Kristina Keneally (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

Labor will be supporting this bill. As outlined in the explanatory memorandum, the purpose of the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Penalties) Bill 2021 is to amend the Biosecurity Act 2015 by increasing the maximum penalties that a court can impose for noncompliance with requirements under the act. Penalties will be increased for specific existing civil penalty provisions to provide a proportionate regulatory response to the conduct covered by those provisions. The bill increases the penalties for specified criminal offences to ensure appropriate punishment for those who jeopardise Australia's biosecurity status by breaking the law.

The explanatory memorandum states:

In the face of growing regional and global threats such as African Swine Fever and hitchhiker pests (such as khapra beetle) the current penalty regime needs reinforcement to provide an effective deterrent against non-compliance.

The explanatory memorandum also states:

The growth in trade and travel expected as part of the economic recovery from the current COVID-19 pandemic is expected to accentuate the threats, making it imperative to send a strong message that breaking Australia's biosecurity laws is not worth the potential commercial gain.

Under the act, penalties for a contravention may include a civil penalty, a criminal offence or both. The increases to the civil penalties are intended to deter noncompliance with the act and to ensure the maximum penalties available reflect the gains that individuals and businesses might obtain, or seek to obtain, in engaging in conduct that jeopardises Australia's biosecurity status. The civil penalties will be set at a level that means the penalty is not merely perceived as a cost of doing business. This is particularly the case for corporations. There are 28 separate penalties being increased. For example, some will increase from 120 penalty units to 300 penalty units; others will increase from 300 penalty units to 1,000 penalty units. It is noted that the explanatory memorandum states:

The Bill would have no financial impact on the Australian Government Budget.

But, of course, Labor has concerns about the bill. It's clear the Morrison government has shifted away from the biosecurity levy that was recommended in an industry review back in 2017 and moved to a penalty based system that relies on a court determining if a civil or criminal offence has taken place. The bill appears to be just another ad hoc measure reliant on the court system to apply penalties, rather than a genuine attempt to upgrade Australia's biosecurity arrangements. Labor has spoken to many farmers and other stakeholders across the agriculture sector, and they continue to raise concerns about Australia's biosecurity system. It's clear there has been a huge policy void over the past few years when it comes to the Morrison government doing anything of note around strengthening Australia's biosecurity system. This has been extremely disappointing, given the significant risks pests and disease could pose to Australian produce.

Labor also want to take this opportunity to put on the record our ongoing concerns in relation to the Morrison government's current management of Australia's biosecurity system. We know that Australia's biosecurity system underpins more than $60 billion of agricultural production, $53 billion of agricultural exports and $42 billion in relation to the country's inbound tourism industry. The cost of a single outbreak of disease or pests has been conservatively estimated to exceed $50 billion. So, with so much at risk, where has the government's urgency been to update Australia's biosecurity system over the past eight years?

We've already seen the Morrison government axe a biosecurity levy. As already mentioned, this levy was a recommendation made in 2017 as part of the Craik review. This report included 42 recommendations and found that the system was underfunded. At the March estimates the department revealed the government's progress in relation to the Craik review. In four years the government has only completed 17 of the 42 recommendations. Twelve recommendations require enduring effort, eight are in progress, four require no further action and one is on hold. Given the serious risks to Australia's agriculture sector, this slow response from the Morrison government is not good enough.

This brings me to the biosecurity funding that was included in the budget. The budget's commitments to biosecurity just make up for what the Morrison government was planning to take away after the biosecurity levy failed. It's not good enough that farmers were left for years waiting to see what the government would do to update Australia's biosecurity arrangements. This budget is a missed opportunity, and Australian farmers deserve better.

We've also seen a number of amendments needing to be made to legislation regarding biosecurity. There was a bill that passed the parliament last month that was essentially fixing a past drafting issue. There must be confidence in Australia's biosecurity system given it protects the agriculture industry from pests and disease. But the Morrison government, having to amend the act over past drafting issues, reduces the confidence the agriculture sector has to adequately maintain Australia's biosecurity framework.

Further reducing confidence was the publication last week of the Australian National Audit Office report around biosecurity. The findings of the ANAO report are extremely concerning. The ANAO concludes that the Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment's arrangements to respond to noncompliance with biosecurity requirements are largely inappropriate. What does this say about the Morrison government's interests around biosecurity risks? The ANAO findings in relation to the inadequacies of Australia's biosecurity system must be taken seriously. A biosecurity system that is deemed to be inappropriately managed has massive implications for the agriculture sector and it puts Australian farmers in a very vulnerable position, and that is totally unacceptable.

The ANAO report also validates numerous and serious concerns raised by farmers and the agriculture sector. As already mentioned, biosecurity threats and inadequacies of the current system are issues that are consistently raised with Labor and, no doubt, MPs from all parties. Incursions of pests and diseases are of great concern to farmers, who know the significant risks if and when Australia's biosecurity system fails them. The Morrison government must do better for the agriculture sector when it comes to Australia's biosecurity system.

Of course, we know there are other issues impacting on the agriculture sector that the Morrison government has failed to address even though the government knows the impact these issues are having on Australian farmers. For example, the Morrison government has known that there is a structural reliance on migrant workers to pick produce on Australian farms. This reliance has been occurring for some time. The COVID-19 pandemic further highlighted this structural reliance, given the issues of travel and quarantine arrangements over the past year. Labor has written to Minister Littleproud three times now about our concerns around the agriculture workforce shortage: first in January, then in February and then another letter in April. Why have we written so often to Minister Littleproud? Because he promised to fix the workforce shortage because of the COVID-19 pandemic.

The minister has admitted there are 25,000 prevetted and work-ready Pacific islands workers. The minister promised these workers were ready to go, but clearly they were not. It's one of those classic Morrison government marketing moments: all announcement, no delivery. Where are these 25,000 prevetted workers? How many of them are working on Australian farms? There are obviously not enough workers, because produce is rotting on Australian farms. It's just another broken Morrison government promise.

What's in the budget? Well, the Morrison government has again missed an opportunity to properly fix Australia's agriculture workforce issues and set the industry up for growth. The question for the government is: what measures in the budget will help farmers pick their produce today—not next year, not the year after, but today? There's a grab bag of half-measures and pilot programs that will not solve the serious issues in Australia's agriculture workforce today. The minister said in March that the government 'will continue to address the immediate needs of our farmers' when it comes to the workforce. But where are the budget measures that go towards addressing these immediate needs? There are none. When you look at the funding in the budget for employment in the agriculture sector, it is over either two or four years; there's no funding to help farmers now. Even the minister's media release didn't give the workforce any attention. That gives you an idea of the lack of attention this government has given to the workforce shortage in agriculture.

In the budget there's no substantial response to the Agriculture Workforce Strategy, which was handed to the Morrison government more than six months ago. The budget predicts that COVID-19 restrictions that have caused huge labour shortages and crop losses on farms will last another year. But there is no plan to deal with this issue in agriculture now. We know that the COVID-19 pandemic has contributed to a serious shortage of workers across Australian farms. However, the Morrison government has long been aware of the these structural issues with the agriculture workforce—long before COVID—and it's done nothing to address this chronic labour shortage. What is clear is that the minister continues to turn his back on the Seasonal Worker Program and quarantine arrangements, both of which are the responsibility of the Morrison government. The government has done nothing.

The latest figures from the National Lost Crop Register indicate that these labour shortfalls have resulted in around $50 million of crop losses to date. That is a national shame. Produce is rotting and being dumped by farmers because the government couldn't deliver on their announcement—their promise to deliver 25,000 prevetted workers. So there's nothing from this government for the immediate workforce issues for farmers, and that is a great disappointment. Over the medium to longer term, we look forward to seeing the Morrison government's formal response to the National Agriculture Workforce Strategy report. Given the strategy has been on the desk of the minister since October last year, we really should be seeing a response sooner rather than later.

On top of the bushfires, the drought, the COVID-19 pandemic and the workforce shortage, we know we have another crisis that farmers and regional communities, particularly in my home state of New South Wales, have to face, and that is the mouse plague. The mouse plague is now impacting across multiple states. Has there been a national response from the Morrison government? No. The response from the Nationals was not to come up with a plan to deal with the mouse plague; it was to come up with a plan to deal with their former leader and install a new leader, in Barnaby Joyce. Has there been a request for the Morrison government to fix the mouse plague with a national response? Yes, there has: Labor has written to the minister, calling on him to help the states fix this crisis. Instead, the Nationals have been too busy fixing the crisis inside their own party room. The New South Wales agriculture minister—the Liberal-National coalition agriculture minister—has written to the Morrison government, asking for it to provide assistance with the mouse plague. So we've got the Nats and the Libs in New South Wales asking for federal help from the Morrison government to assist with the mouse plague. We have no response from the Morrison government. I'm concerned about the impact the plague is having, and will continue to have, across Australian farms. New South Wales farmers have estimated that the plague has already cost $1 billion in lost crops. The mouse plague has to be discussed with state and territory agriculture ministers. I hope the minister puts the mouse plague at the top of the agenda when he next meets with them.

Australian farmers must have confidence and certainty that the Morrison government will manage the biosecurity system so we can protect and mitigate any risks to our agriculture industry from pests and disease. It's a huge risk to our agriculture sector, with production being more than $60 billion. It is clear from the experts that the Morrison government has more work to do to make sure that our biosecurity system is well resourced and not at risk of failing. Labor will be keeping a close eye on how the Morrison government continues to manage our vital biosecurity system.