Fiona Nash dodges queries about food rating site
THE department of Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash sent her a submission giving her up to seven days’ notice that it was launching a controversial food ratings website.
However, Senator Nash is refusing to reveal whether she received it. The Health Star Rating website went live on February 5 but was shut down by Senator Nash’s office the following day, sparking a political drama that led to the resignation of her chief-of-staff, Alistair Furnival, formerly a lobbyist, over conflict of interest concerns.
If Senator Nash received the submission, obtained by The Australian under Freedom of Information laws, it would undermine her claim in parliament that the website was only a draft published inadvertently. It would also make the decision to shut it down even more extraordinary, giving weight to health sector concerns that food manufacturers have sought to block a move to voluntary labelling laws based on the HSR system.
Health bureaucrat Kathy Dennis, who was transferred amid all the drama, prepared a ministerial submission on the HSR website dated January 29. Ms Dennis expected the website to go live the following day — the reason for the delay is unclear — and declared “nil” sensitivity around the plans, asking only that Senator Nash note the development.
While the new labels were not due to come into effect until June, at the earliest, Ms Dennis told Senator Nash, Health Minister Peter Dutton, Mr Furnival and other senior officials that a steering committee had decided the website would be prudent.
“The website will be an important information resource for industry, and will house key technical documents about how to apply the HSR System to its packaged food products,” Ms Dennis wrote in her submission.
The submission released to The Australian has a hand-written cross through it, with the letters “NFA”, which presumably stand for no further action. It is stamped as having been received by the Parliamentary Section on February 10, most likely after the issue had been dealt with by the senator’s office and perhaps to prepare her for parliament.
The Australian put a series of questions to Senator Nash but she refused to say whether she received the submission, or whether by some administrative oversight it did not come to her attention until after the website had gone live.
“As soon as Assistant Minister for Health Fiona Nash became aware of the website going live, she gave direction for it to be taken down as she has stated on numerous occasions in the Senate chamber and in Senate estimates,” a spokeswoman for Senator Nash said in a statement.
Crucial emails between Mr Furnival, who has extensive links with the food and beverage industries, and Senator Nash about the website going live, and the decision to shut it down, were exempted from FOI release because they relate to “deliberative processes”. There was an exchange about the website and also, according to the FOI decision-maker, “a list of options in the development of the Health Star Rating system”.
Health groups fear the government is backing away from the new system. Senator Nash’s spokeswoman said launching a website would be premature as technical aspects of the proposed system, a cost-benefit analysis, and training and education materials were not ready.
“The Australian government supports a voluntary front-of-pack health star rating system,” the spokeswoman said. “The process to develop a front-of-pack star rating system is continuing and has not been delayed by the taking down of the website.”
Source: The Australian - 16 April 2014
