Glenn Sterle (WA, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

After a few false starts, I am glad to get up and have an opportunity to make my contribution. Those false starts were no problem, because the quality of the speeches today has been exceptional. I do not normally say that, but it has, as you would know, Senator Brandis. The problem is: anyone listening would think, 'Why can't these buggers get their act together if they're all agreeing on it?' But I will go into that. I want to offer congratulations, firstly, for the Food Standards Amendment (Fish Labelling) Bill 2015, which is co-sponsored by Senators Xenophon, Lazarus, Lambie, Whish-Wilson, Wang and Madigan. But I just want to mention the hard work that was put in by my colleagues Senator Xenophon and Senator Whish-Wilson on the inquiry. When they speak, they speak with authority. They speak with expertise because they, alongside me, Senator Bullock, Senator Lines and Senator Williams, actually did the hard work. We did the inquiry.

The problem with appearing further down the speaking order is that a lot of the points have been made, but I still want to make them. The hard work was done in the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport References Committee, which I have proudly chaired, on and off, in government and in opposition in one way, shape or form for about eight years now. We actually got off our backsides and we called for submissions—this was last year—and we received around 25 submissions. More importantly, we travelled the country. We went to Sydney, and in Sydney we heard from an array of witnesses who were all experts in their own field, whether it be in providing seafood, catching seafood or concern about the environment. I just want to touch on some of the people that fronted the committee to give us their view on country-of-origin labelling: the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association, the Southern Shark Industry Alliance, our good friend now Mr Robert Fish—as Senator Whish-Wilson was saying, that is not his tax-avoiding name; that is Mr Robert Fish himself—from the Northern Territory Seafood Council, the Master Fish Merchants' Association, the Sydney Fish Market, Greenpeace, the National Seafood Industry Alliance and others. But they all made the same point. No-one was in opposition to giving the Australian consumer the opportunity to make an informed decision about where the seafood that they purchase comes from.

This was not part of the plan to start with, but what kept coming up was that the Northern Territorians had done it—and hats off to the Northern Territorians. At the time, it was a Labor government, but it does not matter what persuasion the government was. It was important, because it has delivered the results that people said it would not deliver. So we got on the plane and we headed to Darwin, and we had a hearing in Darwin. But, before we had the hearing, we had a wonderful opportunity as a committee to visit the Humpty Doo Barramundi farm. Senator Peris knows the Humpty Doo Barramundi farm better than any of us. It was an absolutely wonderful opportunity to see what can be done when the initiative is there, when you have got people of passion who not only provide a fantastic product for Australian consumers but they provide Australian jobs. There is nothing better than when you get there and you see the smiling faces of Australian workers on their doorstep, actually getting into it and providing something that we as consumers want.

With all the kerfuffle and the carry-on, I have to say very clearly on behalf of my fellow committee members that we never, ever set out to denigrate or cease the importation of seafood from other countries. That was not our intention. Our intention was very clear. If consumers knew where their seafood was coming from—and, from my position, I was only interested in whether it was Australian or imported—what would be evil about that?

What came out of every hearing was the same—whether it be the Top End restaurant in Darwin or the fish and chip shops or takeaway food venues or the pubs or the clubs—every place provided the opportunity to their patrons in saying, 'If you want Australian seafood, here is the price. If you want imported seafood, here is the other price.' What could possibly be wrong with that?

In Darwin Senator Bullock was very excited because he had not been in the retail store for about eight months and he was back on his home turf of Woolworths. He was leading the charge—he had a skip in his step, I have to tell you; he was off. The reason we went to Woolworths in Palmerston was to see for ourselves how seafood is displayed, marketed and labelled. I must say it is hats off to Woolworths and Coles throughout the nation, because they label their seafood with country-of-origin labelling very clearly. We saw about a dozen trays of seafood, fillets, calamari mix or prawns—Senator Bullock or Senator Whish-Wilson may pull me up—but the most important thing was that there were only two trays of imported seafood fillets and all the rest was Australian. You do not have to be Einstein to work out that the shopper at Woolworths that day and any other day comes hunting the Australian product.

It is all about the informed choice. We heard that no-one at all had a problem with what the Northern Territory has done. Previous speakers have said: 'There was fierce opposition from certain sectors of the business community.' There was fierce opposition from the Australian Hotels Association; the CEO of the Australian Hotels Association in the Northern Territory made it very clear that they were opposed but that he was speaking from a Northern Territory point of view, rather than for the rest of Australia. We know that restauranteurs were hugely opposed; part of their argument was the added cost or the red tape or having to rewrite menus. We did hear from one gentleman who was an AHA member and who owned six or eight establishments, ranging from hotels to fish and chip shops. He said that he had spent most of his working life writing menus and it was ridiculous to hide behind that excuse that you would incur greater cost. All you have to do with a menu is put a sticker on it saying 'Australian' or 'imported'. It is not that hard. Mr Bill Passy, who is the largest owner of fishing boats in the Northern Territory, gave an impassioned plea to us to promote and to enforce the issue around the country, because he said that fishermen do everything they can to be sustainable. They also provide opportunities for Australian workers and other businesses like net, tackle and bait suppliers, boatbuilders, fuel companies—there is a whole service industry that hangs off fishing. They do everything they can to make the industry sustainable and to provide Australian consumers with the best product that they possibly can. But he also said that they feel let down once the truck doors shut, because, once that wonderful Australian sustainable product leaves the freezer yard and travels to all points south, there is no recognition in other states that it is an Australian product, unless you go to Woolworths or Coles or unless you have the responsible food services person to say, 'This is Australian barramundi.'

I have had the misfortune in various parts of our country of ordering what I thought was barramundi and found as soon as it turned up on the plate that it was not Australian barramundi. Of course, they did not say that it was Australian barramundi; it could have been catfish from the Mekong Delta for all I know. But what I do want, and what I want the rest of Australia to know, is that, if you are putting your hard-earned cash on the table to purchase a product that you think is Australian because it has an Australian name, then you would hope that it is Australian. But it is not the case. While I am about it, I was talking to Senator Peris, who informed me that 'barramundi' is an Aboriginal word—which I knew. It is from the Rockhampton area and it actually means 'large-scale river fish'. But when you sit in some food outlet and you purchase what you think is barramundi—and this thing is like a thong without the toe bit on it turns up, my goodness me—it does make you feel that you have been used.

We have actually had some wonderful argument today. Unfortunately, the opposition cannot support the bill without amendment at this stage—and I do hope and pray that we can do something. Senator Bullock brought to my attention one part of the FSANZ submission. They have an issues list for standards. This is standard 1.211, which refers to country-of-origin labelling and in brackets it has 'Australia only', but it says that we do not have to get the approval from New Zealand. One of the previous speakers said that they could support the bill because we cannot do the labelling without the consent of the states and without the consent of New Zealand.

I also have the treaty we have with New Zealand, here. Article 4 talks about the Australia New Zealand Food Standard, and I want to take the time to get this on record, because I am a firm believer that if there is political will we can do anything in this country. Unfortunately, governments of all persuasions find excuses for not doing anything. Being an ex-small businessman from Western Australia, I do not cop 'We can't do'; I do not want to hear the reasons why such-and-such cannot be done. If I had that take on everything in my trucking business, we would have been eating our spare parts and tyres, because I would never have had the opportunity to make a quid and put my kids through school and build the beautiful home that we still live in. I want to hear how we can do it.

I want to touch on the treaty New Zealand treaty. I will go to the heading in Article 4—Consultation between the member states regarding relevant legislation. I am going to quote from the treaty:

(4) Australia shall not introduce any amendments to the Australian legislation establishing the Authority, or move government amendments to that legislation, without effective consultation with New Zealand during their development.

The magic words are 'without effective consultation'. It goes on to say:

Australia shall use its best endeavours—

And as an ex-union official, have I been flooded by best endeavours!—

including reflection of New Zealand's position in any relevant papers for the Australian Commonwealth government to reach agreement with New Zealand on these and any other amendments to the Australian legislation.

The five wonderful words are 'without effective consultation' and 'best endeavours'. I have read enough enterprise agreements over the years and I have been to court over industrial action to know that this is the wink way out by trying to blame it on the idea that we cannot do it without New Zealand. It is pathetic. I want to highlight for the chamber and everyone listening that, if we have the political will, we can do it. We can have our consultation; if New Zealand does not agree with us, we have tried and we have given it our best endeavour. Before I start a war across the Tasman, it is a shame that New Zealand does not consult with us when they steal our Australian manufacturing jobs. Do not start me on that one about canning. I know Senator Carr would be my greatest supporter on this and he would let me wander off the reservation on that. But, Senator Carr, you could not possibly comment, but leave it to me and I will.

I will get back to the bill itself. I strongly, strongly hope that both sides of the chamber and the hardworking, diligent crossbenchers who have introduced this bill can come to a sensible position. At each and every turn—and I will stand by this: I will say this in this chamber and I will take 30 steps to my right and repeat it outside—we must not be held hostage by the Food and Grocery Council. We must not be knocked down, beaten back and browbeaten by the hotels, the clubs and the pubs. If the Northern Territory could do it because they had the political will, the only way it cannot be done is by the gutlessness of the states.

I have highlighted that we should not hide behind New Zealand and say we need their approval. We do not. I am urging this place that, whatever we do, we have to work with the crossbenchers. Let's fall into a space where consumers in Australia can have faith that we have made our best endeavours to give them the opportunity to make informed decisions.

As I said when I started, when you listen to the debate going on here you might think, 'Why can't they get their act together, vote on it and all agree?' Senator Xenophon knows where I am standing here and where I am coming from. We do have some issues with the legislation. I think Senator Xenophon said there are a couple of weeks, so we have some grace. We are going to have some negotiations, I hope. But, by crikey, to get country-of-origin labelling in our seafood industry and our seafood consumption I will do whatever I have to do.

I cannot express enough about the hard work that was done. The hard work has been done—it is right here in the report—and it was done with my fellow committee members. We are affectionately known as the 'RRATs', because it is the Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Committee. We actually came to a consensus report. For those listening out there in radio land, it is not very often that we come to a consensus with passion so that we on all sides of the chamber support the recommendations of the committee report. There are a number of reports we do where, yes, we agree, but are we going to stand on a box and scream from every corner? This is one of these reports. This is one of those bills—not in the current shape that it is in, Senator Xenophon, Senator Lazarus, Senator Whish-Wilson and Senator Madigan. But I do urge everyone: let's do the right thing by the Australian consumer. Let's do the right thing by the Australian seafood industry. Let's do the right thing by all those that are employed in this wonderful industry.

We should never, ever take a backwards step because we have a full charge head-on from the Australian Food and Grocery Council. In fact, we should headbutt them. We should knock them back. We should take them on, because why the heck can they determine what the hell we eat and where it comes from? They do not want to tell us. I will tell you why: because there is the opportunity for a middleman to scam a few bucks off it. Well, I am not interested in that. I am interested in the Australian seafood industry, the aquaculture industry and the Australian consumer.

I sincerely hope that someone wants to take me on and have the argument outside these walls, because I will take them on. You see, we got off our backside. We did the work. We listened, we consulted, we visited and we formed this opinion without any arm-twisting. We have formed our opinion that the states have a lot to answer for. The states must not be let off the hook. The states must extract the digit. I do not want to hear why they cannot do it but why they will do it.

When I said the Northern Territorians have done it, someone—and I just wish I knew who it was—said, 'Yes, but that's the Northern Territory.' What the hell does that mean? Are we supposed to say that the Northern Territory is not as intelligent as the other states? So I want to congratulate the Northern Territorians on the way that they have done it. I want to congratulate those who came to the hearing, those businesses in the Northern Territory that passionately put forward their case. Those who were against it were probably the loudest. While I am at it, I will say it one more time: Coles and Woolies, good on you. In fact, we should support Coles and Woolies for that, because they did not have to do that around the country. They had to do it in the Northern Territory but they rolled it out around the country.

There is also another little thing. I did not hear Hungry Jack's or Kentucky Fried Chicken complain. Does Kentucky Fried do fish? Anyway, you know what I mean. All them mobs out there—they all do it. Every single piece of seafood in the Northern Territory is labelled either Australian or imported. So let's hope we can get our act together. Let's hope we can fall in a space that does the right thing by the Australian consumer and the aquaculture and seafood industry of Australia. On that, I cannot support the bill with its current contents.