Grain Producers Australia chief executive officer Colin Bettles has described the new biosecurity levy announced in last week’s Federal Budget as disproportionate. Mr Bettles questioned if importers were paying their “fair share” of biosecurity risk and continues to lobby the government for a shipping container levy.
New measures to achieve a sustainable model of biosecurity funding were announced in the Federal Budget on Tuesday, May 9.
Hold tight - we’re checking permissions before loading more content
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the government would provide an extra $1 billion to meet its election commitment of strengthening Australia’s biosecurity system.
$845 million of that funding will be provided during the next four years to maintain biosecurity policy and operation, with a further $255.3 million per year promised as ongoing.
However, the government announced that $153 million of the funding will come from a new biosecurity protection levy to be imposed on food producers.
The levy will be an additional 10 per cent of each agricultural industry’s current levy.
Levies were introduced in 1993 as part of an industry-wide initiative and are used to fund research and development, marketing, chemical residue management and biosecurity enhancement and responses.
Australia’s grain industry has a levy of 1.02 per cent of sale price for its highest producing grains.
The increase announced in the budget would have seen last year’s canola industry increase its contribution to biosecurity from $305,000 to $6.2 million.
Grain Producers Australia chief executive officer Colin Bettles said an additional 10 per cent would make Australia’s grain industry the largest contributor to biosecurity policy.
“From the $28 billion harvest of last year, that extra 10 per cent on top of the 1.02 per cent would mean grain growers would be contributing $31.4 million to biosecurity,” Mr Bettles said.
“We think that is disproportionate.”
Mr Bettles said there needed to be shared accountability in strengthening biosecurity, with focus given to external threats entering the country.
“People who are creating risk need to pay their part of their responsibility,” he said.
“We have been calling for a shipping container levy for some time in order to provide a fairer system for risk producers.
“Are importers paying their fair share?”
Nationals Leader and agriculture shadow minister David Littleproud said a future Coalition government would abolish what he described as “Labor’s new tax”.
Mr Littleproud said the new levy was prioritising importers ahead of Australian farmers.
“To slug our farmers with a new $153 million tax is unjust,” Mr Littleproud said.
“Why would any Australian government tax their own farmers to pay for foreigners to bring their products into this country?
“We will establish an importer container levy, so that importers of foreign products will pay for the biosecurity risk they pose — not Australian farmers.”
The khapra beetle (Trogoderma granarium), poses a $15 billion threat to Australia’s grain industry and can survive without food for six years. Two thirds of quarantine “interceptions” of the pest in 2020 were found in shipping containers. Grain Producers Australia wants biosecurity responsibility to be shared more equally by imposing a container levy.
Mr Bettles said that the GPA had “certainly led the way” with being proactive on biosecurity issues and would look forward to seeing the details on how the funding would be spent.
“Given the amount grain growers already contribute through levies, we want to know if we can get value out of that with targeted programs,” Mr Bettles said.
The GPA also highlighted the government’s provision of $127.0 million to meet funding shortfalls related to government cost-recovered activities.
“We have concerns if the new funding is being used to consolidate departmental losses,” he said.
“Given that the levy system was set up between growers and government, this would be against the spirit of the levy system, but growers may not mind if there were particular mechanisms in place to protect further against incursions.
“We are happy to work through this and (Agriculture Minister) Murray Watt is always very pragmatic in his approach.
“GPA already has a successful record and a good starting point on this would be our concerns.
“We don’t want to get left stranded if it means digging deeper into the pockets of growers.”
25°C