David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture and Water Resources) Share this | Hansard source

The Imported Food Control Amendment Bill 2017 is another example of the government's commitment to best practice regulation as it strengthens Australia's world-class food safety management system whilst reducing the regulatory burden for compliant food importers. The bill modernises Australia's approach to food safety risks associated with imported food, adapting to changes in how food is traded around the globe whilst carefully balancing the risks associated with the food. Practical measures to strengthen the management of imported food safety risks being introduced in the bill will increase importers' accountability for food safety, increase importers sourcing safe food, improve monitoring and management of new and emerging food safety risks and improve incident response.

To address concerns for particular types of food where at-border testing alone is insufficient to assure safety, the bill will introduce a requirement for importers to have documentary evidence to demonstrate that effective food safety controls are in place throughout the supply chain to ensure food is safe for human consumption. Responsiveness to food safety incidents will be improved by allowing earlier intervention where there are reasonable grounds to believe that food may pose a serious risk to human health and that the food safety issue is unconfirmed or there is no reliable test that can be applied to detect the food safety hazard. To ensure a proportionate response, particular characteristics of a food can be targeted, avoiding unnecessary holding of unaffected foods.

The bill provides for the recognition of a foreign country's food safety regulatory system based on equivalence with Australia's food safety regulatory system. Food imported from a country assessed as having an equivalent food safety regulatory system to Australia's may be subject to reduced or minimal at-border food inspections, except where there is evidence of noncompliance or a food safety risk. This will reduce border intervention for food importers. Additionally, this ensures border intervention activities are not aimed unnecessarily at safe food. The bill provides a modern compliance framework with new and improved tools to enable more effective and efficient targeting of noncompliant food and importer behaviour. These tools also provide greater flexibility and more opportunity to encourage noncompliant food importers to become compliant. This is achieved through the introduction of a range of penalties that can be applied proportionately, consistently and based on the level of risk posed by the offence committed. New preventative control measures will be introduced to ensure that food is traceable and can be efficiently and effectively recalled during a food incident.

It is essential for Australia to meet domestic obligations to enable effective and efficient operation of the Australian food safety management system in its protection of human health. In addition, Australia is committed to promoting the global protection of human health and, as a signatory to international treaties, is obliged to share information with its international partners where a food poses a serious risk to human health. To support these obligations, the bill enables the appropriate use and disclosure of information consistent with these obligations. The bill removes confusing or outdated provisions and improves consistency across the statute book, making it easier for businesses and individuals to understand their obligations.

Overall, the bill will strengthen Australia's imported food safety management system, enabling Australians to continue to enjoy a wide range of high-quality and safe food from around the world; ensure Australian food manufacturers will be able to continue to source high-quality ingredients to produce world-class food, highly sought after both in Australia and around the world; and support Australia's role as a good global citizen by improving Australia's ability to work proactively with trading partners in ensuring the safety of food across the globe. I table a replacement explanatory memorandum.

I note the opposition's amendments but oppose them. Every level of government supports the hardworking men and women of Australia's farms and rural industries. Australia's total agricultural production is $63.4 billion, up 30 per cent from when we came into office. The value of agricultural exports is up 27 per cent since we came to office. We're investing in the future of agriculture by delivering on initiatives in the Agricultural competitiveness white paper to help make our farm enterprises stronger and more resilient. We're creating the environment for improved prices for farm commodities. Farmers are enjoying high prices for cattle, sheep and wool. Last year's winter grain crop was a bumper harvest and dairy prices are improving from last year's slump. We've recently signed the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership, have delivered free trade agreements with three key Asian markets, China, Japan and Korea, and also signed the Peru FTA. These agreements will help open the door to export more produce around the world.

The coalition is delivering accelerated depreciation for fencing, water reticulation and fodder storage; a new country-of-origin food labelling system; $250 million a year for farm business concessional loans—more than $796 million of those loans have been approved for over 1,400 farmers; $180.5 million for Rural Research and Development for Profit; $30.8 million to break down technical barriers in trade; $25.8 million from 2015-16 to 2018-19 for pest and weed and animal control; improved certainty for farmers reliant on irrigation from a healthy and sustainable Murray-Darling system; oversight by having established the ACCC agricultural compliance and enforcement unit and appointed an Agriculture Commissioner; a strengthened Farm Management Deposits Scheme to help farmers put away money in good years; and $13.8 million for farm cooperatives in a collaboration pilot project.

By contrast, the Labor Party has no vision for agriculture and, when last in office, halved the agricultural budget. Agriculture industries have responded positively to the agreements government has achieved with Australia's major trading partners. This bill will strengthen the commitment that this government has made to agriculture moving forward.

Question negatived.

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