Sharman Stone (Murray, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

There are massive increases proposed for Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service packing shed registration charges. This is an extraordinary increase in cost to our packing shed operators. It is so substantial that a lot of our growers and packers are saying: 'The job is too hard. We will have to walk away.' Growers currently pay $330 per annum to register packing sheds and to comply with the import requirements of all the overseas countries that buy Australian fresh fruit and vegetables. Under the proposed new charges and following the removal of the 40 per cent government rebate on costs and charges, AQIS expects growers to pay over $12,300. That is a 3,700 per cent increase in the charge for packing sheds. The charge does not add value and there is nothing different; it is just a fee that is to be applied. With that charge you get the approval registration so you can export to markets like Thailand, Japan, Korea, China, Taiwan, the USA and New Zealand.

Given the seasonal nature of Australian fruit and vegetable exports, the sheds in my area pack for only two or three months of the year. The 3,700 per cent increase in these registration charges is just extraordinary. Such a huge cost of business would not be tolerated by any other sector, I propose. Is this just a cash grab from the government, which we know is cash-strapped and which each day puts us further in debt? Is it to do with their deficit? There is absolutely no way you can account for the extraordinary increase in costs as a result of increasing inspecting, registering and actual costs for salaries, vehicle fuel or anything else. It is impossible to justify it in any way.

This may be a reason for the fire blight protocols that are now proposed. We are told AQIS is just going to allow New Zealand to use its local domestic protocols for the importation of fresh New Zealand fruit. There will be no new specially export orientated protocols to keep fresh fruit with fire blight out of Australia. Perhaps because this government is cash-strapped and deeply in debt this is being allowed and will happen from 4 July. It is our farmers who are going to pay.

Any government organisation which thinks it can get away with increasing a fee from $330 to $12,300 per annum really must imagine it is not in a parliamentary democracy. We have to challenge this; we have to say it cannot be tolerated if we do, in fact, want to continue to produce food for both our domestic markets and globally. Farmers and their fruit packers, quite simply, cannot take such a hit. It is just not possible. (Time expired)