21/09/2011 (The Star) - Malaysian Palm Oil Council (MPOC) has urged the Australian Parliament to reject the Food Standards Amendment (Truth in Labelling - Palm Oil) Bill 2010.

Australia should instead help support the economic growth and poverty reduction in Malaysia, and reject trade barriers that were based on unfounded allegations by environmental groups, said MPOC chief executive officer Tan Sri Dr Yusof Basiron in a statement yesterday.

He was responding to the Australian House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics report on Monday which recommended the Bill to be rejected.

According to Yusof, the Economics Committee Report represented an important step towards the rejection of the anti-palm oil Bill by the Australian parliament.

“The matter now rests with the Australian Federal House of Representatives and whether the government and Liberal/National Party will vote against the Bill in the parliament,” he added.

He said MPOC was pleased with the report, which recognised the importance of palm oil to Malaysia and poverty alleviation.

Yusof had led palm oil experts in April and August at the public hearings in Canberra to pre-sent Malaysia's stance on the anti-palm oil Bill to Australian legislators.

Meanwhile, National Association of Smallholders president Datuk Aliasak Ambia, who was part of the palm oil team of experts to Australia in August, told StarBiz: “Malaysia has worked hard to present its case, especially in convincing the Aussie legislators on the plight of local smallholders and how the implementation of Bill will affect their livelihood.”