Biosecurity battle ground

BY DAN GALLIGANCEO, CANEGROWERS

In what has been a massive slap down, the Australian Senate voted against the Federal Government’s Biosecurity Protection Levy legislation last month.

The decision, which was welcomed by every agricultural industry body in the country, was the result of a massive, unified national Scrap the Tax campaign led by our peak body the National Farmers’ Federation and supported by CANEGROWERS

The Biosecurity Protection Levy was a deeply flawed policy from the outset.

Having decided to raise $50M dollars through an unfair tax on the nation’s farmers, the government then set their bureaucrats about the task of trying to justify the policy.

With the rejection of the legislation, due to the support of Liberal, National, and Greens’ senators, as well as independents Jacqui Lambie and David Pocock, it is clear the justifications were insufficient for either industry or senators.

The campaign by industry organisations like CANEGROWERS has been consistent and specific. We were able to lay out the flaws in the government’s plan and the inconsistencies in the policy.

Specifically, taxing farmers for border-focused biosecurity risks isn’t fair, especially when farmers already invest heavily in biosecurity risks both on farm and through industry organisations like Sugar Research Australia.

Secondly, the government could not even assure the agriculture industry that money raised would be spent on biosecurity.

Finally, why $50M, there was no real explanation, simply that the government has a “black hole” in their budget that they wanted to fill.

Biosecurity is a huge risk to all of us in agriculture in Australia. As a fully internationally trade-exposed industry, we cannot see our biosecurity system in a fragile state. Yet it clearly is.

We have some of the world’s best biosecurity experts, but they are operating in a system under strain.

We have seen this through direct impacts from incursions like fire ants, fall army worm, red witch weed, and Panama disease.

As industry advocates, we have been calling for an increase in funding, a meaningful increase that would substantially step up our capacity to protect the industry.

Further we want to the see the costs placed where the risks are generated, and we want to ensure the money is guaranteed to go to the problem not swallowed up into government coffers.

So, you should be proud of your industry organisations like CANEGROWERS and our national colleagues.

Our advocacy has garnered the support of senators, some of whom are not commonly on the same page as us, but nevertheless they have seen the validity of our arguments.

The legislation is rejected, but the problem is not solved. It is not about winning a battle, it is about fixing the flaws in our biosecurity system.

This will require a renegotiation with Federal Minister Watt and the agricultural industry.

A return to the drawing board and a focus on developing a solution that works with industry to solve our problems not the governments.