Nick Xenophon (SA, Nick Xenophon Team) Share this | Hansard source

I hope this is an exciting road, and not one of those never-ending roundabouts from one of those Road Runner cartoons. I hope we are ending up at a destination. I am not quite sure whether the minister actually supports the principle that if you buy seafood at a restaurant or a takeaway fish and chip shop, you should know whether it is local or imported, as in the Northern Territory. The answer seemed to be ambiguous.

I move the amendment on sheet 7951 standing in my name and the names of Senator Kakoschke-Moore and Senator Griff:

(1) Schedule 1, page 3 (after line 6), after item 1, insert:

1A Subparagraph 224(1)(a)(x) of Schedule 2

Omit "notices); or", substitute "notices);".

1B At the end of paragraph 224(1)(a) of Schedule 2

Add:

(xi) section 258A(3) (which is about notifying the country of origin of certain food ingredients); or

1C Subsection 224(3) of Schedule 2 (at the end of the table)

Add:

(2) Schedule 1, page 4 (after line 34), at the end of the Schedule, add:

6 At the end of Part 5 -3 of Schedule 2

Add:

258A Notifying the country of origin of certain food ingredients

(1) This section applies in relation to a type of food if:

(a) food of that type is supplied or offered for supply in Australia in a reporting period:

(i) for retail sale; or

(ii) as suitable for retail sale without any further processing, packaging or labelling; and

(b) an ingredient of the food is not exclusively of Australian origin; and

(c) the country of origin of the ingredient is not identified on the food's label.

(2) However, this section does not apply in relation to a type of food if the food:

(a) is sold to the public for immediate consumption by any of the following:

(i) a restaurant;

(ii) a canteen;

(iii) a school;

(iv) a caterer or a self-catering institution;

(v) a prison;

(vi) a hospital or a medical institution (within the meaning of section 1.1.2—7 of the Food Standards Code); or

(b) was made and packaged on the premises where it is sold; or

(c) is delivered, packaged and ready for consumption, at the express order of the purchaser (other than when the food is sold from a vending machine);

(d) is sold at a fund-raising event; or

(e) is food for special medical purposes (within the meaning of section 1.1.2—5 of the Food Standards Code).

(3) The manufacturer of the type of food must, within 1 month after the end of the reporting period, notify the Secretary of the Department, for each ingredient of the food which is not exclusively of Australian origin, of:

(a) the country or countries of origin; and

(b) if there is more than one country of origin of the ingredient during the reporting period—the average proportion by weight of the ingredient from each country of origin over the reporting period.

Note: A pecuniary penalty may be imposed for a contravention of this subsection.

(4) A notification under subsection (3) must be in the form and in the manner approved by the Secretary in writing.

(5) The Secretary of the Department must publish information notified under subsection (3) on the Department's website.

(6) In this section:

food has the same meaning as in section 5 of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991.

Food Standards Code means theAustralia New Zealand Food Standards Code within the meaning of subsection 4(1) of the Food Standards Australia New Zealand Act 1991.

reporting period means a period of 6 months starting on 1 January or 1 July.

type: food is of the same type if the food has:

(a) the same manufacturer; and

(b) substantially the same ingredients; and

(c) substantially the same labelling (disregarding any reference to quantities).

7 Application

The amendment made by item 6 applies in relation to reporting periods commencing on or after the day this Schedule commences.

This amendment is fairly straightforward one. One of the complaints made by the Australian Food and Grocery Council and others in the past about mandatory country-of-origin labelling laws is that there are costs involved. Once you label something, if the ingredients change because of seasonal variations or for whatever reason, it is very expensive to change labels. What this amendment seeks to do—a sort of belts and braces approach to the legislation that is before us—in addition to what this bill provides for is to go another step. It basically says that there must be notification online of reporting country of origin imported ingredients to ensure that, at the end of the reporting period—every six months—they must notify the secretary of the department of each ingredient of the food that is not exclusively of Australian origin and the country or countries of origin, and, if there is more than one country of origin of the ingredient during the reporting period, the average proportion by weight of the ingredient from each country of origin over the reporting period. This ensures that it is published online. It means that the information can be published in an easily accessible form and it does not have the burden that the industry has referred to of having to change labels, which can be very costly and, with production lines and the like, is itself quite time consuming.

Effectively, this is using the internet for a purpose to empower consumers. It means that every six months—for instance, for orange juice—if there was a shift from 30 per cent Brazilian concentrate to 70 per cent concentrate or if it was 100 per cent Australian juice, we get to know about it. Right now, this bill, even though it is an improvement on the current laws, does not give that level of detail. It does not give consumers details of where that ingredient comes from and what percentage of it is Australian or indeed imported.

That in essence is what this amendment is about. I can indicate that I will be seeking to divide on this in the absence of any clear commitments from the government that it will progress this issue. But I look forward to the minister's response in respect of this. It is something I foreshadowed a number of months ago in the committee report where I set out these issues.