Andrew Southcott (Boothby, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Primary Healthcare) Share this | Hansard source

I move opposition amendment (2):

(2)    Clause 3, page 3 (after line 7), insert:

industry representative means a person who the Minister is satisfied has high level industry or commercial expertise in manufacture, distribution, or marketing of food or beverages, including of alcohol beverages.

This is a definition amendment and it relates to having an industry representative on the advisory council of the Preventive Health Agency. The opposition believe that to get outcomes in this area, it is necessary to work closely with all stakeholders. If you are talking about transfats, you have to work closely with the restaurants to get outcomes in this area. If you are talking about reducing harmful drinking, anti-social drinking or teenage drinking, you have to work closely with industry. The explanatory memorandum acknowledges this and says that some of the people who might be considered to be members of the advisory council could be industry representatives. I think the minister herself has said that members of the advisory council could be industry representatives. As there is no objection to having an industry representative on the advisory council, we think that it is a simple matter of making sure this is in legislation. There will be further amendments which relate to this as well, but this amendment is the definition of an industry representative. We believe it is important to have a close engagement with stakeholders. We encourage members to support this amendment.

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