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

Thank you, Senator Ciccone. I'd be delighted to do so. As I say, biosecurity is a shared responsibility. What that means, under our new funding system, is that importers will contribute about 48 per cent of the total cost of biosecurity and taxpayers will contribute about 44 per cent, with producers being asked to pay a modest six per cent of the cost of biosecurity protections that will stop them from adding devastating diseases that will destroy their crops and destroy their livelihoods.

As we know, we are not the only people who think biosecurity is a shared responsibility. I note that this view attracted support in the consultation process that we undertook last year. The Cattle Council of Australia, as it was known at the time, said that biosecurity is a shared responsibility and that, for our biosecurity measures to be most effective, all parties must contribute. The National Farmers' Federation said that biosecurity is a shared responsibility and that, as such, all biosecurity beneficiaries, including the community, the economy at large, the agricultural sector and the environment, should invest in biosecurity activities. We will finally have sustainable biosecurity funding. (Time expired)