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

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

I seek leave to have the second reading speeches incorporated in Hansard.

Leave granted.

The speeches read as follows—

This Bill seeks to implement long overdue reforms of Australia’s food labelling laws – it’s about doing the right thing by consumers and our farmers.

I am very pleased to be co-sponsoring this Bill with the Leader of the Greens Senator Bob Brown and Leader of the Nationals in the Senate Senator Barnaby Joyce.

I think it speaks volumes about the importance of this Bill that politicians from a broad spectrum of politics can agree on the need for an overhaul of current food labelling laws so that Australian consumers can be fully informed about what they are buying.

If we are what we eat, we have a right to know what we are eating and current Australian labelling laws don’t allow consumers the opportunity to know the origins of the food they are purchasing and consuming.

Under current legislation and the resulting Australia New Zealand Food Standards Code ‘Made in Australia’ doesn’t mean what many of us would think that it means.

Under current rules you can describe a product as ‘Made in Australia’ when half of that product may in fact have been imported from overseas.

Under the rules only 50% of a product has to come from this country for a product to be labelled as ‘Made in Australia’.

Moreover, that 50% can include packaging. So you can have a system where most of the actual food contained in a product is foreign and yet it can still be labelled ‘Made in Australia.’

Adding to the confusion is the fact that the less clear term ‘Product of Australia’ is used to describe wholly Australian produce, even though it could be argued that to Australian consumers, this term is decidedly ambiguous.

I believe the current labelling laws are bad for consumers and bad for primary producers.

They make it hard for consumers to buy Australian, and in doing so they dampen demand for Australian produce, hurting food producers in this country.

I have received many submissions from Riverland fruit growers in my home state of South Australia who say that the current labelling laws are significantly contributing to the serious challenges they face.

And I would like to take this opportunity to pay particular tribute to the work or Riverland citrus grower Ron Gray, who has campaigned for decades on this issue.

Like all Riverland growers and primary producers around the country, Ron doesn’t want a special deal, he just wants a fair deal.

He wants ‘Made in Australia’ to mean just that, totally made in Australia from Australian produce.

He wants ‘Fresh’ to mean ‘Fresh’ and ‘Daily’ to mean the product is produced every day.

And that is fair enough.

Allowing foreign fruit to be effectively hidden in juices that call themselves ‘Australian made’ for example, hurts demand for their produce and is contributing to unsustainable prices.

And yet, it doesn’t seem as though consumers are paying any less at the supermarket.

In fact, the only ones who seem to be making money out of the confusion surrounding fruit juice labelling are the big, predominantly foreign owned juice companies who are able to pass off significantly foreign juices as ‘Made in Australia’ and then pocket the difference and the big supermarkets chains who sell the stuff.

There are also environmental factors to be considered here.

Why would we allow foreign food, which has had to travel thousands of kilometres to make it to Australia to be labelled as ‘Made in Australia?’

What are the environmental impacts of this travel?

I note that this is not the first time this issue has been raised in the Senate and I want to pay tribute to the work Senator Bob Brown has previously done on this issue.

A similar Bill was championed by Senator Brown in 2003 and again in 2005, and the reasons Senator Brown gave for change then are just as valid now.

I note in his 2nd reading speech on this issue in 2005 that Senator Brown objected to claims made by Coles and Woolworths that they put country of origin labelling on 90% of their fresh food products.

Senator Brown quite rightly pointed out at the time that the claim made no reference to the vast amounts of packaged food that consumers buy off the shelves in these supermarkets.

Clearly we can’t trust the supermarkets to put consumer knowledge above the profit motive, which is why we as legislators must act.

This Bill is a good first step in ensuring clarity for consumers and protection for Australian food producers and retailers.

If a product is only partially Australian, the label should say so.

If half of it comes from overseas the label should say so.

There is no question that food production standards are lower in some countries and that needs to be an issue consumers can factor into their choices.

It’s appropriate that this Bill goes to a Senate Committee to be robustly scrutinised and I would encourage grower groups and packagers, retailers and consumer advocates to take part in that process.

It is important that we achieve real change on this issue.

Consumers have a right to know what they are consuming and food producers shouldn’t have to put up with foreign rivals passing their products as Australian made.

I sincerely hope this government does not make the same mistake the previous government made in assuming that Australian consumers will put up with business as usual on this issue. They should not underestimate the current level of consumer and producer concern.

I commend this Bill to the Senate.

I seek leave to continue my remarks later.

Leave granted.

Bob Brown (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

Overview of the Bill

This Bill provides for a clear and accurate system of food labelling, specifically information on country of origin. Australian consumers need simple information to be able to make informed choices at the supermarket. The labelling regime facilitates the option for consumers, in the supermarket filling their trolley with products to support the Australian economy, Australian farmers, Australian manufacturers and producers. Under the current labelling regime consumers are being deceived by confusing laws and deprived of genuine choice.

The Australian Greens and Independent Senator, Nick Xenophon, have co-sponsored this Bill to give consumers real choice and safeguard Australian jobs.

This Bill amends section 16 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 to limit the use of the word “Australian” to those foods which are 100 percent produced in Australia. In the case of food which contains one or more imported ingredients the food product must display notice of the inclusion in the food of imported ingredients in letters of at least 15 mm on the front label.

The Bill also outlines specific provisions for fruit juices and drinks ensuring that liquids labelled as juice do not partly or wholly contain fruit skins.

Country of Origin labelling- a confusing history

In 1994 the Labor Government attempted to legislate for the labelling of goods which claimed to be made, manufactured, packed or designed in Australia. Despite two Committee inquiries, the Bill lapsed when Parliament was prorogued prior to the 1996 election.

In 1998 the Liberal Government amended the provisions of the Trade Practices Act which brought in our current, misleading system of labelling, which sees consumers who think they are buying a wholly Australian product possibly getting only a half Australian product.

The current labelling regime is less than clear. It states that in order to use the words ‘Australian Made’ the product must be “substantially transformed” in Australia [i.e. the final manufacturing process must take place here] and 50% or more of the cost of production must be incurred in Australia. Furthermore, in order to use the words ‘Product of Australia’, all significant components or ingredients must originate from Australia, and all, or virtually all, of the production processes must take place in Australia.

The consumer requires an explanatory document the size of a small thesis to be able to grasp the complexity of definitions and interpretations of terminology to decipher which products are actually 100% made in Australia.

The Australian Greens moved amendments to the Liberal Government’s proposed Bill in 1998 to have the term ‘Made in Australia’ defined as a product that was 100% made in Australia and to clarify the difference between the terms ‘Product of Australia’ and ‘Made in Australia’. To the detriment of Australian consumers, these amendments were voted down by both the Labor Party and the Coalition Party.

The concurrent advertising campaign, undertaken by the Howard Government, aimed to educate consumers about the difference between a ‘Product of Australia’ and ‘Made in Australia’ has failed and consumers continue to be confused and misled by labels.

This Bill seeks to rectify this situation and provide simple, clear labels to facilitate consumer choice.

My previous attempts in the Senate to bring certainty for consumers through my Private Senators’ Truth in Labelling Bill 2003 [2005], has never been resolved by a vote in the parliament. That bill sought to ensure all packaged meat, fish, fruit and vegetables placed on the market in Australia must have labelling identifying its country of origin and all unpackaged goods must have the country of origin identified at the point of sale. It also covered residues or contaminants in food of pesticides, heavy metals, and labelling for genetically engineered foods.

Country of Origin labelling – the way forward

It is clear from research, undertaken by Roy Morgan in late 2006, that Australian consumers want to buy Australian and that more than two thirds consciously do so ‘whenever possible’ or ‘often’. This Bill ensures the good will of Australian consumers is not undermined by the current confusing labelling regime.

Consumers want to know where their food comes from for a variety of reasons. Buying locally grown and produced food means profits and jobs stay in Australia. An increasing reliance on the long-distance transport and refrigeration of foods that are grown thousands of kilometres away impacts heavily on our carbon foot print. Buying local also reduces the environmental impact of our food choices by minimising transportation. Buying local, Australian products is often more convenient and the food is fresher and better tasting.

I am pleased to be co-sponsoring this Bill with Senator Xenophon and I commend it to the Senate.

Barnaby Joyce (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The incorporated speech read as follows—

Australia needs a clear capacity to know what is Australian about the food they buy. Australians need the capacity to quickly and concisely make decisions about the food they buy.

Australians do not want to be misled or confused with labelling that is deliberately obtuse. Australians want to know how much of the product is Australian and how much of the processing and manufacturing is Australian.

The first issue Australians want is to know is whether the food comes from an Australian farm or what proportion comes from Australian farm.

Secondly, was the product fully manufactured in Australia or what proportion was manufactured in Australia? Australians want the choice, but they can’t make the choice with out clear information to identify the origin of the products we purchase and consume and what portion that product is attributed to Australian processing.

Currently we have the capacity to advise expiry dates and daily price changes which is appropriate. We are bombarded with a myriad of information about the nutritive content of products and their relative ingredients, but what we want to know is whether the product came from Australia, which is not clear.

If people want to deliberately make labelling obtuse, then that in itself shows that labelling is important. When people try to avoid clear labelling then they are fearful of the knowledge that will be released to consumers in Australia.

Not all of the produce originates from our nation, but we should be knowledgeable of what product comes from where and be able to base our purchasing preferences on clear information. This nation needs to develop a system of labelling that is obvious and easily understood.

From my research and the feedback to my office, most Australians do not know what the terms “Made in Australia”, “Product of Australia” or “Made in Australia from Local and Imported Ingredients” even mean, let alone being able to comprehend the differentiation between those terms. There is real consumer and producer concern over this labelling confusion.

Therefore we need to remove the confusion and develop a form of identification that clearly show what product is truly Australian in origin or what proportion of the product comes from this nation.

We refer this matter to an enquiry as the issue of food labelling is complicated and involves a whole range of groups and bodies with varying interests. It is important that we commence a process to reform food labelling definitions and standards.

This Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling Laws) Bill is not a fait accompli, but what is before the Chamber today is the commencement of a process that will initiate thought and process to develop clear and consistent food labelling in Australia.

I commend this Bill to the Senate.

Debate adjourned.