Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Hansard source

in reply—I wish to sum up in relation to this bill, the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling—Palm Oil) Bill 2010, before the vote on the second reading. I am grateful that the government indicates that it will not be opposing it and I am genuinely grateful for the contribution made by Senator McLucas. It was a substantive contribution dealing with the issues of concern, and these are issues that will of course be dealt with in the committee stage as well.

I want to reiterate what Senator Siewert said. This has been a long time coming. We have run out of patience in relation to this issue. We have been talking about the labelling of palm oil in food and goods for many, many years—for the six years that Senator Siewert has been in the Senate and the three years that I have been here and many years before that—with a whole range of advocacy groups and consumer groups that have been concerned about this issue. Yet the government is effectively saying that it is all too hard and we have to await the outcome of the Blewett review. We do not need to do that; we can find a way forward—and this bill is that way forward.

I welcome the questions that Senator McLucas raised, and these will be dealt with further in the committee stage. I know that these amendments were put up very recently, but they are amendments aimed at simpli­fying the bill and making it clearer and more effective. If I remember, not so long ago, in relation to the NBN legislation, there was a whole swag of very, very complex amendments—

Senator Siewert interjecting—

Thank you, Senator Siewert. She said, 'Welcome to our world.' I worked in good faith with Senator Conroy to work through those amendments and to get the government's legislation through, because we all wanted to achieve a laudable policy objective.

So let us look at what is happening here. Contrary to Senator Feeney—for whom I have enormous regard—I want to make it clear that this is a bill that I co-sponsored with Senator Brown. Before that, in 2009, Senator Joyce co-sponsored effectively the same bill. This is something that members of the coalition, particularly Senator Joyce, have had a long-term interest in. This is a bill that I have worked on very closely with Senator Siewert, and I am very grateful that this has been a team effort. I think Senator Feeney should acknowledge that there has been a joint effort—for my part with the Greens and earlier with Senator Joyce from the Nationals—in relation to this bill. So credit should go where credit is due. I am great believer in sharing the love.

I think it is also important to acknowledge that the coalition has considered the evidence and the facts and says that it is appropriate to support this bill. I am grateful to the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Abbott, for supporting this bill and for the work of Senator Joyce, Senator Ryan and the member for Dunkley, Mr Bruce Billson, who has made, I believe, a number of very constructive suggestions to improve the bill, to simplify it and to make it effective—and those are the matters that will be dealt with.

The government says that this is not the way to do it. Well, this has to be the way to do it, because the government has known about this bill for a long time, since 2009. It has been aware of this bill for 18 months. I do not want to be critical of the government particularly about this, but I will give a contrasting approach. I introduced a bill on dumping just a few months ago, earlier this year, and from day one—in fact, before the bill was introduced—I worked very closely with Minister Brendon O'Connor and his staff. There were a number of meetings to see what could be done to make the bill or parts of it workable. The government announced in response yesterday that it would be putting up its own bill with a number of very useful amendments and reforms which will be debated later this year. That is what I regard as a cooperative process. I am always willing to engage with the government, the opposition and my crossbench colleagues if they are dinkum about dealing with something.

Here is an opportunity for us to do the right thing by consumers. Here is an opportunity to fast-track some much-needed reforms in relation to consumer protection laws. This bill needs to be dealt with today, and it needs to be dealt with in the other place very soon, assuming that it passes this place. The benefits of it will be that con­sumers will get some meaningful informa­tion that they hitherto have not had. I am very grateful to Senator Ryan, who—in two minutes and 45 seconds—eloquently outlined the matter. It is important that we deal with this substantively in the committee stages of this bill.

I want to make it clear that I have acted in good faith at all times in relation to this—as have my colleagues, Senator Siewert and Senator Brown. We have come to this because the concerns have been ignored by successive governments. I am pleased that the opposition has come on board. This will be a significant, substantive reform and a good reform. I look forward to the com­mittee stages of this bill so that we can progress this bill and hopefully have it passed in this chamber very shortly. I commend the bill to the Senate and I look forward to the committee stages of this bill.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.