Gary Nairn (Eden-Monaro, Liberal Party, Special Minister of State) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

The Australian Postal Corporation Amendment (Quarantine Inspection and Other Measures) Bill 2007 amends the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 to provide for the inspection and examination of postal articles carried by Australia Post for interstate quarantine purposes.

The bill will implement recommendation 13 of the November 2005 report of the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry entitled Taking control: a national approach to pest animals.

The bill will also make other minor amendments to clarify the operation of certain provisions of the Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989.

The Australian Postal Corporation Act 1989 currently prohibits the opening of postal articles except in specified circumstances. These exceptions include the opening of articles suspected of containing drugs or articles on which customs duty is payable.

Incoming international mail may also be opened in accordance with powers set out in the Quarantine Act 1908. However, opening the postal articles for interstate quarantine purposes is currently not allowed under the Australian Postal Corporation Act.

The inspection regime proposed in the bill provides that certain procedures must be followed by state or territory quarantine inspection authorities and that specified records be kept. The record-keeping requirements will be set out in amendments to the Australian Postal Corporation Regulations 1996, which will be prepared with a view to commencing at the same time the interstate quarantine measures commence.

The bill has been developed in consultation with state and territory governments and Australia Post. There is general consensus about the proposal, including that the reserved services be exempted from inspection under the scheme because of the low risk of standard letters carrying quarantine material and to ensure that Australia Post’s ability to meet its regulated performance standards is not adversely affected.

The scheme will allow prescribed state and territory inspection agencies to identify and examine articles in the course of normal mail processing and enable them to deal with the article under the applicable state and territory laws. It is expected that participating quarantine inspection agencies will bear the cost of inspection and will assume responsibility for identifying and isolating articles which are believed to contain quarantine material.

The bill also addresses the concern that Australia Post is currently treated differently from other delivery agents whose articles are potentially already able to be inspected under the applicable state and territory law. It is expected that, once the bill is enacted, Australia Post will no longer be treated differently to other private delivery agents.

At this stage, Western Australia, Tasmania and Northern Territory have indicated a wish to be prescribed in the regulations, which will enable them to take advantage of the bill’s provisions to inspect postal articles carried by Australia Post for interstate quarantine purposes. The other jurisdictions have taken the view that they consider the biosecurity risks associated with the interstate mailing system to be relatively low and that their focus is better directed at the general risk posed by people and personal effects moving across state borders. The bill will enable them to participate in the scheme by the making of further regulations, should they later decide to participate.

It is proposed that the interstate quarantine provisions and other provisions in schedule 1 to the bill will commence on proclamation but not later than six months after royal assent. This will allow sufficient time for those quarantine inspection authorities which intend to implement an interstate quarantine inspection scheme to make appropriate administrative arrangements.

The bill also contains a number of other amendments.

The bill includes amendments to allow compliance agencies such as the Australian Customs Service and the Australian Quarantine Inspection Service a discretion to pass information to Australia Post regarding seized articles. This information will, in turn, be able to be passed to other postal administrations. This will ensure that Australia Post is not unnecessarily liable to other postal administrations under the acts of the Universal Postal Union and is better able to respond to queries about missing mail.

The bill also contains a measure which will streamline the disclosure of scam mail to consumer protection agencies. Once the bill is enacted, Australia Post will be able to hold suspected scam mail for inspection by a consumer protection agency. If upon inspection the mail is found to be evidence of a breach of a consumer protection law, the mail will be able to be dealt with by the relevant consumer protection agency in accordance with the laws they administer. If mail is not found to be scam mail, it will be returned to the mail system as soon as possible. These changes will better protect consumers by allowing the earlier interception of scam mail than is currently possible.

The bill also contains minor technical amendments to ensure that the Australian Postal Corporation Act reflects the introduction of the GST and wine tax.

A further measure will provide the minister with the flexibility to exempt Australia Post from the current requirement to prepare a service improvement plan where the minister considers the preparation of the plan is unnecessary in the circumstances. These would include circumstances where the failure to meet a performance standard was beyond the control of Australia Post or if Australia Post had already implemented measures to address any drop in performance.

The bill also includes an amendment to allow regulations made under the act to deal with determining the level of mail delivery service. For example, this would enable a regulation to set out processes to be used by Australia Post for polling communities to determine whether delivery services should be provided ‘to the property’ if regulation in this area became necessary. I commend the bill to the House.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Australian Postal Corporation Amendment (Quarantine Inspection and Other Measures) Bill 2007. Labor supports this bill as it provides for the removal of legislative anomalies, the prevention of the spread of pests across jurisdictions, the equitable application of the wine equalisation tax, the reduction of scam mail and improved compliance with the Universal Postal Convention. The bill seeks to remove legislative anomalies that currently prohibit the inspection and examination of interstate articles carried by Australia Post for quarantine purposes except in certain circumstances. Currently unless there is a suspicion that the article contains drugs or that customs duty is payable Australia Post is not authorised to inspect an article. However, articles that are moved interstate by carriers other than Australia Post are not subject to the same prohibitions against opening. This bill seeks to resolve this anomaly and is therefore welcome.

The government has chosen to apply these quarantine provisions only to those states that wish to be bound and it has made provision for other jurisdictions to opt into this process by amending regulations at a later date if they choose to do so. At this stage only Western Australia, Tasmania and the Northern Territory have expressed interest in coming under the scheme. I understand that the other jurisdictions have taken the view that they consider the biosecurity risks associated with the interstate mail system to be relatively low. That various jurisdictions will not participate in the inspection of interstate articles seems to me to undermine the integrity of the system that the bill seeks to establish. This provision may need to be reviewed in the future. The bill also goes some way towards preventing the spread of pest species between states and territories by providing for the inspection and examination for quarantine purposes of postal articles carried interstate by Australia Post. Action and reform in this area are welcome.

Numerous submissions have been made to two inquiries held over the course of the last five years. Interested parties called for the Commonwealth government to strengthen the national effort in order to control and manage invasive species. The reports emerging from the two inquiries, namely the Turning back the tide: the invasive species challenge report tabled in 2002 and the Taking control: a national approach to pest animals report tabled in 2005, reflect the strong call for more involvement by the federal government in dealing with the problem of pest animals.

The bill before us seeks to legislate relevant recommendations contained within these reports and is therefore welcome. The bill also provides for the opening of international articles where there is reasonable suspicion that GST and/or the wine equalisation tax is payable. Labor supports this amendment as it ensures that an equitable system of taxation and import duty is imposed on all.

On the issue of scam mail, which is also dealt with in this bill, various consumer protection agencies have expressed concerns about the increasing amount of scam mail received by households throughout Australia. Scam mail is a serious problem. Unsuspecting and vulnerable Australians can be negatively affected by scam mail, so Labor believes there must be effective consumer protection measures in place at the national level to protect us. Scam mail can arrive in Australia in large batches from a single overseas location in envelopes that are virtually identical. Once identified, batches of such mail can be readily removed from the mail stream. This bill makes provision for the removal of batches of articles from the normal course of carriage where there is reasonable suspicion that the batches contain scam mail. Once removed, Australia Post is required to notify the ACCC, the Australian Securities Investment Commission and/or the consumer protection agency for the state or territory in which the removal has occurred. This provision has the support of the Labor Party; however, I note that it is important that the removal of mail be monitored so that articles are not unnecessarily delayed.

The proposed amendments will also allow Australia Post to request information from a compliance agency such as the Australian Customs Service, the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service or a consumer protection agency about articles that have been removed from the normal course of carriage for reasons of quarantine or scam mail in order to comply with its obligations under the Universal Postal Convention. Australia Post will be able to request information on matters including the name and address of the sender and/or recipient of the article, a description of the article’s contents and any other information prescribed by the regulations. The compliance agency may accept or refuse the request. While this provision is necessary in order to make a fair determination about how to deal with any mail removed from the normal course of carriage, Labor notes that this amendment may have privacy implications and that any privacy or information-sharing issues that may arise should be dealt with promptly and in a serious manner.

The various changes put forward in the bill are sound and sensible. I am also encouraged to read that this bill has been developed in consultation with state and territory governments. I commend the bill to the House.

Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It seems that I have had greatness thrust upon me in the absence of the minister. I just simply thank the member for Grayndler for his contribution to this important debate. I was listening very closely to all of his utterances and, whilst there are many things about the member for Grayndler that are not worthy of respect, his contribution to this debate was tremendous.

Anthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Opposition Business in the House) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

He can’t help himself.

Bruce Scott (Maranoa, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The member for Grayndler has had his time. He will resume his seat.

Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Grayndler for his contribution. On behalf of the minister and the government, I ask that this bill be referred to the House and reported as passed from the Main Committee.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

Ordered that the bill be reported to the House without amendment.