David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

I wish to indicate that the government will be opposing this motion. The government has already embarked on a comprehensive range of work on food related issues in Australia. The Australian government is developing a national food plan encompassing Australia’s food supply chain. The plan is expected to have a broad scope including issues such as food security, productivity and efficiency; sustainability; health and nutrition in general; and economic policy relating to the food sector.

In conjunction with the national food plan the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has established a food-processing industry strategy group to develop a long-term strategy for an innovative, sustainable, responsive and globally competitive Australian food-processing centre. The group is comprised of industry leaders across the field as well as academic and union representatives. The terms of reference for the proposed Senate inquiry overlap substantially with this strategy group.

Other recent or current initiatives in the field include a review of food security in Australia by the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the report of an independent committee on food labelling, the 2008 national food regulation agreement and the current Senate inquiry into the dairy industry, which is the second in recent years. A further inquiry by the Senate will only create confusion and duplication as well as absorbing government and industry resources already working on food industry issues.