Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Agriculture) Share this | Hansard source

The Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Penalties) Bill 2021, as outlined in the explanatory memorandum, amends the Biosecurity Act 2015 by increasing the maximum penalties that a court could impose for noncompliance with requirements under the act. It increases the penalties for specified existing civil penalty provisions, to provide a proportionate regulatory response to the conduct covered by these provisions, and increases the penalties for specified criminal offences, to ensure appropriate punishment for those who jeopardise Australia's biosecurity status by breaking the law.

The explanatory memorandum states:

In the face of growing regional and global threats such as African Swine Fever and hitchhiker pests (such as khapra beetle) the current penalty regime needs reinforcement to provide an effective deterrent against non-compliance.

The explanatory memorandum also states that, with trade and travel expected as part of the economic recovery from COVID eventually, it will accentuate these threats, making it imperative to send a strong message to those that are breaking Australia's biosecurity laws that it's not worth the potential commercial gain in doing so.

Under the act, penalties for a contravention may include either a civil penalty or a criminal offence or both. The increases to the civil penalties are intended to deter noncompliance with the act and to ensure the maximum penalties available reflect the gains that individuals and businesses might obtain or seek to obtain from engaging in conduct that jeopardises Australia's biosecurity status. The civil penalties will be set at a level that means that the penalty is not merely perceived as a cost of doing business. This is particularly the case for corporations.

There are 28 separate penalties that are being increased. For example, some will increase from 120 penalty units to 300 penalty units. Other increases include from 300 penalty units to 1,000 penalty units. I note that the explanatory memorandum states that this bill would have no financial impact on the Australian government budget. But, of course, there are concerns about the bill and about our biosecurity system more generally.

It's clear that this Morrison government has shifted away from the biosecurity levy that was recommended in the industry review back in 2017 and moved to a penalty based system that relies on a court determining if a civil or criminal offence has taken place. This bill appears to be just another ad hoc measure reliant on the court system to apply penalties, rather than a genuine attempt to upgrade Australia's biosecurity arrangements.

I've spoken to many farmers and other stakeholders across the agriculture sector, and they continue to raise concerns with me about Australia's current biosecurity system. It's clear there's been a huge policy void over the past eight years when it comes to the Morrison government doing anything of note about strengthening Australia's biosecurity system. It's been extremely disappointing, given the significant risk that pests and disease can have for Australian produce. I'd also like to put on record Labor's ongoing concerns in relation to the Morrison government's current management of the biosecurity system.

We know that Australia's biosecurity system underpins more than $60 billion in agricultural production, $53 billion in agricultural exports, as well as $42 billion in relation to the country's inbound tourism industry. The cost of a single outbreak of disease or pest has been conservatively estimated at approximately $50 billion. So, with so much at risk, where has the government's urgency to update our biosecurity system been over the past eight years? We've already seen them axe the biosecurity levy that I talked out, a levy that was a recommendation of the Craik review in 2017. The Craik report included 42 recommendations and found that the system was completely underfunded. At the March estimates, the department revealed the government's response in relation to the Craik review. In four years, the government has completed only seven of the 42 recommendations. Indeed, the government is claiming that 12 recommendations require enduring effort, eight recommendations are in progress, four recommendations require no action, and one recommendation is already on hold. Given the serious risk to Australia's agriculture sector, this slow response is simply not good enough.

This brings me to the biosecurity funding that was actually included in the budget. The budget commitments to biosecurity just make up for what the Morrison government was planning to take away from the biosecurity levy that failed. It's not good enough that farmers were left for years waiting to see what the government would do to update Australia's biosecurity systems and arrangements. The budget was a missed opportunity for Australian farmers, and they deserve better from this government.

We've also seen quite a few amendments having to be made to biosecurity legislation lately. There was a bill that passed the parliament last month that was essentially fixing a past drafting issue. There must be confidence in Australia's biosecurity system given it protects the agricultural industry from pests and disease.

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