Brian Mitchell (Lyons, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Nicholls for his contribution to the debate on the Biosecurity Amendment (Strengthening Biosecurity) Bill 2022 and for his contribution to the caucus this morning, the fruit from his electorate. We are always happy to support fruitgrowers, whether they're in National, Liberal or Labor electorates. Of course, there is broad support across this parliament for the bill before the House today and the amendments it makes. Biosecurity, as the member for Nicholls said, is a bipartisan issue. We may sometimes disagree on the margins, but on the broad issue there is unanimity. Let me be clear from the outset: there is no greater threat to Australia's agricultural sector right now than the potential for an outbreak of foot-and-mouth disease. Foot-and-mouth is endemic across much of Asia, and was recently found as close as Bali, and it puts at risk our $70.3 billion agricultural export industries, 1.6 million jobs across the supply chain, millions of Australian cattle and hundreds of thousands of family farms across our vast country.

The Australian government is determined to do all it can to keep FMD out of Australia. We have responded with strong biosecurity measures, working closely with Indonesian authorities. FMD is the greatest biosecurity threat, but by no means the only biosecurity threat that we face. Our biosecurity measures are also designed to keep out lumpy skin disease and to detect and deter a range of other threats to our agriculture and environment. The Albanese Labor government has implemented the strongest ever response to a biosecurity threat in our nation's history, and there is no room for complacency. This bill is testament to the government's commitment to protecting our shores from the spread of disease and pest risks. The bill before the House strengthens our ability to effectively manage and respond to biosecurity risks. It increases the range of penalties both civil and criminal against those whose negligence, ignorance, carelessness or hostile intent threatens our economy and our environment.

We make no apologies for coming down hard on people who put Australia's biosecurity at risk. If you're the sort of person who thinks you can pack some pork in your suitcase or bring back some seeds or fruit, you are going to face a $26,640 fine. The rules are clear. There is no excuse. Every traveller is informed about their responsibilities and their obligations upon entering this country. They are given the opportunity to declare and dispose of goods that contravene our biosecurity laws. If you flout them, if you ignore them, if you think you can plead ignorance or claim you just made a simple mistake, we'll have no sympathy for you.

Provisions in this bill will also ensure responsibility is imposed on operators of aircraft and ships arriving in Australian territory. Stronger penalties will be implemented, in some cases up to $222,000 for an individual and $1.1 million for corporate bodies. The message needs to get through: take biosecurity more seriously if you're coming to this country. Do more to keep Australia safe from threats. If you don't, we will come down on you like a ton of bricks.

Importantly, this bill gives the minister for agriculture the ability to respond quickly and implement preventative biosecurity measures to prevent the incursion of FMD and other threats. It gives the Australian government the ability to respond adequately to the risk of FMD. We know that, when biosecurity risks reach Australia, the danger they present grow and subside depending on the response and spread occurring internationally. To this end, it is important that Australia too can respond in the same way to any risk. This bill allows that to happen swiftly.

This bill will ensure that biosecurity officers will also be equipped with a strengthened legislative framework, which will allow them to respond to and manage biosecurity risks entering Australia through maritime and aviation pathways. We are doing this by ensuring that pre-arrival reporting requirements are expanded and access to up-to-date information is provided to inform the management of biosecurity risks. No matter which travel path biosecurity risks try to enter Australia, our biosecurity system will be in place to act as a strong wall and push back against the threat of disease.

At an administrative level, this bill will improve the sharing and confidentiality provisions in the Biosecurity Act which will give authorisation for the use and disclosure of relevant information together with appropriate protections for sensitive information. The bill also improves the processes for managing approved importation of goods or granting import permits based on scientific risk assessments. It improves transparency and streamlines administration, ensuring the focus of all people is on directly protecting Australia, not negotiating bureaucracy. The bill also provides authority for the health and agriculture ministers to make, vary and administer arrangements or grants for expenditure related to biosecurity programs and activities.

This is a significant amendment that the government is putting forward. It ensures that our biosecurity framework remains the best it can be to protect Australia, including our plant life, our animal and human health, our environment and our economy. But let me also be clear: our work in strengthening Australia's biosecurity system does not end with this bill. This is just a beginning. This is the first stage of amendments by the Australian government to ensure that our regulatory framework remains fit for purpose and ready to take on future biosecurity challenges, whatever they may be.

Farmers have told us that they want more security of Australian territory. They want to be certain that the Australian government is doing everything in its power to protect them from pests and diseases, especially from FMD. I say to those farmers: this government is listening, and this government is working to keep this country safe and this country's agricultural sector safe. Having a strong and efficient biosecurity system is more important than ever at the moment as we continue to respond to the international spread of FMD and other emerging diseases that sit on our doorstep and try to breach our biosecurity measures. This amendment bill, this response from the Albanese government, is strong, but—let's be clear—it is proportionate to the risk that is posed by FMD and other diseases and pests that may threaten Australia's biosecurity. The consequences would be catastrophic if we failed to provide such a strong response.

My electorate is a farming electorate. Lyons spans 52 per cent of mainland Tasmania and encapsulates the best of the best of Tasmania's farming lands. From north to south and everywhere in between, Lyons is renowned for its high-quality livestock and crops. The products we grow and produce are shipped across Australia and the world because the quality of our agriculture in Tasmania is next to none; it's world leading. We supply to the rest of Australia and the world incredible beef, dairy, lamb, wool and so much more. Tasmanian agriculture keeps people fed and housed. It puts kids in school and keeps the Tasmanian economy rolling along at a successful rate. But it is susceptible to biosecurity threats from outside Australia, such as foot-and-mouth disease, lumpy skin disease, African swine fever, Xylella and other biosecurity hazards posed to agricultural industries.

Wherever I go in Lyons, farmers share their concerns with me. They talk to me about the droughts, floods, bumper crops and hard times. Importantly, they talk to me about what they see is needed in agriculture and what government can and should be doing—and, just as importantly, what government shouldn't be doing—to improve the sector and safeguard it in times of great uncertainty. I'm proud to stand by my farmers and work with them to ensure that our biosecurity network is as strong as it possibly can be. I've always backed them and the sector, and I'll continue to do so, especially now when the stakes are so high. Farmers called for increased biosecurity, and the Albanese government is delivering it. Make no mistake, the Australian government is alive to the issue of FMD and other biosecurity risks, and nobody can say that our response has not been one that is thorough and of great strength. I'm heartened by the rhetoric of those opposite, because they recognise that this is a shared challenge. We offered them support for biosecurity when they were in government, and they are offering us their support today.

I recall speaking to a farmer from Cressy in the north of my electorate not too long ago. He was deeply concerned about the threat of FMD, as we all are in Lyons, and asked me what would happen should it enter Australia. He was worried that the presence of FMD in one state, but not others, would lead to a blanket export ban to countries where farmers currently hold strong business and trade. You can imagine, Mr Deputy Speaker, why this is of particular interest to Tasmanian farmers. There's a view in Tasmania that, if FMD were to make an incursion onto mainland Australia, perhaps the water border around our state could lead to some level of protection for us in international markets. Of course, it's up to those international markets. If they decide that there has been an incursion of FMD in Australia, it's up to them to decide whether Tasmania should be included in any bans that they introduce. Of course, it's a big concern in Tasmania, and the No. 1 issue is not to talk about what happens if there is an incursion onto mainland Australia but to keep it off mainland Australia. That's the purpose of the bill before the House today, and that's the focus of this government: to keep FMD out of Australia. That's what we're determined to do.

We want a biosecurity system that's highly secure and that keeps our farmers safe and our export economy alive and healthy, ensuring that farmers, like the one I spoke to in Cressy, are protected and their livestock and livelihoods are protected. It's what farmers in Australia deserve, and it's what the Albanese government is delivering for them. This bill will strengthen and improve Australia's biosecurity capabilities for the better. It will give power to authorities to act swiftly when required, to ensure that diseases such as FMD are kept far away from our livestock and our farms. It will protect Australia's human life, animal life and plant life as well as the environment and the economy. Importantly, it puts our best foot forward in the fight against the spread of risks into and around Australia, and it increases penalties for those who would flout or ignore our biosecurity measures. These are some of the most uncertain times and decades that we're living through, and the agriculture sector has on its side a government that is willing and ready to do all it can to protect agriculture.

I thank Minister Murray Watt and the department of agriculture for their work in this area to ensure our biosecurity is kept secure. It's not an easy task given the international climate and the experience the sector is having, but Minster Watt's commitment to the portfolio is second to none, and he truly shows a high level of dedication to biosecurity and the Australian people. This is what happens when you elect a Labor government: you get a government that works day and night to protect its people, its farms and its economy. We will continue to protect and fight ardently against the spread of foot-and-mouth disease and any other biosecurity risks that are on the minds of so many in Australia today.

I commend the bill to the House.

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