Food and grocery manufacturing on reform agenda

Posted by AFN Staff Writers on 12th April 2012

Federal Government will consider regulatory reforms in Australia’s food industry at the inaugural Business Advisory Forum in Canberra today.

Leaders attending the Business Advisory Forum will discuss ways to progress regulatory reforms and cut red tape for Australian companies.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council (AFGC)’s Acting Chief Executive Dr Geoffrey Annison said the food industry had huge potential for growth in the future if there were bold reforms to streamline national regulatory policy settings.

Dr Annison said, “The Government must implement accelerated depreciation tax measures to enable manufacturers to take advantage of the high Australian dollar to invest in large-scale plant equipment upgrades to improve productivity and reduce energy use.

“Compliance with regulation and standards has also been identified as a major and ongoing issue for companies – the Government must reinvigorate its reform agenda in this area.”

The AFGC said that reforms can be easily implemented to provide immediate benefits for industry to become more competitive and create jobs.