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

Nine years—thank you, Member for Moreton—and this is the type of report they get.

The report goes on to say:

and the department estimates include:

… undetected non-compliance is increasing.

Then there was the fourth review, again from the Inspector-General of Biosecurity, titled Accountable implementation of Inspectors-General of Biosecurity review recommendations(2015-2021). This is the fifth review of the department's track record in implementing the interim inspector-general and inspector-general's recommendations since 2015. The statement that, I suppose, captured my attention is from the executive summary—and I'm going to quote this into Hansard, because I think it's important.

None of these reviews would have been necessary if the department had a well-established commitment to and a sound process for continuous improvement; and appropriate accountability mechanisms within biosecurity divisions and the department more broadly.

The department has struggled to come to an appropriate understanding of the independent Inspector-General role. It has therefore not capitalised on the benefits of the independent assessments that the Inspector-General provides. It appears that the department has approached Inspector-General recommendations as an administrative, rather than transformative, process and not treated them with the level of importance that seemed to be envisaged by the Australian Parliament when it established the statutory role in the Biosecurity Act2015.

Rather damning, I would've thought. This report makes a further 10 recommendations for improvements to be made by the department in relation to biosecurity.

So, after nine years, the question is: What has gone wrong? Why is it in this state? Why do we have the Inspector-General of Biosecurity having to publish reports and reviews and make further recommendations to the department to take action? Where is the government? Why are they not taking these recommendations more seriously? This is a very serious issue. They cannot continue to be complacent and slow-acting and, indeed, I would say, ignoring some of the recommendations that they feel it doesn't suit them to do.

The findings from the four reports and reviews are a shocking reflection of the government's ineptness. It is really clear, in terms of the human biosecurity system, of course, that they didn't do anything until COVID-19 and the Ruby Princess, and the Inspector-General of Biosecurity and the Auditor-General really have called it out. After all this, and all the reports and the reviews, why hasn't the government prioritised strengthening Australia's biosecurity system? Now, we know they're all distracted and divided over there at the moment, but they have had nine years to get this right, to protect Australia from biosecurity risks.

To be frank, I'm amazed that more hasn't been done to protect Australians and our valuable agriculture sector and our producers from these biosecurity risks. When I talk to farmers, when I go out and talk to primary producers and those who work in the sector, biosecurity risks are always raised with me as of concern. They know the serious risks associated with a weak biosecurity system. When you look at Australia's biosecurity system, you can see the under-resourcing that has happened under this government.

As I mentioned before, the government abandoned the work it was doing to introduce a biosecurity levy. The department has stated that sustainable funding arrangements for biosecurity are still being considered. Well, what are they? What is it? What sort of sustainable funding model is the government planning? Why the secrecy? Why hasn't the government done more work? Why isn't it still consulting? What is going on? We don't have any answers from government in relation to where this is going. Indeed, what we saw in the last budget was some capital funding to fix some of the IT systems and other things with biosecurity, which, although welcome, clearly doesn't deal with the long-term sustainability of the biosecurity system.

It is clear they've been far too relaxed about the serious consequences of a biosecurity incursion and the harm it could cause to Australia's agriculture industry but also to Australians' human health. If you're a farmer or primary producer, you wouldn't trust this government to fix it or to deliver for you. On that side of the chamber they talk a lot about being on the side of the farmers, but that really isn't what I hear on the ground. What I hear on the ground is that people really are jack of it. They—

Honourable members interjecting—

Seriously! The short answer is: people are trying very hard. Staff currently working in biosecurity and Australian Border Force officers are working incredibly hard, doing the best they possibly can with the resources they have available to them, to try and keep Australia and the Australian agriculture sector safe, but this government has not had their back. There has been a failure when it comes to this biosecurity system.

But there has also been a failure more broadly when it comes to what the government is doing to support Australian farmers. There has been no real action on climate change. We of course have a crippling workforce shortage, and we've heard many, many promises about how this would be resolved. We all remember the promised agriculture visa that was supposed to be up and running before Christmas, which, of course, has not happened. We have the minister still talking about the ag visa. No multilaterals have been signed. As far as I'm aware, there are not very many workers actually on Australian farms under this visa. We had multiple states experiencing a mouse plague and the government saying: 'Nothing to do with us.' But, of course, that happens so many times. We have a timber shortage in Australia at the moment. We talk about agriculture and forestry products. This government—really! We hear it all the time: 'We're the government of farmers.' That's not what I hear out there. They really have let farmers and regional communities down when it comes to doing the serious work of actually thinking long-term and supporting this sector.

Australian farmers need to have confidence and certainty that the government of the day will manage the biosecurity system so that we can protect and mitigate any risk to our agricultural industry—and also, as I said, to our human health—from pests and disease. It's clear from all of the experts that the government has a lot more work to do to make sure that our biosecurity system is well resourced and not at risk of failing. Labor will continue to keep a close eye on this and make sure that we hold the government to account when it comes to managing our biosecurity system. Whilst we do want to support this bill, I move:

That all words after "That" be omitted with a view to substituting the following words:

"whilst not declining to give the bill a second reading, the House notes the Coalition Government's ongoing failure to adequately strengthen Australia's biosecurity system".

I thank the House.

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