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House of Assembly - Fifty-Second Parliament, First Session (52-1)
2010-07-20 Daily Xml
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FOOD SECURITY

Mr VENNING (Schubert) (15:40): Today I would like to talk about an issue that affects everyone, and that is a favourite subject of mine, food security. We have always had the ability in Australia to be self-sufficient in growing and producing our own food, but more and more we are seeing a growing number of imports from Asia, Canada and South America—indeed, from all over the world. The Australian farm sector has said that we are losing our ability to remain competitive with other countries because our productivity growth is falling and our ability to compete in the world market is also falling. This is one strong reason why we need to be investing more into research and development, not less, as PIRSA has been experiencing for the past few years under the Rann Labor government cuts, and more are forecast.

Farmers need to be supported through research and development so that they can continue to implement innovative farming practices and become competitive internationally. We also need to ensure that the best arable land in the state is protected and quarantined for food production and not lost to housing developments. Almost all of South Australia's cities and towns are built on the best farming land, especially Adelaide, Gawler, Mount Barker and Roseworthy, and the list can go on.

The Rann Labor government's 30-Year Plan for Greater Adelaide proposed a larger amount of growth around Mount Barker and Roseworthy. Roseworthy, in particular, is some of the best agricultural land in the state, and there are some areas of extremely fertile land around Nairne, Mount Barker and, indeed, Freeling, but this will be lost if the Rann government continues with its planned housing developments for the area.

Using the land we have available for agriculture will result in our having to rely more heavily on imported goods. Is it not a contradiction that, as our population increases, every day we take more land out of food production? I know that I do not want to be eating foods that are imported from overseas, that have been sprayed with chemicals and pesticides that are banned here in Australia and that do not have our high food standards applied to them. But if we do not work at it, we will not continue to be self-sufficient in producing our own food, and we must support our farmers by buying Australian produce over imported produce. Imported produce will one day be all that is available. You then rely on them to supply, and if they are short they will not be looking after us.

Also, the levels of food stocks in the past in this country were governed by legislation. Our grain handlers had to have carry-over stocks in the silos and it had to be kept there by legislation. That is all gone. Now, none of our silos are required to have any grain in them. Remember the Bible story about Joseph and the great drought? Well, it could happen here. There is no guarantee that our grain marketers would have any grain left in the silos for us after about a year. I believe that was a backward move, indeed.

Labelling laws are also a big issue and something that must be addressed. All labels must carry the country of origin so that consumers can make informed choices about the products they buy.

The Hon. S.W. Key: In big print.

Mr VENNING: 'In big print', as the member for Ashford says. My phone rang a minute ago about a media alert today and it says 'Chinese apples were sold as local apples and AQIS and FSANZ don't care'. That is a disgrace.

The poisoned pine nut situation which occurred last week is a prime example of why products should at the very least contain country of origin details—and as the member for Ashford just said in large letters, not hidden in the small print. Here we have pine nuts believed to have been from China which were contaminated and, although not believed to cause a safety risk, this did result in several South Australians having to deal with an overpowering bitter metallic taste in their mouth lasting for up to two weeks after they ate the nuts.

Obviously it is not possible for every single item of food that enters our borders to be tested so, at the very least, if the country of origin was marked on the label, consumers would know where the product is from and then make their own decision about purchasing and consuming it. I know that there is currently a federal government review of food labelling laws and a policy being undertaken and that the review committee is due to provide its report to the Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Council in December 2010 and to COAG in early 2011. I hope that the committee recommends that country of origin information be made mandatory on all food labels and displayed with fresh produce.

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