The Liberal Party has threatened to withdraw its support for the ACT Government's proposed ''name and shame'' laws for restaurants after questioning its ability to deliver basic food regulation services.
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Shadow health minister Jeremy Hanson asked how the Government could consider introducing new laws when an auditor-general's report found it failed to keep on top of the food regulations currently in place.
The report, published just before Christmas, found the ACT Health Protection Service had recorded a 30 per cent drop in scheduled inspections for food businesses and was unable to achieve its own targets for the number or frequency of inspections.
It also found the service had poor documentation and no policies on how to respond to outbreaks of food-borne illnesses.
Mr Hanson said such downfalls could place consumers at risk.
In a similar response to Clubs ACT, he urged the Government to focus on ''getting the basics right'' before imposing further regulations on food outlets.
''If we are going to support this Bill we need to know that they are able to manage this on the ground with the resources they've got,'' he said.
''I want assurances from the Government that they ... can implement the latest legislation effectively.''
But Chief Minister Katy Gallagher accused Mr Hanson of contradicting himself by blocking the very legislation meant to tighten regulation of the industry.
She said the Food Amendment Bill 2011 would require all food businesses to have a trained food safety supervisor, to display closure notices when served with a prohibition order and to display their current registration certificate.
The Bill also proposed a public register be created for food businesses convicted of an offence under the food Act.
''I'm confident the community supports this and there is no reason for the Liberals not to, unless they believe the community does not deserve this information.''
Ms Gallagher said ACT Health had identified many of the issues raised by the auditor-general before the report was issued.
It had also made moves to address the issues raised, including through the creation of a dedicated team within the service for the inspection of food outlets. But Mr Hanson said Ms Gallagher's response was an example of ''repeat behaviour'' from the Government.
''In the past when extensive bullying was revealed at Canberra Hospital and when patients were being downgraded on elective surgery lists without being advised, Katy denied there was any problems,'' he said.
''When the truth does get revealed, through inquiries or freedom of information requests or, in this case, an auditor-general's report, she claims they are dealing with it already.''
A call for the new register was first made almost 12 months ago after a Canberra Times investigation revealed restaurants that had breached food safety laws would not be named publicly on the grounds it might jeopardise their commercial viability.
The protection came despite ACT Health issuing dozens of warnings to ACT businesses urging them to clean their unhygienic kitchens and banning businesses from selling meals on seven occasions because of fears customers might be poisoned.
This reporter is on Twitter: @breanna_tucker
