ABOVE: Removing a safe and reliable system of egg production – cage eggs – from the market is impacting food security in Australia.
We have all heard the term of being ‘politically trendy’ with regards to our politicians.
But what does it actually mean?
According to various definitions, the term refers to the fact that elected officials are – more often than not – influenced by populist consumer views, trendy social behaviours and the business decisions of big industries.
The Macquarie Dictionary takes this further to suggest that politicians jump on the ‘political bandwagon’ to support politically driven consumer trends to gain widespread voter advantage.
Basically, if a member of Parliament sees a trend forming, they are likely to vocally support it, as their aim is to seek the support of the widest number of voters possible.
We have seen this in Australia’s commercial egg industry, where major supermarket giants such as Coles and Woolworths made a decision to ban cage eggs.
Australian retailers wanted to follow the trend in Europe, to move to stocking only free range eggs – another term for this is ‘cage free’.
This, they said, was driven by consumer desire for free range eggs because these layer birds lived a more comfortable lifestyle.
Many inner-city politicians jumped on these so-called trends and supported the move.
What they failed to understand was the fact that the demand by retail giants to have hens outside – free range – has led to an increase in the cost of egg production, the use of more veterinary medication such as poultry antibiotics and higher bird mortality rates.
In more recent times it has also sparked glitches in our nation’s egg supply chain.
This has come in the form of avian influenza hitting free range and cage free egg farms in Victoria, NSW and the ACT.
If laying hens are outside in the open, they are susceptible to disease that can be brought to a farm by wild migrating birds.
These free range hens are destroyed by authorities, which leads to an egg supply issue.
Cage egg farming began about 50 years ago in response to the fast-growing demand for eggs and the need to lower the unacceptably high disease and mortality rates in free range hens.
In response, this year Coles and Woolworths placed limits on the number of eggs that could be purchased from their stores.
They simply didn’t have enough free range eggs to supply to their customers.
High pathogenicity avian influenza has impacted Australian poultry producers since the 1970s.
However back then, the cage egg industry, which operates under strict indoor biosecurity environments, was more politically acceptable.
It is now clear that the political trend to reduce the availability of cage eggs in Australian supermarkets leads to a food security crisis for the nation’s consumers.
Eggs are an important dietary staple and are a low-cost affordable protein for families.
The fact is that because eggs are found in so many of the products we eat, any reduction in supply will impact the lives of consumers and food manufacturers.
This adds weight to the need for a balance of egg production systems in Australia that allow people to choose between cage, barn and free range eggs, as well as from other off-shoots such as pasture and organic eggs.
When a disease strikes on a free range farm, hens need to be culled to ensure the disease does not keep spreading.
You then find consumers are slapped with limitations on the number of eggs they can access at their major supermarket chain.
Caged egg farmers are perplexed by the current situation because they have eggs available to support a consistency in Australia’s egg supply chain.
However, our political leaders have their dial firmly set on being ‘politically trendy’.
Currently, state agriculture ministers around Australia have on their desks the paperwork to set a date to scrap conventional cage egg production in their various states.
This is one of the outcomes of a recent national review into the Australian Animal Welfare Standards and Guidelines for poultry.
The egg industry has always maintained that axing the conventional cage egg production system would lead to egg shortages.
In 2024, now that we have seen the largest avian influenza response in Australian history, we have less eggs on supermarket shelves because of the pressure to be ‘politically trendy’.
Both politicians and major supermarkets should rethink their policies.
We are seeing an alarming situation unfold.
Removing a safe and reliable system of egg production – cage eggs – from the market is impacting food security in Australia and increasing food costs for families already facing cost-of-living pressures.
Our politicians should look at not being ‘politically trendy’.
Instead, Australian politicians should be thinking about the reduced risk of hen disease and wider availability of eggs in this country, which would result from cage egg production systems being allowed to continue.
In turn, we would also see a wider choice and lower egg prices for families facing hard times.
It is time our politicians thought about what is best for our country and wider community.