Update from John Hart, FSAA Chair Policy & Advocacy
May 2025 has been quite a month. The return of the Albanese Government with a sweeping victory, a new cabinet and, after a month, a Shadow Cabinet. This dynamic changes the game for the Australian Foodservice sector and the supply chain that supports it.
Two of the important Ministers with whom we interact have changed. Senator the Hon, Tim Ayres, has been sworn in as the Minister for Industry and Innovation. Sentor Ayres is well known to the sector as he was Assistant Minister to the Trade Minister and has a deep interest in the food sector. Dr Anne Aly has been sworn in as the Minister for Small Business.
The Government is to be congratulated on the resounding victory. There is no doubt that the Government will consider this result to be a validation of their approach in the first term, from 2022 to 2025. Whilst there are parts of the policy agenda in this term that we, as businesses, would not agree with, we must recognise the Government’s mandate and work with the mandate to achieve positive outcomes in the next three years.
The two key areas of opportunity relate to productivity and industry policy. On productivity, during the Election campaign the Treasurer spoke about the importance of lifting productivity. This is a positive for business. We need to be able to capture this commitment and translate it into greater supply chain efficiency, engaging technologies that increase output for the foodservice sector. On industry policy, the opportunity is to ensure that the food sector in prioritised within an economy-wide industry policy.
The foodservice sector results for the first quarter in 2025 shows 2% greater turnover for the period than the year prior. This truly shows the resilience of the industry. Whilst there are winners and losers, the overall result still shows growth. Lets all hope that this growth continues and the policies of the second-term Albanese Government will help the foodservice sector to build on this growth with some growth in underlying profitability.