Are the people of Victoria interested in safe food with regulatory responsibility? The Lib Nats are not...

Australian Food News reports that the Victorian Parliament is to review meat and dairy regulations. Now, Networkers, I am most suspicious about this.  The Baillieu Government in Victoria has allowed grazing by cattle in significant national parks.  It is bending over backwards, it seems to me, to satisfy its conservative and corporate constituency.  

The chair of the Rural and Regional Committee, Mr Paul Weller (MP for Rodney) said the enquiry needed to investigate the cost competitiveness of food safety laws on regulated businesses.

To my wary mind, Networkers, the word of Mr Weller are code for advantaging corporates, farmers, and small business with regard to cost while cutting regulation to the bone. 


Check out the language used in the Terms of Reference below: 
cost competitiveness, regulatory burden, support businesses, promote business continuity, non-regulatory methods, costs of implementation for business and government, and the facilitation of market access and exports.


Please note that there is no mention of something such as regulatory responsibility to protect the interests of the consuming public.  Ah no.  This is an Inquiry to advantage and empathise not with the public but with corporations, businesses and farmers.

Submissions close on Monday 3 September 2012

The website for further details on the Inquiry Into The Impact of Food Safety Regulation On Farms And Other Business is here.

Terms of Reference

That, under s33 of the Parliamentary Committees Act 2003, an inquiry into the impact of food safety regulation on farm and other businesses regulated under the Dairy Act 2000, the Meat Industry Act 1993, and the Seafood Act 2003 be referred to the Rural and Regional Committee for consideration and report no later than 30 March 2013, and the Committee is asked to:

(1) explore the cost competitiveness to regulated businesses of food safety laws administered by PrimeSafe and Dairy Food Safety Victoria (DFSV);

(2)  have a particular focus on small business;

(3) investigate and assess:

(a) the extent and appropriateness of regulatory burden impact of national primary production and processing standards on regulated businesses in Victoria;

(b) the comparison of alternative methods to assess compliance with required standards and food safety outcomes;

(c) incentives for improved performance to reduce regulatory burden such as ‘earned recognition’ systems;

(d) how regulators can support businesses to understand and achieve compliance with regulations;

(e) how regulators can promote business continuity and improved compliance where non-compliance with regulations is identified;

(f)   non-regulatory methods for achieving required food safety outcomes;

(g) the comparison of requirements under legislation administered by PrimeSafe and DFSV with existing regulatory requirements under theFood Act 1984 for businesses with equivalent food safety risks;

(h) the comparison of requirements under legislation administered by PrimeSafe and DFSV with regulatory requirements administered by the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service for exports;

(i)   the application of food safety regulations to farm-gate sales of unprocessed and on-farm processed produce, given the desire for some agricultural producers to innovate and value-add on farm;

(4) consider the findings of other relevant reviews and evidence from other systems implemented either in Australia or internationally; and

(5) have regard to public health outcomes, the costs of implementation for business and government, and the facilitation of market access and exports.

Interrogate your purchases : find out where they come from

BUY, BUY AMERICAN PIE

A long, long time ago
we used to get our food home grown
and toothpaste used to make you smile

It used to be you'd shop with ease
never eating antifreeze
You'd plan to keep on living quite awhile

But now our goods are all delivered
from somewhere on the Yangtze River
No none knows the source there
so you might find some horse hair

But if corporations make a buck
they don't give a flying... Peking duck
And with this system we get stuck
today it makes you sigh

Now when you buy, buy an American pie
your grandma didn't bake it
it was made in Shanghai
where they engineered the apples to be juicy not dry

But the crust is made of cardboard and lye
don't feed it to your dog
he might die

Now did you eat a Tasty Cake
and did it make your stomach ache?
I could have said "I told you so"

And the reason you are looking wan
is some guy took bribes in Sichuan
so you just bit into little Debbie's toe

And now the toys you bought from Fisher Price
have toxins deemed unsafe for mice
and Elmo tends to wheeze
cus he's laced with PCBs

But of all my problems seen so far
when I see my cheap new DVR
I'll even brush my teeth with tar

And you will see that I'll
buy, buy from some young guy
I drive a Chevy and it's heavy
but the price is too high

Soon twenty bucks will buy a car from Shanghai
and honey that'll be the day we all die

~ written & performed by the Capitol Steps

From here


~~~~~~~~~
Related reading:



Food Security for the Faint of Heart

Gardening For the Faint of Heart

Further reading:

Permaculture research institute of Austraslia

China considers buying land overseas to secure food supply - report

Melamine in foods from China

Ban Chinese food imports

Chinese food giant to explore NSW

China takes steps to enforce food safety standards

China foods on the rise

Red tape and Pink batts : Cupidity and Lucidity

Picture from here

Picture from here

Over on Richard Denniss's Facebook site is the most lucid thing I have read on the pink batts issue.  It is written by someone who knows, Anny Joseph.  I reprint it below:

"And you forgot one important aspect that the Hawke Review raised. You need to place it in context. The GFC was a huge issue in the time. The Government did what people had been calling for... less red tape. Make it simple and allow it to go as quickly as possible (based on demand). It steamed hundreds of thousands of jobs. If people like you react so strongly - then the only thing that will happen is that everything Government does will have extensive red tape and be overly risk adverse. In fact, it is now too risky by your terms to do an ETS. It needs several more years of refined thought.

Federal Government was not the first or the second Government to have insulation rebates. But it was the first to remove red tape and make it easier to access.

The number of complaints on the insulation program was less than 1% of all installations done. This is reasonable. All companies that were registered to install insulation certified that they would meet or relevant safety standards etc.

The insulation program was a demand driven program. In fact, Government had to move money quickly because the demand was unforeseen. The Government provided the incentive and the the demand created by Australians. I can tell you, the Government did not demand that the bridge be built in 3 months. They did not do the cold calling.

The one positive aspect of this process is that now the insulation program will be regulated.

We are moving back to the time when a person walks outside and trips over on the footpath... blame the Government.

I run a rebate program in Federal Government - instead of being innovative, instead of reducing red tape and instead of being less bureaucratic - we are moving to be more insular... congratulations.

And with the deaths - thats a workcover issue. It was sad, but I cannot see how the Government is responsible."