Thursday, 18 August 2022

Government procurement policy

Ms PATTEN (Northern Metropolitan) (18:14): (2075) My adjournment matter is for the Assistant Treasurer, and the action I seek relates to government procurement. Recently I visited Etiko clothing in Brunswick on Sydney Road. It is part of our office’s F*** Fast Fashion campaign. The campaign is highlighting the unsustainable textile waste in Australia, and the primary solutions are pretty simple: buy local; buy ethical; buy less; and stitch, don’t ditch. Etiko are a champion in these areas, and I was really pleased to meet with Nick Savaidis and his team to discuss their wonderful sustainable practices. There is no child labour, no underpaid workers, no wrecking of the environment, and they are completely transparent in their supply chains.

It is an issue that we can address as individual consumers by buying ethically, but it is also an issue that we can tackle in a bigger way at the procurement level. As we know, staff in various branches in departments and statutory authorities are wearing workplace uniforms, and it is this area where the government can have the greatest impact. Unfortunately in this tender space price still seems to be king, and Etiko related to me how they went for a tender process with another couple of local businesses. They are a social enterprise, they are a local business and yet the winner of that tender was an international company that did not have ethical practices, and it would appear that the price was what won the bid. Despite what the government is saying about procurement, it is not acting on this and we are not supporting our local manufacturers. So the action I seek is that the minister expand our procurement rules around social enterprise and local manufacturing to include ethical sourcing of clothing as well. But also could they explain a little bit further to my office how businesses like Etiko can be more successful in the tender process?