Our Stakeholders
Our goal is to strengthen productive working relationships with our external interest groups and government partners.
Our performance is measured by the level of engagement between our stakeholders and ourselves and the level of stakeholder support for our regulatory approaches.
It is also measured by the extent of stakeholder participation in our consultative processes and the number of invitations to consultative forums by our government partners and stakeholders. The level and nature of stakeholder feedback, both formal and informal, is monitored through the industry advice line and information officer.
Our Stakeholder [ pdf 113 kb ]
Overview
Recent food regulatory reforms have had a significant impact not only on our core business but also on our consultative arrangements and our relationships with key stakeholders. FSANZ has adapted to new consultative structures that seek to achieve a clearer division between policy and standards development.
Since the new regulatory arrangements came into force two years ago our expanded ‘paddock to plate’ responsibilities have required us to develop relationships with new stakeholders both within the Australian and New Zealand governments and in the wider community. One of our greatest challenges has been to manage the changed environment and the changed relationships this entails.
We have responded to the need to provide clearer and more concise communication about the roles of the various participants in the system. We have taken steps to enhance our communication in this regard particularly in the preparation of information material.
As part of our organisational restructure we have also taken steps to enhance the capability within New Zealand.
Openness and transparency is the key to public acceptance of our work. The recent Strategic Review of FSANZ acknowledged that we have a track record of openness and willingness to consult. It is recognised, however, that we have to continually reassess our performance in this area and ensure effective engagement with key stakeholders.
The Strategic Review identified some shortcomings in our engagement withstakeholders. While acknowledging our strengths through our formal consultative mechanisms, the Review recommended that we need to develop mechanisms to understand stakeholder views more thoroughly, to enhance our engagement with jurisdictions and to examine ways to increase face-to-face consultation with groups affected by our standards.
We recognise that if we combine improved and increasingly transparent consultation with consumers and industry with more effective interaction with the jurisdictions, we will be well placed to deliver food standards that are widely accepted and supported. This remains a key objective and challenge for us. Increased opportunities for consultation will, however, impact adversely on our capacity to meet our statutory deadlines for the completion of work. This will need to be a major consideration in any review of our work practices.
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