Biosecurity has only continued to escalate as a major issue throughout this year.
The former government had committed funding in the 2018-19 federal budget for the proposed Onshore Biosecurity Levy (referred to more popularly as the container levy) to create a long-term funding source for biosecurity.
This was a recommendation of an independent review in 2017, but was knocked on the head in late 2019 when the Coalition announced an alternative model.
Former Agriculture Minister David Littleproud has recently said the development of a user-pays, cost-recovery model, which would see large importers - such as Bunnings and Ikea, who regularly use biosecurity services - pay more, was "a fair way down the track" before the election (also see p17).
But in the five years since the independent review and nine years since the Coalition initally took power, we've seen several biosecurity incursions - some of which have occured during a global pandemic where travel was reduced to a minumim!
If you were therefore the incoming Agriculture Minister, you would have to first be asking yourself "should I be taking advice from these guys?", given the glacial pace of action in the past decade on this increasingly urgent issue.
Leading into the election, Mr Littleproud had been critical of groups such as National Farmers Federation and NSW Farmers, who insisted not enough was being done.
With yet another major incursion to add to the list post the federal election - the notorious varroa mite - the escalting situation not only underlines the urgency, but also the frustration of these peak bodies on the lack of headway.
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If Labor can save time by adopting measures already being explored under what's been kicked off by the previous government, then go for for it. This isn't the time to play politics.
We're hoping the lack of a response so far from the new government is a case of "more haste, less speed", in the sense that they're considering the pros and cons in a constructictive manner and are recognising that a dollar spent is potentially many dollars saved for the entire economy, not just agriculture.
This government might have got into power on a climate ticket, but given the current risks on our doorstep, if they don't get biosecurity right, a whole lot more than climate action will quickly be derailed.
Andrew Norris
Editor at The Land
Editor at The Land
