Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Minister for Veterans’ Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams most sincerely for the question and his interest in this area. Many consumers have expressed concerns about confusing labels and confusing phrases such as 'made in Australia.' They can appear on products even though the ingredients that make up that product are, indeed, imported.

In February this year the Prime Minister announced a ministerial working group chaired by the Minister for Industry and Science, the Hon. Ian Macfarlane, and included Ministers Joyce, Billson and Robb. My hardworking and effective parliamentary colleague Senator Nash also makes up this group. Our intention is to implement a graphic/symbol and words to describe both where the food is produced and the percentage of food that is Australian grown. This symbol and these words would identify whether a product was made, grown or manufactured in Australia, and the percentage of the ingredients in the food product that was Australian grown.

Coming back to the senator's question, both formal market research and a public survey are being conducted. They will collect consumer sentiment and ideas. Remarkably, as of 23 June, more than 10,000 surveys had been collected. This is a clear endorsement of the government's desire to enable Australian consumers to have their say. Consumers have made it very clear that they want access to clearer and more useful information about country of origin on food labels.

We are currently working closely with the food, retail and agricultural sectors to get the balance right and to maximise information for consumers while also considering costs to Australian industry and business. Australian produce and food is world-class. We are determined to introduce changes— (Time expired)