Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The answer to the honourable senator's question is as follows:

(1) Within the Agriculture, Fisheries & Forestry Portfolio there are currently 327 fees administered to the non-government sector. This is broken down by agency and item type in Table 1.

Please note the following;   

i. The permit item category for DAFF includes permits, government certificates & other official documentation

ii. The license item category for AFMA incorporates an observer FFS charge where a company/individual chooses to be directly invoiced as opposed to receiving a levy for Observer services. Noting that an Observer FFS forms part of the total licencing charge calculation.

iii. The FFS item category for WEA relates to accreditation of bulk wheat exporters

These fees are administered by four agencies;

(2) See Table 2, available from the Senate Table Office, for all the associated fees and industry sectors.

(3) See Table 2, available from the Senate Table Office, for renewal (frequency) of fees.

(4) See Table 3, Available from the Senate Table Office, for details of fee rates throughout the various financial years.

(5) See Table 4 for revenue by item over the various financial years.

Please note the following;

i) The revenue provided in DAFF's response to this question must be reviewed in context of the following details:

a. Some revenue data cannot be allocated to a specific fee category and is not included. These revenue adjustments can be made in the general course of business such as transfers, accruals, sundry revenues or payments without sufficient remittance information.

b. Revenue reported for DAFF excludes Government transitional assistance (rebates) of $79.4m across three financial years, in 2009-10 ($26.3m), 2010-11 ($38.6m) and 2011-12 ($14.5m).

ii) The revenue provided in AFMA's response to this question must be reviewed in context of the following details;

a. * AFMA does not differentiate between licence, permits and Registrations in terms of Charges.

b. AFMA revenue reported exclude Industry Levy subsidy of $15.0 million across three financial years in 2006/07 ($7m), 2007/08 ($5m) and 2008/09 ($3m).