APPLE AND PEAR INDUSTRY

The Hon. M. PARNELL (14:53): As a supplementary: when the minister said that eating a South Australian apple a day is good for you, how does she expect that South Australian consumers will know that they are eating a South Australian apple when we have no place-of-origin labelling in our food laws?

The Hon. G.E. GAGO (Minister for Agriculture, Food and Fisheries, Minister for Forests, Minister for Regional Development, Minister for Tourism, Minister for the Status of Women) (14:54): At our federal ministerial meeting, the issue of food labelling and country-of-origin labelling has been discussed.

The Hon. M. Parnell: State of origin or place of origin.

The Hon. G.E. GAGO: I understand the member's frustration. It has been a long-standing issue that has been debated for quite some time. I am sympathetic to the honourable member's sentiments. I think it is something that we should be moving towards at a more rapid rate. It is an issue that needs to be coordinated nationally. South Australia is attempting to assist in expediting efforts in that direction.

We know that there are issues around labelling that are quite complex. I talked about this in here the other day in terms of a product: what part of the product needs to be labelled in terms of its country of origin? Is it the biscuit itself, is it the chocolate around the biscuit, is it the container that the biscuit comes in, is it the country where the thing was packaged together?

All of those issues are quite complex but, as I said, I am sympathetic to the honourable member's sentiments. Consumers expect more information, and their considerations are far more sophisticated these days. They want that information in order to make informed choices and they particularly want to support Australian and South Australian produce.