David Littleproud (Maranoa, National Party, Minister for Agriculture, Drought and Emergency Management) Share this | Hansard source

The Biosecurity Amendment (Traveller Declarations and Other Measures) Bill 2020—the bill—will amend the Biosecurity Act 2015 to provide for a flexible and proportionate compliance response through the targeted setting of amounts payable under an infringement notice. The bill will allow the biosecurity regulation to specify different penalty amounts and different periods of time to pay for infringement notices issued for different kinds of alleged contraventions of the Biosecurity Act, including by reference to the kinds of goods or classes of goods to which an alleged contravention relates, and permit the director of biosecurity to make a non-disallowable legislative instrument to specify goods or classes of goods that can attract a higher infringement notice amount. These changes will enable incoming passengers or crew who fail to declare high-risk biosecurity goods listed in the legislative instrument to be issued with an infringement notice in the amount of 12 penalty units, or $2,664 after penalty units are increased on 1 July. This is an increase from the current infringement notice amount of two penalty units or $444 that applies regardless of the relative risk of the goods to which the contravention relates.

This bill will enhance existing compliance and deterrence measures, and is designed to protect Australia's biosecurity status by encouraging people entering Australia to comply carefully and accurately with requirements to provide written information for the purpose of assessing the level of biosecurity risk associated with the person and the goods they are seeking to bring into Australia. This is a sensible and timely improvement to Australia's biosecurity system that is consistent with mature, regulatory practice. I commend the bill to the House.

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