Damien

O’CONNOR

Spokesperson for Primary Industries

Food Safety Spokesperson

19 February 2013 MEDIA STATEMENT
Cool labelling or fool labelling…there’s a difference

Claims that Chinese vegetables, labelled as ‘New Zealand made’, are being exported to Australia are a serious risk to our reputation and make a mockery of our food labelling laws, Labour’s Primary Industries and Food Safety spokesperson Damien O’Connor says.

“New Zealand’s confusing labelling laws are clearly not working. The system is misleading and our trans-Tasman trade relationships are ultimately be at risk

“New Zealand needs strong and effective Country of Origin Labelling (CoOL) to secure our international reputation for safe food production.

“Australian entrepreneur Dick Smith recently criticised the quality of ‘New Zealand’ beetroot. The facts are, under the current labelling system we can’t be sure that the New Zealand beetroot he was criticising was actually grown here and not in China

“The whole food system - run by multinational companies and supermarkets - leaves growers of New Zealand’s quality produce exposed to contamination through imported produce.

“This is not a scenario that farmers or consumers expect from trans-Tasman food safety systems.”

ENDS

© Scoop Media

"Unlawful, Unjustified And Unreasonable": Report Into Urewera Raids Finds Police Acted Unlawfully

Independent Police Conduct Authority Chair Judge Sir David Carruthers said today that the decision by the then Commissioner of Police to undertake the operation in Ruatoki Valley and elsewhere on 15 October 2007 was reasonable and justified.

“However, the road blocks established by Police at Ruatoki and Taneatua were unlawful, unjustified and unreasonable... Police had no legal basis for stopping and searching vehicles or photographing drivers or passengers,” he said...

The report also showed that the detention of the occupants at five properties examined by the Authority was unlawful and unreasonable. More>>