Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to say that the Greens will be opposing the establishment of this select committee on Australia’s food processing sector. We do so noting that the coalition had a select committee on food production, which went for a couple of years at least in the Senate, chaired by Senator Heffernan. I am unaware of any recommendation of that committee being carried out or fulfilled in any shape or form. I note that, when I moved in this chamber for a recommendation to reinstate antidiscrimination provisions, the coalition voted against it having agreed in a tripartite report, I might say, to have that as one of the recommendations that came out of the dairy inquiry. The appropriate place for this kind of investigation is the Senate Standing Committees on Rural Affairs and Transport. That is where we would normally do this kind of thing and this will just be yet another coalition based committee. I think it is not an appropriate use of the resources of the committee system. It should go to one of the existing committees.