Tim Hammond (Perth, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to talk to something that I am very hopeful will at least start from a bipartisan or even non-partisan sentiment. That relates back to those good old days where, as kids, we used to fondly recall that there seemed to be so many more chips in that bag. There seemed to be so much more Freddo in that frog. Not only could a lot less go a lot further but the show bags at the royal show used to be so much fuller. I am here to confirm that that is just not all of us harking back to a gentler, simpler time with rose coloured glasses. It is actually true. As we see commercials activities evolve, very sadly I am here to confirmed that indeed we are seeing fewer and fewer chips in a full pack.

The CHOICE article titled Three chips short of a full packusually a term I use to describe those on the opposite side—relates to the fact that we are seeing fewer chips in Smith’s crinkle cut potato chips, fewer corn chips in Doritos and Freddo frogs shrinking in size from 15 grams to 12 grams, but we are still being made to pay the same price. It just should not be the case that Australian consumers do not get an extra few Tim Tams in their pack. It is very important that organisations stand up for consumer choice in relation to knowing what it is they are going to buy.

As for those opposite, this is sadly where we part ways as far as that non-partisan warm fuzzies of yesterday go. On 19 May, the government opened a consultation process in relation to national trade measurement regulations. One would think that would be because of the fact that consumers deserve greater choice and awareness as to what it is they are buying. But it arose as a result of the fact that the Department of Industry, Innovation and Science admitted the review was actually prompted by a request—wait for it—from a European cosmetics company that did not want to have to relabel their products to bring them to the Australian market.