Brett Mason (Queensland, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Health and Ageing) Share this | Hansard source

I acknowledge that Senator Siewert’s recollection of the report of the Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs is quite right. The committee did recommend a definition of public health in the FSANZ Act, but the government decided not to adopt it for several reasons. The role of food regulation in achieving public health objectives is currently being considered by the Food Regulation Standing Committee strategic working group. It is an issue that is currently under consideration. A determination on this complex issue cannot be made by the Commonwealth alone. Such a definition will have a significant impact on all jurisdictions, including New Zealand. I think it is important—I mentioned this before but I want to stress it—that this is a consultative federal process that has impact on the ground where it matters in the states and the territories where the law is enforced. This is a highly consultative process and, for this to occur, all the states and territories and New Zealand would need to be involved. The government is actively monitoring the progress on this issue and will consider whether the objectives of the FSANZ Act ought to be clarified once this process is complete. The government notes however that there is a need to avoid any clarification of the definition of public health that would result in unintentionally narrowing the scope of the act’s objectives. I suspect that all honourable senators agree with that.