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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 9 Hansard (3 September) . . Page.. 2796 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

It is conceivable - indeed, I would say it is probable - that Parkwood Eggs will consider their position in the light of this legislation and consider decisions of that kind. That puts at risk the 50 or so jobs which are presently within the ACT. Mr Corbell shakes his head. I have spoken today with the people from Parkwood Eggs and that is exactly what they say to me. They say at the very least that, if they were in the position of having to expand their operation in the future to create additional capacity to accommodate barn-produced eggs, then they would have to consider whether they should build that additional capacity outside the ACT. That would provide them with greater security against changes in the law which are obviously on the cards with amendments like those before the Assembly today.

Even if one-third of Parkwood's production of eggs goes outside the ACT, that is a loss of jobs and revenue to the ACT. Where is the new direction in that? Where is the direction that Mr Berry has told the Assembly that he wants to take? I know where it is. It is a direction backwards, away from jobs. I am not saying that this legislation will have the effect of immediately causing Parkwood to consider those issues and to make adjustments to start to move towards free-range or barn production of eggs. That clearly is a matter stalled for some period of time. Neither I nor the Greens nor the Labor Party can tell Parkwood just when those provisions are going to affect them. Any business facing that kind of uncertainty has to take precautions against that happening.

If you were in business, Mr Corbell, what steps would you take? It would be wise and it would be logical to put your enterprise out of risk. With the environment for egg production in the ACT being portrayed in these amendments, it would clearly be sensible for someone like Parkwood to think about having their operation outside the ACT. Sixty jobs could go out the door, as could the revenue to the ACT taxpayer from payroll tax and other business taxes. I am not saying that this is going to happen, but I am saying that we run the real risk that it could happen. That is a step this Government, which is about jobs, not just about the rhetoric of jobs, is not prepared to countenance and to play with. Those opposite who have supported these provisions obviously want to have an each-way bet. They are not prepared to support the Greens' amendments as they stand at the moment before the house. They are obviously afraid that there would be a backlash to that and that there would be some trouble from it. I say to members that in the present environment we cannot really afford to put that issue on the agenda. We cannot afford to have it running as a real issue in our community.

Let us suppose that Parkwood decides that it is going to knuckle down and take a punt that at some point in the next six to 10 years these provisions are going to apply in the ACT and they are going to have to live with them and decides that it is less expensive for them to live with these provisions than to move outside the ACT and export battery eggs into the ACT. Let us suppose they make that decision and they start to convert to barn egg production. They are at year one and they have to go to year six. At year one they would have to start converting some of their space to barn production. They would then increase the proportion of their eggs produced by the barn method and reduce the proportion produced by battery methods. When the eggs reached the supermarket they would be labelled under the provisions in the Food (Amendment) Bill with the word "battery", "barn" or "aviary". Not only would the customer see the difference in the labelling when they came to the shop; they would also see the difference in price. Eggs coming out of the barn will be more expensive to produce.

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