Doorstop in Hobart, Tasmania

E&OE TRANSCRIPT
DOORSTOP
HOBART
WEDNESDAY, 7 JANUARY 2026
 

SUBJECTS: Albanese Labor Government’s investment in biosecurity; heatwave; Bondi terror attack; biosecurity. 
 

JULIE COLLINS, MINISTER FOR AGRICULTURE, FISHERIES AND FORESTRY: Well, it’s terrific to be here at Hobart Airport. We’ve got with us the COO of Hobart Airport, Matt Cocker, to talk about the airport, biosecurity and about making sure that we connect Australia and Tasmanians together and that’s what it’s about. At this time of the year there are a lot of people travelling. We have new data on the number of Australians that travel and the number of biosecurity screens that occurred last year. Over 350,000 travelers nationwide were screened. Over 280,000 containers. And then, of course, you’ve got our new biosecurity detector dogs. So combined our biosecurity detector dogs last year detected over 40,000 incursions of people bringing products into the country. What I'd say to Australians is I know it's busy and everybody is excited about their travels this time of the year, but do not forget you cannot bring some of these things into the country, particularly meat products, seeds and plants and fruit and vegetables. Make sure if you do bring them in you declare them appropriately. We know that some people have not. We've seen at different times people trying to bring products into the country that they should not be bringing into the country. We have, of course, been very diligent. There is a zero tolerance. Please do not bring them in, and if you do, declare it. We have seen people fined. We have seen people charged and been given prison sentences. This is a very serious issue to protect Australia and to protect Australian agriculture and our environment. We do not want some of the pests and diseases that are coming in from overseas. So my big message today to Australian travelers is please don’t bring into the country what you shouldn’t, and if you do, please declare it. One of the most common things I get contacted about is people who bring off ham sandwiches off a plane. Don’t do it. The fines are almost $4,000. Please pay attention. Please be careful, and please help us protect Australia. I’ll now hand over to Matt Cocker, the COO of Hobart Airport, to talk about people movement and how important it is for Tasmania and Hobart.

MATT COCKER, HOBART AIRPORT: Thanks, Minister. So Hobart Airport is, of course, the first point of entry for Tasmania. In excess of 2.8 million people move through our doors each year, including a record-breaking summer that we’ve just had. It’s vitally important that we not only connect Tasmania but we protect this place, its people and its produce. That’s why we work in lockstep with the federal and state governments to ensure Tasmania retains itself as a pest and disease-free environment.

JOURNALIST: In terms of combined biosecurity, do you have any data about Australians here showing up?

COCKER: Yeah, I can’t speak on behalf of Biosecurity Tasmania, but I’m sure the Minister could give you some detail on that.

JOURNALIST: In terms of people who have been caught coming back with ham sandwiches, are they locals or are they just tourists coming to Hobart?

COCKER: Again, I can’t really speak on behalf of Biosecurity Tasmania. Maybe the Minister might be able to answer that question.

JOURNALIST: How do you find travelers coming off planes deal with the biosecurity dogs? Do they generally have quite a positive response to them and they’re willing to be sniffed by them?

COCKER: Certainly. They – the dogs have been around for a long time. They do a fantastic job, as do the staff of Biosecurity Tasmania. And, of course, it’s a really good engagement to see people coming in. They’re quite surprised to see a dog. Of course, the dogs are there to do a very important role, a very serious job, so it’s not about engaging too much with the dogs, but certainly complying with the requirements of the officers and their animal.

JOURNALIST: Do you think there’s enough understanding for travelers about what’s right and what’s wrong and what can be brought over and what can’t?

COCKER: Certainly the Australian Government and the State Government communicate regularly around the requirements of coming into the state and, of course, coming into the country. So we’re pretty confident that that message is out there.

JOURNALIST: And more broadly, how has the new development that’s now in operation going here at the airport? Are people enjoying that?

COCKER: Yeah, it's going well. Over the summer period, of course, it was a bumper season. We had in excess of 10,000 people every day with the busy period of around 14,000 people a day. Of course, when you’re constructing something at the same time as operating it does get a little bit tight, but everything has been going well. We’ve put on some entertainment for the people who have been moving through, and that’s been well received.

JOURNALIST: The new security screening, are you finding that you’re confiscating more things as a result than you were before?

COCKER: No, not really, but it is a more thorough check. And it’s a much easier process for people who are moving through the screening point. They no longer have to take laptops out of bags, the body scanner is quite an easy process to go through. So everything is going swimmingly.

COLLINS: So here in Tasmania we have worked with the Tasmanian Government. We’ve had over 10,000 passengers last calendar year come through the airport here in Hobart and, indeed, through Hobart ports more than 20,000. So that’s 30,000 travelers, international travelers, coming through Hobart that have been screened in terms of Biosecurity Tasmania or biosecurity federally.

JOURNALIST: Tasmania’s biosecurity is a little bit different to some other states and territories. Can you sort of walk through what makes Tasmania unique?

COLLINS: Well, every state and territory has its additional biosecurity on top of the national biosecurity. As the federal biosecurity minister, we’ve been very clear – you have a declaration card or in the app now for some travelers, so you need to be honest with that. You need to declare what you need to declare, and it’s very clearly listed. We do have different rules in some states and territories and, again, our airlines and, of course, any other way you’re travelling, people are very clear about what the requirements are. And this is just a friendly reminder to travelers: we’re taking this seriously. You need to also take it seriously.

JOURNALIST: What’s the change in terms of the amount of goods that are eventually being seized, being declared?

COLLINS: Well, we’ve obviously increased our detection and we have picked up increased incursions. Last year was a record year for our detector dogs in terms of the number of incursions they found. These are very clever animals. And obviously they’re not as intimidating sometimes as people in uniforms might be, but our detector dogs are an important part of our biosecurity system and they are picking up more incursions.

JOURNALIST: So it’s not a case that more of those incursions are being declared?

COLLINS: I think it’s more that the detector dogs are picking up more because we have more of them on the beat.

JOURNALIST: Can you talk a bit about the $2 billion in funding and what exactly will that go towards?

COLLINS: Well, with the more than $2 billion since we’ve come to office we’ve obviously invested in more detector dogs, we’ve invested in more staff at our mail centres, our ports, our airports and, indeed, to look after our detector dogs. We’ve also invested more when it comes to obviously bird flu and preparedness and working with states and territories to make sure that we’re as ready as we can be, because that is a very serious threat to Australia. But what we saw when we came to office was biosecurity funding falling off a cliff. What we’re doing as a government is restoring some of that funding and we’re making sure that our biosecurity system is as strong as it needs to be. We’re never going to catch everything, which is why we need the Australian public to work with us. We benefit enormously from high-quality produce that is very safe because we have a very strong biosecurity system that’s world-renowned. We want to keep it that way.

JOURNALIST: How do you actually bring about that behaviour change [indistinct]?

COLLINS: Well, we’ve obviously got videos that are occurring on planes. Biosecurity do a lot of advertising, we work very closely with the airports, with cruise companies and with operators right across the country to make sure that people are aware of what the rules are.

JOURNALIST: You’re obviously focusing a bit on tourism travelers today. But what about what’s being done to strengthen biosecurity in the freight sector, recognising that we’ve been impacted by the potato virus?

COLLINS: Yeah, our trade is really important to this country because obviously we export around 80 per cent in value of our agricultural produce in Australia. So being able to keep that pest and disease free for many of those international pests and diseases is really important for Australia. So we have inspected more containers. We are being as, you know, diligent as we can be as a government in making sure that our biosecurity system is fit for purpose.

I just want to make a few comments in relation to some of the heat conditions that are being felt around Australia today. Obviously heat waves can impact vulnerable people, particularly elderly people, young people and pregnant people. And what I would say is please be careful. Please drink plenty of water. Please adhere to any alerts in terms of bushfire threats or any other threats that may be occurring as Australia deals with the current heatwave that’s around the country today. Check in on families and friends who you know may be vulnerable.

JOURNALIST: Last time we had heat like we saw the salmon industry get impacted by disease and salmon washing up on the shore. What work have you done federally to ensure that the Tasmanian salmon industry is ready this time around?

COLLINS: Well, obviously the Tasmanian State Government is responsible for the management of our agriculture industry, including our salmon industry here in Tasmania. The Tasmanian State Government is also responsible for its waterways. That is not something that the Federal Government has any say over or any controlling or can intervene in. It's entirely a matter for the Tasmanian State Government.

JOURNALIST: What do you make of the recent claims of a potential algal bloom, they’ve been dismissed now with testing, but what do you make of them?

COLLINS: Well, obviously I have been clear and on the public record that I do think the Tasmanian State Government needs to have more transparency and reporting in relation to the industry more broadly.

JOURNALIST: Do you think there was a bit of scaremongering happening from environmental activists?

COLLINS: Well, what I would say is that facts and science matter and we should always believe the experts and the facts and the science.

JOURNALIST: Just on other issues, is the Federal Government committed to stand firm on its stance that a royal commission is not the right time?

COLLINS: Well, obviously our first priority has always been looking after the community and responding as quickly as we can to the things that need to be dealt with urgently. We’ve done that in terms of calling together National Cabinet, making sure that our gun laws are fit for purpose in Australia today, and we’ve already seen some of the states move in response to that. We’ve also, of course, been very clear that we want to strengthen hate speech laws. Our Ministers responsible have be very diligent. They’ve been getting to work on that. We need to obviously consult with the community and make sure that they’re also fit for purpose and appropriate. And we’ve also called an immediate inquiry to be done by an expert Dennis Richardson and to have that report by April in terms of our security and intelligence agencies to make sure that they are fit for purpose and that any recommendations we can implement quickly. Our entire focus has been on making sure that we work with the community, that we’re listening to the community and, indeed, that we stamp out antisemitism and keep social cohesion in Australia.

JOURNALIST: Do you personally think there should be a Royal Commission?

COLLINS: As a government we have been listening and responding to the community. We’ve been acting also. We even acted obviously prior to the incident on Bondi in terms of the antisemitism envoy’s appointment, the anti-Islamophobia envoy appointment. We are determined to maintain social cohesion in Australia and to work with the community.

JOURNALIST: So is that no? It’s not necessary?

COLLINS: What I would say is we’ve also, of course, been engaging with the New South Wales Government who have said that it will have a Royal Commission, and we continue to engage with the New South Wales Government and with the community about what else needs to be done. We’ve acted swiftly. We’ve responded to community. We want to continue to listen to the community.

JOURNALIST: Why not do it today? What’s with the delay?

COLLINS: We’ve already responded and we’ve responded swiftly and in relation to urgent matters in relation to gun laws, in relation to the inquiry of our intelligence and security agencies. And we’ve done it in response of the hate speech laws, which we have already strengthened as a government, and which we want to strengthen further. This is working with the community and we will continue to do that.

JOURNALIST: What’s your response that it’s not satisfactory for a whole sector of the community, including some within Labor, your own MPs? What sort of response should you do to that criticism that you’re not listening to the community?

COLLINS: Well, what I’d say is we continue to listen and engage with the community, and that’s what we’ve been doing the entire time. Our primary focus has been listening, responding to community and doing swift actions that need to be taken immediately. We have been doing that and we’ll continue to listen and engage.

JOURNALIST: But with the community saying that it wants a Royal Commission, are you listening to them if you don’t?

COLLINS: I’m saying that we continue to engage and listen the community.

JOURNALIST: Has the PM indicated anything internally?

COLLINS: I think I’ve answered the questions in relation to this and where the government is at on this. We’ve responded swiftly. We continue to be engaged and listen the community.

JOURNALIST: Potato mop-top virus, have you found the source of the virus? Or is there any update on?

COLLINS: I don’t have any update on that. We’ve been working very closely with the Tasmanian State Government and Biosecurity Tasmania in relation to the incursion here in Tasmania of the potato mop-top virus. What I would say is we continue to cooperate. There is a national arrangement in relation to cooperating nationally for any incursions of biosecurity that is longstanding.