Senator NEAL (3:26 PM) —It certainly was true that there were particular concerns raised in relation to food products, both at the hearing and in discussions that the opposition has had with various consumer groups. The very obvious producers who are affected are concentrated orange juice manufacturers, pork producers and strawberry growers. All those people, who are largely primary producers, raised a concern that, by allowing an item to be labelled `Australian Made' when it was only 50 per cent, could encourage our manufacturers to bring in that primary produce from overseas, particularly when it might be cheaper.

There are two matters that concern me. It is difficult when you are trying to get the simplest and most straightforward scheme in place to have different percentages applying to different products. To some extent it is almost as confusing for consumers to have different levels apply to different products, as the concern they might have about food produce.

Again, I understand the concerns, but I do not feel that to substantially amend some portion of the bill in an ad hoc way is appropriate, when there seems to be general dissatisfaction amongst consumers, and perhaps the bill at large is the appropriate way to go. Again, in any major monitoring and review of this scheme, we may need to amend this area, but at this stage we do not propose to support the Democrat amendment.