Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig. I refer the minister to statements by the World Wildlife Fund International that it is focusing on companies such as processing companies, commodity traders, manufacturers, retailers and banks, insisting that they deal only with producers endorsed by WWF. Commodities involved include beef, bioenergy, cotton, dairy farm, fish and others. Given that complying with the WWF requirements inevitably means producers paying for an expensive sustainability accreditation and certification scheme plus regular audit, will the minister please outline what action the government is taking to directly assure Australian consumers and other customers for Australian primary products that they are in fact produced sustainably, or has the government simply abdicated this responsibility to the money-making schemes of environmental non-government organisations such as WWF?