Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I move Greens amendment (1) on sheet 5246:

(1)    Schedule 1, page 6 (after line 2), after item 11, insert:

11A  Subsection 3(1)

Insert:

product of Australia and made in Australia andAustralian made means 100% manufactured, produced, assembled or processed in Australia.

This amendment adds a subsection which relates to whether or not a product is made in Australia. It says that ‘product of Australia’, ‘made in Australia’ and ‘Australian made’ mean 100 per cent manufactured, produced, assembled or processed in Australia. I do not know how many people are aware that ‘made in Australia’ at the moment means that only 50 per cent of the product has to be made in Australia. If a product is 100 per cent made in Australia, it says ‘product of Australia’. I challenge anybody walking around a supermarket not to think that if a product says ‘made in Australia’ it is 100 per cent made in Australia, not 50 per cent made in Australia and 50 per cent not made in Australia. The 50 per cent made in Australia could be the jar; it might not even be the food.

This amendment means the standard will require that if a product says ‘made in Australia’ it is 100 per cent made in Australia; if it says ‘product of Australia’, it is 100 per cent made in Australia; if it says ‘Australian made’, it is 100 per cent made in Australia. We believe this is very important. It is about telling the truth to consumers, about allowing consumers to make a choice and about setting a standard whereby they know with total reliability that when they have bought something in Australia it is made in Australia, because people associate a certain level of safety and quality with products, particularly food products, that are made in Australia. We believe that this is an extremely important amendment that clarifies something that has been unclear to many consumers. As I said, I bet that most consumers do not know when they buy a product that is labelled ‘made in Australia’ that as little as 50 per cent of that product could be made in Australia. As I said, we believe that this is an important amendment and I commend it the chamber.