Terms of Reference

Inquiry into Meat Marketing

Terms of Reference

On 19 March 2008, the Senate referred the following matter to the Standing Committee on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport for inquiry and report by 4 September 2008.

Concerns in relation to meat marketing, with particular reference to the need to effective supervision of national standards and controls and the national harmonisation or regulations applying to the branding and marketing of meat.

While the committee's terms of reference relate to meat marketing generally, the committee decided to focus the inquiry, in the first instance, on issues relating to lamb marketing, particularly in light of concerns that some processors are substituting hogget and young sheep for lamb. The committee tabled an interim report on 4 September 2008.

The committee notes that submissions to the inquiry have raised concerns about issues relating to the marketing of other meat products. It has therefore agreed to extend its inquiry to consider the following issues:

The committee proposes to table a final report by 30 June 2009.

The committee is still accepting submissions to the inquiry. Submissions should be sent to:

The Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600

The Committee prefers to receive submissions electronically as an attached document - email: rrat.sen@aph.gov.au

Submissions become Committee documents and are made public only after a decision by the Committee. Persons making submissions must not release them without the approval of the Committee. Submissions are covered by parliamentary privilege but the unauthorised release of them is not.

If you wish to make a confidential submission, or have any questions in relation to the inquiry, or any matter related to the committee or its procedures, please do not hesitate to call the committee secretariat on (02) 6277 3511.

Following consideration of submissions, the Committee will hold public hearings. The Committee will consider all submissions and may invite individuals and organisations to give evidence at the public hearings.

Inquiries from hearing and speech impaired people should be directed to the Parliament House TTY number (02) 6277 7799. Adobe also provides tools for the blind and visually impaired to access PDF documents. These tools are available at: http://access.adobe.com/. If you require any special arrangements in order to enable you to participate in a committee inquiry, please contact the committee secretary.

For further information, contact:

Committee Secretary
Senate Standing Committees on Rural and Regional Affairs and Transport
PO Box 6100
Parliament House
Canberra ACT 2600
Australia

Phone: +61 2 6277 3511
Fax: +61 2 6277 5811
Email: rrat.sen@aph.gov.au