Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Pursuant to an order of the Senate on 14 May last, I shall put the question that this bill be now read a second time.

Jan McLucas (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Mental Health) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—I thank the chamber. Labor thanks Senator Xenophon and other crossbenchers for bringing this matter to the Senate. Labor support the policy intent of the bill, but, unfortunately, due to our significant technical concerns, we are unable to vote for it. Labor looks forward to working with Senator Xenophon and the government on ensuring that country of origin labelling for cooked seafood does become a reality.

Peter Whish-Wilson (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

by leave—The Australian Greens will be very disappointed if this bill gets voted down, having worked with Senator Xenophon and even, I may say, a number of good committee members who supported a very simple and very popular seafood country of origin labelling scheme. There is nothing complicated about this at all. This simply mandates, at the retail end of the chain, retailers saying whether seafood is local or imported. It has worked really well in the Northern Territory. It is a good start for building sustainable outcomes for the environment and also supporting our local seafood industry. It is an absolute no-brainer. We always get criticised for not bringing in country-of-origin labelling in this country. People will look at this. This was raised in the SBS TV series What's the Catch? It has been around the country. It has a lot of support, especially in my home state of Tasmania. I will be really disappointed if Labor and Liberal vote this down today.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I too seek leave to make a short, two-minute statement.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for two minutes.

Michaelia Cash (WA, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Immigration and Border Protection) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The government appreciates the intent of Senator Xenophon's Food Standards (Fish Labelling) Bill 2015 for food sold in fish and chip shops and restaurants. We recognise that consumers do want to know the origin of their food. We also recognise that Senator Xenophon is very passionate about country of origin through his work on the RRAT Committee inquiry into seafood labelling and acknowledge the hard work of the RRAT Committee members during the inquiry process. The government takes matters of food regulation very seriously, and that is why the government cannot support Senator Xenophon's bill. This is because (a) the Commonwealth parliament has limited legislative powers in the area of food regulation, which may constrain the effectiveness of such a bill; and (b) the bill suggests an approach contrary to the legislative consultative process currently provided for in the FSANZ Act. Although standards may be developed by FSANZ, their development and enforcement is undertaken in collaboration between, and relying on, state and territory legislation in Australia as well as the New Zealand government. FSANZ cannot approve standards. All food standards must be approved through consensus of the Australia and New Zealand Ministerial Forum on Food Regulation. No jurisdiction can direct Food Standards ANZ to develop a standard; jurisdictions can, however, ask for a review of existing standards. That is why the government is unable to support Senator Xenophon's bill.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I seek leave to make a statement of no more than one minute.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Leave is granted for one minute.

Nick Xenophon (SA, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

This really should be a no-brainer. It appears that the Senate will be voting down this bill. It is an opportunity lost to bring about a simple, sensible reform that would not only inform consumers in our nation's restaurants and takeaway shops where their seafood comes from but also provide a massive boost in employment, in the thousands, in the seafood sector. This has been a great success in the Northern Territory since 2011. We know it works. In good faith we deferred this vote on the basis that the coalition would get back to us with a plan on seafood labelling. There is no plan in place, which is disappointing. I thank all my crossbench colleagues who co-sponsored and supported this bill, and members of the coalition and the opposition who genuinely pushed publicly and privately for their parties to support this reform. I acknowledge that the opposition has recently taken this on as a policy, which is welcome. Sooner rather than later, Australians must get the seafood labelling laws that they want and deserve.

Stephen Parry (President) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The question is that the bill be now read a second time.