Ms Catherine King (Ballarat, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Local Government) Share this | Hansard source

also a small amount by producers, who we know are the major beneficiaries of making sure our biosecurity system is safe.

We have had to do this because those opposite failed to put our biosecurity system on a sustainable footing. When those opposite were last in government they failed to invest in permanent ongoing biosecurity funding for the long term. We have had to fix that and clean up your mess. You failed to implement the biosecurity imports levy—you claimed that it would raise $325 million, but it raised zero dollars. You failed to protect taxpayers by maintaining cost recovery with a system not touched since 2015 because you would not take the hard decisions to put this on a secure footing. You failed to manage the Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, leaving that department with a $120 million black hole. That is what you did. You were so concerned about the farmers and the producers in this country that you didn't put biosecurity on a sustainable footing.

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