Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

I find it quite remarkable that, after six long years, Labor are at last talking agriculture. They suddenly have a new-found interest in farming. Suddenly they have discovered the fact that there are regional and rural areas in Australia which need protecting. Whilst I commend the member for Blair for finally figuring out that there is life beyond the bright lights of the metropolitan areas, and whilst I appreciate the fact that he says he is from Ipswich, which is a regional area of sorts, I just find it incredible that Labor have finally discovered that there are regional areas which need protecting.

Certainly, this cognate debate into the Quarantine Charges (Imposition—General) Bill 2014, the Quarantine Charges (Imposition—Customs) Bill 2014, the Quarantine Charges (Imposition—Excise) Bill 2014 and the Quarantine Charges (Collection) Bill 2014 goes to the very heart of protecting our wonderful diversity in regional areas. I am joined here by the member for Mallee, whose area, like mine, produces many fine products—the food and fibre which feed and clothe our nation but, perhaps more importantly, other nations as well. Those agricultural industries need protection. They need good quarantine measures.

The package of bills presented to the House by the Minister for Agriculture seeks to put in place appropriate cost recovery mechanisms to support Australia's capacity to manage biosecurity risks. Careful management of biosecurity risks is central to Australia's position as an exporter of high-quality agricultural products—the sorts of products that come out of Mallee and Riverina. It is a trade that is forecast to be worth around $38 billion to the Australian economy this year. It is critical—if we are to protect Australian crops and livestock from diseases of which we are currently free but which blight the produce of other countries, we need to have in place good quarantine measures.

I found it remarkable that Labor, the member for Hunter, the shadow agriculture minister, and others opposite now find it so critical to Australia's export demands and needs that they all of a sudden find voice in such matters, when they did not give two hoots when they were in government. I refer to Batlow, a town in my area, east of the Riverina electorate, which was placed at risk. The entire town's economy was placed at risk because of the lack of biosecurity, the lack of protocols and the lack of foresight by Labor. Apple orchards have been vital to Batlow's economy for 120 years. In 1922, the first cool stores in New South Wales were built at Batlow. At the same time, a railway was constructed from nearby Tumut. These developments facilitated Batlow's trade with Sydney and beyond. In times of this nation's greatest need, the dark days of World War II, the district served an essential role by supplying the troops with dehydrated fruit and vegetables. These days, up to 40 apple growers at Batlow provide employment directly and indirectly to 2½ thousand people—all hard workers; all taxpayers.

That wonderful history and those jobs were placed at risk by the Labor government, which could and should have done more to look after its own. I am talking about 2011 here. Instead, as with most things agricultural and many things of importance to regional Australia, Labor either caved in or, worse, did nothing. The same could be said about Labor's inaction on the Asian bee incursion, which was another critical quarantine risk, the mouse plague, live cattle exports and its abysmal failure to give good governance on the water issue. It deserted regional Australia when it was most in need.

Australia is at present free of fire blight. Fire blight can destroy an entire orchard in a single growing season. An outbreak would devastate Australian horticulture, cause considerable environmental harm and be impossible to eradicate. Labor opened the way for apples to be imported from New Zealand. It was the first time for 90 years that apples from New Zealand were going to be allowed into Australia, all just to give the then Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, something to talk about when she historically addressed the New Zealand parliament. Up she got and announced, 'Oh, it's great. New Zealand apples will be allowed into Australia.' She had a photo opportunity with the Prime Minister of New Zealand, John Key, and they laughed about whether the All Blacks or the Wallabies would win the next test match and who would eat whose apples. Whilst it was a great photo op for our Prime Minister, it left my Batlow apple growers at great risk. They were absolutely fraught with worry and concern that New Zealand apples were going to come into this country, bring with them the fire blight, which is well known in New Zealand, and eradicate our entire crops and orchards.

It was of grave concern at the time that three of the first 13 consignments of New Zealand apples were denied entry. That is a damning rejection rate. Australia originally barred apple imports after discovering in 1919 the bacterial disease fire blight in fruit from New Zealand; it was banned not long after that. Prime Minister Gillard, addressing the New Zealand parliament on 16 February 2011, announced Australia would lift the 90-year ban. By 18 August that year, just a day after the all clear was given, seven permits had been issued to New Zealand orchards. They thought: 'Let's cash in on this. We've got so many apples we are now going to invade the Australian market.'

Later that same month a live insect pathogen and potentially fire blight carrying leaf matter had already been found in one of the first consignments of New Zealand apples bound for Australia. The news justifiably angered many, especially those in the industry who campaigned against Labor's decision prompted by a World Trade Organisation ruling. The industry warned that this could expose crops to crippling diseases such as fire blight and pests. One of the very first consignments was refused after a small piece of leaf matter which could carry disease and an insect, an apple leaf curling midge, were found during inspection in New Zealand. I am sure the member for Murray, who will follow me, will have something to say about that. Alarmingly the live insect was found four to five months after the fruit was harvested. The midge eats leaves and can defoliate trees depriving them of nutrients. Australia does not have leaf curling midge, and strong chemicals are needed to control it. Some of these strong chemicals are banned in Australia. But that does not matter to some of the WTO rules we have and it certainly did not matter at the time to Labor.

A recent coalition delegation to the Hawkes Bay region on the east coast of New Zealand's North Island heard some disturbing remarks from one of the countries largest apple growers who openly admitted in response to questioning about the instance of fire blight: 'If you look hard enough, for long enough, you will find some.' There was also this quote: 'Half of our orchards have never had fire blight.' Well, if half of them have not had fire blight, you might wonder about the other half. Fire blight is not a notifiable disease in New Zealand. Every safeguard is taken against it, I must admit, including sophisticated warning systems linked with weather updates. But, when it does occur, treatments including streptomycin and antibiotics not registered for use in Australia are applied. Water used in processing fruit headed to Australia is often the same as that which washes streptomycin and other contaminants from apples destined for other countries as New Zealand orchards are only required to change the water every 48 hours. The Australian Labor government, at the time, did nothing.

I, along with the then shadow minister for agriculture, John Cobb, the member for Wannon, Dan Tehan, and the member for Murray, Dr Sharman Stone, went to New Zealand on a self-funded tour. We looked at the apple orchards. When we came home we made sure, through insistent lobbying, that our protocols for quarantine were such that no New Zealand apples were going to arrive here. I am proud to say it is now March 2014 and we have not had one crate of New Zealand apples come to Australia. But that may not have happened. I see the member for Makin nodding. He knows how good the apples are in Australia—as I am sure you do, Deputy Speaker. I am sure the member for Lalor doesn't mind a crunchy Pink Lady either. We need to protect what we have here in Australia. Sometimes through inactivity governments just do not do it. But I am glad to say that no New Zealand apples came to Australia because of the good work done by the shadow agriculture minister at the time, and others, to make sure that our quarantine measures are enforced.

It is so important. We sometimes have the biosecurity measures in place but, for whatever reason, we do not actually ensure that every letter of the law is followed. As I say, careful management of biosecurity risk is essential to ensuring we have clean green exports as well as product for our own domestic use. It was not that long ago that Labor just ignored that very premise. It was a particular concern to growers in Batlow. Batlow is Australia's apple capital—Tasmanians might disagree—and an outbreak of fire blight would be devastating.

These bills will enable cost recovery for the direct costs of providing services to importers under the Quarantine Act of 1908 and indirect activities such as surveillance, risk analysis and the gathering of intelligence which genuinely support Australia's biosecurity. The amount of charges is to be set out in delegated legislation, but Australian farmers can take comfort that the regime established by these bills requires that the Minister for Agriculture must be satisfied that the amount charged will not be more than the likely costs of delivering the activity.

Unlike his predecessor, the Minister for Agriculture, a National Party member, actually understands the consequences of government decisions on the livelihood of farmers and their communities, and our farmers are so important. The Minister for Agriculture, like me, grew up on a farm, and he still farms to this day—like the member for Mallee, who gave a great speech in parliament yesterday about the hardships faced by farmers. I listened intently, and he too understands why and how farmers are so important.

Barnaby Joyce, the member for New England, knows the challenges and realities of life in the Australian bush. They can take heart that there will be no repeat of the woeful and quite frankly inept actions of the previous government's ban on live exports to Indonesia. This new regime will support the risk based approach to biosecurity management which has over time replaced the system of mandatory border intervention targets in relation to certain products. At best, this was a blunt tool which failed to direct resources based on a deep understanding of biosecurity risks—in terms of both the likelihood and potentially devastating consequences for industry—across the range of products imported into Australia which can change over time.

As I have said in this place many times before, good regulation gives regulators flexibility in their approach to enforcement so that the nature of their enforcement action can be adapted to the severity of the noncompliance and the circumstances of the individual. I am pleased that these bills include provisions to both impose late payment fees and remit those fees where appropriate.

One of the first site visits I made as Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance was the site of the new post entry quarantine facility at Mickleham in Victoria. The Department of Agriculture currently operates post entry quarantine facilities at five sites across this nation. At each site, the facilities are over 25 years old and are fast approaching the end of their useful life. The new facility at Mickleham will replace these dispersed and outdated facilities. It is a major undertaking with an expected cost of $293 million.

We in the coalition are getting on with the job of doing these things, but I must admit Labor has had something to do with that site and it will be a good facility when it is up and running. Certainly, with the new government focused on agriculture, it is going to reap the rewards for our farmers and indeed the nation as a whole. Construction is being managed by the Department of Finance and is expected to begin soon, with the first phase due for completion in late 2015 and a final second phase due for completion in late 2018. Hopefully, the coalition will still be in government.

Funding Australia's biosecurity system is critically important if we are to ensure that Australia's unique animal and plant health status is maintained. This status is in turn, as I have said before, vital to our ability to export clean, high-quality produce to the rest of the world. We had the opportunity to be the grower of great food, to feed the Asian century, to feed that growing middle class in Asia. Prime Minister Gillard said that herself in one of, I thought, her best speeches as a keynote speaker to an international food summit in Melbourne. She said that we need to be there to feed the growing Asian nation boom.

Unfortunately, the policies that Labor put in place did not follow through, but I am glad to say that now the coalition is in power, we will put the policy settings in place to ensure that our farmers, who are unquestionably the very best in the world, following world's best practice, will be there to ensure that we are able to feed that growing Asian market and feed our own domestic supply needs with the very best, cleanest, highest-quality food. I commend these bills to the House. It is very important that they be supported.

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