Our borders are biosecurity leakages

Yet more than 393,000 biosecurity risk items have been intercepted at Australia's international airports in the past year alone.

Amounting to more than 500 tonnes of turtle meat, frog meat, pork, beef and other biosecurity risk material intercepted at airports, these breaches are by no means minor.

But still, the consequences and costs of breaking our biosecurity laws remain negligible for most at fault.

Indeed, infringement notices are sometimes issued, but the maximum available penalty of $6,260 - and the minimum, a mere $626 - pales in comparison to the billions of dollars of harm these biosecurity breaches expose us to.

Already the annual cost of invasive alien species in Australia sits at around $25 billion dollars, and fire ants alone could add an additional $2 billion to this sum if they continue to slip through our grasp.

But only once - as of April 19 - have our courts fined travellers for biosecurity breaches under our civil law system.

The facts are clear: We are facing over 1,000 biosecurity threats a day through our airports alone.

The question remains: How many more are slipping through our seaports?

And why aren't we asking importers - that is, passengers and produce - to pay their share of the biosecurity risks they create?

Education and awareness campaigns have clearly failed, and to date, only two travellers have faced the courts for what they have brought to our borders.

The Federal Government needs to call on those creating the risk, and not those left with the costs, when it comes to national biosecurity.

Let me be very clear: a double tax on farmers won't solve our border woes.

But a biosecurity funding model that draws fairly from us all could not only help us cope with the costs, but ensure passengers and importers equitably share responsibility, and understand the risks they should not take.