Australian Greens' additional comments

1.1The Australian Greens thank the Senate Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport Legislation Committee for conducting this inquiry.

1.2The Australian Greens share our deep thanks to submitters who have taken their valuable time to provide feedback, data and recommendations for policy improvements to this inquiry.

1.3Of particular note, the Australian Greens thank the Organic Development Group (ODG) for the detailed submission made on behalf of the key representative bodies of the Australian organics industry. The Australian Greens note the ODG submission comprises the agreed position of the majority of Australian organic peak bodies which cumulatively represent more than 90 per cent of Australia’s organic industry operators, comprised of; ACO Certification Ltd, Australian Organic Limited (AOL), Bio-Dynamic Research Institute (BDRI), Certified Organic Biodynamic Western Australia (COBWA), NASAA Certified Organic (NCO), National Association for Sustainable Agriculture Australia (NASAA), Organic and Regenerative Investment Co-operative (ORICoop), Organic Food Chain (OFC), and Southern Cross Certified (SXC). The Australian Greens have worked in a cooperative and constructive manner with bodies such Australian Organic Limited and other representative bodies over the 47th Parliament and previous parliaments and look forward to this work continuing in the next parliament following the 2025 Federal election.

1.4The Australian Greens note that the path put forward for reform represents the first unified position of these multitudes of peak bodies.

1.5The Australian Greens support the principle of domestic organic regulatory reform and support the principle of introducing a national organic standard in Australia. As noted in the recommendations of this report, the need for a domestic regulatory regime was first identified in the early 1990s.

1.6The Australian Greens note that the ODG submission projects that the domestic organic industry will more than double by 2028, reaching an estimated $5.8 billion.[1] In addition to this the same submission states organic exports are projected to grow at an annualised rate of 29 per cent up to the 2026/27 financial year despite difficulties accessing markets like the United States following ongoing lack of domestic reform to implement a national organic standard.[2]

1.7The Australian Greens note that in November 2024, the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture’s Inquiry into the role of Australian agriculture in Southeast Asian Markets, chaired by Meryl Swanson MP, Labor MP for Paterson, made a number of recommendations related to supporting the progression of domestic organic regulatory reform.[3]

1.8The Australian Greens have made a commitment to support and progress domestic organic regulatory reform, with the exact model of this reform to be developed in consultation with Government, the organics industry, the public and other relevant stakeholders. Specifically, the Australian Greens have committed to ‘protect the organic industry from greenwashing by legislating a domestic standard that enshrines a legal definition of “organic” in Australia.’ This election commitment can be found published on the Australian Greens website.[4]

1.9While the Australian Greens have made a commitment to progress domestic organic regulatory reform, the Australian Greens note this should not be viewed as a default commitment to progress the specific model of reform put forward by this Bill.

1.10The Australian Greens appreciate the representations by organic producers and peak organic representative bodies to federal representatives across the 47th Parliament in support of domestic organic standard reform. This includes multiple events held in Parliament House to highlight priorities for the industry through the Parliamentary Friends of Organics. These representations have consistently advocated for a national domestic standard to enable Australian producers to trade with international markets and inoculate the domestic organics industry against greenwashing and the misuse of the term “organic”.

1.11The Australian Greens also thank our internal Country Greens working group, who since this Bill’s introduction have provided feedback and representations supporting domestic organic regulatory reform.

1.12The Australian Greens draw attention to the submission from the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, which concedes that legislating a domestic national organic standard could overcome current trade barriers with priority markets such as the Republic of Korea, Canada and China.[5]

1.13The Australian Greens highlight many details of the submission from the Organic Development Group which directly address previous statements from the Australian Government relating to the projected costs of implementing a domestic national organic standard. Notably the Organic Development Group’s modelling and analysis included in the submission highlights findings in the previous PwC cost-benefit analysis of domestic regulatory reform indicating that a 1 per cent increase in organics trade following the introduction of a domestic standard could offset implementation costs of the domestic organic standard, ‘positioning Australia as a trusted supplier of organic products.’ [6]

1.14The Australian Greens have an acute awareness of the cost of living crisis currently being experienced by Australians. The profiteering supermarket duopoly has opportunistically and shamelessly engaged in price gouging, sending grocery bills to the stratosphere. The Australian Greens are right now unsure of how the implementation of this model for domestic organic regulatory reform may influence producers and supermarkets passing on any costs of organic certification to consumers in the form of higher prices for organic products at the checkout.

1.15The Australian Greens are yet to make a final decision on the Bill and will make such a decision pending further consultation with relevant stakeholders.

Senator Peter Whish-Wilson

Member

Australian Greens Senator for Tasmania

Footnotes

[1]Organic Development Group, Submission 20, p. 3.

[2]Organic Development Group, Submission 20, p. 8.

[3]House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Trading North – Inquiry into the role of Australian agriculture in Southeast Asian Markets, November 2024, pp. xvii–xix.

[4]Australian Greens, Agriculture & Biosecurity,https://greens.org.au/portfolios/agriculture-biosecurity, (accessed 10 February 2025).

[5]Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Submission 21, p. 4.

[6]Organic Development Group, Submission 20, p. 15.