Nola Marino (Forrest, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise to support the motion moved by the member for Calare. I note that the motion states:

That this House:

(1) requires the responsible Minister to:

(a) immediately commission an independent study on the legitimate costs to the Government of Australian Quarantine Inspection Service (AQIS) export service inspection fees and charges for the six affected industries (meat, fish, dairy, horticulture, grain, and live export) as evidenced at the AQIS—Australian Meat Industry Council joint ministerial taskforce meeting No. 15 on 7 May 2010; and

(b) table in the House:

(i) a document that explains how the Government will provide a reduction in annual regulatory costs to the export industries in the order of $30 million per year from 1 July 2011; and

(ii) a document that outlines the completion of reforms that were to be delivered as part of the agreement to remove the AQIS export service rebate between the Government and the six affected industries;

The motion continues:

(2) notes that the above commitments were part of a package agreed to by the former Minster for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry in return for the passage of the Government’s legislation to remove the 40 per cent AQIS export service rebate; and

(3) calls on the Government to continue the AQIS export service rebate until the reforms are delivered, as agreed to by the Government.

The motion touches on the fact that the coalition came to an agreement with the former Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Tony Burke. This was in exchange for an agreement to remove the 40 per cent AQIS export service rebate with an eventual move to full cost recovery. A $127.4 million package was supposed to be offered to the industry to fund efficiency reforms.

The government has not, as we know, fulfilled its side of the agreement. There has been no independent study of the legitimate costs of government as agreed by the minister. None of the reforms and efficiencies will actually be delivered by the time the rebate cuts out. Some of the review of the reforms of the industries to increase efficiency actually led to more costs, more paperwork and more bureaucracy, contrary to the aims of the review. There is more than one industry involved here. It is not just the beef industry. It is the horticulture, meat, dairy, grains, fish and live animal industries. There was an understanding by the industry that these reforms would have been completed by the time the rebate period ran out, but this clearly has not happened.

While I am speaking on this issue, as a dairy and beef farmer myself I want to touch on an issue that I would very much like the minister to address. It is the issue of industrial action taken by AQIS vets in the export abattoirs in my electorate, such as V and V Walsh and Harvey Beef. V and V Walsh sent me a letter recently. It said:

V & V Walsh Proprietary Limited, in operation since 1957, has never in its history had its day-to-day meat processing operations interrupted by industrial action.

The company has been made aware about protected industrial action by members of the Commonwealth Public Sector Union who perform the on-plant task of meat inspection under the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service and is likely to occur on site in coming weeks. The company is likely to be subject to work stoppages each day which will impose significant financial hardship on both the company and its employees. Over the past three months the company has been operating on a four- and three-day week due to a range of issues and is just beginning to increase its production. The disruptions will not only have financial implications but the flow-on affects for export production, storage, transportation and customer distribution will be a costly, unforeseen add-on which will have significant impacts on the company and its daily operations.

This is a major issue in my electorate which has been going on for nearly six weeks. It affects not only the abattoirs but their workers and their families, those on single incomes and I understand that these are now four-hourly rolling stoppages. So this is a very serious issue for each of the individuals, as it is to the workers and their families. I call on the minister to resolve this issue. I really want to know what is the basis of the industrial action by the AQIS inspectors? What impacts dopes the minister consider this is having on the abattoir management, on the economics and on the workers? I would really like to know whether worker's incomes geed adversely affected and to what degree and what action has the minister taken to resolve this dispute. As we know, meat processing can be an extremely finite business. We also know how important it is in regions like our own, particularly given the impacts of the reaction the government had to the banning of live exports. It has had an impact right throughout the whole of the south-west as well as in the north-west of our state.

I do notice that the Beale quarantine and biosecurity review commissioned by Labor called for hundreds of millions of dollars to be spent on AQIS and quarantine annually just to provide real and proper protection for our nation's borders, but instead of responding to this report, the government has failed to act, expect to spend the 2½ years since its release running down the report and stripping out its assets.

Australian agriculture and food producers rely on our clean green image and on our capacity to produce some of the best quality food in the world. Agricultural production in this country drives $155 billion a year in economic production, which is over 12 per cent of GDP. This generates about 1.6 million Australian jobs and $32 billion a year in farm exports. And we do not always compete on a level playing field. It is very important that we do everything we can to protect our borders and our biosecurity.

It should not be underestimated. Anyone who lives in a regional area does not underestimate the importance of the beef industry and even the industries mentioned in this report. I have beef, dairy and horticulture in my electorate. I do not have grains but certainly I have horticulture, meat, dairy, fish and live animals represented in my electorate. So the issues that the member for Calare has raised in his private members motion are extremely relevant to growers and to the industries in my electorate.

In relation to the AQIS vet issue, the minister does need to respond. There have been six weeks now of this particular action. It is having an impact on the families in my electorate. It is having an impact on the businesses in my electorate and each one of those needs to get on with what they do best. I call on the minister to act. What action has the minister taken to resolve this dispute? What is he intending to do so that not only the abattoirs but the workers and the communities surrounding them can continue to do what they do best?

I finish my speech by simply saying that I support the motion by the member for Calare. The issue of the legitimate costs to government of AQIS export service inspection fees and charges is not just for one single industry; it is for all of those mentioned. As I said, we have half a dozen different industries: the fish industry, the dairy industry, the meat industry, the horticultural industry, the grain industry and the live export industry. These are not resolved yet. In the same way as the industry action in my electorate with the AQIS inspectors has not been resolved, these broader issues have also not been resolved by the minister.

I call on the minister to act on all of these issues. We should not take this industry for granted. This industry has done it particularly tough. A number of the growers have found continuing to produce some of high-quality produce very tough in the circumstances that they have found themselves in.

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