Matthew Canavan (Queensland, Liberal National Party, Minister for Resources and Northern Australia) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Williams for his question. At the start and outset, I acknowledge his longstanding interest in this issue and, indeed, his long campaigning for clearer and better food labels on Australian products. It has been something I know he has been at for years and it is a tribute to his hard effort but also a reflection of why we should work hard in this place. You can get results. It can take some time at times, but Senator Williams, you have had a win here with the government supporting you to introduce clearer labels for Australian consumers. And we are doing that because Australians want to back Australian farmers. They want to back Australian food manufacturers. But previously and until now they have had a hard way of doing that in the shops, because it has been hard to distinguish from the labelling that is on our products what truly is Australian-made and what only might be partly Australian-made.

Until now, many labels were able to use a made-in-Australia logo or label when only small amounts or minor processes like packaging, slicing, diluting, crumbing or canning were the elements that were made in Australia. The changes that this government is making will ensure that consumers will know that behind their purchase will be real Australian jobs and/or Australian food grown in Australia. The reforms will ensure that a new logo system will apply. It is in a transition period at the moment. People will be seeing these logos in their shops at the moment. From 30 June 2018, Australians can go into a shop and, if they see a kangaroo triangle, it will indicate on the food packaging that there are real jobs or manufacturing behind the processing of that food. There will also be a bar chart underneath it which identifies the proportion of Australian ingredients grown by our Australian farmers. So this is an excellent initiative that we are rolling out that Australians have wanted. The Australian government has listened, and it will now be easier for Australians to back their fellow Australians in food manufacturing and farming.