Making seafood origin less fishy
A NORTH Queensland barra farmer and a restaurateur have backed the Katter’s Australian Party’s bid to introduce new country-of-origin labelling for seafood.
The party will introduce legislation into parliament next week to make it mandatory for the state’s dining venues to declare where the seafood served comes from.
While it is compulsory for Australian supermarkets to identify the origins of its seafood, the law does not extend to takeaway shops, cafes or restaurants.
Spring Creek Barramundi farm manager Tim Bade said the Australian Barramundi Farmers Association had created National Barra Day in a bid to push consumers to ask for homegrown barra.
“It ties in well with the legislation in giving people the knowledge to make an informed choice about the seafood they are consuming,” Mr Bade said.
He said Australia was governed by strong environmental and ethical standards, while some countries did not have the same controls in place.
“We’ve seen, post-covid,
less imports coming in and less imported fish making it to our shores, but there has been a massive increase in demand for our product, which makes it very viable for farms to exercise the expansion capacity they have, knowing there is a consumer base to take that product,” Mr Bade said.
Katter’s Australian Party leader Robbie Katter said most people wanted to support Australian industries.
“We’re introducing legislation that introduces country of origin, so places like C Bar in Townsville can demonstrate to people that they have been supporting the industry for a long time, and that they want to see people eat that locally produced fish,” Mr Katter said.
While the party has talked about this type of legislation before, this will be the first time it is introduced into parliament. Mr Katter said a similar type of legislation was already in place in the Northern Territory.
C Bar owner Allan Pike said his restaurant already labelled everything so people could see what they were eating.
“I think a lot of places are saying they’re selling the product, but you don’t really know,” Mr Pike said. “They’re going for the cheaper option as opposed to better quality.”
Hinchinbrook MP Nick Dametto said most people were already making ethical decisions about where their seafood, fruit and vegetables were coming from.
“Having that important label on here to ensure they know exactly what they are buying will actually boost what is happening in Australia with our produce,” Mr Dametto said.
“Australians want to buy Australian-owned, they want to buy Australian produce and products.”