Ministers to discuss food star-rating system next week: Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash.
Ministers to discuss food star-rating system next week: Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash. Photo: Alex Ellinghausen







The key documents Assistant Health Minister Fiona Nash claims
prevented any conflict of interest for a junk food lobbyist working in
her office "do not exist'', according to government agencies.



Labor has called on Prime Minister Tony Abbott to sack the
beleaguered senator over the food star-ratings scandal, which erupted
when a website that allowed companies to voluntarily sign up to a
healthy food star-rating system was taken down at the insistence of Alastair Furnival, a junk food lobbyist who was working as Senator Nash's chief of staff.




Next week, state and territory food ministers will discuss
the food star-rating system. It is understood it is likely the website
will be re-instated, more than five months after it was taken down,
despite having already been agreed to by the states.





No sign of documents: A screen grab obtained by Fairfax Media of the Health Star Rating website that was shut down.
No sign of documents: A screen grab obtained by Fairfax Media of the Health Star Rating website that was shut down. Photo: supplied






Fairfax Media has been attempting to get hold of a letter
Senator Nash said Mr Furnival wrote outlining how he would ensure his
co-ownership of the lobbying company Australian Public Affairs would not
interfere with his role in creating healthy food policy.



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But a freedom of information request to the Ministry of
Health has been rejected on the grounds the documents “cannot be found,
do not exist or have not been received”.



News Corp journalist Sean Parnell also had a request to the
office of the Special Minister of State, which manages ministerial
standards, denied on the grounds “the document does not exist”.




Senator Nash told a Senate Estimates hearing in February
“there was no conflict of interest” in her office, despite the fact Mr
Furnival co-owned and co-directed
with his wife Tracey Cain Strategic Issues Management, which owned
another lobbying business that listed junk food and soft drink companies
as clients, and this was not disclosed at policy meetings where
conflict of interest statements are requested.



The ministerial code of ethics states ministers must ensure
they, and people in their office, declare personal interests, resign
directorships of private companies and divest themselves of shares.



Labor health spokeswoman Catherine King said the office of
the Special Minister of State was required to receive a statement of
private interests.  



"The Senate has already censured Senator Nash over this
matter, and Labor has called on the Prime Minister to sack her," she
said. "Every additional piece of information only confirms this is the
action the Prime Minister should take." 



"She is the minister responsible for preventive health who
has presided over a cut of $370 million to the National Partnership
Agreement on Preventive Health, abolished the preventive health agency,
cut $3 million from the National Tobacco Strategy and abolished the
Alcohol and Other Drugs Council."



The chief executive of the Public Health Association of
Australia Michael Moore said, after discussions with Senator Nash, he
was hopeful she would support the re-instatement of the system next
week.



The star-rating system groups types of foods, such as drinks
or spreads, then gives them stars based on their comparative nutritional
content. Since the site was taken down, Choice has rated foods using it, and partnered with independent food producers who want the ratings.



“I think consumers, when they see how easy it is to use, will
begin to demand it, and wonder why other parts of the industry aren’t
using the health star ratings, and what they are trying to hide,” Mr
Moore said.



But he added that, since the site had been taken down, health
and consumer groups had agreed to some compromises, including extending
the roll-out period and allowing other information labels to share
space on the front of packaging. 



A spokeswoman for Senator Nash said the documents relating to
Mr Furnival were private. "It is not practice, of either past or
present governments, to divulge personal information about individual
staff," she said. 



She said the Special Minister of State's response had been
taken out of context, as it stated "he was satisfied that the document
requested did not exist in his office".