John Forrest (Mallee, National Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Regional Development) Share this | Hansard source

That is a great shame, because all I am trying to demonstrate is how confusing it is for consumers when they are in the supermarket and in a hurry. They are probably driven by the final bill for the product, but they still want to support Australian-made products.

I believe we have the legislative tools to deal with this. We have ‘Product of Australia’ and ‘produce of Australia’, and wherever there is a label that does not have that on it, consumers can guarantee that it is not Australian, or that it has some imported ingredient—even Vegemite. I often enjoy, when I have international visitors, coming home to put Vegemite on the toast and introduce them to Vegemite, a purely Australian product. And yet it does not have—and they are not by law allowed to put—‘produce of Australia’ on it because they have to rely on some imported ingredients. The tools are there to have absolute truth.

I would like to see the member for Makin encourage his government to put some effort into this, to educate those Australian consumers who want to support Australian producers, particularly of food, so that they understand what that label ‘Product of Australia’ or ‘produce of Australia’ means. Take an Australian wine bottle which has ‘produce of Australia’ on it. They can be guaranteed 100 per cent that all ingredients are made within Australia. Obviously the producers of these products are aware of Australian loyalty; they will go to great lengths to say that the company is owned in Australia. They will put labels on it to say, ‘Made in Australia’ but ‘from imported ingredients’. The power is with the people. We need to have them educated to the point where they understand clearly what ‘Product of Australia’ really means, so that they will support it. If we can achieve that, the packagers and processors of the food will put ‘Product of Australia’ as high as they possibly can, subject to the limits of their products’ packaging. I have even got a sample of Castlemaine rock, which comes not from my electorate but from the electorate of the member for Bendigo. It proudly has ‘Product of Australia’ printed on it in very large letters. Australians know that they can buy that confidently, knowing that they are 100 per cent supporting Australian jobs. They are not confused. As the member for Makin made the point, there is a proliferation of— (Time expired)

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