BOB Katter became the first to introduce legislation into parliament over imported food labelling since the Hepatitis A outbreak, which started more than two weeks ago, and the recent health scare at a Sydney café from imported tuna.
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The federal member for Kennedy and KAP leader tabled The Imported Food Warning Labels Bill 2015 in parliament on Monday, aiming that all imported food products carry the label: “Warning: Imported food. This food has not been grown or processed under Australian health and hygiene standards and may be injurious to your health.”
An identical Bill was introduced by Mr Katter and seconded by the Member for Denison, Andrew Wilkie with the assistance of Snow White in 2013 , but was ignored by the two major parties.
Standing with Snow White and her poisoned apples at Parliament House on Monday, Mr Katter and Mr Wilkie warned of the need for stricter labelling over imported foods. Imported products currently do not have to adhere to the same strict standards as Australian producers resulting in a grossly unfair playing field for local producers and risking public health.
“The recent cases that have brought this once again to the fore are just as we predicted, there are people that will get sick in Australia because of the products coming in from overseas,” Mr Katter said.
Mr Katter cited examples of flowers and beef as being one set of rules for Australian producers and another for producers coming in from overseas, which significantly pushes up the cost of Australian produce.
“Is it any wonder that six years ago we were big exporters of prawn and fish, we were big exporters of fruit and vegetables, we are now big importers of both, because under those costs structures our industries have collapsed.’’
