Christine Milne (Tasmania, Australian Greens) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

asked the Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, upon notice, on 14 January 2013:

With reference to the establishment of Australian Government Authorised Officers (AAO) in export businesses for biosecurity/quarantine purposes, approximately 2 years ago:

(1) Which trading partner countries have subsequently accepted the use of AAOs.

(2) Which trading partner countries have refused to accept AAOs, and what action is the department taking to change this position.

(3) Can a list be provided detailing which countries are in negotiation with Australia over the acceptance of AAOs, including the timeframes for the completion of negotiations and implementation of the AAO system.

(4) Has the use of AAOs been raised with countries that have import protocols with Australia relating to horticultural produce.

(5) Will Australian horticultural industry exports have access to AAOs in protocol countries in the next 12 months; if not, what is the timeframe.

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

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

(1) Australian Government Authorised Officers (AOs) may conduct a range of duties, depending on the commodity, and are accepted by all major trading partners, except for horticulture products exported to the protocol markets listed below.

(2) None, ongoing discussions for horticulture protocol markets will occur in 2013.

(3) The Department has commenced preliminary discussions on the plant export service delivery model with horticulture protocol countries such as the Republic of Korea and Japan, through the bilateral plant meetings over the last 24 months. The department has undertaken a trial on horticulture AOs to demonstrate the equivalence of industry AOs to DAFF AOs. The trial is part of a broader market access strategy to have key horticulture protocol markets accept the use of industry AOs in order to reduce departmental costs for exporters. This strategy includes a DVD outlining the horticulture export certification and AO process and has been translated into Korean, Chinese and Japanese. Further discussions will be held throughout 2013.

(4) As above

(5) No definitive timelines can be given at the moment, but it is likely within the next 12 months that Australia will receive acceptance of AOs into some of these protocol markets.