FAIR TRADE CERTIFIED CHOCOLATE

The Hon. I.K. HUNTER (15:40): From the Liberal Party's fictional creation myths, let us go to something a little more important. This may be a brave assumption but some of my colleagues here might recall a speech that I made last year on fair trade certified chocolate. This is a combination of two things very dear to my heart—fair trade and chocolate. I thought I might revisit the topic given that this is Fair Trade Fortnight.

The fair trade system is about providing decent working conditions, sustainability and a just trade arrangement for workers and producers in developing countries. It is a trading partnership that seeks to address the imbalance of power in conventional trade which, traditionally, discriminates against the poorest and most vulnerable.

Fair trade offers workers and producers in developing countries control over their own lives. It offers them a dignified and sustained livelihood. The 2010 Fair Trade Fortnight runs from 1 to 16 May, and last Wednesday I was pleased to help out at the Fair Trade SA information stall in Rundle Mall. Despite the bad weather, there was genuine interest from passers-by and very few knocked back the offer of free fair trade chocolate tastings.

Last Friday it was announced that our own Adelaide City Council has been awarded the status of Fair Trade City. Adelaide is the first capital city in Australia and only the third council in Australia to be recognised in such a manner. I congratulate the city council on being proactive on this important issue.

The Fair Trade Town or City initiative has proved highly successful in other parts of the world, raising awareness in fair trade sales by up to 70 per cent in some cases. I am confident that the Adelaide City Council's own fair trade campaign will prove just as successful here. I am delighted to report that the fair trade movement has grown over the past 12 months with sales climbing despite the world's economic downturn. Last year sales of fair trade products exceeded $36 million, up from $23 million in 2008. Fair trade certified products currently available in Australia include coffee, tea, nuts, sugar, cotton, rice and chocolate cocoa.

I acknowledge that some critics of fair trade (and there are a few) claim that the movement is little more than a branded lifestyle, something of interest to righteous yuppies and with very little real value, but I respectfully disagree, and I expect that the Ghanaian cocoa farmers would disagree too.

I am encouraged that fair trade merits bipartisan support across Australia most notably by that pillar of the South Australian Liberal Party, the lion of Sturt, the federal member for Sturt. I note also that the office of Steve Georganas, the federal member for Hindmarsh, and our own Office of the Premier and Cabinet have also been recognised as fair trade workplaces. I am also pleased to report to my colleagues here, who may not have noticed, that the coffee served here in Parliament House is fair trade certified. We can all have our indulgences and our morning coffee, knowing that our caffeine fix is not as exploitative of impoverished farmers as it once may have been.

As consumers, we hold a great deal of power. With our purchases and our choices we can influence market outcomes. As consumers, we also have a responsibility to make informed decisions, to know where products are coming from, who has produced them and under what conditions. Admittedly, that takes a bit of effort and requires some research on our part. This might explain a recent Australian study that shows that there is a gap between sentiment and action in supporting the fair trade cause. However, I am encouraged by the growing sales figures of fair trade products, proving that more and more consumers are willing to make the effort to shop responsibly.

Today more than five million people across 58 developing countries in Africa, Asia, Oceania, Latin America and the Caribbean benefit from the fair trade system. Five million might not seem enough when we are talking about tackling poverty on a global scale but to those five million individual people and their families it is, quite simply, life changing. It is, after all, a very good start. Fair trade is about giving those who are the most disempowered tools to change their own world. As Nelson Mandela has often reminded us, 'Overcoming poverty is not a gesture of charity, it is an act of justice.'

I invite honourable members to join with me in making the switch to justice, making the switch to fair trade products even if it is only in one item that you might buy regularly at the supermarket. To give you a little taste of what that might be, I have some free fair trade products—they are not props and not unparliamentary—to give to my colleagues here today who have listened to my speech.