Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I present the explanatory memorandum to this bill and move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

We know all too well the threats of foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease in Indonesia. In response to these threats the Albanese government has implemented the strongest ever response to a biosecurity threat in our nation's history.

While the system has performed well to date, we cannot afford to be complacent.

These biosecurity threats are increasing due to a rise in the volume and complexity of trade, the effects of climate change and the ever-increasing worldwide spread of pests and disease.

Australia's biosecurity system must be able to adapt and respond to these evolving risks. It must be fit to meet the challenges of the next decade, and this bill will help make that happen.

The measures in this bill will help strengthen Australia's biosecurity system, helping to protect our $70.3 billion agricultural export industries, protect 1.6 million jobs across the agricultural supply chain, and protect our way of life.

Biosecurity risks can present in many ways at our seaports, mail centres, airports and northern coastline.

In the case of foot-and-mouth disease, risks can even include the clothing and footwear of travellers.

Early identification and assessment of such risks remains fundamental to a responsive and effective biosecurity system.

This bill will provide new mechanisms for assessing risk and determining interventions for travellers entering Australia.

This may include requirements for people to provide information about whether they have been in a high biosecurity risk location.

This would allow for triaging and better-informed decisions about targeted assessment for the treatment of goods to manage and contain any potential risk.

It will also provide a mechanism for implementing certain preventative biosecurity measures where biosecurity officers assess diseases or pests pose an unacceptable risk.

This bill shows the government is serious.

People who jeopardise Australia's biosecurity system by failing to comply with these requirements will face civil penalties of up to 120 penalty points, or, currently, $26,640.

And in a new measure, those who attempt to evade biosecurity controls, for example those who deliberately conceal goods when travelling through our airports, will face even stiffer penalties including an infringement of up to $4,440. That is the largest infringement ever for a biosecurity threat and ensures the penalty fits the seriousness of the crime.

These measures will provide a vital tool in managing the current risk posed by outbreaks of foot-and-mouth disease in our neighbouring regions.

These tools will be able to be adapted to target and respond to future threats which could potentially include lumpy skin disease, African swine fever or Xylella.

The bill will implement important lessons we have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic.

It will expand pre-arrival reporting requirements, to ensure our biosecurity officers have accurate and up-to-date information available to assess the biosecurity risk associated with the arrival of vessels and aircraft.

Operators and persons in charge of these aircraft and vessels who do not comply with these requirements will be subject to tougher sanctions.

Biosecurity is everyone's responsibility, and everybody needs to do the right thing. If they don't, the Australian public would rightfully expect that the punishment would fit the crime.

This bill will step up a range of civil and criminal penalties under the Biosecurity Act.

These penalties must remain an effective deterrent against noncompliance and enable a proportionate response to contraventions.

These stronger penalties, in some cases up to $222,000 for an individual or $1.1 million for corporate bodies, better reflect the seriousness of any contraventions.

And compared with the current penalty regime, they better reflect the consequences that noncompliance may have on Australia's biosecurity status, market access and economy. If we wish to keep Australia free from pests and diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease, the Biosecurity Act must remain fit for purpose and futureproofed.

This bill will help achieve this by improving the operation of the information and confidentiality provisions.

It will also provide specific authorisations for the use and disclosure of relevant information, while ensuring that sensitive information is afforded appropriate protection.

This bill will increase the transparency and effectiveness of administrative processes in the Biosecurity Act such as those involved in conducting a risk assessment for the purposes of making determinations or granting an import permit.

It will also introduce a framework under the Biosecurity Act to provide legislative authority to the agriculture and health ministers, enabling the ability to make, vary and administer arrangements or grants for expenditure relating to biosecurity related programs—which are key in facilitating a strong biosecurity system.

Another important aspect of the biosecurity framework involves the work of biosecurity industry participants, who are authorised to carry out certain activities under approved arrangements to manage biosecurity risks associated with specific goods, premises, or other things.

This bill would streamline and improve the operation of a number of provisions relating to approved arrangements and compensation under the Biosecurity Act, reducing administrative costs while strengthening audit powers.

Our work in strengthening Australia's biosecurity system does not end with this bill.

This is the first stage of amendments the government will make to ensure our regulatory framework remains fit for purpose and ready to take on future biosecurity challenges.

Having a strong and efficient biosecurity system is more important than ever as we respond to foot-and-mouth disease and other emerging diseases on our doorstep.

The Albanese government will not rest while these biosecurity threats are there.

We owe it to our farmers.

We owe it to those who work in the food supply chain.

And we owe it to all Australians to protect our food security.

I commend the bill to the House.

Michael McCormack (Riverina, National Party, Shadow Minister for International Development and the Pacific) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The federal coalition support the passage of the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022. We support this legislation because it will amend the Biosecurity Act 2015 with measures to enhance the operation of Australia's national biosecurity framework. It will strengthen the management of risks across maritime and aviation pathways, improve the efficiency of the act, and increase a range of civil and criminal penalties for breaches of biosecurity law. Also, the passage of this bill will address recommendations made by the Inspector-General of Biosecurity, in his review of the Ruby Princess incident, and the New South Wales special commission of inquiry.

Significantly, this bill is similar to legislation introduced last year by the federal coalition. The bill will increase protection from diseases and pests by implementing measures that manage the biosecurity risk from travellers, including responding to the threat of foot-and-mouth disease being introduced into Australia from the footwear and clothing of travellers. Whilst this is welcome, it is worth recognising that it was the federal coalition that called for foot mats to be installed at international airports once FMD was detected in Bali, given the increased risk from travellers. It is good that they are now in place, but the government flip-flopped about whether to install the mats in the first place, and, by the time they did, it had taken too long. In the weeks that it took for the government to make up their minds and take action, 79,374 international travellers arrived in Australia from Indonesia, with 93.4 per cent from Bali, without having to disinfect their shoes.

In a positive move, this bill will strengthen pratique and pre-arrival reporting by ensuring that the pre-arrival reporting requirements of the Biosecurity Act are expanded to ensure that accurate and up-to-date information is available to assess biosecurity risk, including the human health risk of arriving vessels and aircraft. The penalties for operators and persons in charge of aircraft and vessels who do not comply with these requirements will be expanded and strengthened.

The importance of having a strong biosecurity system should never be underestimated. In 2020 the value of Australia's biosecurity system was estimated to be $314 billion over 50 years. It is absolutely essential that compliance with our national biosecurity laws and framework is always maintained and that the penalties in place reflect the seriousness of the risk. Importantly, this bill will increase the penalties for those who do the wrong thing. People who put at risk Australia's biosecurity system by failing to comply with these new requirements will face civil penalties of up to 120 penalty points or $26,640. For operators, the increased penalties are up to $222,000 for an individual and up to $1.1 million for corporate bodies.

The remaining measures in the bill will simplify the process for making decisions identifying prohibited, conditionally non-prohibited and suspended goods or granting permits based on risk assessments. The bill will allow the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry and the Minister for Health and Aged Care to authorise expenditure on biosecurity related programs to increase efficiency and allow more transparency of such expenditure. There will be more-effective sharing of information with government agencies and other bodies, whilst ensuring necessary confidentiality. The bill will also improve the operation of provisions relating to approved arrangements and compensation.

Overall, these are sensible measures that the federal coalition will be supporting. Australia's biosecurity system is a crucial pillar of our national defence, helping us to prepare for, protect against and respond to risks to our environment, economy and way of life. Our nation has always enjoyed a reputation for clean, healthy and disease-free agricultural production systems through our natural advantage of geographic isolation. This has also given Australian producers an edge in a very competitive international market and environment. This rock-solid reputation is not something that should ever, ever be put at risk. We need a strong biosecurity system, because in 2020 Australia's environmental assets were valued at a staggering $5.7 trillion—modelled over 50 years—and can't be replaced. Agricultural production in our nation is projected to reach $82 billion in 2022-23, supporting 1.6 million jobs through the supply chain. Before COVID-19, tourism contributed $50 billion to Australia's gross domestic product. It's important to point this out, because the health of all these sectors relies on a strong, robust biosecurity system.

The coalition are proud of our track record on biosecurity, because we made it a priority while in government. I note that the member for McEwen, who's about to speak, is constructing a very important biosecurity facility in his electorate, which has made such a difference, from bees right through to larger animals and plants. That was a good investment, in making sure that the facility consolidated similar smaller facilities around the nation. It's close to Tullamarine airport as well.

In 2022-23 we made more than a billion dollars available for biosecurity and export programs when in government, an increase of 69 per cent from the financial year 2014-15. In government we also increased fines for people breaking biosecurity law and partnered with New Zealand to develop world-leading biosecurity risk detection technology, such as 3D X-rays. Our measures in office ensured that Australia remained a world leader in biosecurity and agriculture, with strong controls in place offshore, at our border and within our nation. Given the increased risks at Australia's borders, with a major foot-and-mouth disease outbreak in Indonesia and the threats of varroa mite and lumpy skin disease, the federal coalition will always lend our support to outcomes that will strengthen our biosecurity system. We commend this bill to the House.

Rob Mitchell (McEwen, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to support the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022 and the important reforms it represents for protecting our nation and our economy. As most know, Australia is acknowledged as having one of most comprehensive biosecurity laws globally, but we're experiencing ever-increasing threats to industry, jobs and, therefore, our way of life.

With this bill, the government are showing that we are serious about ensuring the safety of our citizens and protecting our economy from the increasing threats of biosecurity hazards by introducing new range of civil and criminal penalties, enhancing the ability to share information, and ensuring effective and efficient processes. It provides several minor amendments to improve the management of biosecurity nationally and operational effectiveness. Importantly, it gives the government the power to make determinations in response to imminent threats, including the ability to specify entry requirements for incoming travellers and put forward more preventative biosecurity measures. This is important so that we can act immediately to prevent or reduce the risk of disease or a pest that poses a threat to our biosecurity. The passage of this bill will mean that biosecurity officers can act on any biosecurity risk that could enter Australia, whether it be by air or sea. These clearer regulations help our officers provide more-comprehensive security and are another mechanism in preventing biosecurity risk from finding a home here.

This bill is a response to the rising risks seen globally, which have been a concern not only for our government but also for Australians across the nation. Take the ongoing risk of COVID-19 or the emergence of foot-and-mouth disease in Indonesia. In May, foot-and-mouth was spreading throughout Indonesia. This was a big risk for us as a nation, but it was responded to quickly by the newly elected Albanese government with the introduction of the Biosecurity (Foot and Mouth Disease Biosecurity Response Zone) Determination 2022. The government's response to the new dangers was credited by some as the strongest-ever response to a biosecurity threat in our nation's history.

While the system has performed very well today, Australia cannot afford to become complacent. This is a bill that is going to tackle and remove any room for complacency. It will provide Australians with a system futureproofed against biosecurity threats that could hurt the livelihoods of millions of Australians. Let's not forget that here we are creating a safeguard around our $70.3 billion agricultural export industries, protecting some 1.6 million jobs across the agricultural supply chain and, frankly, protecting our way of life. If we protect our local industries, we'll also be protecting the average Australian consumer from additional costs that would come from the disruption of that supply chain.

We have recently seen the importance of this. As the Whittlesea review reported earlier this year, the city of Whittlesea in my electorate of McEwen heard from the Victorian Apiarists Association Melbourne section secretary, Rob Kerr, on the cruciality of bees for human survival. He talked about the alarm of the Australian honey industry due to the emergence of varroa mite. Varroa mite is one of the main threats to the beekeeping industry globally and had previously not been detected in Australia until earlier this year. The impact of this breach in biosecurity is not only having a devastating impact on the New South Wales beekeeping industry. That, in turn, has had flow-on effects for the beekeeping industry in Victoria. The mite's entrance to Australia could affect an industry that's worth some $14.2 billion, according to the SMH, driving Australian beekeepers out of the industry and could once again put pressure on grocery prices and even bring down the quality of groceries that we have. That is as an example that shows how widespread the effects can be from an isolated breach in biosecurity and how it can influence the entire supply chain. The Age has reported the varroa mite is credited with a $200 million loss in Victoria's almond industry due to the inability to get the number of beehives needed to pollinate.

This is why we must do everything we can to protect agricultural industries and the Australian economy from biosecurity hazards, which is what this bill does. We are not afraid to act to keep the Australian industry safe. We are acting to enshrine the security of industry and consumers. To do that, we are appropriately increasing the penalties for those who don't adhere to biosecurity requirements. This is important because we need to deter people from taking risks and making decisions that will endanger Australians. Biosecurity is everyone's responsibility, and everyone needs to do the right thing. If they don't, the Australian public rightfully expect that the punishment should fit the crime. This bill ensures that. If you want to ensure Australia remains free of pests and diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, the Biosecurity Act must remain fit for purpose and futureproofed.

I want to highlight that this is not the only way we are protecting Australia's biosecurity interests. As a government, we understand the importance of tackling these issues in a holistic way. While we're bringing this legislation to the House—and it will go a long way to deter people and hold people and private entities to account—we are also helping the global effort to combat those diseases that affect our agricultural industries. The Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry has been working with its Indonesian counterparts to combat the recent FMD outbreak. We are providing support through vaccines, having provided four million doses since August. Dr Chris Parker from the department says: 'Our endgame is to assist them in getting things under control so that Indonesia will be no different from the other 70 countries globally that have FMD.' This approach reduces the risk of it occurring in Australia, especially due to the amount of trade, tourism and proximity that our two countries share.

This government understands the importance of handling this issue in a multifaceted way. We want to reassure the Australian public we are doing everything we can to protect Australians and their livelihoods. Every industry will benefit from the introduction of our new biosecurity laws, with the average Australian benefiting from these safeguards because protecting our agricultural industry will keep the cost of living down and keep our economy growing. We are protecting our farmers and their livelihoods with this bill. We are protecting the export industries that keep our economy moving and growing. Importantly, we are protecting Australians from the rise in costs that would happen if these diseases were introduced to Australia.

We have seen the impact that an introduced biosecurity threat has had on the Australian industry through the introduction of the varroa mite, with more hives being destroyed every day as it spreads across New South Wales. We have seen the chain of impacts this has had on other agricultural industries and the economic flow-on effect that a biosecurity breach can induce. We know these threats are ever-changing and ever-growing.

The Albanese Labor government want to assure Australians that we will not rest while these threats are on our doorstep and that we are moving to ensure our nation and our economy are protected. Under the Gillard government, as the member for Riverina pointed out, we built a $750 million quarantine centre. It's the most modern and up-to-date facility for plants and animals, and it actually delivers safety across the nation. We often overlook just how important these things are. But, as I mentioned with regard to varroa mite, if we don't have bees, we don't have food. That's a really big issue facing Australians. With climate change also impacting dramatically on our bee industries and bees across the globe, it's something we have to fight harder to get on top of.

We should act quickly to pass this legislation so that Australia can face its biosecurity challenges stronger than ever. I proudly stand for this bill, because the Albanese Labor government stands to protect our biosecurity integrity. We are acting quickly to do all that we can to tackle this issue effectively.

Sam Birrell (Nicholls, National Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I'm very pleased to support the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022. This bill will amend the Biosecurity Act 2015, inserting some new measures to provide for increased protection against diseases and pests that pose an unacceptably high biosecurity risk of coming into this country and spreading through our states and territories. This bill provides a regulatory framework for managing the risk, outlines Australia's international rights and obligations and contains a number of measures which have similarities with the biosecurity bill that the coalition introduced into the parliament last year. So we're supporting this legislation. Specifically, there are some key things in this legislation that allow for new measures to manage the biosecurity risk from travellers—those coming from anywhere, but particularly, with the risk that we've seen, those coming from Indonesia.

My electorate of Nicholls is one of the major dairy industry regions in Australia. It produces an enormous amount of Australia's milk and a very high percentage of Australia's milk exports. Everywhere you go around Nicholls, there is a small town that has been provided for and kept going by the existence of a dairy factory. We've got Bega Cheese in Tatura—formerly Tatura Milk—Fonterra in Stanhope, Saputo up in Numurkah and, of course, Noumi in Shepparton. We've got dairy farmers producing milk every day, and there are tankers all over the place, taking this milk into these factories. They provide huge export dollars for Australia as we send the produce over. When you go into many supermarkets in South-East Asia, you can see that the Australian brand, the Australian flag on those dairy products, is extremely prominent. That's how valued our products are. We've got to protect this industry and make sure that the risk of FMD is kept as low as possible, and this bill does some good work around that. It expands the pre-arrival reporting requirements for aircrafts and vessels and makes the owner of the aircraft or vessel also responsible, not just the operator.

As the member for McEwen rightly pointed out, varroa mite is a very concerning development and concerning risk for our almond industry, which has traditionally been in Griffith, the Riverina and also up in the Riverland but is also expanding into my electorate in Nicholls, up in the northern part. I think sometimes that the Australian population doesn't understand the importance of the bee. If you'd driven around my electorate a month ago, you would have seen the orchards flowering. They're cross-pollination varieties—they need bees to take pollen from one variety to another in order to fruit. So we've got to protect those bees.

In my previous career I had much involvement in this. I was an agronomist, and my job was to go to orchards in the Goulburn Valley and identify pests and diseases, particularly in fruit—apples, pears and peaches. If exotic diseases that exist in other parts of the world get into Australia, we'll be in real trouble. I want to mention fire blight. Fire blight badly affects apples, in terms of crop damage and tree damage, and it also affects pears. In places where there is significant fire blight, like the United States and New Zealand, there is not a viable pear industry.

Those opposite had their party room meeting this morning. I provided some apples and pears. It was some goodwill to all sides from the people of Nicholls. The member for Bean came over to me and said that it was a great initiative because everyone's looking for a 'pear' this week—boom, boom! Well done, Member for Bean.

Nicholls produces 95 per cent of Australia's pears. The majority used to go to the canneries—SPC and Ardmona. We still produce pears that go there, but with new storage technologies, such as controlled atmosphere storage, we can keep the fresh product and use the logistics chain to provide the fresh product to the table, not only in Australia but around the world. That industry would be seriously threatened if fire blight were to come into this country.

Many years ago when we were debating whether Australia should allow the import of New Zealand apples the people of my electorate were extremely concerned, because they felt that, if New Zealand apples came to Australia and brought with them fire blight and that got into our orchards, we'd be in huge trouble. There were fruit bins burnt in protest. It was quite a big deal. In the end New Zealand apples were brought into this country and can be imported into Australia, but the biosecurity regulations are extremely strict. We would have preferred that they weren't allowed in, but the fact that there are strong biosecurity measures in place, which I believe will be enhanced by this bill, means that we have not had an outbreak of fire blight and we continue to have a strong apple and pear industry.

We're going to have some challenges in that the United States is going to want to export fruit to Australia as well. The United States has significant fire blight in many areas as well. Again we have to assess the risk. If we do let in apples from the United States—and I'm not saying that I'll be supporting that—the biosecurity measures need to be extremely strong. It is not just the orchards. You can see through the orchards the result of when biosecurity did not work many years ago. We have had incursions of oriental fruit moth, codling moth and light-brown apple moth—all of which I used to try to identify and then provide a solution for to the local orchardists.

The federal coalition had a great record on biosecurity—$1.07 billion was available for biosecurity and export programs, an increase of $438.8 million, or 69 per cent of that, from 2014-15. In this year's budget that we delivered before the election we were pleased to commit $62 million to boost northern Australian frontline biosecurity over four years, including to safeguard our northern border against animal diseases, $10 million to support states and territories to undertake surveillance and control activities for japanese encephalitis virus—and that's a particular concern in the northern part of my electorate—and $20 million over three years for livestock traceability.

I just want to mention livestock traceability. We need to guard against foot-and-mouth disease coming into this country with everything we can. God forbid that there is an incursion of foot-and-mouth or something similar that affects our livestock industries. We need those traceability initiatives so that we can find it, isolate it, nip it in the bud and have a system and a program that are ready to go, so it's extremely important.

Last year in government the federal coalition launched Biosecurity 2030, a strategic road map for protecting Australia's environment, economy and way of life. The road map represented the great work of the former agriculture minister, the member for Maranoa, and it had five key enablers: firstly, governance, a strong commitment by governments, industry and the community to work together, and you can see that in my electorate on the fruit fly issue where there's a real community buy-in because everybody knows that, if these pests were to affect our export markets, it's not just the orchardists that lose out but all of the service industries around the orchards and the towns themselves lose out. The community gets involved, cuts down fruit trees in backyards that are not being sprayed, and the government helps to enable that.

The second enabler is people. We need a workforce that has the capacity, skills and flexibility to prepare for and respond to emergent biosecurity risks, challenges and opportunities. As a graduate in agricultural science from the wonderful Dookie college, Melbourne university's agricultural campus in northern Victoria, I know that we need more people who have skills in pest identification and biosecurity measures and who understand the technology and the ways to keep our agricultural industry safe. The third enabler is technology, and we need the technology itself. With data being used more and more in different ways, we can harness that data and use it to further enhance our ability to manage these risks.

The fourth enabler is regulation, having a regulatory environment that supports us to respond to current and future biosecurity challenges and opportunities. That environment needs both legislation and penalties as well as policing, and I commend the amendments in this bill. Increasing punishments for some wrongdoing when it comes to creating biosecurity risks is a further deterrent. The final enabler is funding. Obviously, we need money to do all these things. Biosecurity affirmed the coalition government's commitment to developing a national biosecurity strategy, and we took action to make that a reality. That was appreciated by the people in my electorate. It's really a bipartisan effort, and I thank those opposite for this. We all love our agricultural industries because they're so important to us. We might argue the toss on some other issues, such as water and labour, but on biosecurity we'll work constructively together to make sure that we keep our wonderful Australian agricultural industry safe. I commend the bill and the amendments it makes to the House.

Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Nicholls for his contribution to the debate on the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022 and for his contribution to the caucus this morning, the fruit from his electorate. We are always happy to support fruitgrowers, whether they're in National, Liberal or Labor electorates. Of course, there is broad support across this parliament for the bill before the House today and the amendments it makes. Biosecurity, as the member for Nicholls said, is a bipartisan issue. We may sometimes disagree on the margins, but on the broad issue there is unanimity. Let me be clear from the outset: there is no greater threat to Australia's agricultural sector right now than the potential for an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Foot-and-mouth is endemic across much of Asia, and was recently found as close as Bali, and it puts at risk our $70.3 billion agricultural export industries, 1.6 million jobs across the supply chain, millions of Australian cattle and hundreds of thousands of family farms across our vast country.

The Australian government is determined to do all it can to keep FMD out of Australia. We have responded with strong biosecurity measures, working closely with Indonesian authorities. FMD is the greatest biosecurity threat, but by no means the only biosecurity threat that we face. Our biosecurity measures are also designed to keep out lumpy skin disease and to detect and deter a range of other threats to our agriculture and environment. The Albanese Labor government has implemented the strongest ever response to a biosecurity threat in our nation's history, and there is no room for complacency. This bill is testament to the government's commitment to protecting our shores from the spread of disease and pest risks. The bill before the House strengthens our ability to effectively manage and respond to biosecurity risks. It increases the range of penalties both civil and criminal against those whose negligence, ignorance, carelessness or hostile intent threatens our economy and our environment.

We make no apologies for coming down hard on people who put Australia's biosecurity at risk. If you're the sort of person who thinks you can pack some pork in your suitcase or bring back some seeds or fruit, you are going to face a $26,640 fine. The rules are clear. There is no excuse. Every traveller is informed about their responsibilities and their obligations upon entering this country. They are given the opportunity to declare and dispose of goods that contravene our biosecurity laws. If you flout them, if you ignore them, if you think you can plead ignorance or claim you just made a simple mistake, we'll have no sympathy for you.

Provisions in this bill will also ensure responsibility is imposed on operators of aircraft and ships arriving in Australian territory. Stronger penalties will be implemented, in some cases up to $222,000 for an individual and $1.1 million for corporate bodies. The message needs to get through: take biosecurity more seriously if you're coming to this country. Do more to keep Australia safe from threats. If you don't, we will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

Importantly, this bill gives the minister for agriculture the ability to respond quickly and implement preventative biosecurity measures to prevent the incursion of FMD and other threats. It gives the Australian government the ability to respond adequately to the risk of FMD. We know that, when biosecurity risks reach Australia, the danger they present grow and subside depending on the response and spread occurring internationally. To this end, it is important that Australia too can respond in the same way to any risk. This bill allows that to happen swiftly.

This bill will ensure that biosecurity officers will also be equipped with a strengthened legislative framework, which will allow them to respond to and manage biosecurity risks entering Australia through maritime and aviation pathways. We are doing this by ensuring that pre-arrival reporting requirements are expanded and access to up-to-date information is provided to inform the management of biosecurity risks. No matter which travel path biosecurity risks try to enter Australia, our biosecurity system will be in place to act as a strong wall and push back against the threat of disease.

At an administrative level, this bill will improve the sharing and confidentiality provisions in the Biosecurity Act which will give authorisation for the use and disclosure of relevant information together with appropriate protections for sensitive information. The bill also improves the processes for managing approved importation of goods or granting import permits based on scientific risk assessments. It improves transparency and streamlines administration, ensuring the focus of all people is on directly protecting Australia, not negotiating bureaucracy. The bill also provides authority for the health and agriculture ministers to make, vary and administer arrangements or grants for expenditure related to biosecurity programs and activities.

This is a significant amendment that the government is putting forward. It ensures that our biosecurity framework remains the best it can be to protect Australia, including our plant life, our animal and human health, our environment and our economy. But let me also be clear: our work in strengthening Australia's biosecurity system does not end with this bill. This is just a beginning. This is the first stage of amendments by the Australian government to ensure that our regulatory framework remains fit for purpose and ready to take on future biosecurity challenges, whatever they may be.

Farmers have told us that they want more security of Australian territory. They want to be certain that the Australian government is doing everything in its power to protect them from pests and diseases, especially from FMD. I say to those farmers: this government is listening, and this government is working to keep this country safe and this country's agricultural sector safe. Having a strong and efficient biosecurity system is more important than ever at the moment as we continue to respond to the international spread of FMD and other emerging diseases that sit on our doorstep and try to breach our biosecurity measures. This amendment bill, this response from the Albanese government, is strong, but—let's be clear—it is proportionate to the risk that is posed by FMD and other diseases and pests that may threaten Australia's biosecurity. The consequences would be catastrophic if we failed to provide such a strong response.

My electorate is a farming electorate. Lyons spans 52 per cent of mainland Tasmania and encapsulates the best of the best of Tasmania's farming lands. From north to south and everywhere in between, Lyons is renowned for its high-quality livestock and crops. The products we grow and produce are shipped across Australia and the world because the quality of our agriculture in Tasmania is next to none; it's world leading. We supply to the rest of Australia and the world incredible beef, dairy, lamb, wool and so much more. Tasmanian agriculture keeps people fed and housed. It puts kids in school and keeps the Tasmanian economy rolling along at a successful rate. But it is susceptible to biosecurity threats from outside Australia, such as foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, African swine fever, Xylella and other biosecurity hazards posed to agricultural industries.

Wherever I go in Lyons, farmers share their concerns with me. They talk to me about the droughts, floods, bumper crops and hard times. Importantly, they talk to me about what they see is needed in agriculture and what government can and should be doing—and, just as importantly, what government shouldn't be doing—to improve the sector and safeguard it in times of great uncertainty. I'm proud to stand by my farmers and work with them to ensure that our biosecurity network is as strong as it possibly can be. I've always backed them and the sector, and I'll continue to do so, especially now when the stakes are so high. Farmers called for increased biosecurity, and the Albanese government is delivering it. Make no mistake, the Australian government is alive to the issue of FMD and other biosecurity risks, and nobody can say that our response has not been one that is thorough and of great strength. I'm heartened by the rhetoric of those opposite, because they recognise that this is a shared challenge. We offered them support for biosecurity when they were in government, and they are offering us their support today.

I recall speaking to a farmer from Cressy in the north of my electorate not too long ago. He was deeply concerned about the threat of FMD, as we all are in Lyons, and asked me what would happen should it enter Australia. He was worried that the presence of FMD in one state, but not others, would lead to a blanket export ban to countries where farmers currently hold strong business and trade. You can imagine, Mr Deputy Speaker, why this is of particular interest to Tasmanian farmers. There's a view in Tasmania that, if FMD were to make an incursion onto mainland Australia, perhaps the water border around our state could lead to some level of protection for us in international markets. Of course, it's up to those international markets. If they decide that there has been an incursion of FMD in Australia, it's up to them to decide whether Tasmania should be included in any bans that they introduce. Of course, it's a big concern in Tasmania, and the No. 1 issue is not to talk about what happens if there is an incursion onto mainland Australia but to keep it off mainland Australia. That's the purpose of the bill before the House today, and that's the focus of this government: to keep FMD out of Australia. That's what we're determined to do.

We want a biosecurity system that's highly secure and that keeps our farmers safe and our export economy alive and healthy, ensuring that farmers, like the one I spoke to in Cressy, are protected and their livestock and livelihoods are protected. It's what farmers in Australia deserve, and it's what the Albanese government is delivering for them. This bill will strengthen and improve Australia's biosecurity capabilities for the better. It will give power to authorities to act swiftly when required, to ensure that diseases such as FMD are kept far away from our livestock and our farms. It will protect Australia's human life, animal life and plant life as well as the environment and the economy. Importantly, it puts our best foot forward in the fight against the spread of risks into and around Australia, and it increases penalties for those who would flout or ignore our biosecurity measures. These are some of the most uncertain times and decades that we're living through, and the agriculture sector has on its side a government that is willing and ready to do all it can to protect agriculture.

I thank Minister Murray Watt and the department of agriculture for their work in this area to ensure our biosecurity is kept secure. It's not an easy task given the international climate and the experience the sector is having, but Minster Watt's commitment to the portfolio is second to none, and he truly shows a high level of dedication to biosecurity and the Australian people. This is what happens when you elect a Labor government: you get a government that works day and night to protect its people, its farms and its economy. We will continue to protect and fight ardently against the spread of foot-and-mouth disease and any other biosecurity risks that are on the minds of so many in Australia today.

I commend the bill to the House.

Keith Wolahan (Menzies, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On this side of the House, there are 58 members of the coalition. Fifteen members are from metropolitan areas and 43 are from rural and regional areas. Those 43 members on this side have a significant depth of expertise and lived experience, but I'm not one of them. I'm one of the 15. So I rise here grateful for the input and advice that have been given from my side, but also, having sat through the contributions that have been given, I acknowledge there is clearly depth, interest and expertise on the other side, so I thank you for your contributions.

When I first came with my family as a migrant to Australia, I was struck by all of the videos we saw and the forms that we had to fill in to make sure that we weren't carrying things we weren't allowed to, and I'm reminded of that every time I get the chance to go overseas—which hasn't been for a while. When we do that, we realise that we are so blessed here as a country to have the geography that we do and that we get to protect our biosecurity in this country. Of course it is about our agriculture sector, but it is also about our natural environment. That is a wonderful thing, but it doesn't happen by accident. In the age of globalisation, there are enormous risks that threaten what we have, and it's only because of our laws and regulations, and our wonderful departments and public servants who enforce those, that we have the gifts that we have in this nation.

The Biosecurity Act is an act that probably very few Australians could have named a few years ago, but, since COVID, it has become probably one of the top three acts that Australians now know exist, because it loomed large over their lives, the economy and where we were going as a country. Many Australians, including me, weren't quite aware of the extraordinary powers—the emergency powers—contained within this act. And I know that's not what the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022 is about, but we have just come out of that period—although COVID's not gone —when the act was doing its work. It was only in March this year that the term of those powers ended, and they weren't renewed. There is a time and a place for us to review those.

When we look back at the history of this act, we see that it's an act that has had a long history that started with the Department of Health forming after the Spanish flu in 1918. Prior to 1918, all health and biosecurity issues resided with the states, but I think we could quickly realise that, when there are global threats to our health and our biodiversity at our borders, there needs to be a national approach. The Spanish flu was the great catalyst for that to happen. The Department of Health expanded into many other areas, but, through this act in its various forms, there has always been a focus on the borders and protecting what we have.

Through the COVID period there were many assertions made by various people about whether the Commonwealth could intervene to stop what was being done in Victoria or in other states, and the Biosecurity Act was our 'saviour'. Some would even quote certain sections of the Biosecurity Act as a silver bullet to get what they wanted from a policy perspective.

This hasn't been raised much. But I remember at the time looking at the Biosecurity Act. It's almost 700 pages, but quite early on in the Biosecurity Act, after the objects, it is quite clear that it is an act that has its foundation in the quarantine power—section 51(ix) of the Commonwealth Constitution. We should always remember that this little document, which I have here in my desk, is our guiding document and that the Commonwealth parliament can only exercise powers that are given to it in sections 51 and 52. Section 51(ix) talks about the quarantine power. That hasn't been formally defined by the High Court in any key cases, but it is not a provision for the Commonwealth to do every task. Its focus is on protecting our borders. This bill goes to the heart of that.

The Biosecurity Act is our regulatory framework for managing the risk of pests and diseases entering Australian territory. In particular, it outlines our international rights and obligations. We will be supporting this legislation, as the other speakers have said, but I would like to talk about a few of the points that the bill will achieve. It will allow for new measures to manage the biosecurity risks coming from travellers, which is specifically mentioned given the foot-and-mouth disease risk from Indonesia. I compliment the 43 coalition rural and regional members who were red-hot on this issue as soon as it happened. I am pleased to see that the government has responded.

In preparing for today, I was reading some of the commentary on the bill. There was a word in there that I actually had to look up. Then I noticed that there was a footnote for it. It is a key part of protecting our borders. It is this. The bill makes amendments to 'pratique'. 'Pratique' means permission granted to a ship to have dealings with a port. It's given after quarantine or on showing a clean bill of health. The bill makes amendments to pratique and pre-arrival reporting requirements of inbound aircraft and vessels and increases penalties and the scope of powers for officers. We all remember the footage of the Ruby Princess. We have had a royal commission. Commissioner Bret Walker and his team did an enormous amount of work. I think there is now a class action underway which I won't comment on. This point of entry and the practice of pratique is an important thing that protects us, whether it is a ship, plane or parcel coming here. That's contained in schedule 2. The reform for pratique provisions was about making it easier for human biosecurity officers to withhold pratique in circumstances where they suspected that a vessel had been exposed to a listed human disease. There were a number of recommendations, and I won't go through each of those, but this bill addresses that one and it is an important one.

The bill will also allow for better information sharing between government agencies and other bodies. I remember watching movies in the 1980s where you would see different departments arguing with each other and saying, 'It's our turf.' It's only when you work in government—and I did in Defence and overseas—that you discover that is a real thing. It's very easy for departments to look inwards and protect their turf and have conflict with others. So wherever we as a parliament and as a government can encourage information sharing it should always be done. It's about reducing red tape. It's about putting the national interest before a department's or an institution's self-interest, and that's very important.

The bill also raises civil and criminal penalties for breaches which deal with managing risks relating to goods and conveyances. It increases transparency around the process by which risk assessments are conducted. It increases efficiencies and transparency of expenditure. Finally, it improves the operation of provisions relating to approved arrangements and compensations. These are all commonsense measures, and the coalition is always been prepared to support practical and sensible legislation that strengthens our biosecurity system, particularly when it resembles a bill that the former government introduced.

If I could briefly talk on the increased protections from diseases and pests, many speakers have spoken about foot-and-mouth disease and they have spoken about other areas. But it is good that protections are now in place. We note the government flip-flopped about whether to put the mats in place, and that was a practical measure that was suggested by coalition rural and regional members from the Nationals and Liberal Party, again from lived experience. That's something that many farmers know exists as an option that is available to protect our agriculture sector. In the weeks it took for Labor to make up their mind and take action, 79,374 international travellers arrived from Indonesia, without having to disinfect their shoes. The point here is that, when a risk is developing and it has been identified, we have to move quickly because time is not on our side. The more we delay, the more we dillydally, the greater the risk for our country and our economy.

Our biosecurity system is a crucial pillar of our national defence. It helps us to prepare for, mitigate against and respond to risks to our environment, our economy and, indeed, our way of life. Australia has enjoyed a reputation for clean, healthy and disease-free agriculture through our natural advantage of geographic isolation. This has also given Australian producers an edge in a competitive international environment. I was struck by the percentages and overall numbers for our economy, and I'll give some of them. In 2020 the value of Australia's biosecurity system was estimated to be at $314 billion over 50 years. Many of the things that we take for granted as constants in our lives are at greater risk than ever before. Again, we have lived through recent risks, but there will be others that we don't know about, and we must be prepared to act quickly on them.

Responding to a rapidly changing environment requires controls, partnerships, tools, processes and networks, and we do need a strong biosecurity system. I spoke about the estimated value over 50 years, but there are other interesting numbers. Australia's environmental assets were valued at a staggering $5.7 trillion over 50 years and are irreplaceable. Whatever side of politics you're on, we can all agree on that. Agricultural production has reached nearly $87 billion, supporting 1.6 million jobs through the supply-chain system. Before COVID, tourism contributed $50 billion to Australia's GDP, and we would all like to see tourism numbers go back up to where they were before COVID. The health of these sectors relies on a strong and robust biosecurity system. I commend the bill.

Kristy McBain (Eden-Monaro, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

As the Minister for Regional Development, Local Government and Territories and as the local member for Eden-Monaro, I have two very strong reasons to support the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022, which will amend the Biosecurity Act 2015. We have long had the security of being an island nation, a natural advantage when preventing the entry of biosecurity hazards. But our world is rapidly changing, and we need a modern biosecurity system to keep up with the modern problems of the increased movement of people and goods. We need to ensure that we can respond quickly to threats posed by exotic pests and diseases, such as foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease or khapra beetle. When I visit farms in my electorate of Eden-Monaro, I see how hard our farmers are working to develop strong businesses, healthy crops and well cared for animals. Those farmers are the ones who will be hit the hardest if an exotic animal disease were to enter our country. We all recall the devastating footage of foot-and-mouth disease on English farms in 2001, and we know our close neighbours in Indonesia are battling this right now. We've lived through COVID-19, and we understand the concept of viruses moving beyond borders. Our healthy crops and valuable products rely on us preventing entry of exotic viruses, diseases and pests.

This includes cropping, horticulture and livestock production, which is a major industry in Eden-Monaro, with a value of $568 million in agricultural commodities. Obviously, the threat of foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease is a huge risk for our region, with over 2½ thousand enterprises carrying over 360,000 sheep and cattle, which contribute $490 million to our economy. However, horticulture, aquaculture and forestry are also vital industries that require biosecurity protections. Apples contribute over $47 million to the economy in Eden-Monaro and are also at risk from multiple pests and diseases that are currently not present in Australia. Aquaculture is a growing primary industry and one that has huge potential. Australia's reputation for producing a safe, sustainable, high-quality product is at risk from the many diseases that affect aquaculture in other countries. For example, in the electorate of Eden-Monaro, production of Sydney rock oysters is worth $13½ million at the farm gate alone. This industry is at risk of six exotic viral and parasitic diseases which are a threat to hatchery production and market access and trade. These diseases also present challenges to young mussel farms in Eden and Jarvis Bay.

The softwood forests of Eden-Monaro serve the important needs of our nation for renewable products. The absence of exotic forest pests in Australia has contributed to the successful development of a softwood plantation industry. Our forestry industries also make large-scale investments which support our local economy. Our forest product industry in Eden-Monaro alone provides over 5,000 jobs. The seaweed industry, currently in its infancy, with the majority of production in the harvesting of wild kelp, is now present in our electorate as well. However, the potential for this industry is great, with a target of $10 million in production by 2025. But this fledgling industry is at risk with the threat to our native species of non-native pests and disease in seed stock. All of these businesses—both fledgling and long established—need to be protected by a strong biosecurity system.

The economic success of our farms, aquaculture and forestry industries has a direct link to the success of our regional towns and villages. Our hardware shops, produce doors, cafes and small businesses rely on a strong regional economy. When our agricultural economy was decimated by drought, it rippled through towns and villages, and we need to protect our regional communities from the potentially devastating impacts of crops and industry loss due to pests and diseases.

On a national scale, there is a strong economic imperative to halt any exotic disease in its tracks. The entry of foot-and-mouth disease alone could cost our economy up to $80 billion. We need to continue to maintain our natural advantage in international markets. When our products remain disease and virus free, we can move our product more easily across international borders. A strong biosecurity system means we can participate more easily in international markets. Our nation remains free of many significant diseases such as foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease, and we need to keep it that way. The changes put forward in this bill will ensure we have a contemporary biosecurity system that can handle the complex challenges of today.

In the recent budget, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forests, Murray Watt, announced an increased biosecurity investment of more than $134 million. This funding will bolster Australia's biosecurity system against the immediate threat of disease, providing critical resources, including fast-tracking of $61.6 million over two years to strengthen Australia's frontline biosecurity capability, including in northern Australia, and to support domestic preparedness and biosecurity outcomes in our neighbouring countries; $14 million to continue providing support to Indonesia, Timor-Leste and Papua New Guinea to prevent, and respond to the spread of, foot-and-mouth disease and lumpy skin disease; and $11.7 million to expand our biosecurity detector dog capability at our borders by investing in an additional 20 detector dogs and handlers that will be positioned at airports and mail centres around Australia. This is a significant investment towards protecting our agricultural industry, but this only goes so far in providing protections. We also need strong legislation, as presented in this bill, to back it up.

The bill before us strengthens the management of biosecurity risks posed by goods, vessels and travellers. This bill makes critical amendments to ensure we can respond quickly to concerns of disease being introduced to Australia through contaminated clothing, footwear and other goods of incoming travellers. It enables more effective sharing of important information across government agencies so that we can respond more quickly and effectively to those possible threats.

The bill also creates new civil penalty provisions for persons who fail to comply with an entry requirement or a preventative biosecurity measure. This better reflects the seriousness of noncompliance and the potential impacts to our biosecurity system., I commend this biosecurity bill to the House, and it will be very important to regional communities across the nation.

James Stevens (Sturt, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I rise to speak on the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022. Firstly, I would like to acknowledge that I've had a significant outbreak of fruit fly in my electorate, recently, in South Australia. I really thank the people from the Department of Primary Industries and Regions SA for the work that they're doing to support the control of that and keep the growers in my home state well protected. I make that point because we want to acknowledge all the people that are working on the front lines in biosecurity to keep our agricultural production safe and secure.

In South Australia we're very proudly fruit fly free, at times—we tend to be all the time, particularly in the Riverland—so it's been vitally important that PIRSA have done that work throughout the state of South Australia. The residents of my electorate have been extremely supportive of the need to have their fruit removed from fruit trees and to be in a position where they're losing the productiveness for their kitchens and cooking needs et cetera. We need to remove that fruit and do all we can to combat fruit fly. Similarly, our Border Force officials and all the other elements of the federal government agencies that work to keep our border secure from the risk of biosecurity incursions coming into our country do an excellent job, so I want to acknowledge them as well.

We're very lucky to be a nation that has a continent to ourselves. We are very lucky because we don't have a land border, and it's a lot easier to protect a maritime border in this nation. For over 120 years, the government of the Commonwealth has done an excellent job in having a really strong and significant regime in place to ensure that we have kept out a lot of potential biosecurity incursions into our nation.

We've seen what sort of impact those can have in industries in other parts of the world. We've been concerned recently about the risk of primary production industries being affected through contamination that might have been brought into this country from Indonesia, and we've always had a vigilance around other potential livestock contamination. Like many people in this House, at various times we travel overseas. Although it's quite a significant procedure that you go through when you enter this country compared to the experiences you have in travelling to other countries, from a biosecurity point of view, we're very proud of the important measures that are in place to make sure that we are protecting our agricultural industries but also our natural environment, the people of this country, our livestock, our natural habitats et cetera from the risk of being contaminated from some kind of biosecurity incursion that could come into this country through the border.

We've got to be ever vigilant about this. We've always got to update our legislation and do so in a way that ensures that we're aware of what risks there are and make sure that we look for changes, from a legislative point of view, that are needed to ensure that future risks and technology are taken into account in a way that—

Sharon Claydon (Newcastle, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The debate is now interrupted in accordance with standing order 43. The debate may be resumed at a later hour. Your speech was interrupted, so you will be granted leave to continue speaking when the debate is resumed.