operate effectively and efficiently if you do not have information available for consumers to make choice. It is called asymmetric information. It is incredibly important that we as legislators ensure that consumers have the information they need. Secondly, we know that there are enormous economic benefits from having proper information clearly communicated to the market. It is estimated that country-of-origin labelling laws will generate $66 million for the Australian economy. Finally, of course, there is the producer issue, as well. It is difficult for producers to spend the time, the money and make the investment to ensure that products are made here in this country, are sourced here in this country and are packaged here in this country if it goes into a marketplace where they cannot distinguish their products as being Australian made from other people in the marketplace who are deliberately hiding or seeking to confuse that fact and confuse consumers from the fact. It is for these three issues that I ask that question.

In my community, whether it be the mothers of Avalon or the fathers of Forestville, they have spoken to me on several occasions about the fact that when they go shopping they want to understand what they are buying and where they are buying it from. For those of us who are ocularly challenged, the current labelling laws at the moment make it very difficult to know what you are buying and where it comes from. It is written in six point. Often, there are chemical formulas involved. And, by the time you finished reading it, you probably would have preferred to read War and Peace. So it is incredibly important that, when we are going to buy products, we know what we are buying at the time of purchase.

This is not new information. This is not a startling revelation. It has been written about in behavioural economics, freakonomics and nudge economics for a long period of time. We cannot make proper choices for ourselves if we are not aware of what we are buying and where we are buying it from. It is incumbent upon all of us in this place and it is incumbent upon this government to make sure that the labelling laws in this country communicate as easily and as effectively as possible what it is that you are buying, and that that communication is made as simple as possible.

The other day I took matters into my own hands. I went to Forestway—an excellent shopping centre. If you are ever there, I highly recommend you go to the Gaslight Inn and purchase one of their cappuccinos. For those opposite, I understand that they do activated almond milk, as well. So if you are into that. Otherwise—

Mr Champion interjecting—

The member for Wakefield tells me on several occasions he has enjoyed the activated almond milk.

Mr Champion interjecting—

I hear rum goes well with milk, too! There are some who would claim that it is a crime against humanity, but there are others who have it a lot.

Anyway, back to labelling laws—something that Labor Party is not interested in. While I was there having my normal flat white, I decided to go to Woolworths and see what it is that consumers have to do to make sure that they are buying Australian. To my shock, there was a nice gentleman there by the name of Muhammed. He was actually demonstrating the new labelling laws to shoppers in Woolworths at Forestway. It is pretty easy to understand. A bit like a country fair that you might find in Mr Gee's electorate, where you go along and you bang something down and you see how far it goes up the pole, what you can find now on packages into the future is a bar graph. The more that bar graph is filled in, what you will find is: the more Australian it is. This is critical. When consumers are making decisions about what to buy, they can now easily see that at a glance of the packaging rather than having to understand and determine where products come from in six point.

An honourable member: And the shoppers loved it.

The shoppers absolutely loved it. The other thing is: the package has right there how it is calculated. It is not like a Google algorithm. Anyone can understand how it is that a product is more or less Australian. Minister, what is the government doing about introducing these laws?

See this speech in context