Shadow Minister for Agriculture and Food Security, John Cobb plans to conduct a comprehensive audit in agriculture across all levels of government, should the Coalition be elected.
Cobb has stated that the audit would have a strong focus on regulations imposed by the nation’s supermarket giants, which he claims are driving up costs of production by implementing expensive requirements such as ‘sow-stall free pork’ in a push for greater market share, the Weekly Times Now reports.
"HGP-free, sow-stall free pork and barn-laid eggs are all examples of products that the supermarkets tell us we are demanding and these are imposing expensive capital upgrades by industry and also require ongoing and costly paper and audit trails," Cobb said.
"Pork is a classic example. Our fresh pork producers are being driven to provide pork that is not raised in sow stalls, yet imported ham and bacon products are not required to meet these standards."
Cobb also believes that requirements made by the supermarkets regarding chemical testing on home-grown food are excessive. According to Cobb, locally grown produce requires testing of up to 135 chemicals to comply with domestic regulatory standards as opposed to imported produce which only requires test for approximately 50 chemicals.
According to Cobb, the Labour government has introduced an additional 20,900 regulations since 2008, which have made Australian domestic markets increasing more difficult to remain competitive in.
"There are significant extra costs imposed on our domestic industries," said Cobb.
"The Coalition audit will highlight the extent of red tape and the differences between domestic and imported product red tape so we can ensure our domestic industries are not disadvantaged."