Julie Collins (Franklin, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

I move:

That this bill be now read a second time.

Australia's agricultural exports are forecast to reach around $80 billion this financial year and support a wide range of agricultural businesses across the country. The government plays a key role in facilitating this trade through the assurances we provide to importing countries. Our regulatory system demonstrates the high standard of Australian agricultural goods, and our government-to-government communications assure importing countries that their requirements are being met. These requirements are ever evolving, and our regulatory approach needs to adapt accordingly.

The Australian government is conducting an export assurance reform project that will strengthen the regulatory oversight of goods including wool, honey, pet food, skins and hides, rendered goods, pharmaceuticals, food and beverages, stock feed and feed additives. Through this reform process, the government has identified amendments required to the Export Control Act 2020, to ensure that the export regulatory framework continues to function as intended.

Many places where goods are processed and prepared for export are regulated as registered establishments under the act. In these cases, the act stipulates that all operations for prescribed goods at the establishment must be included in the registration. This includes operations that do not otherwise require registration, creating excessive regulatory burden for Australian businesses.

The bill will remove this burden, by enabling occupiers of registered establishments to conduct these operations without contravening the act. The new provisions would ensure that only operators who carry out export operations that are not covered by their registration but should be are penalised. This would align penalty provisions across the act and its rules. Without this amendment, export operations across some of Australia's key agricultural industries could be forced to complete extensive processes to register operations that do not, in themselves, justify registration. This bill will remove all that red tape for industry and increase government efficiency.

The bill also broadens the scope of what documents the government can issue under the act to support trade. This addresses a growing gap where documents that our trading partners require are not catered for under our legislation. These amendments ensure that the government can provide the support needed to maintain and grow Australia's market access for all agricultural exports.

The bill underpins the government's commitment to support the growth of Australia's agricultural sector by increasing the efficiency and effectiveness of our export regulatory system and paving the way for broader reform across a range of commodities.

Debate adjourned.

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