MEDIA RELEASE
The Australian Forest Products Association (AFPA) congratulates Senator Nick Xenophon and Finance Minister Senator Mathias Cormann on achieving significant improvements to the Commonwealth Procurement Rules (CPR) and gaining recognition of the significant benefits of locally produced products.
Finance Minister, Senator Mathias Cormann, last night tabled improvements to the CPR that hardwires consideration by Government procurement processes of value for money, meeting Australian Standards, regulatory equality, and broader economic benefits.
AFPA Chief Executive Officer Mr Ross Hampton said, “This is great news! Finally, common sense prevails and the massive environmental, social and economic benefits inherent in locally producing and recycling paper products such as copy paper must be considered by Federal departments and agencies when they make their procurement decisions.”
Mr Hampton said, “Australian industry looks forward to seeing more detail on how these positive procurement changes will be applied – but fully expect that the outcome will be all Federal departments and agencies using 100% recycled and locally produced copy paper. Although the effective date is 1 March 2017, we urge Federal departments and agencies to apply these common sense provisions from today.”
Senator Nick Xenophon (centre) and CEO of AFPA Mr Ross Hampton (far right) promoting Australian Paper during the 2016 federal election campaign.
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