Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister For Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Senator Ludwig. Can the minister inform the Senate what the government is doing to protect Australia's strong biosecurity status and agricultural productivity?

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

I thank Senator Moore for her continuing interest in biosecurity. Australia's agricultural sector—the farm gate—contributes up to $50 billion to our national economy. Australia's farmers not only provide us with primary production but they also underpin more than 300,000 jobs in rural Australia. This industry is worth protecting in a biosecurity environment. That is why the Gillard government is committed to have a strong biosecurity framework where decisions are made to protect Australia's biosecurity based on the best available science. Labor has worked since 2008 to improve an old biosecurity system that we inherited from those opposite. It was the Labor government that ordered a review of biosecurity in Australia. In December 2008, the Beale review—One Biosecurity: a working partnershipwas released. The government agreed in principle to all of those 84 recommendations. Since Beale, we have invested more than $1.6 billion to safeguard Australia's biosecurity status; protect Australian farmers and the environment; and underpin Australia's reputation as a reliable exporter of high-quality food and fibre.

The 2012-13 budget delivered well over half a billion dollars to maintain Australia's biosecurity system and improve the recommendations by Beale. The budget included almost $400 million over seven years to deliver a state-of-the-art post entry quarantine facility, reversing the short-sighted decision made by Mr Warren Truss, when he was in cabinet, to flog off Australia's five existing PEQ facilities, only to lease them back with no regard for changing land use, no maintenance plan and no plan for the future. We have already put forward $20 million over three years for biosecurity information. (Time expired)

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Can the minister advise whether the cuts to the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry made by the Newman government will impact on biosecurity?

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

I thank Senator Moore. I have read with great concern the Brisbane Times article which reported that up to 550 Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry positions could be axed. That amounts to about one-fifth of the capacity of the department. While the Newman government, of course, has pledged to support front-line services, Premier Newman has changed the decade-old definition of 'front-line' with the purpose of only cutting jobs. I have been so concerned about the risk that Premier Newman's government's proposed cuts would pose to Australia's biosecurity status that over two weeks ago I wrote to my counterpart, Minister McVeigh, in Queensland, because biosecurity remains an important issue. It is not one to play politics with. Have I heard from Minister McVeigh about this issue? Have I heard a response from him? No, not one word. The Newman government is no longer funding biosecurity research at James Cook— (Time expired)

Claire Moore (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Can the minister also advise of what joint programs in agriculture would be undermined without adequate support from the Queensland Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry?

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

In fact, Senator Macdonald should be embarrassed, because the Newman government has failed to support James Cook University funding for biosecurity, but there is not one word out of them about that issue. What we hear is silence from the coalition when their friends over in the state government in Queensland start cutting biosecurity. We do not hear a word from you about that. I said in my previous answer, on 3 August, that I wrote to the responsible minister to seek an assurance that Queensland remained committed to protecting biosecurity in Queensland and Australia, and Minister McVeigh has failed to respond to the Australian government on Queensland's ability to fulfil its obligations, because there are a range of areas. There are issues around fire ants that we have not heard about. But his failure to respond is really consistent with the coalition's record of neglect of Australia's biosecurity system.