Luke Hartsuyker (Cowper, National Party, Assistant Minister to the Deputy Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Biosecurity Amendment (Ballast Water and Other Measures) Bill 2017 amends the Biosecurity Act 2015 to further strengthen Australia's biosecurity system and grant further powers to manage biosecurity risk. This bill is consistent with the Australian government's commitment to ensure that biosecurity risks are fully managed and biosecurity systems remain effective against changing biosecurity and human health risks. Protecting our enviable pest and disease status is an ongoing challenge. Biosecurity risks are changing significantly and growing in complexity.

In 2014, the CSIRO identified megatrends expected to impact biosecurity into the future, such as growth in global food demand and markets; and increased movements of goods, vessels and people around the world. The government is responding to this challenge. Agricultural industries are large contributors to the Australian economy, and it is essential to protect them, and our export markets, by keeping them free of pests and disease. We cannot afford not to do that.

Commonwealth funding for biosecurity has increased since 2012-13. The total expenditure this financial year on biosecurity is $749 million. This is an increase of $145.5 million, or 24 per cent, since 2012-13. Total investment in biosecurity from 2013-14 to 2016-17 is $2.72 billion. This includes funding of up to $200 million under the agriculture white paper, to improve biosecurity. This investment is being used to strengthen biosecurity surveillance, increase scientific capability, improve information systems and analytical capabilities, and build community based engagement.

I note that many members of this House have mentioned the current outbreak of white spot disease in Queensland. The objective of our response to this disease remains eradication. I would note that around 20,000 samples have been taken, and fewer than 200 prawns taken from the wild have tested positive for white spot. That is less than one per cent. National response arrangements are in place. The Australian government is supporting the Queensland government, which, as members would be aware, has implemented additional movement controls for three months as a precaution to minimise the risk of further spread. The Deputy Prime Minister also announced the provision of up to $1.74 million in emergency funding to assist with some of the costs incurred during the response to the outbreak, as well as to fund biosecurity preparedness and communication activities for industry. We are also engaging with the Queensland government and the prawn industry on possible cost-sharing arrangements to assist in managing the broader response, which may provide further assistance.

Australia is also cracking down on green prawn imports, following suspected deliberate contravening of the nation's strict biosecurity controls. The government is working to manage any risk associated with uncooked prawns imported before the suspension. We welcome the Senate inquiry into this, which has commenced and which will probe how this devastating disease got into Australia, its impact on industry and how to prevent future incursions.

The bill builds on the Biosecurity Act 2015, which this government delivered, and focuses on measures in relation to ballast-water management for ships and provides additional powers to control exotic vectors carrying harmful human diseases. The ballast-water measures will provide additional protection for coastal environments from the risk of marine-pest incursions by legislating for the use of more effective ballast-water treatment technologies. The bill further strengthens the biosecurity system by enabling better targeting of vectors capable of carrying human diseases, such as mosquitos which carry the zika virus. These additional powers are needed under the Biosecurity Act to ensure that Australia is not left vulnerable to significant human health risks. The need for these powers is demonstrated by rising global detections of the mosquito-borne zika virus. The bill seeks to reduce the likelihood of incursions of vectors that could pose a human health concern and provides powers to manage potential incursions when they are detected.

The bill will also position Australia to ratify the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments by introducing a nationally-consistent approach to ballast water in line with the requirements of the convention. This convention was signed by the Howard Government in 2005 and is an important global initiative involving over fifty countries, representing over 53 per cent of the world's merchant fleet shipping tonnage. Australia played a leading role in the development of the convention and it is important that we ratify it ahead of its entry into force on 8 September this year to uphold our positive international reputation for biosecurity management.

Ballast water is now recognised as a major source of the spread of exotic marine pests around the world. Each year, around 200 million tonnes of ships' ballast water is discharged into Australian ports by 18,000 ship visits from some 600 overseas ports. Australia is particularly vulnerable, as many cargo ships arrive here without cargo and, therefore, with a large quantity of ballast water which needs to be discharged when we fill these ships with our exports for the global marketplace. If the organisms survive the transport and discharge process, they may become established in the environment and populations may flourish. The Northern Pacific seastar, for example, is a major pest introduced into Australia via ballast water.

While Australia has had ballast-water management requirements since 2001 to prevent new marine pests arriving in Australia, domestic movements are not subject to ballast water regulation, except for vessels arriving in Victoria. This bill will enable a comprehensive set of domestic ballast-water-management arrangements to be put in place to lower the risk of marine pests being spread through ballast water between parts of our pristine coastline. Ships will be required to have ballast-water management plans while in Australian waters and to discharge ballast water in accordance with the convention. This will reduce the risk of invasive marine pests entering Australian waters, as well as between Australian ports.

Additionally, it will protect Australia's valuable fisheries industries and environment by reducing the risk of potentially invasive and harmful aquatic organisms being introduced into the Australian marine ecosystem. The bill will further strengthen our strong biosecurity system. With expanding international maritime trade, it is in Australia's interest to implement more uniform and stringent requirements to manage the risk of vessels introducing marine pests into Australia's waters. It is also in Australia's interest to continue to reduce the likelihood of incursions of vectors that could pose a human health concern, such as mosquitos, and provide powers to manage potential incursions when they are detected. These amendments mean there will be much less risk of viruses, including zika, carried by vectors such as mosquitoes being established. It also means that our unique marine life will be better protected. This is very important legislation that will enhance our biosecurity regime, and I commend the bill to the House.

Question agreed to.

Bill read a second time.

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