Carr ends silence on food future
25-January-2011
The lights have come on for Minister Carr. Late yesterday afternoon he announced a "Food Processing Industry Strategy Group". The food and grocery industry has been lobbying for years for such a group.
It is great that the minister has adopted Coalition policy to get a group like this to look at the long term needs of food supply in Australia.
However, having announced no less than 30 reviews, forums, councils and strategy groups the jury is out on whether this is a political fix or a real attempt to engage this vital and proactive industry.
Despite Mr Carr’s many advisory bodies, he seems content to commission committees and reference groups to do the thinking for him and then to substantially ignore the advice they give. Just in November last year the head of his peak innovation review, Terry Cutler, said Mr Carr and the Gillard government had gone silent on his review and that the minister’s actions were "dismal" and "hostile".
"I am glad Kim Carr has come to understand the need for a body to look at the future of food security and technology in this country.
"We promised such a group at the last election.
"I sincerely hope he is really interested in the ideas these experts will bring forward, because God knows he hasn’t paid much attention to good advice in the past," said Mrs Mirabella.