Ron Boswell (Queensland, National Party) Share this | Hansard source

I rise today to support the motion for disallowance of the 40 per cent government rebate for the export certificate charges. I do not want to see the export markets that we fight so hard to obtain and hold made less competitive. The industry have said publicly that they do not believe that 12 months will be sufficient time to get the efficiencies through. Senator Milne has $20 million and that $20 million cuts out on 30 June next year. But we were told—and I listened carefully—that many of these efficiencies and reforms could take up to five or six years. Countries relied on having certificates from AQIS and they would not accept other forms of verification. You have to commend Senator Milne. She has tried, but I do not think that $20 million is going to satisfy the needs of the rest of the industries.

Another issue has come up. There is another way of licensing abattoirs and processing works. No-one knows what those costs will be. They could be a huge amount. They could be huge on smaller facilities such as processing works, refrigeration works, fish processing works and so forth. I have thought about this. I was even reluctant to get up to speak because the more I listen to this the more I understand it. Listening to the people from all industries coming to give evidence to the Senate committee, we were told: ‘We are happy for reforms. We want reforms. We are prepared to pay for reforms, but we are not going to take this huge leap in faith and pay on the never-never for something which we do not have.’

We want to see AQIS actually perform. We want to see AQIS say to some of these people who are redundant: ‘Here’s your redundancy. You can leave.’ Some AQIS inspectors do not even live in towns where there are abattoirs. I have one in mind who has to drive probably a couple of hundred miles from one town to another town. By the time he gets there, he has to drive back. Those are the inefficiencies that need to be cleaned up.

Twenty million dollars is a considerable sum—I do not deny that—but I do not think it will meet the needs of the industries that came before us. The cherry industry, for example—and Senator Milne would know these people because they come from Tasmania—virtually said that to get these efficiencies through, in terms where the government will accept other verifications, could take five years. If we abandon AQIS, it might take another eight to 14 years to get back in the Japanese market. Twenty million dollars is not going to solve the problems of the beef industry or the cherry industry. It is a short-term fix.

I am not churlish enough to say to Senator Milne that she has not tried, but I do not think that $20 million will take us across the line. I do not think it will fix the problems that the industries told us about in the Senate inquiry.