Spin in favour of big business. Obfuscation. Attempts to muddy the waters of debate.

Worst is the contention that selective taxes on foods high in fat, sugar and salt would in some way penalise the poor and lead to increased malnutrition. How, exactly?

Ms Stanton has been a consistent, professional, honest and forthright advocate of public health through better diets for many years. Her opinions are respected throughout the community and correctly so.

And Staley is… who? A director of a chunk of a PR firm? Big deal.

“The following foods are taxable:

- bakery products such as cakes, pastries, pies, sausage rolls (but not including bread and bread rolls)
- biscuits, crispbreads, crackers, cookies, pretzels, cones and wafers
- savoury snacks, confectionery, ice-cream and similar products (see Savoury snacks)
- carbonated and flavoured beverages (including flavoured milk, flavoured water and sports drinks) unless 100% fruit or vegetable juice
- all food and beverages sold in restaurants or for consumption on the premises (see Premises)
- hot food (takeaway)
- food marketed as prepared meals and some prepared food, including platters (see Platters and other similar arrangements of food)
- any food not for human consumption
- pet food or any food labelled or specified for animals”

And …

“The way the following products are marketed determines their GST status:

fats and oils marketed for culinary purposes (GST-free)
food marketed as a prepared meal, but not soup (taxable)
food marketed as confectionery (taxable)
food marketed exclusively as ingredients for confectionery (taxable)
flavoured iceblocks, whether frozen or not (taxable)
malt extract marketed mainly for drinking (GST-free)
preparations that are marketed mainly as tea, coffee, or malted beverages (GST-free)
preparations marketed mainly as substitutes for tea, coffee or malted beverages (GST-free)
dry preparations marketed to flavour milk (GST-free)
beverages and ingredients for beverages marketed mainly as food for infants or invalids (GST-free).”

No wonder I was confused. Anyway, my points about the conduct of the manufactured food industry, and its relationship to primary production, still stand.

The result? Simple healthy food products have been supplanted on supermarket shelves by manufactured concoctions in which the actual primary produce ingredients are diluted with imported oils, emulsifiers and other ingredients known only by their chemical names or three-digit food schedule numbers.

The Australian Food and Grocery Council has shown no particular interest in promoting the superior produce of Australian farms. Deteriorating quality of ingredients is masked by sugar, salts and other flavour additives.

They have fought tooth and nail every attempt to improve labelling transparency. They have fought equally gallantly in defence of advertising junk food to children. Member companies mislead the public’s understanding of what a health food is, so that a few cheap vitamins added to junk food are supposed to be good for children, and most people I speak with actually think that an “energy drink” is a sort of vitamin supplement. The AFGC has not started one health campaign on their own that wasn’t for damage control following adverse media reporting.

To align themselves with the Australian farming sector is parasitic. Farming should have a big part to play in Australia’s future, including terrestrial sequestration of carbon and averting the looming global food crisis. But the food manufacturing companies that make up the AFGC have done the farmers no favours and have failed their duty of care to the public.