Steve Georganas (Hindmarsh, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I too rise in support of the motion of the member for Makin and am in agreeance with most of what has been said by previous speakers. This is an extremely important motion and it is very important for the consumers of Australia. Consumers throughout the nation desire best practice when it comes to food labelling. Consumers have every right to know exactly where their product was grown, where it was produced and what effects it might have on them. More informative labelling is continually desired by consumers and has been progressed over time through the Food Standards Code, the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council and Food Standards Australia New Zealand. Historical advances have been made in some regulations, with ‘made in’ becoming ‘manufactured in’, and ‘produce of’ requiring a minimum 50 per cent of the cost of the production to be in a certain area.

Consumers, as I said, want to know where products come from. They have a desire to buy Australian products. There was a very good point made earlier by a previous speaker, the member for Mallee, that certain products are labelled ‘made in Australia’ or ‘produce of Australia’ but that that is not necessarily the case with some other products because of the 50 per cent production rule that we have. So country of origin is extremely important as well. Recently I received some calls from constituents that had dentures that were made in China. After they had been made and fitted, they discovered that these dentures had been made in China at approximately $150 total cost, yet they were still charged what we would charge here for dentures, which was in the thousands.

As I said, the quality of mass produced food products is being investigated currently within the context of general human health, development and function, and food benefits are also something that people want to know about. The former health minister Dr Blewett has been appointed as chair of the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council. It determined at its 12th meeting about a year ago to undertake a comprehensive review of food labelling law and policy, and the terms of reference have now been agreed to and released. I wish him the wisdom of Solomon and hope for the successful completion of the task.

In the past, we have seen many cases of products that have come from countries that do not have the same stringent laws that we do. Australia is right up there on a pedestal when it comes to our produce. We have a name on the international markets for good, clean produce, and it is very important that we maintain the good name that we have internationally for our food exports and for our farmers. As I said, most consumers want to know where their product comes from. If we can make labelling simpler and easier for people to read—with the facts—we will find that more Australians will prefer buying Australian made products.

Recently I was on an inquiry into obesity, and people submitted to the inquiry that labelling was very confusing. People told us that they wanted to know what is in products but found labelling extremely confusing, with low sugars, high sugars, sucrose et cetera. Everyone was telling us that they wanted something simpler to read, something understandable and something that will tell them what is in the product, where the product comes from and any dangers that might be in the product. There is an emerging desire here and around the world for environmental labelling as well. It is a new factor in assessing food products which is coming over the horizon. For example, ‘water footprint’ measures the volume of water used in the production of the food, whether it be cheese, beef, coffee or whatever. These are things that are emerging and that we want to see in labelling. (Time expired)

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