MEAT GRADING SYSTEM LEGISLATION

Agriculture Minister Lockwood Smith says he's heard nothing from the Meat Board that convinces him the meat grading system should be part of the Producer Board Acts Amendment Bill when it is passed into law.

Nevertheless, he's decided to introduce the bill with the provisions intact to avoid any suggestion the current debate over grading is delaying the introduction of the legislation.

"I'm determined that when the legislation is passed - I hope before the election - it should not include the grading provisions," Dr Smith said. "The grading system is just a barrier between the consumer and the farmer and I do not intend to promote legislation that perpetuates a system which holds back more innovative marketing."

He stressed that the grading system would remain "as long as farmers and meat companies believe it has some value". He prefers the law to remain silent on the issue so that farmers and meat companies "and not politicians" can decide when it is time to move on to more consumer-sensitive methods of determining the value of sheep and cattle.

Dr Smith said the delay in introducing the legislation was causing uncertainty for the industry and "not a small political problem for me personally". This was the fault of the Parliamentary Counsel Office.

The legislation would be introduced with the grading system provisions intact to avoid any suggestion that the Government was somehow adding to the delay more ...

"I will be in the rather strange position of speaking against part of my own legislation," Dr Smith said.

It is now expected that the Producer Board Acts Amendment Bill will be introduced in late-June or early-July. The bill should move quickly through parliament as it has the support of the Labour Party. Dr Smith is confident the Labour Party will also agree with the Government that the grading provisions should be removed as the bill makes its way through the parliamentary process.