Michael Ronaldson (Victoria, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Veterans' Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, upon notice, on 28 November 2012:

(1) What fees were provided by the Rural Industries Research and Development Corporation to Mr Peter McFarlane of McFarlane Strategic Services to consult with industry on the establishment of a herb and spice levy.

(2) Can the Minister confirm that the total number of votes received in favour of a herb and spice levy was sixteen.

(3) Why did the departmental Chief Plant Protection Officer make statements to Fairfax newspapers on 5 September 2012 stating that no tomato/potato psyllid had been detected in Australia given that, according to the department's Operational Science Program Bulletin published in May 2012, a live psyllid had been detected in New South Wales in a consignment of tomatoes from New Zealand.

(4) What proportion of total departmental biosecurity resources at Australian airports are allocated to flights arriving from New Zealand.

(5) Given that on 12 July 2012, a live psyllid was found in a consignment of tomatoes from New Zealand at the Crewe Place Australian Quarantine and Inspective Service (AQIS) facility in New South Wales, can AQIS advise when the Chief Plant Protection Officer became aware of this incursion.

(6) What is AQIS' involvement in working with customs, Treasury, health, transport and other portfolios in rolling out the Government's new duty-free tobacco restrictions, including how many inter-departmental meetings have been attended, and how many work hours have been spent enforcing this new regulation.

(7) Given that, since 2006 AQIS has required tobacco companies to treat tobacco and non-tobacco materials under quarantine rules, thereby restricting industry's recycling of packaging waste in Australia while, at Australian international airports, bins have been installed to collect excess contraband and airports take excess product 'to the tip' on a daily basis, can the Minister advise how seized tobacco is managed after it is 'taken to the tip', including how it is rendered 'un-smokable' to ensure the product does not find its way into Australia's black market, equivalent to 12 per cent of the legal market.

(8) How many full-time equivalent staffing positions will be reduced within border compliance-connected departments that deliver policy support related to customs, policing, passenger facilitation and quarantine services due to the efficiency dividend implemented during the 2012-13 financial year, including how many of these positions will be at Australian air and sea ports, and can a breakdown per international entry point and agency that will be providing fewer frontline officers be provided.

(9) What proportion of the total amount of confiscated material seized or voluntarily declared at Australian airports originates from passengers on flights arriving from New Zealand.