David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Hansard source

It is my great pleasure to rise to make a contribution in this debate on the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling—Palm Oil) Bill 2010. Senator Minchin said in his valedictory speech a few nights ago that he had little imagined when he came to Canberra that he would spend so much time discussing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide. I might say, in a similar vein, that I had no idea when I was elected to the Senate that I would be addressing this place on the subject of palm oil. But such is life.

As it happens, this is a subject that has come to be of interest to me, both because of work I did previously in the foreign affairs, defence and trade committee, considering the questions of development, poverty and security in the Pacific. That is a constellation of issues that continues to be of interest to me with my defence responsibilities. And this is an aspect of this debate that I will return to.

Senator Xenophon's private member's bill seeks to amend the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991 to require Food Standards Australia New Zealand to develop and approve mandatory labelling standards which would require all food producers and manufacturers and distributors of food to label all products that contain palm oil. The bill also requires that where what is described as 'certified sustainable palm oil' is used, this is to be labelled 'CS palm oil' to indicate its sustainable origins. The purpose of this bill is therefore to require the mandatory labelling of palm oil and to encourage the use of palm oil from sus­tainable sources. Let me say at the outset that I recognise Senator Xenophon's good intentions in presenting this bill. He is genuinely concerned about the threat that the destruction of native rainforest habitat in Indonesia for palm oil plantations poses to wildlife, particularly the orangutan. The orangutan is currently threatened with extinction and this is an emotive issue that has gained quite a bit of traction in the broader community. Senator Xenophon believes that this bill will give Australian consumers the ability to choose whether or not to buy products which contain palm oil and that it will also reward those who produce palm oil in a sustainable way by the means of the CS palm oil label to which I referred.

I share—indeed, the government shares—Senator Xenophon's concerns about environmental degradation and unsustainable agricultural practices, whether they be found in Indonesia or anywhere else in our region. We are all aware of the acute danger posed by uncontrolled land clearance, whether it be for palm oil plantations or for any other purpose—