Kedgley Sue: Consumer's Right to Know (Food Information) Bill — First Reading 
Kedgley Sue: Consumer's Right to Know (Food Information) Bill — First Reading 
[Volume:632;Page:4027] 
SUE KEDGLEY (Green) 
: 
 The Consumer’s Right to Know (Food Information) Bill has overwhelming support from the vast majority of New Zealanders who want better labelling of their food. The bill should be supported by every party in this House because it is about the basic democratic right of New Zealanders to know what is in the food we are eating and where it comes from. I thank the Maori Party ACT New Zealand First and United Future for listening to ordinary New Zealand consumers and supporting this bill. And I thank the 4000 New Zealanders who have sent emails and postcards to MPs imploring them to vote for the bill. Some have started petitions for the bill and others have even staged a protest in support of it. I also thank the 25 organisations that have come out in support of the bill ranging from Parents Centres New Zealand to the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. 
Rarely has a member’s bill had so much support from ordinary New Zealanders because it actually addresses something that really bothers consumers every time they shop for food—namely the lack of any information on a label to tell them whether the food they are buying contains GE ingredients or where most of it comes from. Some MPs may not do the shopping or push trolleys around the supermarket so they may not realise just how important this issue is for ordinary consumers or realise the growing concerns consumers have about the safety of our food and the way it is produced which is why consumers want labels to tell them what they are eating and where it comes from. 
Maryan Street said that we do not need better labelling because all of our food is safe. But GE ingredients have never undergone any safety testing so how do we know they are safe? If GE ingredients have not undergone safety testing surely we should at least be able to figure out where they are so we can avoid those foods that contain them if we consider them unsafe. And if we are going to encourage container-loads of meat to be imported into New Zealand in a world awash with bovine spongiform encephalopathy and avian flu surely we have a right to know where all that meat ends up and whether the meat we are buying comes from New Zealand or China. 
New Zealand is being left way behind in our labelling laws. Most Western countries already have mandatory labelling of all GE ingredients in food and mandatory country-of-origin labelling. Many countries already require eggs to be labelled as to whether they come from caged free-range or barn-raised hens. The only reason we do not already have country-of-origin labelling is because our Government decided—in secret in classic Muldoon style without any debate or even consultation with any member of Parliament other than those in Cabinet—to veto a joint standard that would have made country-of-origin labelling compulsory in New Zealand. As Barbara Stewart said we have it for our footwear and clothing. Surely it is more important that we know where the food we put into our bodies comes from than where our jandals and T-shirts come from. 
National tried to justify its opposition by saying that the labelling would impose overwhelming compliance costs on industry. What utter twaddle! The GE labelling provisions would apply to only the dozen or so food producers in New Zealand who have not already removed GE ingredients from their food. And there is virtually no cost to install country-of-origin labelling or to provide labelling on egg cartons. The country-of-origin provisions exist in Australia so that argument will not wash. 
It speaks volumes about the contempt that the two major parties have towards ordinary consumers that they would deny something as simple and as fundamental as consumers’ right to know what is in food and where it comes from. It shows how totally out of touch they are with the concerns of mainstream New Zealand and how they will always put the interests of food producers ahead of the interests of consumers. Maryan Street said that we cannot have country-of-origin labelling in New Zealand because it would be unhelpful to a couple of our companies internationally. How outrageous! The interests of a couple of exporters come way ahead of the interests of consumers! How bizarre that a Labour Party which claims to be democratic is acting so arrogantly. How bizarre that the National Party which says its core values are about individual freedom and responsibility is opposing a bill that is all about giving individuals the freedom to choose through proper food labelling. New Zealand consumers will remember which two parties denied them the right to better labelling of their food. I will make sure of that. 
I seek leave to table a postcard from Jill Turner Lloyd which states: “The right to know and choose is crucial for our freedom as individuals in this society.” 
Document by leave laid on the Table of the House. 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: I seek leave to table a postcard from Charlotte Minson which states: “It is a basic right of consumers to know what we are putting in our bodies.” 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: How many more are there? 
SUE KEDGLEY 
: I want to table several hundred but I wanted to read just three or four. 
The ASSISTANT SPEAKER (Ann Hartley) 
: I am sorry but the time has come for the dinner break. I will resume the Chair at 7.30 p.m. 
Sitting suspended from 6 p.m. to 7.30 p.m.