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Speaker 1: But this is related. It's food related certainly, and OZVEG

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Speaker 1: have put out a release saying, say, growers to be

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Speaker 1: slugged with a new lettuce tax in blatant revenue grab

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Speaker 1: on struggling producers. Well, this is certainly something you need

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Speaker 1: to know about because of course any charge put on

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Speaker 1: producers inevitably is passed on to consumers you and me,

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Speaker 1: and as if growers aren't doing it tough enough as

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Speaker 1: it is right now, it's dubbed the lettuce tax, but

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Speaker 1: it will take in producers of berries, melons and leafy vegetables.

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Speaker 1: Let's find out about it. The CEO of oz Veg

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Speaker 1: is Jordan Brooke Barnett, who is on the line. Jordan,

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Speaker 1: good morning, good morning, tell us about the lettuce tax.

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Speaker 1: What is it? How's it going to work?

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Speaker 2: Well, growers spend in excess of fifteen thousand a year

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Speaker 2: on independent certifications each year. You know these are done

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Speaker 2: to global standards. In fact, we have one of the

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Speaker 2: best food safety regimes in the world. But the SA

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Speaker 2: government in a discussion paper has said, well that's all

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Speaker 2: good enough. We need you to send in your certificate

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Speaker 2: and someone in our department's going to certify that you

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Speaker 2: have the certification, and we're going to stuck here four

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Speaker 2: forty one dollars up front and nearly four hundred bucks

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Speaker 2: a year.

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Speaker 1: So who issues the certificate? Is it the government that

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Speaker 1: puts that out in the first place.

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Speaker 2: No, it's it's independent industry certification. It's very robust. It's

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Speaker 2: done in consultation with the supermarkets and benchmarks against global standards.

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Speaker 2: So look, this initiative is a blatant revenue grab and

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Speaker 2: it does nothing to improve safety. It's purely a rubber

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Speaker 2: stamping exercise.

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Speaker 3: I think.

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Speaker 2: I think someone in his apartment person has just seen

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Speaker 2: our industry as easy to pray for another.

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Speaker 1: Revenue grap okay, in terms of revenue grabs, as you suggest,

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Speaker 1: is this something you were expecting? Was it foreshadowed by

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Speaker 1: the government in coming to office or anything like that.

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Speaker 2: Well, we hadn't thought so. In fact, I dug up

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Speaker 2: some Munich reports back in the day that show to

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Speaker 2: our own previa Peter malon ousest it quite clearly said

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Speaker 2: to Business Essay and the other groups that his government

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Speaker 2: wasn't going to introduce any new taxes. So I guess

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Speaker 2: we've taken that at base value, and so this is

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Speaker 2: certainly a surprise. We thought during this government that you know,

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Speaker 2: there was a clear remit not.

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Speaker 1: To do this, So you're looking at it as a

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Speaker 1: broken promise. Essentially, we are.

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Speaker 2: Certainly and you know in the scheme of things when

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Speaker 2: we talk about pricing, it won't impact thing, but it

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Speaker 2: certainly it sends a message to our industry that you know,

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Speaker 2: the government's not here to support us. It's here to

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Speaker 2: here to see us as a cash core.

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Speaker 1: Okay, so four hundred upfront that's a one off and

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Speaker 1: then four hundred per year pretty much all right. And

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Speaker 1: of course, any as I said earlier, whether it's buying fertilizer,

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Speaker 1: cost of transport, cost of refrigeration, electricity, et cetera, cost

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Speaker 1: of proving to the government, you've got a certificate that

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Speaker 1: will ultimately it's past on the consumers.

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Speaker 2: It is, it is. It is certainly an impulse. The

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Speaker 2: cost of everything's going up in our industry. I'd say

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Speaker 2: that you know, to your listeners, we're producing, you know,

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Speaker 2: as efficiently as we can. You know, in many cases

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Speaker 2: the growers are wearing these costs because you know, we

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Speaker 2: want to see the focus moving. But we can't really

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Speaker 2: shy away from the fact that in our industry alone,

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Speaker 2: around thirty five percent of the producers are saying they

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Speaker 2: want to leave the industry, which is ultimately bad person

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Speaker 2: in the long run.

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Speaker 1: I imagine Jordan Ozveg has made representations to the government.

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Speaker 2: What have they told you, Well, we've made representations to

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Speaker 2: the department on roughly three free occasions. They came to

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Speaker 2: us with this proposal and I said, simply don't release that.

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Speaker 2: You know, that was across two to three meetings. I

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Speaker 2: think it was either two or three meetings, because I've

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Speaker 2: decided to go public with a discussion paper and send

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Speaker 2: it out to our members. So now that says to

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Speaker 2: me that person I just regarding the advice.

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Speaker 1: Of industry, Okay, what's the cost to get that certification

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Speaker 1: in the first place. I mean, you've got to grow

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Speaker 1: us have got to jump through hoops probably to get

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Speaker 1: that to prove their ridgie digon following all the rules

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Speaker 1: regulations they must to produce good healthy food.

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Speaker 2: Definitely, we have one of the strongest regulatory systems in

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Speaker 2: the world in Australia. So the cost of certification itself,

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Speaker 2: that is just auditing against the scheme, might be anywhere

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Speaker 2: between five and fifteen thousand, but there's also people allocated

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Speaker 2: within the business to actually manage it, so it could

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Speaker 2: be a thirty to forty thousand dollars business costs something

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Speaker 2: that we take very serious seriously. So having the government

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Speaker 2: come in and say, oh, we're just going to certify

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Speaker 2: the certification, which is already certified to global standards, especially

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Speaker 2: an insult to our intelligence.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so certifying the certification, that's what this is about,

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Speaker 1: which is just sir Humphrey Applebee, double speaker. Isn't it

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Speaker 1: really for give us some money. You've already got what

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Speaker 1: you need. Now we need to see it and that'll

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Speaker 1: cost you eight hundred bucks bureaucratic madness. Yeah, yeah, it

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Speaker 1: sounds like it. So, I mean, if they want the certificate,

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Speaker 1: can't the body that issues the certificate supply it with

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Speaker 1: your permission? Tick a box here if you'd like us

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Speaker 1: to supply this to the government.

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Speaker 2: Well, here's the thing. There's there's my understanding, there's there's

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Speaker 2: there's databases online to look up individual producers. We've got

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Speaker 2: no issue sending in the certificate. It's just no charged

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Speaker 2: for the right.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, Well that's exactly the bottom line. Let us

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Speaker 1: know how you get on obviously you'll be finding this. Imagine, Well, we.

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Speaker 2: Simply said to our growers, we don't we don't want

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Speaker 2: you to pay it. We don't don't want to, we

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Speaker 2: don't expect you.

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Speaker 3: To pay it.

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Speaker 2: And you know we're going to draw on the line

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Speaker 2: in the stands subwhere with DiPT.

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Speaker 1: If they don't pay it, what happens, Well.

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Speaker 2: Assume there's powers to collect, but we'd hope that the

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Speaker 2: department would simply just walk this one back.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, all right, keep us informed, Jordan as to

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Speaker 1: where this ends up. Thank you. Let's have a chat

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Speaker 1: with a grower. Let us grow at Mark Russo. Hey, good,

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Speaker 1: thank you. So just listening to to Jordan's description there,

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Speaker 1: it is bureaucratic madness, isn't It's ready by the sounds.

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Speaker 3: Of it, Yeah, yeah, exactly. Yeah. Look, you guys hit

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Speaker 3: an out there that he said it's just burocating madness.

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Speaker 3: We're not. We're not. You know, we're not against having

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Speaker 3: to show our certification. Once our websites are up and running,

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Speaker 3: they will have everything on there, so you know, anyone

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Speaker 3: can go to our website and see all that certification there.

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Speaker 3: We can easily send them through but we don't need

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Speaker 3: to be paying any more money. I mean, look, we pay,

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Speaker 3: like Jordan said, almost fifteen grand a year, ten ten

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Speaker 3: to fifteen thousand dollars a year we pay just to

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Speaker 3: get away our certifications up and running. Plus then we've

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Speaker 3: got a full time office skill that does all the

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Speaker 3: work every day to make sure that we're meeting all

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Speaker 3: the stand is doing the right stuff and the procedures

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Speaker 3: are in place. And then we've got to consultant that

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Speaker 3: comes in once a month as well to update us

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Speaker 3: with any changes that are made to those procedures as

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Speaker 3: things are going forward, because they do get changed pretty

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Speaker 3: often and pretty quick without much knowledge.

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Speaker 1: To the ten to fifteen grand you spend to get

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Speaker 1: the certification up to up to scratch and make sure

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Speaker 1: you're ticking all the bucks, say what is that? What's

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Speaker 1: that involved? What do you have to do to get well?

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Speaker 3: We've got to do audits. So we've got to do

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Speaker 3: a yearly audit for a fresh care and a HARPS certification,

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Speaker 3: which then shows that we're doing the right things by

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Speaker 3: the procedures and growing in a safe and safe and

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Speaker 3: proper manner that it's a good for consumption. Every three

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Speaker 3: years at this stage, we've got to do a fair

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Speaker 3: farms audit to make sure that our workers are all

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Speaker 3: being all being paid correctly and everything's above board there

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Speaker 3: as well. And then it's daily procedures too. We've got

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Speaker 3: to do daily procedure checks on quality control that we

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Speaker 3: send out, that we pick, that we pack, temperature controls,

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Speaker 3: quality controls, and everything else that goes into it to

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Speaker 3: make sure that we're growing the best stuff that we

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Speaker 3: can and that it's safe for the contunity.

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Speaker 1: What are you going to do? You're going to pay

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Speaker 1: it mark if it comes, are you going to build?

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Speaker 3: Well?

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Speaker 4: Look at then.

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Speaker 3: I know it's only a thousand bucks, it doesn't sound

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Speaker 3: like much, but when you put thousand dollars on top

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Speaker 3: of another twelve to fifteen grand a year, like, it's

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Speaker 3: just ridiculous. I'm happy to give you my certifications, I'm

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Speaker 3: happy to send them all through, but don't go slugging

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Speaker 3: the guys that are doing all the right thing. You

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Speaker 3: want to go do you want to go do something

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Speaker 3: for the industry, Go look for the guys that are

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Speaker 3: doing the wrong thing, the ones that have grown in

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Speaker 3: their backyards just selling director wholesalers or retailers or fruit

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Speaker 3: red shops or cafes and restaurants. Go look at those

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Speaker 3: guys that don't have to do any of the stuff

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Speaker 3: that we have to do and make sure that they're

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Speaker 3: up to scratch. Yeah, and then when you find those ones,

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Speaker 3: they can pay for it, you know, then they can

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Speaker 3: get all the certification that they need to get.

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Speaker 1: Sounds like the government's just getting in the Waymark.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, lots usual here, yes, real unreal.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, all right, good luck and well done anyway on

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Speaker 1: growing some great products here in South Australia for us.

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Speaker 1: All thank you, thank you very much, thanks for your time,

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Speaker 1: Mark Russo. Let us grow it. We asked the Primary

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Speaker 1: Industries Minister to comment on this clear scriven. We've got

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Speaker 1: a statement the State government are not imposing any new

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Speaker 1: taxes on essays. Horticulture Industry Person. The Department Primary Industries

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Speaker 1: Regions currently seeking comment from the essay. Horticultural Industry I

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Speaker 1: proposed regulations to implement food safety standard schemes for horticultural

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Speaker 1: products including leafy vegetables, berries and melons, a discussion paper

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Speaker 1: currently out for public comment until fourteen October, and for

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Speaker 1: industry to consider options in relation to the proposed regulations.

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Speaker 1: This is not a new tax. The report, well, it

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Speaker 1: sounds like one. The proposed regulations are aimed at ensuring

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Speaker 1: the highest possible food safety standards are ahered to. Any

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Speaker 1: potential fee structure is cost recovery for administering the standards

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Speaker 1: and not revenue raising. I'll come back to that. As

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Speaker 1: part of the consultation of the regulators, industry are being

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Speaker 1: asked for feedback on the potential fees and the draft

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Speaker 1: regulation and any alternative suggestions to potential fee structures. Following

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Speaker 1: the consultation period, the proposed regulations will be amended in

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Speaker 1: light of feedback received in readiness to be implemented in

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Speaker 1: February twenty five. For more information, there's a website Purser

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Speaker 1: dot SA dot GUV that are you buy security, food

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Speaker 1: Safety horticulture. Look, if it's not a new tax, and

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Speaker 1: you might say, well, it's a fee, so whatever you

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Speaker 1: want to call it. If growers have this certificates they

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Speaker 1: need and they're issued by their independent body that looks

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Speaker 1: after all of this, it's very simple. Perser and minister

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Speaker 1: just with the grower's permission, maybe have a little tick

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Speaker 1: box permission to share with the state government and you

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Speaker 1: get it direct, have the independent certifier supply you with

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Speaker 1: the information you're looking for, and leave the growers alone

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Speaker 1: to do their thing. They're already paying a fortune to

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Speaker 1: ten to fifteen grand. That's a reasonable amount to get

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Speaker 1: the certification they need. If you want to see it,

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Speaker 1: we'll let them send it in to you, but without

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Speaker 1: the eight hundred dollars. Now, whether they send it in

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Speaker 1: or the certifier, the independent body sends it in, it

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Speaker 1: doesn't really matter. But you don't need eight hundred bucks

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Speaker 1: to do that. And you can bet eight hundred upfront.

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Speaker 1: Four hundred of that is upfront, then four hundred a year.

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Speaker 1: You can bet that'll go up every year. Nicholas sent

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Speaker 1: a Fani's called in shadow Primary Industries Minister. Good morning,

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Speaker 1: Good morning, Matthew, thank you for having me so let

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Speaker 1: us tax.

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Speaker 4: Oh and this is absolutely what it is, Matthew. And

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Speaker 4: can I congratulate Jordan from Osvig and also Marks for

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Speaker 4: raising this issue. You know, this is a tax on

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Speaker 4: letters and it is simply unnecessary, as they both said,

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Speaker 4: it is absolute bureaucratic nonsense. It's nothing but double wrap

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Speaker 4: red tape. Matthew, and you know the malanaskers labor. Government

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Speaker 4: promised back in the before the twenty twenty two elections

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Speaker 4: that there would be no new taxes. Now this fee,

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Speaker 4: but let's call it what it is. It is a tax,

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Speaker 4: It's a tax on industry. It's another hit to our

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Speaker 4: primary producers who are already doing it tough in a

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Speaker 4: cost of living, cost of doing business crisis. And there

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Speaker 4: is absolutely no need for it. There's been no food

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Speaker 4: safety breaches in South Australia from regulated growers that actually

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Speaker 4: warrant this onerous oversight. And what I find completely outrageous,

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Speaker 4: as the previous callers said that, you know, our commercial

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Speaker 4: growers are already doing the correct thing. They get their

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Speaker 4: fresh Care Accreditation which is required nationwide by the major

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Speaker 4: supermarkets and other wholesale buyers for their food safety compliance program.

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Speaker 4: And maw, here's someone who's had firsthand experience with fresh

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Speaker 4: Care udits. I can attest to the fact that they

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Speaker 4: are extremely thorough when it comes to ensuring compliance with

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Speaker 4: the appropriate standards. So you know, again, as Jordan said,

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Speaker 4: that Government simply wants to certify the independent certification and

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Speaker 4: they want to take money out of growers' pockets for

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Speaker 4: the privilege to do so. And all this is going

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Speaker 4: to do is push up prices for letters to the consumer.

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Speaker 4: And I find it quite ironic that the government, on

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Speaker 4: the one hand is going out on preventative health yeah,

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Speaker 4: on the other hand putting at tax on letters, which

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Speaker 4: is arguably one of the most healthiest foods to eat.

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Speaker 4: All right, ridiculous.

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Speaker 1: So what's the answer. Should the certificates just be supplied

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Speaker 1: by the body that issues them? Is that it just

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Speaker 1: his list of growers and has their certification been approved? Yes?

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Speaker 1: Or no?

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Speaker 4: Absolutely? I think to your point, there just needs to

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Speaker 4: be a sick in the box for it to be

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Speaker 4: supplied to the government. And you know, the minister really

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Speaker 4: just needs to scrap these regulations, scrap these fees. You know,

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Speaker 4: how much does it cost to look at an accreditation document.

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Speaker 4: I'm pretty sure it doesn't cost four hundred bucks or

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Speaker 4: three hundred dollars to do that.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, absolutely, all right, that's the bottom line. So we'll

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Speaker 1: stay across that with Jordan Brook Barnett from OZVEG the CEO,

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Speaker 1: and see what happens as the consultation period comes to

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Speaker 1: a close next month. Well, I have you though, Nicholas

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Speaker 1: and a Fandy. I know a few months ago and

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Speaker 1: it failed by just one vote. Legislation to alter prostitution

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Speaker 1: laws in South Australia. You're having another try at that today.

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Speaker 1: Is the same model and talk us through what the

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Speaker 1: changes are.

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Speaker 4: Yes, thanks, I look certainly slightly different model. So what

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Speaker 4: I'm doing with my bill that I'm putting to a

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Speaker 4: vote tomorrow, it's called the Statute Amendment, Sex Industry Exit

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Speaker 4: Strategies and Spent Convictions Bill, and it really aims to

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Speaker 4: take the exit strategy is part of that equality model

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Speaker 4: that I bought to the Parliament previously as a standalone

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Speaker 4: amendment bill. So it's aim is to provide supports and

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Speaker 4: a pathway to those who seek to exit or transition

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Speaker 4: out of prostitution, So that my bill means that any

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Speaker 4: person wanting to exit the industry can access practical supports

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Speaker 4: to do so without fear that they'll be convicted of

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Speaker 4: an offense, and with the advid benefit of any of

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Speaker 4: any of the records of their past convictions potentially being

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Speaker 4: completely arrayed. So you know, I'm wanting to make it

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Speaker 4: as easy as possible for some of the most vulnerable

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Speaker 4: in our society to find a new past should they

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Speaker 4: wish to do so. And you know, I guess in

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Speaker 4: terms of those support services and exit strategies, the kinds

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Speaker 4: of kind of assistance that may be provided includes accessing

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Speaker 4: services such as you know, drug and alcohol rehabilitation, helping

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Speaker 4: find accommodation and employment, you know, and assistance with provisions

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Speaker 4: of education and training. So you know, I think for me,

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Speaker 4: this bill is really about helping some of the most

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Speaker 4: vulnerable in our society.

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Speaker 1: So the changes you've made, is that based on feedback

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Speaker 1: from MPs who turned away from your previous attempt, that

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Speaker 1: these changes may get some of them over the line.

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Speaker 4: That's that's absolutely correct. You know, I had a number

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Speaker 4: of not just members of parliaments, that stakeholders you know,

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Speaker 4: during that consultation period raised with me that they particularly

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Speaker 4: liked and they particularly supported the exit strategies provision. And

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Speaker 4: you know, in listening to them, I have introduced a

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Speaker 4: builder centered around just that it is a nation first

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Speaker 4: I'm not aware of and in fact, it might even

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Speaker 4: be a global first. I'm not aware of any certainly

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Speaker 4: any states, indeed any other nation that are simply carved

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Speaker 4: out the exit strategies. But I think, you know, it's

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Speaker 4: important that aside from providing those important exit strategies. It's

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Speaker 4: critical that those that have demonstrated a genuine intention to

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Speaker 4: leave the industry are able to apply for previous convictions

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Speaker 4: to be spent, and they've been taken to not have

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Speaker 4: committed the offense, so in a sense they're provided with

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Speaker 4: immunity should they choose to exit the industry. Because of course,

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Speaker 4: you know, as we know, Matthew, no one is going

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Speaker 4: to want to come forward for exit strategies if they're

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Speaker 4: at risk of you know, of copying a conviction when

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Speaker 4: they do so. So we do need to provide that immunity,

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Speaker 4: and you know, we do need, I believe, need to

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Speaker 4: apply those spent convictions because of course, you know, we

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Speaker 4: know that there is still sigma attached in terms of

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Speaker 4: finding future employment. So that is what I want to

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Speaker 4: do under my bill.

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Speaker 1: All right, So in Parliament tomorrow that piece of legislation

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Speaker 1: and we'll see what happens to it from there. Nicol

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Speaker 1: appreciate your time, thanks for having me, Thank you, Upper House. MP.

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Speaker 1: Nicolas sent a fanti