Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for that dorothy. The Australian government is actively working to deliver the nation's first ever National Food Plan—a commitment we made at the last election. Australia's first National Food Plan is an opportunity to get the right policies in place for a strong, resilient and collaborative food industry that responds to our needs now and into the future. Senator Williams is correct to identify that the green paper, which is about bringing forward those ideas, bringing forward the issues, is the right vehicle to do that. I congratulate him on identifying that process.

A growing world population and increasing numbers of middle-class consumers in Asia mean that there are significant opportunities for the Australian food industry in the future. The National Food Plan will ensure that the government's policy settings are right for Australia over the short term, the medium term and the long term. What the government announced over the break was the consultation vehicle, the green paper, which will lead to a white paper, which will provide the policy settings that will support industry.

On 17 July I released the National Food Plan green paper, which outlines how current policies address food issues as well as discusses any potential changes the government might consider to policies, programs and governance arrangements. The green paper includes a range of policy options and I would hope that the National Party will in fact provide some input into the green paper on some of those options. These options include issues that cover food security: whether the government should regularly report on our food security and supply chains, issues around market access and how we can assist Australian producers to enter overseas markets. (Time expired)