National Food Plan

The Australian Government is developing Australia’s first ever national food plan which will ensure that the government’s policy settings are right for Australia over the short, medium and long-term. The aim of the plan is to foster a sustainable, globally competitive, resilient food supply that supports access to nutritious and affordable food. The government envisages that the national food plan will better integrate what it already does, and help identify if and where a better approach might be needed.

The national food plan will be developed through a green paper/white paper process.

This process will ensure that the national food plan is a significant policy statement that acts as a strong platform that will lead to better outcomes for food suppliers and consumers over the coming years and decades.

Over coming months the government will develop a national food plan green paper and provide it for public consultation. The green paper will outline how current policy addresses food issues, as well as discuss any potential changes the government might consider to policy, programs and governance arrangements as a means to contribute to the overall Food Plan objectives.

It will be after this consultation that the final national food plan white paper will be formulated and adopted by the Australian Government.

As a first step towards developing a national food plan, Minister Ludwig released the Issues paper to inform the development of the national food plan on the 23 June 2011. So far, broad public consultation has been used to gain feedback on the Issues paper including written submissions, a webcast, and a series of small face-to-face meetings (roundtables) with a range of stakeholders from across the supply chain and other interest groups.

Public consultation on the Issues paper closed on 2 September 2011.

Related media releases

• Next steps for Australia's first National Food Plan (27 Oct 2011)
• National Food Plan consultation extended  (1 Aug 2011)
• Minister kick starts conversation on the national Food Plan (23 Jun 2011)
• Food processing industry strategy group established (24 Jan 2011)
• Government begins work on Australia's first National Food Plan (1 Dec 2010)

Contact us

Email: National food plan

Post: National Food Plan
c/- Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry
GPO Box 858
Canberra ACT 2601
Australia