20/09/2011 (The Star) - The Australian House of Representatives Economics Committee has put up a recommendation seeking not to proceed with the proposed Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling Palm Oil) Bill 2011 in the country.

House Economics Committee chaired by member of Parramatta, New South Wales, Julie Owens said in a report yesterday that a majority of the government members believed the Bill would be mostly “ineffective” in changing labelling laws and also in slowing deforestation.

The reasons include:

The Bill's legal effect in relation to food labelling would be to require Food Standards Australia New Zealand to draft a standard but the states and territories that have power to legislate on food labelling would not be required to comply with it;

It would not change the legal effect of the Australian Consumer Law;

The Bill would breach Australia's food regulation treaty with New Zealand because the Australian government has not effectively consulted with New Zealand on the Bill;

It would put Australia at risk of a World Trade Organisation dispute with Indonesia and Malaysia; and

The Government is already considering the Labelling Logic review, which recommended that, where sugars, fats or oils are added to a food, the source ingredients should also be listed.

Meanwhile, both Australia and New Zealand Food Regulation Ministerial Councils will consider their response to the review on Dec 9.

“We understand the strong feelings in the community about palm oil and any link it may have to deforestation and the reduction of orang utan habitat,” said Owens.

“But the Bill will not fix the problem. It is not drafted around the laws that already exist and will have no useful effect.

“Instead, it will harm our international relationship with New Zealand, expose us to a World Trade Organisation dispute and threaten nationally uniform laws that annually save billions of dollars in costs for consumers and businesses,” she added.

Owens pointed out that a long-running review sponsored by the Council of Australian Governments was already looking into this matter. “We should let the review runs its course.”

In addition, the Coalition and Green members of the committee have also produced dissenting reports on the proposed legislation.

On Aug 18, Malaysian Palm Oil Council chief executive officer Tan Sri Yusof Basiron, together with a team comprising local smallholder authorities and ministry officials, appeared before the Australian senate economics committee to testify on the proposed Bill.

Earlier in April, a Malaysian palm oil expert team led by Yusof had also appeared before a public hearing of Australian senate community affairs legislation committee to correct the misconception of the Bill and its impact on Malaysia's palm oil industry.

In May, the Aussie community affairs legislation committee had decided not to pass the Bill.