The Australian Government has decided not to impose further regulations on the organics industry after two separate cost-benefit analyses (CBA) found the costs would outweigh the benefits.
Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries, and Forestry Murray Watt said that he had examined the proposed domestic regulatory framework and considered a range of factors in making a decision – but ultimately the evidence showed that the costs outweighed the benefits.
“While a mandatory domestic standard could provide a range of potential benefits for the organic sector, the costs of designing, monitoring, and enforcing an economy-wide regulatory scheme of this nature would be significant,” Minister Watt said.
“What’s more, the CBA’s show that these costs would likely be passed through the supply chain to consumers and would add to cost-of-living pressures.”