On Monday, June 24, Mr Birrell presented two fruit snack packs in the Houe of Representatives — one produced in Shepparton by SPC and the other imported from China.
Mr Birrell made comparisons between the two products to demonstrate the importance of locally grown fruit and produce.
He said the imported snack pack was sold as a generic supermarket product brand.
He told the house that he knew the community behind the SPC product.
“Do I know who grew this product? Yes.
“Do I know how much the orchard workers and pickers were paid? Yes.”
Mr Birrell then recognised the community and environmental inputs to the local product, including the wages of factory workers and how much water was used in its irrigation.
“Do I know the owner of this factory and that this owner is Australian ... do I know this product?
“Yes, but I cannot answer yes to any of those questions about the imported Chinese product.”
Mr Birrell said Australian producers had been forced to compete with foreign imports on an “unfair playing field’.
“Supermarkets and government policies are making it incredibly difficult to keep healthy fruit on the tables of Australians and the nation is worse off for it.
“I cannot answer any of those questions about the Chinese imported product; the Australian product is safer and tastes better.”
Mr Birrell then invited MPs to his office for a blind taste test.
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