Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

(1)

That a select committee, to be known as the Select Committee on Australia’s Food Processing Sector be established to inquire into, and report by 30 June 2012 on the following matters:

(a)

the competitiveness and future viability of Australia’s food processing sector in global markets;

(b)

the regulatory environment for Australia’s food processing and manufacturing companies including but not limited to:

(i)

taxation,

(ii)

research and development,

(iii)

food labelling,

(iv)

cross-jurisdictional regulations,

(v)

bio-security, and

(vi)

export arrangements;

(c)

the impact of Australia’s competition regime and the food retail sector, on the food processing sector, including the effectiveness of the Competition and Consumer Act 2010;

(d)

the effectiveness of anti-dumping rules;

(e)

the costs of production inputs including raw materials, labour, energy and water;

(f)

the effect of international anti-free trade measures;

(g)

the access to efficient and quality infrastructure, investment capital and skilled labour and skills training; and

(h)

any other related matter.

(2)

That the committee consist of 9 senators, 4 nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate, 3 nominated by the Leader of the Government in the Senate and 2 nominated by any minority party or independent senators.

(3)

That:

(a)

participating members may be appointed to the committee on the nomination of the Leader of the Government in the Senate, the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate or any minority party or independent senator;

(b)

participating members may participate in hearings of evidence and deliberations of the committee, and have all the rights of members of the committee, but may not vote on any questions before the committee; and

(c)

a participating member shall be taken to be a member of the committee for the purpose of forming a quorum of the committee if a majority of members of the committee is not present.

(4)

That the committee may proceed to the dispatch of business notwithstanding that all members have not been duly nominated and appointed and notwithstanding any vacancy.

(5)

That the committee elect as chair one of the members nominated by the Leader of the Opposition in the Senate and, as deputy chair, a member nominated by any minor party or independent senators.

(6)

That the deputy chair shall act as chair when the chair is absent from a meeting of the committee or the position of chair is temporarily vacant.

(7)

That the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, may appoint another member of the committee to act as chair during the temporary absence of both the chair and the deputy chair at a meeting of the committee.

(8)

That, in the event of an equally divided vote, the chair, or the deputy chair when acting as chair, have a casting vote.

(9)

That the committee have power to appoint subcommittees consisting of 3 or more of its members and to refer to any such subcommittee any of the matters which the committee is empowered to examine.

(10)

That the committee and any subcommittee have power to send for and examine persons and documents, to move from place to place, to sit in public or in private, notwithstanding any prorogation of the Parliament or dissolution of the House of Representatives, and have leave to report from time to time its proceedings, the evidence taken and such interim recommendations as it may deem fit.

(11)

That the committee be provided with all necessary staff, facilities and resources and be empowered to appoint persons with specialist knowledge for the purposes of the committee with the approval of the President.

(12)

That the committee be empowered to print from day to day such documents and evidence as may be ordered by it, and a daily Hansard be published of such proceedings as take place in public.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President Trood, I seek leave to make a short statement.

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two  minutes.

Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to say that the Greens will be opposing the establishment of this select committee on Australia’s food processing sector. We do so noting that the coalition had a select committee on food production, which went for a couple of years at least in the Senate, chaired by Senator Heffernan. I am unaware of any recommendation of that committee being carried out or fulfilled in any shape or form. I note that, when I moved in this chamber for a recommendation to reinstate antidiscrimination provisions, the coalition voted against it having agreed in a tripartite report, I might say, to have that as one of the recommendations that came out of the dairy inquiry. The appropriate place for this kind of investigation is the Senate Standing Committees on Rural Affairs and Transport. That is where we would normally do this kind of thing and this will just be yet another coalition based committee. I think it is not an appropriate use of the resources of the committee system. It should go to one of the existing committees.

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr Acting Deputy President, I also seek leave to make a short statement.

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

David Feeney (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I wish to indicate that the government will be opposing this motion. The government has already embarked on a comprehensive range of work on food related issues in Australia. The Australian government is developing a national food plan encompassing Australia’s food supply chain. The plan is expected to have a broad scope including issues such as food security, productivity and efficiency; sustainability; health and nutrition in general; and economic policy relating to the food sector.

In conjunction with the national food plan the Minister for Innovation, Industry, Science and Research has established a food-processing industry strategy group to develop a long-term strategy for an innovative, sustainable, responsive and globally competitive Australian food-processing centre. The group is comprised of industry leaders across the field as well as academic and union representatives. The terms of reference for the proposed Senate inquiry overlap substantially with this strategy group.

Other recent or current initiatives in the field include a review of food security in Australia by the Prime Minister’s Science, Engineering and Innovation Council, the report of an independent committee on food labelling, the 2008 national food regulation agreement and the current Senate inquiry into the dairy industry, which is the second in recent years. A further inquiry by the Senate will only create confusion and duplication as well as absorbing government and industry resources already working on food industry issues.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a short statement.

Russell Trood (Queensland, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Specifically in relation to Senator Feeney’s statement, I reject that the government has exclusive right to undertake processes to look at particular issues that might be of interest to the Australian community or to the parliament. This is a parliamentary process. I understand that the government has its own processes underway. I was present at the announcement of one of those and I have followed them closely from a portfolio responsibility perspective. But the government does not have exclusive rights to gather information. This parliament has the right to make that decision and to have a process occurring at the same time. In fact, it may be that this process assists the government process. I hope that is the case. I reject the government’s reasons, in particular, for opposing this reference.

Question put:

That the motion (Senator Colbeck’s) be agreed to.