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

Senator Moore reminds me that it is $14.95. It is money very well worth spending, I think, because it explains all about nutrition and labelling of products. Senator Allison, you are also quite right to suggest that this traffic light system, if we can call it that, is being used in Great Britain with some, although not complete, success.

While I agree with you about concerns about food labelling, as I mentioned to Senator Siewert earlier in a slightly different context, this is not a matter for this legislation. It is a matter to be taken to the food regulator, FSANZ, for assessment and possible inclusion as a food standard. That is one possibility. Food labelling can of course also be addressed by the ministerial council and, again, by all jurisdictions: the states, the territories and New Zealand. It is not an issue that can be addressed, by an amendment, through this legislation. That is not a criticism of the argument that we need a change to food-labelling practices. That may well be right, but this legislation is not the place to do it. I should inform the Senate that the issue of front-of-pack labelling is currently under consideration by the ministerial council, which will advise FSANZ of a way forward, but this legislation is not the place to do it.