SENATOR DEAN SMITH
SHADOW ASSISTANT MINISTER FOR COMPETITION, CHARITIES AND TREASURY
SENATOR FOR WESTERN AUSTRALIA
MEDIA RELEASE
22 October 2024
URGENT SUPPORT FOR FOOD DONATION BILL WHILE LABOR SITS ON TREASURY ADVICE
Charities and industry bodies have described the need for a Bill incentivising food donations to hungry Australians as urgent and called on Federal Parliamentarians to put politics aside and back it.
They appeared in Canberra this morning at a public hearing into the Tax Laws Amendment (Incentivising Food Donations to Charitable Organisations) Bill 2024.
Introduced by Senator Dean Smith as a Private Senator’s Bill in July, the Bill features a tax incentive for companies that donate, rather than dump, excess food and is aimed at reducing both millions of tonnes of annual food wastage and pressure on food relief charities facing unprecedented demand.
The Salvation Army’s Donna Fraser told the hearing “…people think the issues are real but lack urgency. It is very real and very urgent.”
Questioned by Labor on the value of the Bill, Australian Food and Grocery Council CEO Tanya Barden said that “Parliament needs to take a good, hard look at itself” and described the Bill as “an easy win, an opportunity that should really have the support of all parties across the Parliament.”
The Bill builds on a concept originally designed by Foodbank Australia, and which it and its partner organisations – Second Bite and OzHarvest – have long advocated for.
Foodbank and AUSVEG, who also appeared today, stressed that many producers find it more economically viable to dump excess, but edible, food than harvest and transport it to a charity.
CEO of Foodbank Brianna Casey described the tax incentive’s power to “shift the dynamic” in favour of food donation at a time where record numbers of Australians are experiencing food insecurity.
KPMG tax experts, who economically modelled the original Foodbank concept, added their support for the Bill, recommending enhancements to capture donors
operating as trusts or partnerships, and raising thresholds that reflect producers’ high turnover but low margins.
Academics who had previously expressed reservations about the Bill both confirmed after hearing evidence from other witnesses that it now has their support.
But Assistant Charities Minister Andrew Leigh was once again exposed for ignoring calls from the sector to progress this critical issue from the Government’s side.
Even worse, it was revealed by Treasury officials that they had been requested by Labor to provide a comprehensive briefing on the Bill.
It means that information that could further improve the Bill, or which Labor could –and should – use to draft and pass its own equivalent legislation, is gathering dust on Minister Leigh’s desk.
Meanwhile, the charities he is meant to represent work overtime to support Australian households in crisis.
The inquiry is due to publish its findings in a report in mid-November.
ENDS
